0

I'm running Hyper-V on Windows 8.1 x64. I've created a Windows 8.1 x64 Gen2 virtual machine using all the default settings, except that I changed the "Number of virtual processors" from 1 to 2. When I boot up the VM, the VM only shows one processor. What am I missing?

3
  • 1
    What information are you looking at? Task Manager? By default Windows 8 shows a unified CPU % graph, not one per CPU, so that could be mistaken for only 1 vCPU. You should see a "Virtual processors" count on the same screen that lists actual # of virtual processors Sep 11, 2014 at 17:38
  • I was looking at Task Manager and you are right, I see 2 virtual processors and 1 socket. What does this mean from Windows' perspective? Does think it has 2 cores to distribute load or just one doubly-powerful core?
    – Suraj
    Sep 11, 2014 at 18:03
  • Yes, it sees it as two independent processors / cores. It's working as you specified (2 virtual processors). If you want the graph to change, right click on the graph and choose "Change Graph To -> Logical Processors" and you'll see each virtual CPU usage separately. Sep 11, 2014 at 19:35

1 Answer 1

1
  1. Run msconfig.exe
  2. Go to Boot tab
  3. Click on Advanced Options
  4. Verify "Number of Processors" is either unchecked or checked with the correct processor count

enter image description here

2
  • Works! Is this purely cosmetic or does it change the mechanics of how Windows interacts with those processors? Is Windows now in a better position to handle multiple simultaneously running processes?
    – Suraj
    Sep 11, 2014 at 18:05
  • By default Windows will use all processors it can. This option is usually used to lower the number of used processes (for any reason). If you've 2 processors and define Windows to use 2 processors, nothing changes in the process scheduler regarding CPU timeslots, etc. It'd be a no-op.
    – gtirloni
    Sep 11, 2014 at 18:07

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .