Windows XP in KVM Virtualization on Fedora 9

[sujoykroy]

Below is a (one of many) procedure to install WindowsXP on fedora 9 in KVM Virtualization.
The article located at techotopia is very helpful, but the virt-manager used there is not the latest one (at least at the time of making this post)

OS:Fedora 9 -32 bit (Linux Kernel : 2.6.25-14.fc9.i686)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8200 @ 2.66GHz (Intel VT)

Procedure:
1) Check if you have IntelVT enabled

grep vmx /proc/cpuinfo

I got this

flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36
                  clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc
                  arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3
                  cx16 xtpr sse4_1 lahf_lm
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat
                  pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm
                  constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est
                  tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 lahf_lm

You may need to enable IntelVT from BIOS.

2)Then run this.

yum install kvm qemu virt-manager

I installed following versions

kvm i386 65-7.fc9
qemu i386 0.9.1-6.fc9
virt-manager i386 0.5.4-4.fc9

3) After installation, I opened Applications->System Tools->Virtual Machine Manager
and right click on "localhost" and click "connect" from context menu and got error message

Unable to open a connection to the libvirt management daemon.

Verify that:
- The 'libvirtd' daemon has been started

4) It seems libvertd is not started. I could have made it started from System->Administration->Services. But I decided to restart the machine and re-run the step 2. This time qemu gets connected on localhost without any problem.

5) Then right click on "localhost" and click "New" to create new virtualized OS and follow the simple straight-forward procedures. At the end it starts creating the machine by showing "Creating Virtual Machine" progress box. But at the end it throws me error messages.

Unable to complete install: 'virDomainCreateLinux() failed internal error Timed out while reading monitor startup output'

Unable to complete install '<class 'libvirt.libvirtError'> virDomainCreateLinux() failed internal error Timed out while reading monitor startup output
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtManager/create.py", line 651, in do_install
dom = guest.start_install(False, meter = meter)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/virtinst/Guest.py", line 845, in start_install
return self._do_install(consolecb, meter)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/virtinst/Guest.py", line 866, in _do_install
self.domain = self.conn.createLinux(install_xml, 0)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/libvirt.py", line 841, in createLinux
if ret is None:raise libvirtError('virDomainCreateLinux() failed', conn=self)
libvirtError: virDomainCreateLinux() failed internal error Timed out while reading monitor startup output
'

6) I went to "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/libvirt.py", line 841 and found the following function.

def createLinux(self, xmlDesc, flags):
"""Launch a new Linux guest domain, based on an XML
description similar to the one returned by
virDomainGetXMLDesc() This function may requires privileged
access to the hypervisor. """
ret = libvirtmod.virDomainCreateLinux(self._o, xmlDesc, flags)
if ret is None:raise libvirtError('virDomainCreateLinux() failed', conn=self)
__tmp = virDomain(self,_obj=ret)
return __tmp

The comment present on the function caught my eye. So this is about privilege! By some permutation and combination, I got to know that this is something related to SELinux. So go to System->Administration->SELinux Management. From there I changed the "Status" as follows,

System Default Enforcing Mode: Permissive
Current Enforcing Mode:Permissive
System Default Policy Type:targeted

7) I ticked on "Relabel on Next reboot" and restarted the machine and rerun the step 5. This time I selected the previously created image file (as I am not using normal disk partition) but got same error message. I again rerun the step 5 and got it working. This time I saw a splash of SELinux AVC message. May be that's why I needed to try twice before make it working.

8) After that just follow simple procedure to install Windows. But you will probably get error messages after restarting the virtual machine after Windows asked you to do so. You need to add the CD Drive to the virtual machine. Do it in following way , -


a) On Virtual Machine Manager , righ click on newly added virtual machine and click "Details".
b) Then on the new dialog box , click "Hardware" tab and select "Disk hdc".
c) You will see a "connect" button, clicking it will open another dialog box. Select from "CD-ROM o DVD" list and click "Ok".
d) After that, run the virtualized machine. Now the installation should get complete.



I just forgot to mention that you need to place the Windows installer CD in your CD drive at the time of virtual machine creation and installation (I guess that is pretty obvious) .

[asio_bob]

Once Windows is installed you can connect to the virtual machine via VNC on localhost:5900 (I used Vinagre, a gnome VNC client).

However VNC isn't as fast as RDP so its best to use RDP to access Windows. You get the benefit of choosing a better resolution and have sound redirection with no extra effort.

1. Install rdesktop (a RDP client for linux)
yum install rdesktop

2. Now enable Remote Desktop Protocol (I think you need to have XP Pro?) on your Windows, use VNC to access it. Then enable 24bit colour for RDP connections so you can look at photos etc by following

1. Open up the Group Policy editor, by going Start --> Run and type in MMC.

2. Add the Group Policy snap-in by going File --> Add/Remove Snap-in --> Add --> Group Policy Object Editor --> Add --> Finish (Local Machine) --> Close --> Ok.

3. Now navigate in the Group Policy Object Editor from Local Computer Policy --> Computer Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Components --> Terminal Services and double-click on the 'Limit maximum Color Depth' object.

4. By default the policy is disabled and sets you to 16-bit color. Click on 'Enable' and choose either 'Client Compatible' or 24-bit to enable the highest resolution of 24-bit (True Color) to display via Remote Desktop. Options include 8-bit, 15-bit, 16-bit, and 24-bit.

Now you should be able to run in up to 24-bit on Windows XP via your Remote Desktop connection!

Source: http://www.somelifeblog.com/2007/10/...-bit-mode.html

3. Connect to your Windows virtual machine using the following command

padsp rdesktop -g 1280x800 -r sound -f 192.168.122.132

padsp makes sure that rdesktop works with PulseAudio. -g gives the resolution you want, -r sound means to redirect audio to your Host and -f is full screen.

[Falstius]

I'm just finishing an installation of WinXP SP2 in KVM/QEMU on Fedora 9 and to get the install to start I had to limit the virtual machine to 1 logical processor (this is actually the default). Initially I tried to allow 2 and the virtual machine would crash (triple fault) a few seconds into booting the install process.