[libvirt-users] convert physical windows 8 machine to virtual machine
I dual boot w8 and Arch Linux. Both are on the same ssd drive (each OS have of course a partition). Now I would like to virtualize w8 and run it inside Arch Linux using KVM/QEMU and Libvirt. w8 has already been installed on a ntfs partition. As it is brand new, it will not be difficult to reinstall it on a image.raw I have been reading some articles and found myself a little bit confused. 1- Some articles point to driver issues on the windows size, which could lead to an unusable OS. Is this a real issue ? Workaround found is to uninstall IDE/SATA driver in w8 and then install general/universal driver. 2- I can of course copy my w8 partition to a image.raw in my second HD, then create the VM. But in this case, after time, I will not have the same w8 on my ssd and my VM. What I am looking for is a VM that will ever replicate w8 on ssd. In this case, I guess I need to reinstall w8 on a raw qemu-img then use this image for the VM. Am I correct ? Is there anyother solution ? Is it worth keeping the raw image on the ssd for better performance,or moving the image to the other HD will make no difference? 3- Most of the reading talk about virtualise a physical windows using Virtualbox or VMware, which I certainly don't want. I would appreciate any good pointer for the overall set-up. Thank you in advance for hints, tips and advices.
On 05/15/2014 03:34 AM, arnaud gaboury wrote:
I dual boot w8 and Arch Linux. Both are on the same ssd drive (each OS have of course a partition). Now I would like to virtualize w8 and run it inside Arch Linux using KVM/QEMU and Libvirt. w8 has already been installed on a ntfs partition. As it is brand new, it will not be difficult to reinstall it on a image.raw
The virt-p2v project is your friend; http://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v/ Be aware that you CANNOT have a windows partition that does both bare-metal booting and virtual booting without risking having to re-register your machine at practically every boot - Windows is highly sensitive to hardware changes, and the change between bare metal and virtual is significant. -- Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266 Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
The virt-p2v project is your friend; http://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v/
Yes, it seems so. I came across some readings about this tool.
Be aware that you CANNOT have a windows partition that does both bare-metal booting and virtual booting without risking having to re-register your machine at practically every boot
Hum hum, that's what I am trying to do. I found some .zip files to apply from w8 that will modify IDE/SATA drivers. Are these driver changes not enough ?
On 05/15/2014 06:31 AM, arnaud gaboury wrote:
The virt-p2v project is your friend; http://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v/
Yes, it seems so. I came across some readings about this tool.
Be aware that you CANNOT have a windows partition that does both bare-metal booting and virtual booting without risking having to re-register your machine at practically every boot
Hum hum, that's what I am trying to do. I found some .zip files to apply from w8 that will modify IDE/SATA drivers. Are these driver changes not enough ?
You can definitely install enough drivers so that both bare-metal and virtual will boot. But what you cannot do is prevent the pci bus from changing - the bare-metal boot WILL see different hardware than the virtual boot, and windows is picky enough that it WILL require re-registration every time the hardware changes that drastically. There's no way around it. -- Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266 Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
You can definitely install enough drivers so that both bare-metal and virtual will boot. But what you cannot do is prevent the pci bus from changing - the bare-metal boot WILL see different hardware than the virtual boot, and windows is picky enough that it WILL require re-registration every time the hardware changes that drastically. There's no way around it.
Ok then. I was going toward mounting the w8 as loop device inside a raw image, but I understand it will break the bare-metal boot. So let's go with two w8 (or one VM only and no physical w8). Thank you for your vise advices.
participants (2)
-
arnaud gaboury -
Eric Blake