Install Windows7 on KVM Qemu
If you plan to install Windows 7 on KVM/Qemu Hypervisor you would need to resolve few problems:
- lockup on boot (ending with Starting Windows and animated logo)
- need to have VirtIO disk and drivers for good IO performance
Install at least following packages in Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install virt-manager qemu-kvm libvirt-bin ubuntu-vm-builder bridge-utils virt-viewer NOTE: You may need to Logout/Login after above installation to get membership in
libvirtdgroup
To install Windows 7 you need:
- Windows 7 installation DVD in ISO file (licensed original of course!)
- VirtIO driver disk - download from https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/archive-virtio/virtio-win-0.1.126-2/virtio-win-0.1.126.iso or look at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Windows_Virtio_Drivers for recent version of VirtIO drivers
NOTE: According to https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Windows_Virtio_Drivers QXL Graphics driver is included in virtio-win-0.1.103-1 and later Therefore we use 0.1.126 here (to fulfill this requirement)
- Start Virtual Machine Manager (either from your favorite Desktop (LXDE), or issuing
virt-managerfrom terminal). - Click on Icon Create a new virtual machine
- Keep Local install media (ISO image or CDROM) selection and click on Forward
- Select Use ISO image and Browse... to your Win7 installation DVD
NOTE: OS auto-detection failed in my case, so don't worry - you are not alone. Try to install libosinfo package.
- Uncheck automatically detect OS...
- select in listboxes:
- OS Type: Windows
- Version: Microsoft Windows 7
- Click on Forward
- Use proper CPU and Memory for Win7, reasonable minimums are:
- 1x CPU
- 2048MB of RAM
- Keep selected Enable storage and Create disk image... - recommended size is 30GB or more.
- Click on Forward
- change Name: to something reasonable
- Select check-box Customize configuration before install
- Click on Finish
Now we need to adjust our configuration:
- Click on IDE Disk 1
- expand Advanced
- change Disk bus to VirtIO
- click on "Apply"
- click on Display Spice
- change Type: to VNC Server
- click on Apply
- click on Video QXL
- change Model: to Cirrus
- click on Apply
- click on NIC: ...
- change Device Model: to VirtIO
- click on Apply
- Remove Sound: ich6
- click on Add hardware
- select Storage
- select Device Type: to CDROM Device
- click on Finish
- click on IDE CDROM 1 and change:
- click on Connect and select your Windows 7 installation DVD ISO
- enable checkbox Shareable
- click on Apply
- click on your IDE CDROM 2 and change:
- click on Connect and select your
virtio-win-0.1.118.iso - enable checkbox Shareable
- click on Apply
- click on Connect and select your
NOTE: There is some rumor, that ordering DVD as Driver ISO First and OS ISO last will automatically load required drivers - but I had never such luck...
- click on Boot options
- check Enable Boot Menu
- enable and reorder these entries so that boot menu looks like:
- IDE CDROM 1
- VirtIO Disk 1
- ...others...
- click on Apply
Now we need to add (temporarily) secondary QXL adapater, otherwise the Windows graphics drivers will be unable to install.
However - primary adapter must be (temporarily) Cirrus - otherwise Windows would have no chance to display installation setup.
Add QXL using:
- Click on Add Hardware
- Select Graphics
- Keep Type: to Spice Server
- Click Finish
- again Click on Add Hardware
- click on Video
- Change Model: to QXL
- click on Finish
Finally you can click on Begin installation
- After a while a window Install Windows should appear
- Click on Next
- click on Install Now
NOTE: At any time you can use Ctrl-Alt to release mouse from KVM to X-Window
- confirm license terms (but rather don't read them if you want to sleep well)
- Click on Custom (Advanced) installation Type
NOTE: there should be warning
No drives were found- it is expected...
- do this to fix missing Disk Drive problem:
- click on Load Driver
- click on Browse
- On DVD labeled virtio-win-0.1.1 Expand path to
\viostor\w7\amd64 - confirm driver Red Hat VirtIO SCSI controller clicking on Next
- now there should be visible Disk 0 unallocated space
- just click on Next - Windows should start Copying and Expanding files - the installation itself should take about 30minutes
After few reboots you should have Windows 7 desktop ready. However there are few things that need to be fixed...
Windows 7 knows nothing about VirtIO (or KVM at all) - so you need to install proper drivers (with exception of Disk driver - it was already done in setup part).
- hold Win+R and type
devmgmt.mscto Run box - a Device Manager should appear
- Right-click on Other Devices -> Ethernet Controller (with question mark)
- Click on Update Driver Software...
- choice Browse my computer for driver software
- click on Browse... and choice your CD with virtio-win-0.1.1 label
- ensure that Include subfolders is checked on - click on Next
- confirm always trust sofwtare from "Red Hat, Inc."
Now you should have installed RedHat VirtIO Ethernet adapter
Repeat above steps for remaining Other devices:
- PCI Device -> should install VirtIO Balloon Driver
- PCI Simple Communications Controller -> VirtIO-Serial Driver
- Video Controller -> Red Hat QXL GPU
In your windows guest run from your virtio-win-0.1.1 ISO CD Guest agent - in a path like
\guest-agent\qemu-ga-64.msi
- Run again Device Manager
- Verify that QXL is detected and working proberly - there should be a device in:
- Display Adapters -> Red Hat QXL GPU
- Shutdown your Windows Guest (thanks to Guest Agent it should be even possible to use Virtual Machine Manager -> Shut Down)
- Switch Manager to i icon (Show Virtual Hardware Details)
- Remove these devices:
- Display VNC
- Video Cirrus
Power on your Windows Guest - it should work with QXL/Spice now...
Spice can be verified using virsh for example:
virsh
virsh # list
Id Name State
----------------------------------------------------
4 win7tutor running
virsh # domdisplay win7tutor
spice://127.0.0.1:5900In Windows Guest you can verify or change your Adapater settings using:
- Right-Click somewhere on Windows Desktop
- click on Screen resolution
- You should see Display: like: 1. (Default Monitor) on Red Hat QXL GPU
That's all.
Copyright © Henryk Paluch. All rights reserved.
