Re: [Xen-users] HVM success reports required for wiki

[Klaus Kudielka <klaus.kudielka@xxxxxxx>]

After digging through the mailing list archives, I finally succeeded
getting also Windows XP to work under xen 3.0.3 on an ASUS M2NPV-VM.

Summary:
========

MB:  ASUS M2NPV-VM, BIOS 0504 (GeForce 6150 + nForce 430)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+
RAM: 2 x 512MB

Distro:    FC6
Kernel:    kernel-xen-2.6.18-1.2849.fc6
Xen:       xen-3.0.3-0.1.rc3
Guest OS:  Windows XP Home SP2 EN

Installation notes:
===================

1. I had to use qemu (yum install qemu) for the first-stage CD install,
   otherwise the cursor keys required in the next step didn't work.
2. When Windows asked to press F6 for additional drivers,
   I had to press F5 and to select "Standard PC".
   Otherwise I consistently got the following errors:
     a) acpi=apic=0: VM hangs during "Starting Windows"
     b) acpi=apic=1: VM hangs with blank screen at first boot from HD
3. Qemu needed a long time to copy the first set of files. When qemu
   finally re-booted its VM, I terminated it with Ctrl-C and began booting
   the Xen HVM from the virtual harddisk.

This way I got past both the "Starting Windows" and the "blank screen"
hangs, and the remaining installation (on Xen HVM) continued smoothly.
The stame story obviously happened to other people as well:

http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2006-06/msg00452.html
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2006-November/msg00026.html
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2006-November/msg00056.html
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-xen/2006-November/msg00158.html

I also want to add that I consistently faced both hangs, regardless
whether I used the FC6 xen packages, xen-3.0.3 binary tarball, or
xen-3.0.3 compiled from source.

Conclusions:
============

* ASUS M2NPV-VM works perfectly with HVM
* Windows XP (at least SP2) hardware auto-detection gets seriously 
  confused by Xen HVM
* Cursor keys don't work on Xen HVM after pressing F5
* Many people have suffered from the same problem, so this should
  go into the FAQ

Best regards, Klaus


On Sun, Nov 26, 2006 at 12:49:30PM +0100, Klaus Kudielka wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I would like to add two HVM stories - one success and one failure.
> 
> In both cases HW and Xen/Domain0 software are identical:
> 
> MB:  ASUS M2NPV-VM, BIOS 0504 (GeForce 6150 + nForce 430)
> CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+
> RAM: 2 x 512MB
> 
> Distro: FC6
> Kernel: kernel-xen-2.6.18-1.2849.fc6
> Xen:    xen-3.0.3-0.1.rc3
> 
> ***SUCCESS***
> 
> Guest OS: Windows 2000 Professional SP1
> Config:   acpi=0, apic=0
> Remark1:  30GB logical volume works, 40GB+ logical volume fails
>           (BIOS reports negative size)
> Remark2:  Windows screen resolution only up to 1024x768
> 
> ***FAILURE***
> 
> Guest OS: Windows XP Home SP2
> Config:   acpi=1, apic=1
> Remark1:  Famous blank screen after CD install, at first boot from
>           virtual hard disk
> 
> ***NOTE***
> 
> At least this is a proof that HVM works on an M2NPV-VM, in principle.
> (There have been others as well on this list,
> e.g. <006c01c710cc$cf4c85e0$9800a8c0@main>)
> 
> But the blank screen problem with Windows XP guests remains to be a
> hard one. If somebody solves this, PLEASE tell.
> 
> ***DETAILS***
> 
> ---grub.conf entry---
> 
> title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2849.fc6xen)
>         root (hd0,0)
>         kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-1.2849.fc6 dom0_mem=524288
>         module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2849.fc6xen ro root=/dev/Linux/root rhgb 
> quiet
>         module /initrd-2.6.18-1.2849.fc6xen.img
> 
> ---guest01.hvm---
> 
> arch_libdir = 'lib64'
> 
> kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
> builder='hvm'
> memory = 384
> shadow_memory = 16
> name = "guest01"
> 
> vcpus=1
> pae=0
> acpi=0
> apic=0
> 
> vif = [ 'type=ioemu, mac=00:16:3e:00:00:11, bridge=xenbr0, model=ne2k_pci' ]
> disk = [ 'phy:/dev/mapper/Guests-guest01,ioemu:hda,w', 
>         'file:/d/3/windows/windows_2000_professional_sp1_de.iso,hdc:cdrom,r' ]
> 
> on_poweroff = 'preserve'
> on_reboot   = 'restart'
> on_crash    = 'preserve'
> 
> device_model = '/usr/lib64/xen/bin/qemu-dm'
> 
> boot="d"
> sdl=1
> vnc=0
> vncdisplay=1
> vncconsole=1
> 
> stdvga=0
> serial='pty'
> 
> ---
> 
> Regards, Klaus
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

-- 
Klaus Kudielka                                   Phone: +41 44 342 2824
Heizenholz 35                                   Mobile: +41 76 516 3525
CH-8049 Zuerich                          E-Mail: klaus.kudielka@xxxxxxx
Switzerland              URL: http://cacofonix.nt.tuwien.ac.at/~oe1kib/

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