September 12, 20169 yr I use WHS2011 to keep my home network backed up and provide NAS. I've used unRAID v5 for several years to backup my data stored on the WHS2011 server. I'm now experimenting with unRAID v6. My thinking is that since WHS2011 is based on Windows Server 2008 R2, and since that has a built-in limit of one CPU and 8GB RAM, I could possibly improve my situation as follows: 1. Run unRAID v6 on a more powerful machine (than my old MicroServer) with more memory (12, 16, or 32GB RAM). 2. Install WHS2011 as a VM on unRAID, giving it the max of 8GB RAM. 3. That leaves 4GB or more real RAM for unRAID and other stuff. 4. Let the WHS2011 VM use the unRAID storage to save all its ServerFolders and user data. This way, I get the protection benefits of unRAID for the storage and hopefully close to bare-metal performance for WHS2011 if I also install an SSD to use as a cache drive. I would appreciate comments/advise on whether this is a reasonable plan and set of expectations? Also, I'm having no success yet with installing WHS2011 as a virtual machine, so I need some help here. I've tried choosing the Server 2008 template and doing a fresh install. I've also followed the instructions in the manual to do a physical to virtual conversion of a fresh WHS2011 bare metal install that is also fully patched. In both cases, the VM starts, but seems to hang early during the starting Windows phase. I'm using the most recent stable version of the VirtIO drivers. Any help in getting me past this hurdle is much appreciated. Thanks!
September 12, 20169 yr I did this about 18 months ago, I'm afraid I can't help any further than what I link to here as I no longer use Windows or WHS 2011. Hope it helps.
September 13, 20169 yr Author CHBMB, Thank you very much for your reply. Unfortunately, I'm still not having success. I've tried following your link, and I've tried following jbartlett's link, but no dice. I've also tried starting from the Windows Server 2008 template. The best I've been able to do at this point is to get WHS2011 to start the boot process, but it never seems to go any farther. I see the "Windows is loading files", then progress to the windows logo page where you see the fancy moving logo and the message "Starting Windows". The graphics seem to keep moving, but nothing else ever happens. BTW, I'm running the latest RC for unRAID v6, namely 6.2.0-rc5. Also, I just telnet into unRAID to do the Linux commands for creating the vdisks, qemu-img, etc. Any other advice?
September 13, 20169 yr Also, I just telnet into unRAID to do the Linux commands for creating the vdisks, qemu-img, etc. Any other advice? Why aren't you using the unRaid GUI? Or maybe I missed something, and you are doing something not covered by unRaid's built in KVM manager.
September 13, 20169 yr Author Jonathanm, yes I tried using the GUI first. When that didn't work, I began searching for additional help via the web and forums.
September 13, 20169 yr Don't know if any of the following will be helpful or not for WHS2011 but thought I would post what I did for WHSv1 VM. Will try to setup WHS2011 VM later tonight. I've got WHSv1 running on my VMServer. I used the drop box linked driver floppy image to install the storage driver for WHSv1 (remove the ".txt"). I added the following to the VM xml to get it to use the image as a floppy. My C and D drives are an image file on my unRAID Cache drive. <disk type='file' device='floppy'> <source file='/mnt/cache/<path to>/whs-viostor.vfd'/> <target dev='fda'/> </disk> Dropbox driver link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/quoc5n0lfdyz4qs/whs-viostor.vfd?dl=0
September 14, 20169 yr Don't know if any of the following will be helpful or not for WHS2011 but thought I would post what I did for WHSv1 VM. Will try to setup WHS2011 VM later tonight. I've got WHSv1 running on my VMServer. I used the drop box linked driver floppy image to install the storage driver for WHSv1 (remove the ".txt"). I added the following to the VM xml to get it to use the image as a floppy. My C and D drives are an image file on my unRAID Cache drive. <disk type='file' device='floppy'> <source file='/mnt/cache/<path to>/whs-viostor.vfd'/> <target dev='fda'/> </disk> Dropbox driver link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/quoc5n0lfdyz4qs/whs-viostor.vfd?dl=0 