The maximum number of virtual CPUs that you can assign to a virtual machine is 128. The number of virtual CPUs depends on the number of logical CPUs on the host, and the type of guest operating system that is installed on the virtual machine.

Be aware of the following limitations:

  • A virtual machine cannot have more virtual CPUs than the number of logical cores on the host. The number of logical cores is equal to the number of physical cores if hyperthreading is disabled or two times that number if hyperthreading is enabled.

  • Not every guest operating system supports Virtual SMP, and guest operating systems that support this functionality might support fewer processors than are available on the host. For information about Virtual SMP support, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at

  • Hyperthreaded hosts might affect virtual machine performance, depending on the workload. The best practice is to test your workload to determine whether to enable or disable hyperthreading on your hosts.