Re: [Xen-users] can Xen coexist/cooperate with a windows/linux dual-boot system?

["Nick Couchman" <Nick.Couchman@xxxxxxxxx>]

Well, I can see why the previous attempts didn't work, with the partition being 
pushed through, but this one puzzles me - your config looks fine, and I've 
certainly had a lot of success running Windows using file-backed (and 
LVM-backed) disk images.  Doesn't look like you're doing anything wrong.  Can 
you try booting into the XP Recovery Console and using "fixmbr" to rewrite the 
MBR once you've done the install?  This shouldn't be necessary, but I'm 
stumped.  You can install grub on the MBR in the domU, but you still need NTLDR 
active on the XP Install - Grub just chain loads NTLDR, so I don't think that's 
going to help much.

-Nick

>>> On 2010/01/03 at 08:21, richard heade <richard.heade@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> okay, figuring that maybe the problem was with the physical partition I
> built another vm to a "file:", with the following configuration:
> name="winxp2"
> uuid="86764f24-88ae-a66e-44c4-45c10714efed"
> memory=512
> maxmem=1024
> vcpus=1
> 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=[ 'file:/var/lib/xen/images/winxp2/disk0,hda,w',
> 'phy:/dev/sr0,hdc:cdrom,r', ]
> vif=[ 'bridge=br0,model=rtl8139', ]
> 
> stdvga=0
> vnc=1
> vncunused=1
> apic=1
> acpi=1
> pae=1
> 
> usb=1
> usbdevice='tablet'
> 
> serial="pty"
> 
> Same experience as before, the "create" went okay, the vm console/window
> opened, it brought up the XP install disk, it did the XP install, but when
> it came time to reboot and finish the installation I got "NTLDR is
> missing".  If I do a "direct" (non-Xen) XP install, it boots okay, and when
> I had it set up for a dual-boot it boots okay.  What is the Xen XP
> installation missing?  Is there an extra step, that everyone forgot to
> mention, where you install NTLDR or some alternate boot loader (like grub)
> to boot XP?
> 
> 
> On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 8:38 AM, richard heade <richard.heade@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> 
>> okay, I accept that I'm not going to be able to use the same "image" for
>> Xen, and to boot directly.  I've rebuilt my system, so that it now only
>> boots to linux or Xen.  The disk is partitioned somewhat similarly:
>> /dev/sda1 - windows xp
>> /dev/sda2 - extended
>> /dev/sda5 - /
>> /dev/sda6 - swap
>> /dev/sda7 - home
>>
>> I created a new XP vm, winxp, with the following configuration, using Yast:
>> name="winxp"
>> uuid="4c1c1e3d-dc7f-4c62-2467-688c64d77394"
>> memory=512
>> maxmem=1024
>>
>> 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="cd"
>> disk=[ 'phy:/dev/sda1,hda,w', 'phy:/dev/sr0,hdc:cdrom,r', ]
>>
>> vif=[ 'bridge=br0,model=rtl8139', ]
>>
>> stdvga=0
>> vnc=1
>> vncunused=1
>> apic=1
>> acpi=1
>> pae=1
>>
>> usb=1
>> usbdevice='tablet'
>>
>> serial="pty"
>>
>> the "create" went okay, the vm console/window opened, it brought up the XP
>> install disk, and it did the XP install to /dev/sda1 (the files are there),
>> but when it came time to reboot and finish the installation I got "NTLDR is
>> missing".  Is this because I went with a physical partition ("phy:") instead
>> of an image ("file:")?  And how do I get this to work?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 7:20 PM, Nick Couchman 
>> <Nick.Couchman@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>>
>>> 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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