Knowledge Base

Below are two situations in which this error message appears:

• The host computer has a processor that includes NX (no execute) or XD (execute disable) technology, the host operating does not support the NX or XD bit, and the guest operating system makes use of the NX or XD bit.

  Affected guest operating systems include Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 3, and Solaris 10.

  The NX technology is present in AMD processors including Athlon64, Opteron, and Sempron. The XD technology is present in Intel EMT64-capable processors.

• You start a virtual machine created by VMware ESX, VMware GSX Server 2.0.1 or earlier, or VMware Workstation 3.x or earlier.

To resolve the issue:

• If you have a NX technology-enabled system, change or upgrade the host operating system to one that supports the NX or XD bit.
   
• If your host operating system is not PAE-enabled, but the guest is, power off the virtual machine and use a text editor to edit the VMX file (.vmx) for the affected virtual machine.
  
  Search for a line beginning with:
  
  paevm =
  
  If the line appears, change it to:
  
  paevm = "TRUE"
  
  If the line does not exist, add it with the value of true as shown in the above example.

You can then power on the virtual machine and run a PAE enabled guest operating system in it.

For more information about editing the virtual machine's configuration file, see Tips for Editing a .vmx File (1714).