Windows under KVM + dual boot

Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

I want to be able to launch the same windows installation under KVM/Linux
that I can also boot into directly.  Are there instructions somewhere
for that?

I could try to adapt http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/, but I
would prefer to have something more kvm-specific if possible.

Thanks in advance,

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com

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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[Anthony Liguori]

David Abrahams wrote:
> I want to be able to launch the same windows installation under KVM/Linux
> that I can also boot into directly.  Are there instructions somewhere
> for that?
>
> I could try to adapt http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/, but I
> would prefer to have something more kvm-specific if possible.
>   

I'm not aware of anyone doing this currently although I suspect that 
it's definitely possible.  If you have any success, documenting it in 
the wiki would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Anthony Liguori

> Thanks in advance,
>
>   


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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

on Sat Apr 07 2007, Anthony Liguori <anthony-rdkfGonbjUSkNkDKm+mE6A-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:

> David Abrahams wrote:
>> I want to be able to launch the same windows installation under KVM/Linux
>> that I can also boot into directly.  Are there instructions somewhere
>> for that?
>>
>> I could try to adapt http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/, but I
>> would prefer to have something more kvm-specific if possible.
>>   
>
> I'm not aware of anyone doing this currently although I suspect that 
> it's definitely possible.  If you have any success, documenting it in 
> the wiki would be greatly appreciated!

Unfortunately, KVM core dumps the instant I select XP from my grub
menu.  By contrast, it will happily launch a linux kernel (on
partitions other than the ones I'm booted into; don't worry).  This
makes me think that it's probably not a driver problem, although I
could of course be wrong.

Anyone care to help me diagnose this one?

Thanks,

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
http://www.boost-consulting.com

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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[Avi Kivity]

David Abrahams wrote:
>>> I want to be able to launch the same windows installation under KVM/Linux
>>> that I can also boot into directly.  Are there instructions somewhere
>>> for that?
>>>
>>> I could try to adapt http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/, but I
>>> would prefer to have something more kvm-specific if possible.
>>>   
>>>       
>> I'm not aware of anyone doing this currently although I suspect that 
>> it's definitely possible.  If you have any success, documenting it in 
>> the wiki would be greatly appreciated!
>>     
>
> Unfortunately, KVM core dumps the instant I select XP from my grub
> menu.  By contrast, it will happily launch a linux kernel (on
> partitions other than the ones I'm booted into; don't worry).  This
> makes me think that it's probably not a driver problem, although I
> could of course be wrong.
>
> Anyone care to help me diagnose this one?
>   

We probably misemulate something that grub uses when chainloading 
another bootloader.

A good test is running with -no-kvm.  The gdb backtrace from the core 
dump is also interesting.

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error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function


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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

on Wed Apr 11 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:

> David Abrahams wrote:
>>>> I want to be able to launch the same windows installation under KVM/Linux
>>>> that I can also boot into directly.  Are there instructions somewhere
>>>> for that?
>>>>
>>>> I could try to adapt http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/, but I
>>>> would prefer to have something more kvm-specific if possible.
>>>>   
>>>>       
>>> I'm not aware of anyone doing this currently although I suspect that 
>>> it's definitely possible.  If you have any success, documenting it in 
>>> the wiki would be greatly appreciated!
>>>     
>>
>> Unfortunately, KVM core dumps the instant I select XP from my grub
>> menu.  By contrast, it will happily launch a linux kernel (on
>> partitions other than the ones I'm booted into; don't worry).  This
>> makes me think that it's probably not a driver problem, although I
>> could of course be wrong.
>>
>> Anyone care to help me diagnose this one?
>>   
>
> We probably misemulate something that grub uses when chainloading 
> another bootloader.
>
> A good test is running with -no-kvm.  

The VM hangs immedately, with a few random characters scattered across
its console.

> The gdb backtrace from the core dump is also interesting.

Happy to try that, but where is it putting the core dumps?  I can't
find them.