Installed WHS2011 without issue. My VM XML is below to see if there is anything you want to try in it: <domain type='kvm'> <name>WHS2011</name> <uuid>632672b1-c3cb-6d4a-8ad9-2cd518787ea5</uuid> <metadata> <vmtemplate xmlns="unraid" name="Windows Server 2008" icon="windows7.png" os="windows2008"/> </metadata> <memory unit='KiB'>3145728</memory> <currentMemory unit='KiB'>3145728</currentMemory> <memoryBacking> <nosharepages/> </memoryBacking> <vcpu placement='static'>4</vcpu> <cputune> <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='10'/> <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='11'/> <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='26'/> <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='27'/> </cputune> <os> <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.5'>hvm</type> </os> <features> <acpi/> <apic/> <hyperv> <relaxed state='on'/> <vapic state='on'/> <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/> <vendor id='none'/> </hyperv> </features> <cpu mode='host-passthrough'> <topology sockets='1' cores='2' threads='2'/> </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/local/sbin/qemu</emulator> <disk type='file' device='disk'> <driver name='qemu' type='qcow2' cache='writeback'/> <source file='/mnt/cache/VMs/WHS2011/WHS2011/vdisk1.qcow2'/> <target dev='hdc' bus='virtio'/> <boot order='1'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/> </disk> <disk type='file' device='cdrom'> <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/> <source file='/mnt/cache/VMs/ISOs/en_server_install_disc_windows_home_server_2011_x64_dvd_658487.iso'/> <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/> <readonly/> <boot order='2'/> <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/> </disk> <disk type='file' device='cdrom'> <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/> <source file='/mnt/cache/VMs/ISOs/virtio-win-0.1.96.iso'/> <target dev='hdb' bus='ide'/> <readonly/> <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='1'/> </disk> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-ehci1'> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x7'/> </controller> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci1'> <master startport='0'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/> </controller> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci2'> <master startport='2'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x1'/> </controller> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci3'> <master startport='4'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x2'/> </controller> <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/> <controller type='ide' index='0'> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/> </controller> <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:bd:f4:b1'/> <source bridge='br0'/> <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='connect'/> <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='cirrus' 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='0x06' function='0x0'/> </memballoon> </devices> </domain> I would try changing the VNC driver to cirrus. From the sounds of your boot symtoms you probably have QXL selected and it never worked on Windows 7 for me so I change it to cirrus for all VMs Win7/2008 and earlier.
September 16, 20169 yr Not to hijack the thread but I want to install Windows Home Server as well. I found a thread on here on time comparing the versions but I can't find it now. Why are you choosing WHS 2011? Which is the best version, I think I read that WHS 2012 was worse, or that Microsoft pulled some of the features. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
September 16, 20169 yr Not to hijack the thread but I want to install Windows Home Server as well. I found a thread on here on time comparing the versions but I can't find it now. Why are you choosing WHS 2011? Which is the best version, I think I read that WHS 2012 was worse, or that Microsoft pulled some of the features. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk There were only two version of Windows Home Server - WHSv1 (xp class) and 2011 (Win7 class). It was 2011 that had some features dropped and others added. 2012 is a server product but as far as I know it was not called Windows Home Server.
