faster boot with -no-kvm?

faster boot with -no-kvm?

[David Abrahams]

When I start my Windows VM with -no-kvm, it seems to boot much more
quickly than without.  Also there's a long period, right after the VM
changes its screen resolution from the 640x480 used for Windows' boot
screen to 1280x1024, where the VM's screen goes all white.  Is this
all normal?

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[Dor Laor]

>When I start my Windows VM with -no-kvm, it seems to boot much more
>quickly than without.  Also there's a long period, right after the VM
>changes its screen resolution from the 640x480 used for Windows' boot
>screen to 1280x1024, where the VM's screen goes all white.  Is this
>all normal?

I think the longer boot time with kvm might be caused by the slow white 
Screen drawing.
Avi solved it elegantly by aliasing the mmio memory to regular ram.
There was no official kvm release so you'll need to get update from the
git.
Maybe it's a good reason for a new fresh release.

>
>--
>Dave Abrahams
>Boost Consulting
>http://www.boost-consulting.com
>
>Don't Miss BoostCon 2007! ==> http://www.boostcon.com
>
>
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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[Avi Kivity]

David Abrahams wrote:
> When I start my Windows VM with -no-kvm, it seems to boot much more
> quickly than without.  

You probably have acpi enabled in Windows.  This causes massive 
slowdowns in kvm; the real fix will unfortunately require you to upgrade 
your hardware.

There is a workaround:

My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> [Whatever's 
under
Computer, unless it's "Standard PC"] -> Properties -> Update Driver -> 
Not at this time -> Next -> Install
from a list -> Next -> Don't search -> Next -> Standard PC -> Next.

"Standard PC" is the noacpi HAL.


> Also there's a long period, right after the VM
> changes its screen resolution from the 640x480 used for Windows' boot
> screen to 1280x1024, where the VM's screen goes all white.  Is this
> all normal?
>   

That will be gone in kvm-19.

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error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function


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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[David Abrahams]

on Thu Apr 12 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:

> David Abrahams wrote:
>> When I start my Windows VM with -no-kvm, it seems to boot much more
>> quickly than without.  
>
> You probably have acpi enabled in Windows.  This causes massive 
> slowdowns in kvm; the real fix will unfortunately require you to upgrade 
> your hardware.

My physical hardware?  Which part?

Is starting the vm with -no-acpi insufficient?  I just realized, I
haven't been doing that.

> There is a workaround:
>
> My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> [Whatever's 
> under
> Computer, unless it's "Standard PC"] -> Properties -> Update Driver -> 
> Not at this time -> Next -> Install
> from a list -> Next -> Don't search -> Next -> Standard PC -> Next.
>
> "Standard PC" is the noacpi HAL.

I'll try that, thanks.

>> Also there's a long period, right after the VM
>> changes its screen resolution from the 640x480 used for Windows' boot
>> screen to 1280x1024, where the VM's screen goes all white.  Is this
>> all normal?
>>   
>
> That will be gone in kvm-19.

OK, as long as it's well understood :)

-- 
Dave Abrahams
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Don't Miss BoostCon 2007! ==> http://www.boostcon.com


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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[Avi Kivity]

David Abrahams wrote:
> on Thu Apr 12 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
>   
>> David Abrahams wrote:
>>     
>>> When I start my Windows VM with -no-kvm, it seems to boot much more
>>> quickly than without.  
>>>       
>> You probably have acpi enabled in Windows.  This causes massive 
>> slowdowns in kvm; the real fix will unfortunately require you to upgrade 
>> your hardware.
>>     
>
> My physical hardware?  Which part?
>   

The part that currently doesn't virtualize the apic tpr: the cpu.

It happens that Windows in acpi mode likes to bang on this register 
quite a lot, and that the penalty for accessing this register is several 
microseconds (instead of nanoseconds).  Most of the time in a (virtual) 
Windows boot is spent on reading and writing this register.

> Is starting the vm with -no-acpi insufficient?  I just realized, I
> haven't been doing that.
>   

It won't help if Windows wants acpi, I think.

-- 
error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function


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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[David Abrahams]

on Thu Apr 12 2007, "Dor Laor" <dor.laor-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:

>>When I start my Windows VM with -no-kvm, it seems to boot much more
>>quickly than without.  Also there's a long period, right after the VM
>>changes its screen resolution from the 640x480 used for Windows' boot
>>screen to 1280x1024, where the VM's screen goes all white.  Is this
>>all normal?
>
> I think the longer boot time with kvm might be caused by the slow white 
> Screen drawing.
> Avi solved it elegantly by aliasing the mmio memory to regular ram.
> There was no official kvm release so you'll need to get update from the
> git.
> Maybe it's a good reason for a new fresh release.

