vtAlpha/vtVAX supports the most frequently used Virtual Machine products: VMware, KVM, Xen and Hyper-V. Recently we received inquiries about the Oracle product VirtualBox for Windows, mainly from people who like to run vtAlpha on the Windows notebook they carry around. So, not for real production, just nice to have.
VirtualBox currently lacks support for an operation that is used by virtual Alpha’s. Fortunately there is a fix available that can be applied to VirtualBox, so you can run virtual Alpha’s in that environment too.
For VirtualBox in Windows, open a command window (cmd), go to the directory VirtualBox is installed in (e.g. cd \Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox) and enter the following command:
VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal/CPUM/CMPXCHG16B 1
That fixes the issue and from now on you should be able to run your virtual Alpha’s in that VM environment too.