September 24, 20169 yr Author First, let me thank those who have responded. Secondly, BobPhoenix gave me some valuable info about the VM creation. After a bit of testing, I've been successful in creating a VM for WHS2011 and installing and running it. There seem to be 2 changes that need to me made in the supplied template to make it work. WHS2011 is based on Server2008R2, so I start with the Windows Server 2008 template. From there, the 2 changes I had to make are: (1) Change "BIOS" from "OVMF" to "SeaBIOS"; (2) Change "VNC Video Driver" from "QXL (best)" to "Cirrus". I don't see the need to use QCOW2 vdisk type; instead I stuck with "raw" and "VirtIO" bus, and it works fine. You do need to make the vDisk at least 160G in order for WHS2011 to install because that is its minimum disk size and it creates a 60G system partition and a 100G partition for its ServerFolders. My XML is shown below at the end of my post. Thirdly, now that I've got this working, I'm in a pickle about how to effectively use the unRAID storage. Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, so any help here is appreciated. WHS2011 has the concept of "ServerFolders" comprising Documents, Music, Videos, etc. Each of these folders is SHARED and user-level permissions can be set and enforced. I want to be able to map these to user shares on the unRAIDv6 server hosting my WHS2011 VM. That way, my WHS2011 folder storage takes advantage of the pool of disks in the array protected by parity. So, on my unRAIDv6 server, I created a "WHS-folders" user-share, then created the various Documents, Music, Videos, etc. subfolders in that share. Next, I created a drive mapping in the WHS2011 VM to the unRAID share, e.g., drive "U:" mapped to "\\tower\WHS-folders". Then, I tried making the Documents, Music, Videos, etc. shares on WHS2011 point to the U:\Documents, U:\Music, U:\Videos, etc. and that's where I hit a snag. WHS2011 won't let you create shares that use mapped drives. I'm not sure what to try next. WHS2011 will backup my networked computers every day, but it places these backups in one of its predefined shared folders. If I can't get these to be stored in the unRAID array, I'm in a mess. Any ideas? Is there a way to make an unRAID user-share appear as a disk drive to the WHS2011 VM? If so, I could just tell WHS2011 to move its ServerFolders to that drive. Thanks in advance for any help! The XML for my WHS2011 VM shown below. Note that I also created a second vDisk that I intend to use for WSUS data storage. <domain type='kvm'> <name>WHS2011</name> <uuid>4d24d1bb-1915-57c5-2ca8-89fd5589093f</uuid> <metadata> <vmtemplate xmlns="unraid" name="Windows Server 2008" icon="windows7.png" os="windows2008"/> </metadata> <memory unit='KiB'>8388608</memory> <currentMemory unit='KiB'>8388608</currentMemory> <memoryBacking> <nosharepages/> </memoryBacking> <vcpu placement='static'>4</vcpu> <cputune> <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='0'/> <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='1'/> <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='2'/> <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='3'/> </cputune> <os> <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.5'>hvm</type> </os> <features> <acpi/> <apic/> <hyperv> <relaxed state='on'/> <vapic state='on'/> <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/> <vendor id='none'/> </hyperv> </features> <cpu mode='host-passthrough'> <topology sockets='1' cores='4' 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/local/sbin/qemu</emulator> <disk type='file' device='disk'> <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/> <source file='/mnt/user/domains/WHS2011/vdisk1.img'/> <target dev='hdc' 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/domains/WHS2011/vdisk2.img'/> <target dev='hdd' bus='virtio'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/> </disk> <disk type='file' device='cdrom'> <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/> <source file='/mnt/user/isos/WHS2011-64bit-ServerInstall.iso'/> <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/> <readonly/> <boot order='2'/> <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/> </disk> <disk type='file' device='cdrom'> <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/> <source file='/mnt/user/isos/virtio-win-0.1.118-2.iso'/> <target dev='hdb' bus='ide'/> <readonly/> <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='1'/> </disk> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-ehci1'> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x7'/> </controller> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci1'> <master startport='0'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/> </controller> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci2'> <master startport='2'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x1'/> </controller> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci3'> <master startport='4'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x2'/> </controller> <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/> <controller type='ide' index='0'> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/> </controller> <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/> </controller> <interface type='bridge'> <mac address='52:54:00:61:4d:49'/> <source bridge='br0'/> <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='connect'/> <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='cirrus' 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='0x08' function='0x0'/> </memballoon> </devices> </domain>
September 26, 20169 yr Sorry never tried what you are attempting. I just passed a controller to my WHSv1 VM and have drives connected to it for WHS to use in it's pool. What you might try is a junction/symlink that references a unc path as it's link. Read these I think they will help: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/ http://superuser.com/questions/210824/creating-a-symbolic-link-to-mapped-network-drive-in-windows
September 26, 20169 yr Then, I tried making the Documents, Music, Videos, etc. shares on WHS2011 point to the U:\Documents, U:\Music, U:\Videos, etc. and that's where I hit a snag. WHS2011 won't let you create shares that use mapped drives. If you don't mind losing the space in the array, you could always create vdisk(s) on whichever array drives you wish to use, and attach those vdisks to the VM. Downside is you won't be able to access the files through the unraid interface, the VM will be the only point of direct access. Upside is the disks the vdisk files reside on will be parity protected. I don't know if there is a way to make individual files available to be shared by both your windows VM and unraid host simultaneously.
