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From what I gather a virtual machine makes use of a technology provided by the CPU; a technology called V.T., or "Virtualization Technology" in certain designs of Intel processors. I don't know how this works or how virtualization programs can use this exactly, but I was wondering this:
Say I run Windows 7 inside of Bochs, an x86-64 emulator, or the such. Inside Windows 7 I download VirtualBox, VMware, etc. Will they work? Can a virtual machine work running on a guest emulated OS in an emulator on the host architecture which does not support it? Would there be any issues?
I don't know if any x86-64 emulators support Intel's virtual features, but assuming one did, how feasible could this be in theory?
NOTE: Not a v.m. in a v.m.; a v.m. in an emulator, which has a host CPU that doesn't support V.T.
Think of it this way: program emulates V.T. which also emulates x86-64/etc. Guest OS is running on that, and VirtualBox/etc. can be "tricked" into working on an emulated virtual technology within the emulator's platform, but with a real host CPU that does not support it. Is it possible to emulate virtualization?
1You made my brain hurt. – fixer1234 – 2014-09-23T18:55:23.577
1Good thing you don't live inside mine then. – None – 2014-09-23T18:55:50.643
Give it a shot, if it isn't supported it's likely that the system will fail to boot. – Adam – 2014-09-23T18:59:44.443
Seems easy enough to try it..."Is it possible to emulate virtualization?" no its not. – Ramhound – 2014-09-23T19:00:08.813
@Ramhound What's impossible about it? – None – 2014-09-23T19:03:30.600
@Adam What system and why fail to boot? – None – 2014-09-23T19:03:58.230
It depends on how good the emulator is. – Daniel R Hicks – 2014-09-23T19:09:09.873
I don't think any x86-64 emulator can top Bochs, but maybe I've missed one. – None – 2014-09-23T19:12:06.063
And to add, I mean emulate virtualization technology, and not emulate the virtualization itself. The PS3 emulator, RPCS3, is emulating 7 SPUs, a whole GPU, and 24 threads on a single four or eight-core i5/i7. This tells me that there's some hint of possibility that V.T. can be possibly emulated (and that current CPUs could handle it somewhat), but the power to do it and get it working perfectly is probably insane. – None – 2014-09-23T19:15:16.740