Passing through entire disk to vm, getting "Booting from disk..."

[TheSamDickey]

Hello!  I am on Unraid 6.9.1 and am attempting to pass through an entire disk to a vm.  I've read on some old forum posts to use a vdisk type of manual, and specify the location as "/dev/disk/by-id/ata-KINGSTON_SA400S37240G_50026B73801D46EB".  It seems to be working fine, but whenever I boot it says "booting from disk..." and then does nothing.  I don't think that it's even attempting to use the OS ISO to boot.

 

My initial thought is to image the disk with the installation ISO so that it can actually boot.  I don't know if this is the best-practice method to solve the problem, and I also have no idea how to image a disk on Unraid.  Is there a tool in the Nerd Pack plugin from Community Applications?

 

In the VM configuration I've tried both Seabios as well as OVMF (I don't care which one I use as long as it boots tbh).  I've also tried Q35 and i440fx, and I've tried all combinations of machines and bios's, with the same result every time. 

 

Does anyone know how to properly pass through an entire disk to a vm in Unraid 6.9?  I am open to suggestions and can also provide additional information if necessary.

[ghost82]

Hi, not many information to help you.

Please provide:

1. are you trying to install from scratch or to pass/convert an existing installation?

2. if you are trying to pass/convert an existing installation, was windows installed with legacy bios or uefi? was it a bare metal installation or other?

3. xml of the vm: provide q35+ovmf (if windows was installed in uefi mode), q35+seabios (if windows was installed in legacy bios mode)

4. any other useful information

 

2 hours ago, TheSamDickey said:

Does anyone know how to properly pass through an entire disk to a vm in Unraid 6.9?

 

2 hours ago, TheSamDickey said:

"/dev/disk/by-id/ata-KINGSTON_SA400S37240G_50026B73801D46EB"

the above is one of the correct methods to pass the entire disk as source, of course if in your /dev/disk/by-id/ folder in unraid you have the entry ata-KINGSTON_SA400S37240G_50026B73801D46EB

 

2 hours ago, TheSamDickey said:

My initial thought is to image the disk with the installation ISO so that it can actually boot

 can you rephrase?

Edited June 20, 2021 by ghost82

[TheSamDickey]

I was going to take the ssd out and install the OS using a second computer.  Then put the ssd in and boot without trying to use an installer.  Update: After sleeping and coming back to it I tried one of the slightly older Debian ISOs I had and it worked instantly.  It also works with literally every other ISO that I have.  There must be something wrong with my Debian 10.10?  No idea. 

 

I am using OVMF with QEMU.  From what I've read online OVMF has more features than SeaBios in terms of passing through SATA devices and stuff.  I've also heard that as long as the vm boots there isn't much of a speed difference if any between the two.