This article provides information about system requirements to install a 64-bit guest operating system on a 32-bit host.

To install a 64-bit guest operating system on any VMware desktop virtualization product, while running a 32-bit host operating system, your CPU must support hardware-assisted virtualization.

• The virtual machine is configured for the 64-bit guest operating system. However, 64-bit operation is not possible.
• Binary Translation is incompatible with long mode on this platform. Disabling long mode. Without long mode support, the virtual machine will not be able to run 64-bit code.

Intel

• AMD Athlon 64, revision D or later
• AMD Opteron, revision E or later
• AMD Turion 64, revision E or later
• AMD Sempron, 64-bit-capable, revision D or later (experimental support)
• AMD FX
• AMD Phenom II

Note: Initial AMD64 processors (revision C and earlier) do not support segmentation while running in long mode. Therefore, AMD64 processors prior to revision D, do not have an efficient mechanism for isolating the virtual machine monitor from 64-bit guest operating systems.

Troubleshooting issues when creating a virtual machine with 64-bit guest operating system

• Hardware Virtualization Technology (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) is not enabled in BIOS. BIOS settings that must be enabled for VT-x support vary depending on the system vendor.
• CPU is not capable of VT-x or AMD-V.
• Some Enterprise-class antivirus software create a small hypervisor between the hardware and your host operating system. As a result, the host operating system runs in a virtual machine. Without hardware-assisted virtualization, you cannot run a 64-bit guest operating system on the Intel hardware with a VMware product.

To determine whether or not your CPU is suitable for running 64-bit guest operating systems, you can download and use the free utility, Processor Check for 64-Bit Compatibility, that VMware distributes.