September 26, 20169 yr Then, I tried making the Documents, Music, Videos, etc. shares on WHS2011 point to the U:\Documents, U:\Music, U:\Videos, etc. and that's where I hit a snag. WHS2011 won't let you create shares that use mapped drives. If you don't mind losing the space in the array, you could always create vdisk(s) on whichever array drives you wish to use, and attach those vdisks to the VM. Downside is you won't be able to access the files through the unraid interface, the VM will be the only point of direct access. Upside is the disks the vdisk files reside on will be parity protected. I don't know if there is a way to make individual files available to be shared by both your windows VM and unraid host simultaneously. Which is why I suggested Symlinks. You can't symlink those actual directories (I don't believe anyway) but you should be able to create a symlink/junction beneath them to an unRAID share. Edit: and to add further clarification to my idea. Find the actual folder for each share on the D drive. Create the symlink underneath those directories. Now see if you can browse the shares in WHS2011 and into the unRAID symlinked directories. You might not be allowed to but I think the experiment is worth a try. I can try this in WHSv1 myself but it will be a while. Also it isn't WHS2011 which if anything I would think would allow more options. Many fewer ways to link things with XP then Win7 which is what the home servers are code equavalents to: WHSv1/2003=XP, WHS2011/2008=Win7/Vista.
September 27, 20169 yr Then, I tried making the Documents, Music, Videos, etc. shares on WHS2011 point to the U:\Documents, U:\Music, U:\Videos, etc. and that's where I hit a snag. WHS2011 won't let you create shares that use mapped drives. If you don't mind losing the space in the array, you could always create vdisk(s) on whichever array drives you wish to use, and attach those vdisks to the VM. Downside is you won't be able to access the files through the unraid interface, the VM will be the only point of direct access. Upside is the disks the vdisk files reside on will be parity protected. I don't know if there is a way to make individual files available to be shared by both your windows VM and unraid host simultaneously. Which is why I suggested Symlinks. You can't symlink those actual directories (I don't believe anyway) but you should be able to create a symlink/junction beneath them to an unRAID share. Edit: and to add further clarification to my idea. Find the actual folder for each share on the D drive. Create the symlink underneath those directories. Now see if you can browse the shares in WHS2011 and into the unRAID symlinked directories. You might not be allowed to but I think the experiment is worth a try. I can try this in WHSv1 myself but it will be a while. Also it isn't WHS2011 which if anything I would think would allow more options. Many fewer ways to link things with XP then Win7 which is what the home servers are code equavalents to: WHSv1/2003=XP, WHS2011/2008=Win7/Vista. Doesn't appear to work. Can see the symlink on the share but says "The symbolic link cannot be followed because its type is disabled" when trying to access it. I was unable to find a policy to change this although I saw hints on web that maybe said policy exists. But at this point I would say my idea is a no-go. Edit: I setup a WHS2011 VM to test this out too by the way.
