[Solved] creating a new Windows 7 VM is failing, not sure why...

[JustinChase]

I'd gotten a message about not being able to allocate the memory when I first tried, so I changed initial from 512 to 1024 and max from 3072 to 2048 and tried saving again, now I get the attached error window.

 

I've attached the settings I'm trying to use also.

 

I'm sure I'm missing something simple, but wanted to ask for help in getting setup.

 

Eventually, i want to pass thru my new MSI GeForce GT720 video card and sound card and update the VM to Windows 10.

 

I want to get it up and running in VNC first, and get updated to Windows 10, then passthru the video card and audio.

 

I'm not sure I'm picking the 'best' machine type or BIOS for this, so advice welcome on that also.

 

Thanks

[jonp]

I'd gotten a message about not being able to allocate the memory when I first tried, so I changed initial from 512 to 1024 and max from 3072 to 2048 and tried saving again, now I get the attached error window.

 

I've attached the settings I'm trying to use also.

 

I'm sure I'm missing something simple, but wanted to ask for help in getting setup.

 

Eventually, i want to pass thru my new MSI GeForce GT720 video card and sound card and update the VM to Windows 10.

 

I want to get it up and running in VNC first, and get updated to Windows 10, then passthru the video card and audio.

 

I'm not sure I'm picking the 'best' machine type or BIOS for this, so advice welcome on that also.

 

Thanks

 

Multiple problems here:

 

1 - Windows 7 does not work with UEFI.  There is hackery involved to even try to make it work and no, we haven't tested it nor is it supported.

2 - There is an issue with using Q35 and OVMF and Windows based guests.  Don't use it.  Also, for non-Windows guests, after defining the VM (without creating), you need to edit the XML and manually remove the ide controller from the VM XML manually.

3 - Unless you are having an issue, do NOT use Q35 (at all).

[jonp]

FYI, I am working on a wiki page that has more details on supported Windows guest configurations.  You can view my WIP here:

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_6/VM_Guest_Support

[dlandon]

FYI, I am working on a wiki page that has more details on supported Windows guest configurations.  You can view my WIP here:

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_6/VM_Guest_Support

 

Very nice!  Easy to follow.

[jonp]

FYI, I am working on a wiki page that has more details on supported Windows guest configurations.  You can view my WIP here:

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_6/VM_Guest_Support

 

Very nice!  Easy to follow.

 

Thanks!  Trying to make it super easy.  Its honestly been a challenge to decide how to document things.  Between the forums, blog, wiki, and youtube, it's hard to decide where time is best spent.  That said, I think the flow I'm going to try to achieve is to document as much as I can in the wiki, so folks have a readable format for things, but then supplement with youtube videos to help explain and add more color than text can provide, and then use the blog to help showcase the use-cases for all the tech (connecting the reason why someone should care to do these things with how they can do them).  The forum then becomes the "last line of defense" should someone have issues that the other mediums of content can't help them with.

[JustinChase]

Thanks jonp, the wiki you created is great, thanks for the link.

 

Sadly, I'm not able to load any of the drivers.  I've tried loading windows7 and windows10, but both are unsuccessful when I try to load the balloon and the NetKVM drivers.  it doesn't matter which order I try, no drivers actually get loaded.  The .109 drivers don't have a section for Windows10, so i tried windows 7, 8 and 8.1 and all fail.

 

I wonder if it's a problem with the machine type I'm trying to use (i440fx-2.3).

 

Any other suggestions/ideas on what to try?

[jonp]

Thanks jonp, the wiki you created is great, thanks for the link.

 

Sadly, I'm not able to load any of the drivers.  I've tried loading windows7 and windows10, but both are unsuccessful when I try to load the balloon and the NetKVM drivers.  it doesn't matter which order I try, no drivers actually get loaded.  The .109 drivers don't have a section for Windows10, so i tried windows 7, 8 and 8.1 and all fail.

 

I wonder if it's a problem with the machine type I'm trying to use (i440fx-2.3).

 

Any other suggestions/ideas on what to try?

 

I'm assuming all of this was through OVMF?

[JustinChase]

Thanks jonp, the wiki you created is great, thanks for the link.

 

Sadly, I'm not able to load any of the drivers.  I've tried loading windows7 and windows10, but both are unsuccessful when I try to load the balloon and the NetKVM drivers.  it doesn't matter which order I try, no drivers actually get loaded.  The .109 drivers don't have a section for Windows10, so i tried windows 7, 8 and 8.1 and all fail.

 

I wonder if it's a problem with the machine type I'm trying to use (i440fx-2.3).

 

Any other suggestions/ideas on what to try?

 

I'm assuming all of this was through OVMF?

Nope, I changed to seabios.

[jonp]

I've tried loading windows7 and windows10, but both are unsuccessful when I try to load the balloon and the NetKVM drivers.

 

Please explain "unsuccessful"?  Can you take a screenshot of what you see?

 

I wonder if it's a problem with the machine type I'm trying to use (i440fx-2.3).

 

No problem with the machine type.  Works fine for me 100% of the time.

[jonp]

The NetKVM nor the balloon drivers are required for a Windows installation to complete.  The only driver that actually must be loaded prior to the install would be viostor.

 

Also, want to make sure that when you are browsing the folders, you are browsing to the amd64 folder, not the x86 folder.

[JustinChase]

When I launch the VM, it takes me to the windows installation screen.  There is no disk to install to.  I try to install a disk using the virtio drivers, and after selecting balloon>amd64, it takes me back to the windows screen showing no disks to install to.  If I try installing the NetKVM>win7>amd64 (or win8 or win8.1), it just doesn't install the disk for me to install anything to.

 

I've tried windows 7, windows 8, windows 8.1, windows 10 preview and windows 10 (the only iso's I have), and they all behave the same way.

[dlandon]

When I launch the VM, it takes me to the windows installation screen.  There is no disk to install to.  I try to install a disk using the virtio drivers, and after selecting balloon>amd64, it takes me back to the windows screen showing no disks to install to.  If I try installing the NetKVM>win7>amd64 (or win8 or win8.1), it just doesn't install the disk for me to install anything to.

 

I've tried windows 7, windows 8, windows 8.1, windows 10 preview and windows 10 (the only iso's I have), and they all behave the same way.

 

You have to load the viostor driver to get a disk device to show up.

 

EDIT: See if this doesn't help: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_Manual_6

[JustinChase]

When I launch the VM, it takes me to the windows installation screen.  There is no disk to install to.  I try to install a disk using the virtio drivers, and after selecting balloon>amd64, it takes me back to the windows screen showing no disks to install to.  If I try installing the NetKVM>win7>amd64 (or win8 or win8.1), it just doesn't install the disk for me to install anything to.

 

I've tried windows 7, windows 8, windows 8.1, windows 10 preview and windows 10 (the only iso's I have), and they all behave the same way.

 

You have to load the viostor driver to get a disk device to show up.

Ah, okay. I didn't remember doing that for my other VMs, but that was long before this new system.

 

Also, I expected to see something happen with the netkvm and balloon drivers so I didn't continue down the list in the wiki. Maybe a note can/should be added to keep people moving down the list.

[jonp]

Ah, okay. I didn't remember doing that for my other VMs, but that was long before this new system.

 

There was never an incantation of the VM manager in the webGui that didn't require this.  Maybe if you used the original webvirtmanager that was supplied by dmacias (honestly can't remember), but if it was any version that existed in the webGui directly, it would have required this.

 

Also, I expected to see something happen with the netkvm and balloon drivers...

 

I wish you would have used the word assume so I could provide a witty reply ;-).  The reason nothing happens is because the screen that you're at in the process at that point is for loading a storage device driver, because Windows can't find a storage device using the drivers it has as part of the install media itself.  When you load the other drivers first, it pre-loads them into the OS for you so that those devices will work properly, but nothing is going to "happen" when you do that because even after loading NetKVM / balloon, and vioserial, Windows still doesn't see a storage device yet.  It's not until you do viostor that it actually sees something you can use to install Windows.

 

so I didn't continue down the list in the wiki. Maybe a note can/should be added to keep people moving down the list.

 

I'm actually in the process of rewriting a lot of sections to simplify and add screenshots.  The process I'm going to be recommending for this going forward will be to only add the viostor driver and then load all the other drivers once the install is done (it's actually easier that way, because you can just use Windows Device Manager, right click the devices with the ? symbol, hit update drivers, then specify a path of e:\ and it will auto-find the right driver for the device (no pathing to the specific folder/subfolder required).

 

That said, even if I didn't change this, I probably wouldn't add update the wiki.  The guide is accurate, and folks that abandon it prematurely...well...shame on you!! 

 

Side note:  good to hear from you again.  How's your hardware holding up lately?  You were one unlucky guy for quite a while...  Hope your issues are sorted out.

[dlandon]

The way I install a VM the first time is to use the 100 drivers and select the OS and then 64 bit drivers.  All the necessary drivers are loaded including viostor and installation can continue.  I then go back and update the drivers to the 109 (or latest version) in the VM itself.

 

The structure of the drivers was changed after 100 to individual devices.  The 100 drivers are organized by OS and 64 or 32 bit drivers.  This makes it easier to get the right drivers if you aren't sure which ones are required.

[jonp]

The way I install a VM the first time is to use the 100 drivers and select the OS and then 64 bit drivers.  All the necessary drivers are loaded including viostor and installation can continue.  I then go back and update the drivers to the 109 (or latest version) in the VM itself.

 

The structure of the drivers was changed after 100 to individual devices.  The 100 drivers are organized by OS and 64 or 32 bit drivers.  This makes it easier to get the right drivers if you aren't sure which ones are required.