-- 
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Boost Consulting
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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

on Wed Apr 11 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:

>> Unfortunately, KVM core dumps the instant I select XP from my grub
>> menu.  By contrast, it will happily launch a linux kernel (on
>> partitions other than the ones I'm booted into; don't worry).  This
>> makes me think that it's probably not a driver problem, although I
>> could of course be wrong.
>>
>> Anyone care to help me diagnose this one?
>>   
>
> We probably misemulate something that grub uses when chainloading 
> another bootloader.
>
> A good test is running with -no-kvm.  The gdb backtrace from the core 
> dump is also interesting.

Unfortunately it doesn't look too interesting when I simply run kvm
under gdb.  Is there something else I can do?

exception 13 (0)
rax 0000000000000010 rbx 0000000000007906 rcx 0000000000004208 rdx 0000000000000000
rsi 00000000000007be rdi 00000000000931fe rsp 000000000000cfb4 rbp 0000000000001ff0
r8  0000000000000000 r9  0000000000000000 r10 0000000000000000 r11 0000000000000000
r12 0000000000000000 r13 0000000000000000 r14 0000000000000000 r15 0000000000000000
rip 00000000000006bb rflags 00033202
cs 0d00 (0000d000/0000ffff p 1 dpl 3 db 0 s 1 type 3 l 0 g 0 avl 0)
ds 0d00 (0000d000/0000ffff p 1 dpl 3 db 0 s 1 type 3 l 0 g 0 avl 0)
es 0d00 (0000d000/0000ffff p 1 dpl 3 db 0 s 1 type 3 l 0 g 0 avl 0)
ss 0000 (00000000/0000ffff p 1 dpl 3 db 0 s 1 type 3 l 0 g 0 avl 0)
fs 0000 (00000000/0000ffff p 1 dpl 3 db 0 s 1 type 3 l 0 g 0 avl 0)
gs 0000 (00000000/0000ffff p 1 dpl 3 db 0 s 1 type 3 l 0 g 0 avl 0)
tr 0000 (3f050000/00002088 p 1 dpl 0 db 0 s 0 type b l 0 g 0 avl 0)
ldt 0000 (00000000/0000ffff p 1 dpl 0 db 0 s 0 type 2 l 0 g 0 avl 0)
gdt 9108/27
idt 0/3ff
cr0 60000010 cr2 0 cr3 0 cr4 0 cr8 0 efer 0

Program received signal SIGABRT, Aborted.
[Switching to Thread -1212594496 (LWP 8119)]
0xffffe410 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
(gdb) bt
#0  0xffffe410 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1  0xb7c47df0 in raise () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
#2  0xb7c49641 in abort () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
#3  0x0810ea9d in ?? ()
#4  0x09b26008 in ?? ()
#5  0x00000000 in ?? ()

-- 
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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[Avi Kivity]

David Abrahams wrote:
> on Wed Apr 11 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
>   
>>> Unfortunately, KVM core dumps the instant I select XP from my grub
>>> menu.  By contrast, it will happily launch a linux kernel (on
>>> partitions other than the ones I'm booted into; don't worry).  This
>>> makes me think that it's probably not a driver problem, although I
>>> could of course be wrong.
>>>
>>> Anyone care to help me diagnose this one?
>>>   
>>>       
>> We probably misemulate something that grub uses when chainloading 
>> another bootloader.
>>
>> A good test is running with -no-kvm.  The gdb backtrace from the core 
>> dump is also interesting.
>>     
>
> Unfortunately it doesn't look too interesting when I simply run kvm
> under gdb.  Is there something else I can do?
>
>   

Well, considering that it doesn't work under -no-kvm, I'm not sure 
what's going on here.


