--- name: "kvm-ok" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "cpu-checker" version: "0.7-1.4" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/kvm-ok" --- # kvm-ok(1) determine if this system is capable of running hardware accelerated KVM virtual machines (ie, possesses Virtualization Technology) ## NAME **kvm-ok** - determine if this system is capable of running hardware accelerated KVM virtual machines (ie, possesses Virtualization Technology) ## DESCRIPTION **kvm-ok** is a program that will determine if the locate system can host hardware accelerated KVM virtual machines. The program will first determine if */proc/cpuinfo* contains the flags indicating that the CPU has the Virtualization Technology (VT) capability. Next, it will check if the */dev/kvm* device exists. If running as root, it will check your CPU's MSRs to see if VT is disabled in the BIOS. In some failure cases, **kvm-ok** provides hints on how you might go about enabling KVM on a system where it is arbitrarily disabled. If KVM can be used, this script will exit 0, otherwise it will exit non-zero. ## SEE ALSO [**kvm**(1)](/kvm/1.md), [**dmesg**(1)](/dmesg/1.md) ## FILES */proc/cpuinfo*, */dev/kvm* ## BUGS The disabled-by-bios check currently scans [**dmesg**(1)](/dmesg/1.md) for a message displayed by the kernel. This is not ideal, in that a long-running system will eventually roll the dmesg logs. The kernel should expose the disabled-by-bios flag in */proc/cpuinfo*. *https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/535373* ## MORE INFORMATION *http://launchpad.net/cpu-checker* ## AUTHOR This manpage and the utility was written by Dustin Kirkland \ for Ubuntu systems (but may be used by others). Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 3 published by the Free Software Foundation. On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3.