The point of full virtualization is that there are certain operating systems
that cannot run as paravirtualized VMs. Windows, for example, must run in a
full virtualization environment - Microsoft has not provided (and is not likely
to provide) a paravirtual kernel for Windows. Windows Server 2008 has an
"enlightened" mode that switches drivers from full emulation to paravirtual
mode when it detects a hypervisor like VMware or Xen; however, even this
"enlightened" version of Windows still requires a full virtual machine.
-Nick
>>> On 2009/12/27 at 19:34, richard heade <richard.heade@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> thanks for the response, but it leaves me wondering what's the point of
> full virtualization. I can install the tweaked OS for
> paravirtualization, or I can tweak the hardware configuration for an
> already installed OS for full virtualization. Either way I can't go
> back to the original OS when I, as occasionally happens, get my linux
> system hosed up.
>
>
> Nick Couchman wrote:
>> The challenge in this sort of setup is that the hardware configuration that
> Windows was installed onto and the hardware configuration that Xen presents
> to HVM-based domUs is different - in some cases very different. For example,
> if you're running modern hardware, you probably have a SATA disk, which is
> usually seen by O/Ss as a SCSI-type controller with SCSI disks. However, HVM
> domUs use IDE-based controllers and disks, which means booting is going to
> have issues seeing the change. There are also differences in the chipset,
> network controllers, etc., that need to be seen correctly by Windows before
> it boots.
>>
>> One of the basic things is to try converting the SCSI-based disk setup to
>> IDE
> - there are instructions on Microsoft's support site for doing this. The
> downside to this is that you probably won't be able to boot Windows back on
> the original hardware outside of the VM after this change - Windows is not
> very flexible in terms of differing hardware configurations outside of your
> basic docked and undocked laptop modes.
>>
>> Note that this also may pose licensing issues - usually machines that come
> with Windows are installed using an OEM license, which licenses Windows to
> run on the original hardware only. Using this same copy of Windows to run in
> a domU is likely a violation of the OEM license - you need another, full
> retail or volume license for Windows to run as a VM.
>>
>> -Nick
>>
>>
>>>>> On 2009/12/27 at 07:52, richard heade <richard.heade@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>
>>> I have a dual-boot setup, using grub, that I'm attempting to convert to
>>> a dual-boot plus xen setup. I'm running openSuSE 11.2 with the
>>> 2.6.31.5-0.1-xen kernel and Xen 3.4.1. The hard drive is partitioned as:
>>> sda1 - xp (ntfs)
>>> sda2 - extended partition
>>> sda5 - /windows/D (fat32)
>>> sda6 - swap
>>> sda7 - / (ext4)
>>> sda8 - /home (ext4)
>>>
>>> I've configured the windows xp vm as:
>>> name="windowsxp"
>>> uuid="b3a2c424-7df7-94f6-79a8-c641e412f68d"
>>> memory=512
>>> maxmem=512
>>> vcpus=2
>>> on_poweroff="destroy"
>>> on_reboot="restart"
>>> on_crash="destroy"
>>> localtime=1
>>> keymap="en-us"
>>>
>>> builder="hvm"
>>> extid=0
>>> device_model="/usr/lib/xen/bin/qemu-dm"
>>> kernel="/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
>>> boot="c"
>>> disk=[ 'phy:/dev/sda1,hda1,w', ]
>>> vif=[ 'bridge=br0,model=rtl8139', ]
>>>
>>> stdvga=0
>>> vnc=1
>>> vncunused=1
>>> apic=1
>>> acpi=1
>>> pae=1
>>>
>>> usb=1
>>> usbdevice='tablet'
>>>
>>> serial="pty"
>>>
>>> When I attempt to run the windows xp vm the console shows "booting from
>>> hard disk...", the cpu usage goes to 100%, and that's as far as it gets.
>>> (I've tried multiple different "disk=..." combinations, this is just the
>>> latest, but I get the same results from all of them.)
>>>
>>> Any ideas on how I might fix this? (it would seem that however xen tries
>>> to boot windows xp, it's not as effective as grub's chainloader.)
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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