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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

on Mon Apr 16 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-AT-qumranet.com> wrote:

> David Abrahams wrote:
>> on Wed Apr 11 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:
>>
>>   
>>>> Unfortunately, KVM core dumps the instant I select XP from my grub
>>>> menu.  By contrast, it will happily launch a linux kernel (on
>>>> partitions other than the ones I'm booted into; don't worry).  This
>>>> makes me think that it's probably not a driver problem, although I
>>>> could of course be wrong.
>>>>
>>>> Anyone care to help me diagnose this one?
>>>>         
>>> We probably misemulate something that grub uses when chainloading
>>> another bootloader.
>>>
>>> A good test is running with -no-kvm.  The gdb backtrace from the
>>> core dump is also interesting.
>>>     
>>
>> Unfortunately it doesn't look too interesting when I simply run kvm
>> under gdb.  Is there something else I can do?
>>
>>   
>
> Well, considering that it doesn't work under -no-kvm, I'm not sure
> what's going on here.

Should I take this to the qemu list?

-- 
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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[Avi Kivity]

David Abrahams wrote:
> on Mon Apr 16 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-AT-qumranet.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> David Abrahams wrote:
>>     
>>> on Wed Apr 11 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>   
>>>       
>>>>> Unfortunately, KVM core dumps the instant I select XP from my grub
>>>>> menu.  By contrast, it will happily launch a linux kernel (on
>>>>> partitions other than the ones I'm booted into; don't worry).  This
>>>>> makes me think that it's probably not a driver problem, although I
>>>>> could of course be wrong.
>>>>>
>>>>> Anyone care to help me diagnose this one?
>>>>>         
>>>>>           
>>>> We probably misemulate something that grub uses when chainloading
>>>> another bootloader.
>>>>
>>>> A good test is running with -no-kvm.  The gdb backtrace from the
>>>> core dump is also interesting.
>>>>     
>>>>         
>>> Unfortunately it doesn't look too interesting when I simply run kvm
>>> under gdb.  Is there something else I can do?
>>>
>>>   
>>>       
>> Well, considering that it doesn't work under -no-kvm, I'm not sure
>> what's going on here.
>>     
>
> Should I take this to the qemu list?
>
>   

Well, the disk image may have been corrupted by kvm somehow (I think it 
unlikely, though) so it would be best to reproduce this with stock qemu 
all the way from installation.

What did you do exactly?  Port an existing setup to kvm/qemu or install 
on a vm from scratch?  If an existing setup, does it still work natively?

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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

on Mon Apr 16 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-AT-qumranet.com> wrote:

>
> Well, the disk image may have been corrupted by kvm somehow (I think
> it unlikely, though) 

Ugh, please no.

> so it would be best to reproduce this with stock
> qemu all the way from installation.

I really don't have time for that, and XP boots just fine directly
from that disk image (not in a vm).

> What did you do exactly?  

   kvm -no-acpi -m 1000 -cdrom /dev/cdrom -boot c /dev/sda

> Port an existing setup to kvm/qemu or
> install on a vm from scratch?  If an existing setup, does it still
> work natively?

An existing setup, and yes, it still works natively

It could conceivably be due to missing drivers for the virtual disk
drive.

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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[Avi Kivity]

David Abrahams wrote:
> on Mon Apr 16 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-AT-qumranet.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> Well, the disk image may have been corrupted by kvm somehow (I think
>> it unlikely, though) 
>>     
>
> Ugh, please no.
>
>   
>> so it would be best to reproduce this with stock
>> qemu all the way from installation.
>>     
>
> I really don't have time for that, and XP boots just fine directly
> from that disk image (not in a vm).
>
>   

That rules out corruption and need to reproduce everything.


>> What did you do exactly?  
>>     
>
>    kvm -no-acpi -m 1000 -cdrom /dev/cdrom -boot c /dev/sda
>
>   
>> Port an existing setup to kvm/qemu or
>> install on a vm from scratch?  If an existing setup, does it still
>> work natively?
>>     
>
> An existing setup, and yes, it still works natively
>
> It could conceivably be due to missing drivers for the virtual disk
> drive.
>   

That should get you a nice BSOD.

