Windows Server 2008 virtualization without Intel VT

Question

I don't have a machine capable of Intel VT ("Virtualization Technology"), but I was assigned to do certain experiments with Windows Server 2008 R1 / R2 and SharePoint 2008 / 2010. I tried installing Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 using both Virtual PC 2007 SP1 and VMware Workstation 7, and the first tells me it can't work with x64 operating systems, while the latter tells me I would need a VT enabled CPU, which I have no access to.

• Model: Toshiba Satellite L505
• O/S: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x86
• CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400 @ 2.20GHz
• RAM: 3GB DDR2
• hard drive: 80 GB free

Is there a workaround for this? How much would I need to downgrade in order to be able to work with my current setup (e.g., Windows Server 2008 R1 x86 and SharePoint 2008 x86, perhaps switching to Windows 7 Ultimate x86 for my main system)?

Edit: The solution was simple:

• Host: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x86
• Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 x86
• Guest: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R1 SP2 x86
• Microsoft SharePoint 2007 SP2 x86

More: Installing MOSS 2007 on Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008

Answer 1

you don't need VT to virtualise systems of the same architecture - VT is needed to run 64 bit guests on a 32 bit host. You would either need to upgrade your host to x64 or downgrade your guest to x86 as you have