Windows 11 is no longer compatible with Oracle VirtualBox virtual machines

Windows 11 is no longer compatible with the hugely popular Oracle VirtualBox virtualization platform after Microsoft changed its required hardware configuration policies for virtual machines.

When Microsoft first announced Windows 11, they said computers needed new system configurations to install the operating system, including a TPM 2.0 security processor and Secure Boot.

Although many people were angry with these new hardware requirements, Microsoft didn’t hesitate because these components are used to power many security features in Windows 11.

However, because business and software developers commonly use virtual machines to test new operating systems, Microsoft said Windows 11 will not check for compatible hardware during installation or upgrade.

“Microsoft recognizes that the user experience when running Windows 11 in virtualized environments may differ from the experience when running non-virtualized. So while Microsoft recommends that all virtualized instances of Windows 11 follow the same minimum hardware requirements as described in section 1.2. , Windows 11 does not enforce the hardware compliance check for virtualized instances, either during installation or upgrade, ”Microsoft explains in its Windows 11 minimum hardware requirements document.

This week, Microsoft suddenly did an about-face without sufficient warning and is now enforcing Windows 11 system requirements on virtual machines (VMs).

This release includes a change that aligns the application of Windows 11 system requirements on virtual machines (VMs) to be the same as for physical PCs. Previously created virtual machines running Insider Preview builds can do not update to the latest preview versions.

In Hyper-V, virtual machines must be created as a generation 2 virtual machine. Running Windows 11 in virtual machines in other virtualization products from vendors such as VMware and Oracle will continue to operate as long as the hardware requirements are met. “- Microsoft.

Now, when Windows Insiders attempt to update their versions of Windows 11 running on virtual machines that do not support TPM or that use a small system disk, they will see a message that says, “This PC is not responding currently Windows 11 system requirements ”as shown below.

For VMWare Workstation, Hyper-V, Parallels, and QEMU users, this is not a problem as they support TPM passthrough and secure boot.

However, Oracle VirtualBox does not currently support these features, so Microsoft’s new policy change means that you cannot use Windows 11 on VirtualBox.

In response to our question that VirtualBox no longer supports Windows 11 due to these changes, he replied that the operating system would still work on other platforms.

VirtualBox developers are working on a fix

With Oracle VirtualBox developers dropping the ball on TPM support, they are now working on a passthrough driver that will allow a host’s TPM to upgrade to the Windows 11 guest.

Once this is complete, a Windows 11 device will see a host’s TPM and should allow Windows 11 upgrades and installations to continue.

Unlike VMware, which creates a virtual TPM, VirtualBox’s new driver will require a host to have a TPM 2.0 processor for this feature to work.

However, as the driver is still in its infancy, it is unclear whether it will be available when Windows 11 officially launches on October 5.

Since VirtualBox is a very popular virtualization platform because of its free and easy to use, this lack of support will affect many people who want to continue testing or learning about the operating system.

BleepingComputer has contacted Oracle about this TPM passthrough driver and when it should be ready, but has not had a response yet.