So it looks like a qemu problem, but qemu-devel is unlikely to be able
to help you without a way to reproduce.  Still worth reporting IMO.

-- 
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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

on Tue Apr 17 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-AT-qumranet.com> wrote:

>>> Port an existing setup to kvm/qemu or
>>> install on a vm from scratch?  If an existing setup, does it still
>>> work natively?
>>>     
>>
>> An existing setup, and yes, it still works natively
>>
>> It could conceivably be due to missing drivers for the virtual disk
>> drive.
>>   
>
> That should get you a nice BSOD.

Yeah, no such luck.

> So it looks like a qemu problem, but qemu-devel is unlikely to be able
> to help you without a way to reproduce.  Still worth reporting IMO.

OK, thanks.

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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[Gregory Haskins]

I think it will turn out to be a pretty major problem, but probably not for the reason you might think. 
 
I know Xen has the ability to point a vbd interface at a physical partition, and I believe KVM does as well though I am not familiar with it.   
In theory you should be able to point the boot disk at your partition and have it come up as a guest. 
 
 
I think where you will run into problems is that windows won't really like have the system swapped out underneath it.  KVM presents its own set of virtualized PC resources that are undoubtedly divergent in some way from your bare metal machine.  Trying to do what you are proposing is akin to taking your boot hdd out of a white box and putting it into another with a completely different motherboard/video/sound etc layout.  If you've ever tried this, you will know what I mean.  It may work, it may not.  It will certainly thrash around a bit as it discovers all the new devices each time you switch between bare metal and guest.  Generally, the best thing to do IMHO is install windows fresh on the given platform.  Linux is much better in this regard, but even here you may hit some problems. 
 
If you do manage to get it working, let us know.  But I think success here will be on a case by case basis. 
 
-Greg 
 
 
-----Original Message----- 
From: Anthony Liguori <anthony-rdkfGonbjUSkNkDKm+mE6A@public.gmane.org> 
To: David Abrahams <dave-UB3wUj7V41K5azolltMz9laTQe2KTcn/@public.gmane.org> 
CC: kvm-devel-5NWGOfrQmneRv+LV9MX5uipxlwaOVQ5f@public.gmane.org 
BCC: Gregory Haskins <GHaskins-Et1tbQHTxzrQT0dZR+AlfA@public.gmane.org> 
Creation Date: 4/7 9:12 pm 
Subject: Re: [kvm-devel] Windows under KVM + dual boot 
 
David Abrahams wrote: 
> I want to be able to launch the same windows installation under KVM/Linux 
> that I can also boot into directly.  Are there instructions somewhere 
> for that? 
> 
> I could try to adapt http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/, but I 
> would prefer to have something more kvm-specific if possible. 
>    
 
I'm not aware of anyone doing this currently although I suspect that  
it's definitely possible.  If you have any success, documenting it in  
the wiki would be greatly appreciated! 
 
Regards, 
 
Anthony Liguori 
 
> Thanks in advance, 
> 
>    
 
 
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_______________________________________________ 
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https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/kvm-devel 
 
 

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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

on Sun Apr 08 2007, "Gregory Haskins" <GHaskins-AT-novell.com> wrote:

> I think it will turn out to be a pretty major problem, but probably
> not for the reason you might think.
>  
> I know Xen has the ability to point a vbd interface at a physical
> partition, and I believe KVM does as well though I am not familiar
> with it.  In theory you should be able to point the boot disk at your
> partition and have it come up as a guest.
>  
>  
> I think where you will run into problems is that windows won't really
> like have the system swapped out underneath it.  KVM presents its own
> set of virtualized PC resources that are undoubtedly divergent in some
> way from your bare metal machine.  

