How do I re-enable VT-x without upgrading OS?

Question

I wanted to try app programming, but had problems in installing android studio properly. It said that the VT-x must be enabled for the virtual devices.

I have a Intel core i5 2430M so it does support this feature, but there is no option in the BIOS to enable VT-x. I literally looked at every option. The weird thing is that in Eclipse it did work.

I reinstalled the OS (Windows 7) but this should not be an OS issue right? My mainboard is the Packard Bell SJV50_HR.

There is a previous post where someone had the same problem and he solved it via installing Windows 8 but I do not have a Windows 8 copy, I could install Windows 10 but I hope there is another solution.

Answer 1

Actually sometimes vendors of motherboards (mostly notebook ones - a 2430M seems to be a notebook processor, so I can assume that you have a notebook) lock this option - hide it from the BIOS menu. There could be three ways to enable it - first one there MAY be an utility from the notebook or motherboard vendor which could enable or disable it. Second one - you can try to upgrade the BIOS of your computer from the vendor site - it MAY happen that they reenabled that option in the BIOS menu. Or you will need to "hack" your BIOS - or ask people who know how to do - but this is high risk.

Also, that may be that the VT-X option is called differently in the BIOS menu - try to enable some things like "Virtualization" and similar, but be careful!

PS: Reinstalling an OS won't help at all. The OS doesn't manage this option - the only thing it can do is supporting or not supporting it. But Windows 7 supports it, so this is not an OS issue.