XTU and hypervisorstartupmode

[drabelink]

XTU, as known, does not start when HYPER-V is enabled.

My system (Win10 PRO) has 2 boot options using hypervisorstartupmode, where one boot entry has HYPER-V enabled and one which has it disabled. This is to easily boot into Windows having the option running under hypervisor or not. So you can easily switch and use applications which are not compatible with HYPER-V. And this is the option without having to uninstall HYPER-V, just enable or disable it.

But XTU still does not start and complains that HYPER-V is enabled when booting using the HYPER-V OFF setting.

Well, HYPER-V is installed, yes. But it is not enabled.

Even the HYPER-V services are not running.

It seems XTU does not check if HYPER-V is enabled or disabled, but checks if the HYPER-V feature is installed or not. So if HYPER-V is checked or unchecked in the Windows extra features list.

Is this a wrong implementation of XTU's check? If so, I would request a change that XTU actually checks the enabled/disabled state of HYPER-V and not the installed/uninstalled state.

Anyone found a way to use XTU without uninstalling HYPER-V feature?

[Jean_Intel]

Hello driveline,

Thank you for posting on the Intel️® communities.  

It is the expected behavior of the Intel® XTU. You must know that Core Isolation Memory Integrity, Hyper-V, and Virtual Machine State are incompatible with Intel® XTU. Intel® XTU is unable to function when these features are enabled. We are entirely sure how your hypervisorstartupmodes work; however, we know that the Hyper-V is incompatible with the Intel® XTU.

Best regards, 

Jean O.  

Intel Customer Support Technician

[drabelink]

Hi Jean,

I'm not sure I understand your answer.

Yes, the expected behavior of XTU is that it is not compatible with Hyper-V.

So we have to disable Hyper-V.

I did disable Hyper-V on my system so I can use software which is not compatible with it.

Other software can now run on my machine. I would expect that XTU will now also work.

But it does not as it states as error that Hyper-V is enabled.

So why does XTU fail to start even having Hyper-V disabled?

What is XTU exactly checking for?

Does it check BIOS setting for virtualization?

Does it check if Hyper-V feature is installed?

Does it check if certain Hyper-V or related services are running?

It seems that XTU only works if you uncheck the Hyper-V feature, see screenshot.

So this would mean that XTU does not check if Hyper-V is enabled (so system is actually running on hypervisor) but only checks if the feature is present.

Having the feature enabled does not mean the hypervisor is actively running and that the host system is running on hypervisor.

It seems that having to uninstall the feature to run XTU is a wrong approach. It should check at startup if the system runs on hypervisor or not. And my system is not running on hypervisor as I boot Windows using:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

(and reboot)

[brendenjac]

I have to agree with you. It seems like a convenient excuse from the support team, that XTU is incompatible with Hyper-V (and others). I using Hyper-V all the time, and having to enable/disable it each time I wont to run XTU for any purpose is an extreme limitation. 

I have done some experimentation (based on your question), and it seems that I only need to untick the hyper-V option (and not reboot as Windows suggests), and XTU starts.

I would be expecting Intel to fix this in future updates, as it seems like a bug to me.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello drabelink,

If the Hyper-V option is still checked, as you mentioned, it may indicate that the Hyper-V is still enabled; Microsoft recommends unchecking this option to disable it. I am not entirely sure how your hypervisorstartupmode work; however, I know that unchecking this is necessary to disable Hyper-V. if you want to take a look at the Microsoft documentation, please refer to this link:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/application-management/virtualization-apps-not-work-with-hyper-v

It would be important to mention that I have shared your feedback about the XTU utility with the proper team.

Best regards, 

Jean O.  

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jean_Intel]

Hello drabelink,

I hope you are doing fine.

I have not heard back from you. So we will close this thread. If you need any additional information, submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards.

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician.