Windows 7 VM issues - bootmgr missing

[allanp81]

I've set up unraid etc. all successfully and created a VM with Windows 7. I added the 4 drivers during the install as per the manual and it then lets me format the drive and installs it. On the next boot it just fails and says bootmgr missing press ctrl+alt+del and won't boot the VM.

 

If I boot into the windows rescue disk it sees the installation and let's me run the bootsect /nt60 SYS /mbr command successfully but on the next boot it stills fails.

 

What am I doing wrong here?

[itimpi]

I've set up unraid etc. all successfully and created a VM with Windows 7. I added the 4 drivers during the install as per the manual and it then lets me format the drive and installs it. On the next boot it just fails and says bootmgr missing press ctrl+alt+del and won't boot the VM.

 

If I boot into the windows rescue disk it sees the installation and let's me fun the bootsect /nt60 SYS /mbr command successfully but on the next boot it stills fails.

 

What am I doing wrong here?

I cannot think of anything obvious.    I did what you appear to have described and it all works fine for me. 

[allanp81]

Which version of unraid are you using? I'm 6 rc6. All seems to work fine until trying to boot the VM after installing win7.

 

It's really annoying me as it's not obvious why it's failing.

[CHBMB]

How did you get the Windows 7.iso file? Not sure it's relevant but I've had no problems with the same Unraid version as you.

[allanp81]

it's a win7 enterprise iso from our msdn repo

[CHBMB]

Might be worth posting your xml, what machine type etc did you use?  What sort of virtual disc? Is the enterprise edition allowed to be installed on a VM.  Gotta admit I'm plucking at straws here. 

 

Might even be worth just restarting and see if that works.

[allanp81]

HEre is the xml it generated:

 

<domain type='kvm'>
  <name>downloadbox</name>
  <uuid>2f4f69c7-9b1e-dafc-b7a8-83c0a8e4554f</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <vmtemplate name="Custom" icon="windows7.png" os="windows7"/>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit='KiB'>1048576</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>1048576</currentMemory>
  <memoryBacking>
    <nosharepages/>
    <locked/>
  </memoryBacking>
  <vcpu placement='static'>2</vcpu>
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='0'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='1'/>
  </cputune>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.3'>hvm</type>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <hyperv>
      <relaxed state='on'/>
      <vapic state='on'/>
      <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/>
    </hyperv>
  </features>
  <cpu mode='host-passthrough'>
    <topology sockets='1' cores='2' threads='1'/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset='localtime'>
    <timer name='hypervclock' present='yes'/>
    <timer name='hpet' present='no'/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>
      <source file='/mnt/user/data/downloadbox/vdisk1.img'/>
      <target dev='hda' bus='virtio'/>
      <boot order='1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>
    </disk>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>
      <source file='/mnt/user/data/downloadbox/vdisk1.img'/>
      <target dev='hdb' bus='virtio'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='usb' index='0'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>
    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:79:29:30'/>
      <source bridge='virbr0'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <target port='0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty'>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
    </console>
    <channel type='unix'>
      <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/downloadbox.org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
      <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
      <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/>
    </channel>
    <input type='tablet' bus='usb'/>
    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>
    <graphics type='vnc' port='-1' autoport='yes' websocket='-1' listen='0.0.0.0' keymap='en-us'>
      <listen type='address' address='0.0.0.0'/>
    </graphics>
    <video>
      <model type='vmvga' vram='16384' heads='1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </video>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
</domain>

[dlandon]

Windows 7 won't boot with OVMF selected as the BIOS.

[allanp81]

I have it set to seabios.

[jonp]

I've not tried the Enterprise version of Win 7 before, but can't imagine it'd have different results from Win 7 Pro.  Will test with Enterprise tomorrow to see if I can reproduce the issue you're having.

[allanp81]

I have solved this, it looks like 2Gb total system memory with 1Gb allocated to the win7 vm isn't enough!

 

I put another 4Gb in and allocated 2Gb to the vm and now it's working fine.

[itimpi]

I have solved this, it looks like 2Gb total system memory with 1Gb allocated to the win7 vm isn't enough!

 

I put another 4Gb in and allocated 2Gb to the vm and now it's working fine.

Glad to hear it is solved.

 

I must admit that if I had realised there was so little RAM in the machine I would have recommended increasing it.  I tend to assume that if you are going to use VMs that you have a reasonable amount of RAM.    Having said that, it was a weird issue to be RAM related.

[allanp81]

I was only testing out unraid as I'm in the process of upgrading my server and wanted to make sure everything was going to work.

 

Ideally it should've refused to allow me to create the vm with such a small amount of ram.

[itimpi]

Ideally it should've refused to allow me to create the vm with such a small amount of ram.

Possibly. but I can see scenarios where one might want to run very small VMs.  However adding more RAM is normally easy and cheap so perhaps a warning on the Settings page where one enables VM support if you are below something like 4GB might be a good idea.  Do not forget as well as the RAM allocated to the VM, there will be the overhead for running the emulator as well - I do not know how much that is.

 

Since it was a weird error to be RAM related I wonder if it may be an issue with Windows 7 Enterprise trying to run in 1GB - I cannot see real-world environments being that limited if they are intending to run the Enterprise edition.

[allanp81]

I'm sure we ran it on machines with only 1Gb where I work in the past.