220-1101 Question 284
Single answerVirtualization supportA technician is preparing a Windows 11 Pro desktop for a developer who needs to run a 64-bit virtual machine in Hyper-V for software testing. Hyper-V installs successfully, but when the technician tries to start the VM, the system reports that virtualization support is not enabled. Task Manager shows that virtualization is disabled. Which of the following should the technician do FIRST to resolve the issue?
- A
Boot into the system firmware and enable Intel VT-x or AMD-V virtualization support
- B
Install additional RAM so the host can allocate more memory to the virtual machine
- C
Change the virtual machine's virtual hard disk from dynamically expanding to fixed size
- D
Disable Secure Boot in UEFI so Hyper-V can access CPU virtualization features
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
This question tests practical troubleshooting of virtualization support, a common A+ Core 1 objective. When a hypervisor such as Hyper-V reports that virtualization support is unavailable and Task Manager shows virtualization as disabled, the technician should first verify that CPU virtualization extensions are enabled in the system firmware. Microsoft documents Hyper-V requirements as including hardware-assisted virtualization, such as Intel VT-x or AMD-V, along with other platform features depending on the configuration. CompTIA A+ expects technicians to recognize that virtualization problems often originate in BIOS/UEFI settings rather than in storage, RAM, or Secure Boot configuration.
- A. Correct.
Correct. If Task Manager reports virtualization as disabled and Hyper-V cannot start a 64-bit VM, the most likely cause is that hardware virtualization support is turned off in BIOS/UEFI. On Intel systems this is commonly labeled Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x), and on AMD systems it is AMD-V or SVM. Hyper-V requires hardware-assisted virtualization to run properly.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Additional RAM may improve VM performance or allow more VMs to run, but it does not enable CPU virtualization features. If the system specifically reports that virtualization support is not enabled, memory is not the root cause.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. The type of virtual disk affects storage allocation and performance characteristics, not whether the processor exposes virtualization extensions to the hypervisor. This would not resolve a firmware-level virtualization setting being disabled.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Secure Boot is not the setting that controls access to VT-x or AMD-V. Hyper-V is designed to work on UEFI systems with Secure Boot enabled. Disabling Secure Boot is a common but incorrect troubleshooting step for this issue.