That's what Windows hardware profiles are for, IIUC.  It seems people
also have to take extra steps to make sure all the necessary drivers
for running the VM are installed.  You might wanna read
http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/


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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

on Sun Apr 08 2007, David Abrahams <dave-UB3wUj7V41K5azolltMz9laTQe2KTcn/-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:

> on Sun Apr 08 2007, "Gregory Haskins" <GHaskins-AT-novell.com> wrote:
>
>> I think it will turn out to be a pretty major problem, but probably
>> not for the reason you might think.
>>  
>> I know Xen has the ability to point a vbd interface at a physical
>> partition, and I believe KVM does as well though I am not familiar
>> with it.  In theory you should be able to point the boot disk at your
>> partition and have it come up as a guest.
>>  
>>  
>> I think where you will run into problems is that windows won't really
>> like have the system swapped out underneath it.  KVM presents its own
>> set of virtualized PC resources that are undoubtedly divergent in some
>> way from your bare metal machine.  
>
> That's what Windows hardware profiles are for, IIUC.  It seems people
> also have to take extra steps to make sure all the necessary drivers
> for running the VM are installed.  You might wanna read
> http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/

I figure the way to get the drivers is to install windows in the usual KVM
way, then copy the drivers across to my windows partition.  We'll see
how that works out.

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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[David Abrahams]

on Sun Apr 08 2007, David Abrahams <dave-UB3wUj7V41K5azolltMz9laTQe2KTcn/-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:

> on Sun Apr 08 2007, David Abrahams <dave-UB3wUj7V41K5azolltMz9laTQe2KTcn/-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
>> on Sun Apr 08 2007, "Gregory Haskins" <GHaskins-AT-novell.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I think it will turn out to be a pretty major problem, but probably
>>> not for the reason you might think.
>>>  
>>> I know Xen has the ability to point a vbd interface at a physical
>>> partition, and I believe KVM does as well though I am not familiar
>>> with it.  In theory you should be able to point the boot disk at your
>>> partition and have it come up as a guest.
>>>  
>>>  
>>> I think where you will run into problems is that windows won't really
>>> like have the system swapped out underneath it.  KVM presents its own
>>> set of virtualized PC resources that are undoubtedly divergent in some
>>> way from your bare metal machine.  
>>
>> That's what Windows hardware profiles are for, IIUC.  It seems people
>> also have to take extra steps to make sure all the necessary drivers
>> for running the VM are installed.  You might wanna read
>> http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/
>
> I figure the way to get the drivers is to install windows in the usual KVM
> way, then copy the drivers across to my windows partition.  We'll see
> how that works out.

I also found
http://www.advicesource.org/ubuntu/Run_Existing_Windows_Instalation_On_Ubuntu_With_Vmware_player.html

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Re: Windows under KVM + dual boot

[Gregory Haskins]

>>> On Sun, Apr 8, 2007 at  2:45 PM, in message <871wiu1z91.fsf-plj1z4F0hBxDlgNbCJLFcg@public.gmane.org>,
David Abrahams <dave-UB3wUj7V41K5azolltMz9laTQe2KTcn/@public.gmane.org> wrote: 

> on Sun Apr 08 2007, "Gregory Haskins" <GHaskins- AT- novell.com> wrote:
> 
>> I think it will turn out to be a pretty major problem, but probably
>> not for the reason you might think.
>>  
>> I know Xen has the ability to point a vbd interface at a physical
>> partition, and I believe KVM does as well though I am not familiar
>> with it.  In theory you should be able to point the boot disk at your
>> partition and have it come up as a guest.
>>  
>>  
>> I think where you will run into problems is that windows won't really
>> like have the system swapped out underneath it.  KVM presents its own
>> set of virtualized PC resources that are undoubtedly divergent in some
>> way from your bare metal machine.  
> 
> That's what Windows hardware profiles are for, IIUC.  It seems people
> also have to take extra steps to make sure all the necessary drivers
> for running the VM are installed.  You might wanna read
> http://www.motin.eu/www/mirror/physvmware/
> 


Interesting.  Thanks for the link!

Do post to the list/wiki if you get this to work.  As I mentioned, I am pretty sure you should be able to do this with KVM (I am just not sure how off the top of my head).

-Greg

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