I'm all for getting as much good stuff released as possible before the
ubuntu feisty beta cycle ends :)

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

Don't Miss BoostCon 2007! ==> http://www.boostcon.com


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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[David Abrahams]

on Thu Apr 12 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:

> There is a workaround:
>
> My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> [Whatever's 
> under
> Computer, unless it's "Standard PC"] -> Properties -> Update Driver -> 
> Not at this time -> Next -> Install
> from a list -> Next -> Don't search -> Next -> Standard PC -> Next.
>
> "Standard PC" is the noacpi HAL.

OK, tried that.  The first reboot hung early in the process, with
Windows' bootup progress indicator doing nothing.  I better start
backing up my VM!

A subsequent reboot went much faster.  Wow, the virtual machine really
blazes now!  Wish I'd known about that earlier, thanks!

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

Don't Miss BoostCon 2007! ==> http://www.boostcon.com


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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[Avi Kivity]

David Abrahams wrote:
> on Thu Apr 12 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
>   
>> There is a workaround:
>>
>> My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> [Whatever's 
>> under
>> Computer, unless it's "Standard PC"] -> Properties -> Update Driver -> 
>> Not at this time -> Next -> Install
>> from a list -> Next -> Don't search -> Next -> Standard PC -> Next.
>>
>> "Standard PC" is the noacpi HAL.
>>     
>
> OK, tried that.  The first reboot hung early in the process, with
> Windows' bootup progress indicator doing nothing.  I better start
> backing up my VM!
>   

That's worrying.

> A subsequent reboot went much faster.  Wow, the virtual machine really
> blazes now!  Wish I'd known about that earlier, thanks!
>   

Looks like something the wiki wants to know about too.

-- 
error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function


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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[David Abrahams]

on Thu Apr 12 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:

> David Abrahams wrote:
>> on Thu Apr 12 2007, Avi Kivity <avi-atKUWr5tajBWk0Htik3J/w-AT-public.gmane.org> wrote:
>>
>>   
>>> There is a workaround:
>>>
>>> My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> [Whatever's 
>>> under
>>> Computer, unless it's "Standard PC"] -> Properties -> Update Driver -> 
>>> Not at this time -> Next -> Install
>>> from a list -> Next -> Don't search -> Next -> Standard PC -> Next.
>>>
>>> "Standard PC" is the noacpi HAL.
>>>     
>>
>> OK, tried that.  The first reboot hung early in the process, with
>> Windows' bootup progress indicator doing nothing.  I better start
>> backing up my VM!
>>   
>
> That's worrying.
>
>> A subsequent reboot went much faster.  Wow, the virtual machine really
>> blazes now!  Wish I'd known about that earlier, thanks!
>>   
>
> Looks like something the wiki wants to know about too.

Seems like it's already there:
http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki/Windows_ACPI_Workaround

It doesn't seem all that easy to find some things on the wiki.  I wish
I knew what to suggest that would improve things, but I don't.

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

Don't Miss BoostCon 2007! ==> http://www.boostcon.com


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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[Avi Kivity]

David Abrahams wrote:
>>     
>>> A subsequent reboot went much faster.  Wow, the virtual machine really
>>> blazes now!  Wish I'd known about that earlier, thanks!
>>>   
>>>       
>> Looks like something the wiki wants to know about too.
>>     
>
> Seems like it's already there:
> http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki/Windows_ACPI_Workaround
>
> It doesn't seem all that easy to find some things on the wiki.  I wish
> I knew what to suggest that would improve things, but I don't.
>   

Well, I wrote that page as a reaction to that conversation, so it isn't 
surprising you couldn't find it before.


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Re: faster boot with -no-kvm?

[Avi Kivity]

David Abrahams wrote:
>>     
>>> A subsequent reboot went much faster.  Wow, the virtual machine really
>>> blazes now!  Wish I'd known about that earlier, thanks!
>>>   
>>>       
>> Looks like something the wiki wants to know about too.
>>     
>
> It doesn't seem all that easy to find some things on the wiki.  I wish
> I knew what to suggest that would improve things, but I don't.
>   

Oh, and the real fix is not to add documentation, but to have the vm 
creation gui have a check box for (or even automatically detect) 
Windows, whereupon it would add the -no-acpi option when launching the 
installer.


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