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Resolving a VirtualBox BIOS error on an MSi motherboard-based PC

What follows is how I solved the following error message from VirtualBox.

Not in a hypervisor partition (HVP=0) (VERR_NEM_NOT_AVAILABLE).
AMD-V is disabled in the BIOS (or by the host OS) (VERR_SVM_DISABLED).
Result Code:E_FAIL (0X80004005)
Component:ConsoleWrap
Interface:IConsole {6ac83d89-6ee7-4e33-8ae6-b257b2e81be8}

VERR_SVM_DISABLED error message from VirtualBox

What am I messing around with hypervisors and virtual machines for? And for that matter, what's a virtual machine anyway? Answers to these questions are here; but back to the matter at hand.

Fortunately the error message is actually quite helpful and gives us the answer to solving the problem. SVM is disabled in the BIOS.

SVM is the TLA for Secure Virtual Machine (see this article for more information) and the BIOS on motherboards is normally shipped with this option disabled, because the majority of users never need to use it and having it enabled is a minor but not insignificant security issue.

I am running an MSi A320M-A PRO motherboard so accessing the BIOS is simply a matter of holding down the DEL key at start up and, instead of booting to Windows, the user interface for the MSi Click BIOS will appear (I am running the 7C51 2020 version not the flashy Click 5 version though).

The required setting change in this case is,

Overclocking > CPU Features > SVM Mode > Enable.

Once it is set to Enabled simply Save Changes and Reboot and VirtualBox will now start to play ball.

Now we can get a virtualised server set up what's next? Well that would be getting Home Assistant and Grocy on-line.

For anyone who wants a step-by-step tutorial, see below. Apologies for the picture quality, but it should be good enough. There are a series of other tutorials out there but the BIOS options seem to be quite variable (here are three different options from MSi [1/2/3] all from the same Google search).

Step-by-step tutorial

After holding down the DEL key at start up here is the first screen I was greeted with. Your mouse should still be working so mouse over and click on the Overclocking icon circled in red.

BIOS Start Menu

Once you are on the Overclocking Menu tab, scroll down to the bottom of the page,

BIOS Overclocking Menu

where you will find a menu item, CPU Features (red box).

Locate CPU Features option

Selecting that leads to the Overclocking\CPU Features menu and you are looking for the SVM Mode option (red box), which is marked as [Disabled].

BIOS Overclocking CPU Features Menu

Clicking the Disabled text will bring up an option box titled SVM Mode from which you can select Enabled.

BIOS SVM Mode option

Once that reads SVM Mode - Enabled go to the Save & Exit tab (red circle in screenshot below) and select Save Changes and Reboot (red square).

BIOS Save & Exit option

This will generate a pop up asking "Save configuration and reset?" Clicking Yes will restart your PC,

BIOS alterations complete

when your PC has restarted you should be able to launch VirtualBox and start up a VM from it with no errors. Well, at least not the one you started with.

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