Processor Check Utility for 64-Bit Compatibility

VMware Workstation

Processor Check Utility for 64-Bit Compatibility

VMware Workstation version 5.5 supports virtual machines with 64-bit guest operating systems, running on host machines with the following processors: AMD Athlon 64, revision D or later AMD Opteron, revision E or later AMD Turion 64, revision E or later AMD Sempron, 64-bit-capable revision D or later (experimental support) Intel EM64T VT-capable processors (experimental support) When you power on a virtual machine with a 64-bit guest operating system, Workstation performs an internal check: if the host CPU is not a supported 64-bit processor, you cannot power on the virtual machine. VMware also provides this standalone processor check utility, which you can use without Workstation to perform the same check and determine whether your CPU is supported for virtual machines with 64-bit guest operating systems. Note: On hosts with EM64T VT-capable processors, you may not be able to power on a 64-bit guest, even though the processor check utility indicates that the processor is supported for 64bit guests. VT functionality can be disabled via the BIOS, but the processor check utility cannot read the appropriate model-specific register (MSR) to detect that the VT functionality has been disabled in the BIOS. Note: In shopping for a processor that is compatible with Workstation 5.5 64-bit guests, you may be unable to determine the revision numbers of a given vendor's offering of AMD Athlon 64, Opteron, Turion 64, or Sempron processors. At this time, the only reliable way to determine whether any of these processors is a revision supported by Workstation 5.5, is by the manufacturing technology (CMOS): any of the AMD Athlon 64, Opteron, Turion 64, or Sempron processors whose manufacturing technology is 90nm SOI (.09 micron SOI) is compatible with Workstation 5.5 64-bit guests. Using this information, you should be able to determine with your vendor, or from the AMD Web site (www.amd.com) whether a particular Athlon 64 or Opteron processor model is compatible with Workstation 5.5 64-bit guests.

Processor Check Utility for 64-Bit Compatibility

Installing and Using the Utility

Follow these steps to download, install, and run the processor check utility: 1. Download the utility from the VMware Web site at www.vmware.com/download. Right-click the download link and save the utility to a hard drive on the machine whose processor you want to check. The utility is also located on your Workstation 5.5 distribution CD. 2. Run the utility: In Windows, double-click the file VMware-guest64check-<xxxxx>.exe (where <xxxxx> is the build number). A dialog box is displayed, telling you whether your CPU is a supported processor for 64-bit guests. In Linux, from a command line or in a terminal window, enter VMware-guest64check-<xxxxx> (where <xxxxx> is the build number). A message is displayed, telling you whether your CPU is a supported processor for 64-bit guests.

VMware, Inc. 3145 Porter Drive Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com Copyright 1998-2005 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,397,242, 6,496,847, 6,704,925, 6,711,672, 6,725,289, 6,735,601, 6,785,886, 6,789,156 and 6,795,966; patents pending. VMware, the VMware boxes logo and design, Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Revision 20051121 Item: WS-ENG-Q305-123