Avast BLOCKS Hardware-Assisted Virtualization !!! Yes it does !!!

[Spec8472]

Can you please specify your CPU and OS?

@Evjls post:60

I can confirm that with that option enabled by default, my VM ran much much slower, UI was slowly rendered. Switched off the option in troubleshoting → reboot → the VM worked flawlessly again like nothing happened

Please fix it. We don’t want to uncheck that option but we have to do so to regain the speed of other apps

[glnz]

Spec -

1. Here’s a copy of the most recent ! Error in that log:

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Virtual PC/Admin Source: Microsoft-Windows-Virtual PC Date: 2/24/2017 8:59:04 AM Event ID: 108 Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: User: WINDOWS-B686H5R\glnz Computer: WINDOWS-B686H5R Description: 'Windows XP Mode' experienced a fatal processor error and has been turned off. Event Xml: 108 0 2 0 0 0x8000000000000000 1919 Microsoft-Windows-Virtual PC/Admin WINDOWS-B686H5R Windows XP Mode

2. vpcvmm.sys is version 6.1.7601.17514 (Date modified 11/20/2010 at 8:34am)

[Evjls]

@Spec8472 post:61

Can you please specify your CPU and OS?

@Evjls post:60

I can confirm that with that option enabled by default, my VM ran much much slower, UI was slowly rendered. Switched off the option in troubleshoting → reboot → the VM worked flawlessly again like nothing happened

Please fix it. We don’t want to uncheck that option but we have to do so to regain the speed of other apps

here you are

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home Version 10.0.14393 Build 14393 Other OS Description Not Available OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation System Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard System Model HP ENVY dv6 Notebook PC System Type x64-based PC System SKU C2Y39AV Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s) BIOS Version/Date Insyde F.2D, 08/04/2014 SMBIOS Version 2.7 Embedded Controller Version 52.24 BIOS Mode UEFI BaseBoard Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard BaseBoard Model Not Available BaseBoard Name Base Board Platform Role Mobile Secure Boot State Off PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32 Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2 Locale United States Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.14393.206" Time Zone Central Europe Standard Time Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB Total Physical Memory 7.89 GB Available Physical Memory 4.42 GB Total Virtual Memory 7.89 GB Available Virtual Memory 4.27 GB Page File Space 0 bytes Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

[Spec8472]

Thank you Evjls, the CPU should handle nested virtualization without problems. What is your virtualization software?

[Evjls]

@Spec8472 post:64

Thank you Evjls, the CPU should handle nested virtualization without problems. What is your virtualization software?

I use VMware workstation pro 12.5.2 build-4638234 on Windows 10 Home x64 → virtualized OS: Windows 7 Pro 32 bit

[system]

I’m using virtual box and it won’t start up in virtual mode in win 10 X-64, i5-6600 CPU

[Spec8472]

Can you please provide logs from failed VM startup: it should be present in the folder where the VM files are stored, in the Logs subfolder

@broadcast23 post:66

I’m using virtual box and it won’t start up in virtual mode in win 10 X-64, i5-6600 CPU

[system]

Hello, I think I have the same problem even with a completely different hardware than the other of the topic The problem occurs with all of the virtual machines, with both VMware hypervisor or virtual box. I performed the minimum avast installation and also the only component web protection shows the same problems, the virtual machines will slowly start and lower performance.

[bob3160]

@francesco98 post:68

Hello, I think I have the same problem even with a completely different hardware than the other of the topic The problem occurs with all of the virtual machines, with both VMware hypervisor or virtual box. I performed the minimum avast installation and also the only component web protection shows the same problems, the virtual machines will slowly start and lower performance.

See reply #66

[glnz]

igor and Spec -

What’s the story? When are you sending an update that will fix this (again)?

Others are posting in this forum with the same problem.

Thanks.

[Spec8472]

Hi glnz, I am not able to reproduce your issue, using XP mode without any issues with aswVmm on very similar HW. But starting next version, aswVmm will not use virtualization mechanisms if XP Mode installation is detected.

@glnz post:70

igor and Spec -

What’s the story? When are you sending an update that will fix this (again)?

Others are posting in this forum with the same problem.

Thanks.

[glnz]

Spec - thanks for fast response.

But …

1. When Avast doesn’t use hardware-assisted virtualization (HAV), is Avast weaker?
2. If Avast is weaker without HAV, how? What risks are greater without HAV?
3. If Avast is weaker without HAV, and you can’t change that, then I would prefer to have the choice I have now: Leave HAV enabled in Avast until I need to use XP Mode (or other virtual mode), then turn off Avast’s HAV manually in “Troubleshooting” while I’m doing a virtual, and turn HAV back on manually when I’m done. In that circumstance, please do not eliminate this choice.

Kindly give us some detail here.

Of course, what we all want is for Avast to be as strong as possible but not interfere with how we use our PCs. It’s a shame your team can’t make that work.

Thanks for helping.

[Spec8472]

Avast is a bit weaker without virtualization as it is used in self-defense, sandbox and antirootkit. But don’t worry about detection abilities of standard shields (FS, WEB), it should perform very same even without virtualization.

@glnz post:72

Spec - thanks for fast response.

But …

1. When Avast doesn’t use hardware-assisted virtualization (HAV), is Avast weaker?
2. If Avast is weaker without HAV, how? What risks are greater without HAV?
3. If Avast is weaker without HAV, and you can’t change that, then I would prefer to have the choice I have now: Leave HAV enabled in Avast until I need to use XP Mode (or other virtual mode), then turn off Avast’s HAV manually in “Troubleshooting” while I’m doing a virtual, and turn HAV back on manually when I’m done. In that circumstance, please do not eliminate this choice.

Kindly give us some detail here.

Of course, what we all want is for Avast to be as strong as possible but not interfere with how we use our PCs. It’s a shame your team can’t make that work.

Thanks for helping.

[glnz]

Spec - that sounds – well – not great but not too bad.

However, if Avast cannot make its HAV “get out of the way” automatically, then I would still prefer to keep Avast’s HAV turned on and have the option to turn it off when I’m doing something virtual.

Please do NOT get rid of it entirely.

[LouisGo]

I got slammed with this today.
Avast auto updated with whole new UI.
Using vmware player 12.5.4, disable HAV and it’s fine now.

[system]

Hit by this today, after upgrading from some earlier version… Windows Virtual PC VMs with Windows 7/Vista - no XP Mode

[glnz]

This problem continues in new version 17.3.2291.

[Morell]

Have this problem too.

Idea: Can developers just add list of applications that will be allowed acess to virtualization, when Avast obviously fails to recognise them?

[Asyn]

You could try the latest beta: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=15

[glnz]

This problem continues with 17.5.2302, even with its recent sub-category “nested virtualization”.

To be clear, in my Win 7 Pro 64-bit machine, I still cannot turn on XP Mode unless I UNcheck “Enable hardware-assisted virtualization”.