The CPU has been Disabled by the Guest Operating System. Power Off or Reset the Virtual Machine.

Many users have been complaining that when attempting to play a virtual machine inside the VMware Workstation programme, they receive the error message “CPU has been disabled by the guest operating system.”

The majority of impacted customers claim that after the image was working properly for a while, the problem started happening suddenly. Users have observed that this error occurs with Linux, MacOS, and Windows images, thus it doesn’t appear to be an OS-specific issue.

What is the Reason The Guest Operating System Fault has Disabled the CPU.

We looked at several user reports as part of our investigation into this specific problem. It turns out that there are a number of possibilities that could result in the emergence of this specific problem. These typical situations are known to result in this error message:

• The guest computer cannot properly start up. The most frequent reasons of this error are a disc configuration issue or a recent guest machine corruption issue that rendered it unusable.
• The BIOS does not have VT-X enabled – When the VT-X technology, also known as Intel Virtualization, which VMware Workstation requires, is turned off in the BIOS settings, this problem might also happen.
• CPU ID is in violation of the licence contract. The software can identify incompatible CPUs in a number of situations, which prevent the OS image from starting. The CPU ID can be hidden to solve this problem.

This article will give you a few troubleshooting techniques that will aid your cause if you’re having problems fixing this specific problem. The solutions that other people who were in a similar situation to you have successfully used are listed below, along with step-by-step instructions.

Follow the steps listed below sequentially for the best results until you find a solution that successfully solves the problem for you. Let’s start!

Method 1: Change the BIOS Settings to Enable VT-X (Intel Virtualization).

Let’s begin by making sure that VT-X is enabled in your BIOS settings because this is one of the most typical circumstances. You may have previously manually disabled the technology, a third-party application may have done it for you, or your system may have arrived with VT-X disabled by default.

In any event, the BIOS settings of every motherboard maker will provide a setting to enable or disable the VT-X technology. It merely requires figuring out the precise route to take.

Remember that the specific procedures for accessing the BIOS settings will vary depending on the brand of your motherboard. However, there is one thing they all have in common: to access your BIOS Settings, you must press the BIOS (SETUP) key during the initial startup process.

Typically, the BIOS key is either the Dell key or one of the F keys (F2, F4, F8, F10, or F12) (for Dell computers). You can locate your BIOS key on the very first screen if you don’t know it (referred to as SETUP). Additionally, you can use your motherboard model to search online for your particular BIOS key.

The Virtualization Technology entry is often shown as VTx/VTd once you have access to your BIOS settings. Enable it, save your BIOS settings changes, and restart your computer.

Open the same image in VMware Workstation at the next startup to check if the problem has been fixed. Move on to the approach below that is below if you’re still having trouble.

Method 2: Using a CPU ID Masking Method

The message “CPU has been disabled by the guest operating system” can also appear if a security check disables the processor due to the discovery of an unauthorised processor. This frequently occurs while attempting to transfer a picture from a computer with an Ivy Bridge architecture to one with a Sandy Bridge architecture (or vice versa).

When this situation arises, unless the CPU ID is hidden, your system will not allow the image to boot. If you own VMware ESXi or another premium product, you can make this modification quite quickly, but VMware Workstation does not have a GUI option to do this.

The VMX file of the picture can be changed, though, to hide the CPU ID. You’ll need a strong text editor, such as Notepad++, to accomplish this. The following instructions will show you step-by-step how to modify the image’s VMX file in order to fix the “CPU has been deactivated by the guest operating system” error:

1. Verify that Notepad++ is set up on your computer. If you don’t, click the Obtain button on this page to download the installation executable by visiting this link (here).
2. To install Notepad++ on your computer, launch the installation executable and follow the on-screen instructions.
3. After installing the text editor, be sure that your image’s State is set to Powered Off (not suspended). You can do this by selecting Shut down guest from the list when you click the drop-down menu next to the Play button.
4. After that, click Edit virtual machine settings after making sure the guest machine is chosen (from the right-hand pane).
5. Click on the Hard Disk (SCSI) device under the Hardware tab in the Virtual Machine Settings menu. View the precise location of the Disk file by moving to the right pane after that. You’ll need to reach that path in the following phase, so either duplicate it or memorise it.
6. Locate the Disk file location in File Explorer (or the Finder software if you’re using a Mac). There should be several different file kinds visible. You should be able to locate a file with the.vmx extension among them. When you find it, right-click on it and select Notepad++ for editing.
7. After opening the.vmx file in Notepad++, go to the configuration file’s bottom and add the next code line:

“0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:1010:0101” appears in cpuid.1.eax.

8. Press Ctrl + S to save the changes and quit Notepad++ when the code line has been added to the end of the page.
9. From the VMware Workstation Player programme, restart the virtual machine. The “CPU has been disabled by the guest operating system” problem message shouldn’t appear after the guest machine has successfully booted.

Method 3: Making a New Virtual Machine.

If the two ways mentioned above didn’t help you fix the “CPU has been disabled by the guest operating system” error, your virtual machine either has a disc configuration issue or you recently carried out an operation that damaged it.

But regardless of what brought about the problem, you can fix it by building a fresh guest machine. However, keep in mind that doing so would result in the loss of any data that was kept on the guest machine.

Here’s a simple tutorial on building a new virtual machine if you desire to do that:

1. Launch VMware Workstation and choose the Home screen from the left pane. From the right pane, select Create a new Virtual Machine.
2. After choosing the Installer disc image file (iso) toggle, choose the image by clicking the Browse button. In order to prepare for the Easy Install procedure, the wizard will automatically detect the operating system. Click the Next button once the ISO file has loaded.
3. Enter the necessary information and press the Next button one again.
4. Give your new virtual computer a name and a home. Then press the Next button once again.
5. Select the Maximum disc size and choose the storing method to specify the desired Disk capacity. Then press the Next button once again.
6. To construct the new virtual machine, press the Finish button.