 

That's another way to go, but I'm not a fan of pre-loading outdated drivers, so the guide I'll be assembling will be to just load the viostor drivers initially, then post-install use Windows Device Manager to load the others.

[JustinChase]

The way I install a VM the first time is to use the 100 drivers and select the OS and then 64 bit drivers.  All the necessary drivers are loaded including viostor and installation can continue.  I then go back and update the drivers to the 109 (or latest version) in the VM itself.

 

The structure of the drivers was changed after 100 to individual devices.  The 100 drivers are organized by OS and 64 or 32 bit drivers.  This makes it easier to get the right drivers if you aren't sure which ones are required.

Yeah, last time was with the old/original plugin. I've never used the GUI to create a VM before.

 

It will probably be a couple days before I can spend time on it again, but I'll keep pressing on and see how it goes.

 

Did I pick the "best" machine type for an eventual windows 10 install with an nvidia passed thru?

 

For the most part my server has been fine, ever since I replaced the power supply.

[jonp]

Did I pick the "best" machine type for an eventual windows 10 install with an nvidia passed thru?

 

Preferred machine type is i440fx.  Only switch to Q35 if GPU pass through fails to work using i440fx.  I believe there are very few (if any) situations that require that anymore with our modern kernel / QEMU builds.

 

For the most part my server has been fine, ever since I replaced the power supply.

 

Glad to hear it!

[JustinChase]

Now, for some reason, when I try to start the VM, it's telling me it's unable to allocate the memory.

 

I checked the dashboard, and unRAID is using almost 7GB of the 8GB available on my system.

 

I have a maximum of 4GB allocated to the other running Windows VM; but I have no idea what else is taking the other 3GB of memory right now.

 

I suppose I can set the current VM to use a maximum of 3GB, but the other day when I was trying this, i wasn't getting this issue/problem/situation.

 

Ideas?

[jonp]

Now, for some reason, when I try to start the VM, it's telling me it's unable to allocate the memory.

 

I checked the dashboard, and unRAID is using almost 7GB of the 8GB available on my system.

 

I have a maximum of 4GB allocated to the other running Windows VM; but I have no idea what else is taking the other 3GB of memory right now.

 

I suppose I can set the current VM to use a maximum of 3GB, but the other day when I was trying this, i wasn't getting this issue/problem/situation.

 

Ideas?

What's very possible is that you had data in RAM that hadn't been written to disk yet, so memory was consumed that could not be allocated toward the VM. My recommendation? Autostart your VMs at boot to lock down memory or add more RAM to your system to accommodate.

[JustinChase]

That makes sense.  i was watching a movie in the running VM, so maybe that was taking all the memory.

 

I'll set them both to autostart, then reboot the server and try again.

 

(I'll probably add more memory also, but not anytime soon).

 

How much memory would one need for an openELEC VM to work well?

 

The only reason i'm wanting to create a new windows VM is to run JRiver Media Center.  Maybe I just need to finally try their Linux version

[jonp]

That makes sense.  i was watching a movie in the running VM, so maybe that was taking all the memory.

 

I'll set them both to autostart, then reboot the server and try again.

 

(I'll probably add more memory also, but not anytime soon).

 

How much memory would one need for an openELEC VM to work well?

 

The only reason i'm wanting to create a new windows VM is to run JRiver Media Center.  Maybe I just need to finally try their Linux version

OpenELEC can start with as little as 512mb assigned, keep in mind that you may need more if you load heavy skins or plugins to Kodi.

[JustinChase]

Now, for some reason, when I try to start the VM, it's telling me it's unable to allocate the memory.

 

I checked the dashboard, and unRAID is using almost 7GB of the 8GB available on my system.

 

I have a maximum of 4GB allocated to the other running Windows VM; but I have no idea what else is taking the other 3GB of memory right now.

 

I suppose I can set the current VM to use a maximum of 3GB, but the other day when I was trying this, i wasn't getting this issue/problem/situation.

 

Ideas?

What's very possible is that you had data in RAM that hadn't been written to disk yet, so memory was consumed that could not be allocated toward the VM. My recommendation? Autostart your VMs at boot to lock down memory or add more RAM to your system to accommodate.

 

I updated to 6.1 then rebooted, and had both VM's set to autostart, which they did.  I started the install process on the new windows7 machine, and before it even let me select the drivers, it (and the other VM) both stopped.  i restarted the new windows7 vm and got it started on installation, but now I can't start the other/existing VM.  it seems that once memory 'runs out' it just kills the VM's.

 

I will drop both to only use up to 3GB each, but I assume suspect I'll need to buy more memory for the server.

 

Also, I noticed you updated your wiki and the drivers I need to load are no longer showed on that page.  I remembered 3 of the 4, so I'm good, but I couldn't see if you'd put that information in another page.  just an FYI.

 

With that said, I like the post install tweaking stuff you added, and will be going thru that once this VM is up and running, and also with my other windows VM, as I don't think I've updated those things yet.

 

Thanks again for all the help.