
close
close
Windows Server “8” Beta is now available for evaluation; you can download it from Microsoft.
Microsoft lists the system requirement for Windows 8 installation as follows:
advertisment
Other new Windows 8 features have some additional hardware requirements, but in this article I will focus on one of the specific requirements for the embedded Hyper-V feature that Windows 8 Client offers, which is to have a CPU with Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) capabilities. Note that SLAT can also be enabled at the BIOS.
Note: While SLAT is a requirement from the Windows 8 Client perspective (i.e. you cannot install the Hyper-V role on the Windows 8 Client without having a CPU that supports SLAT), it is NOT a mandatory requirement on Windows 8 Server (i.e. while lacking SLAT will affect VM performance, it is still possible to run the Hyper-V role on a Windows 8 Server without SLAT).
SLAT or Second Level Address Translation, is a technology that was applied on Intel and AMD processors.
Intel’s SLAT technology is represented as EPT (Extended Page Table). This technology is available in processors with virtualization support: core i7, i5, i3, Pentium G6950 and other appropriate Xeons. It is not available in Core 2 based or other earlier Intel processors.
advertisment
AMD’s SLAT technology is represented as RVI (Rapid Virtualization Indexing) technology in their third generation Opteron processors codenamed Barcelona.
A cool and free Windows Sysinternals tool called Coreinfo (currently at v3.04) can help you check whether your CPU supports SLAT.
In case your machine runs a CPU that support SLAT you will see an asterisk “*” next to EPT field as shown in the example below:
advertisment
If your machine doesn’t run a CPU that supports SLAT you will not see the asterisk, but a minus “-“ appears instead, as shown in the example below:
Just for clarification, if you run coreinfo on an AMD based computer, you will get a value called NPT (Nested page Tables) instead of EPT. The asterisk appears or not whether it supports SLAT or not.
With this information, you can now move forward and install Windows 8 Client/Server beta on your computer, or choose to upgrade your CPU first, in order to enjoy the fantastic new capabilities of Hyper-V.
More from Petri IT Knowledgebase
advertisment
Petri Newsletters
Whether it’s Security or Cloud Computing, we have the know-how for you. Sign up for our newsletters here.
advertisment
More in Windows Server
CISA Warns Windows Admins Against Applying May Patch Tuesday Updates on Domain Controllers
May 17, 2022 | Rabia Noureen
Microsoft Confirms May 2022 Patch Tuesday Updates Cause AD Authentication Issues
May 12, 2022 | Rabia Noureen
Microsoft to Disable SMB1 File-Sharing Protocol By Default on Windows 11
Apr 20, 2022 | Rabia Noureen
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Adds Support for Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2016
Apr 14, 2022 | Rabia Noureen
Most popular on petri
Log in to save content to your profile.
Article saved!
Access saved content from your profile page. View Saved
Join The Conversation
Create a free account today to participate in forum conversations, comment on posts and more.
Copyright ©2019 BWW Media Group