September 27, 20169 yr Author Bob: Thanks for your suggestions. Here are the WHS commands I tried previously that gave me the most progress: mklink /d D:\ServerFolders\Testing \\tower\WHS-folders\Testing net share Testing=D:\ServerFolders\Testing Assuming, "WHS2011" is the name of WHS 2011 server (running as a VM on unRAIDv6), "tower" is the name of my unRAIDv6 physical server, "WHS-folders" is an exported user share on my WHS2011 server, and "Testing" is a subfolder in this exported user share, then in this example, the WHS share "Testing" is accessible by all machines on the network as "\\WHS2011\Testing" and when written to results in the files being stored on the unRAIDv6 server, in user share "\\tower\WHS-folders\Testing". This partial solution works great in that I can define shares on WHS that are network-accessible by all computers and result in the storage allocation taking place on the unRAID server share. I can simply choose to not use the predefined WHS ServerFolders shares (e.g., Documents, Music, Videos, etc.), except for one major hicup, namely client computer backups. One of the big strengths of WHS2011 is the ability to do unattended regular backups of all client computers on the network. WHS2011 stores these backups in its "D:\ServerFolders\Client Computer Backups" shared folder and I can't seem to find a way to change that. If I try to move the WHS client computer backup folder (or any D:\SharedFolders subfolder/share) to one of my new symbolic-link shares, WHS2011 complains that mapped drives can't be used for ServerFolders shares. I don't understand why this restriction is being enforced, since I've proved that my symbolic-link shares seem to work fine. I suppose I could create a vDisk just for the backups folder, but this folder tends to get very large and I'm not sure what the performance impact would be of using a vDisk for storage of the database of client computer backups. I'm so close to success here I can "taste it", but so far I'm stumped. Does anyone have another idea? (Also, WHS has a server backup feature that won't allow backups of the server itself to be made to a network device, requiring instead that the backup device be a dedicated physical device and the backups are limited to a max of 2TB. I don't really see this as a problem though, since I won't have to use the built-in server backup feature because the vDisks themselves can be backed up anywhere I want. I just have to remember to periodically take the WHS server VM down and make a copy of its vDisks.)
September 27, 20169 yr I suppose I could create a vDisk just for the backups folder, but this folder tends to get very large and I'm not sure what the performance impact would be of using a vDisk for storage of the database of client computer backups. That's what I do with my Server 2012 VM, use a vdisk on an unassigned device. (Also, WHS has a server backup feature that won't allow backups of the server itself to be made to a network device, requiring instead that the backup device be a dedicated physical device and the backups are limited to a max of 2TB. I don't really see this as a problem though, since I won't have to use the built-in server backup feature because the vDisks themselves can be backed up anywhere I want. I just have to remember to periodically take the WHS server VM down and make a copy of its vDisks.) For this I just backup the main vdisk once a week to the same unassigned device. Edit: You can also use a vdisk for this, I did for some time, but then decided that if something happened it would me much easier to restore the VM by just copying the vdisk over.
January 30, 20179 yr Did anyone get WHS 2011 working with backups to the unRAID disk array? I am setting up an unRAID server primarily to run as my SageTV server but I would like it to replace my WHS2011 machine as well. Obviously unRAID can do the file server functionality quite well, what I need from WHS is the client backup capabilities. Is running WHS 2011 in a VM the best way to do this? If so does anyone have any pointers, other than what is earlier in this thread? Or is there other software that could do the job?
January 30, 20179 yr Did anyone get WHS 2011 working with backups to the unRAID disk array? I am setting up an unRAID server primarily to run as my SageTV server but I would like it to replace my WHS2011 machine as well. Obviously unRAID can do the file server functionality quite well, what I need from WHS is the client backup capabilities. Is running WHS 2011 in a VM the best way to do this? If so does anyone have any pointers, other than what is earlier in this thread? Or is there other software that could do the job? What about forgetting about WHS and installing the free crashplan version on your unraid server and all your clients ? That way all clients will backup to the uraid server... Encryption, automatic, versioning... All works.. And free.
January 30, 20179 yr Does Crashplan give you the ability to do bare metal restores? I could be wrong but I didn't think it did. And does it just store your backups in the cloud or can you store them locally? I have fast internet but I don't know that I want to depend on downloading a 240GB backup from the cloud.
January 30, 20179 yr It allows you to restore files.. not complete drive images.. You backup to another local server, not to the cloud (if you want to backup to the cloud you need to pay, but most importantly, it is just way to slow.. (and I am on 500Mbps fiber)
January 30, 20179 yr It allows you to restore files.. not complete drive images.. I am looking for something to automatically backup the complete drive images and WHS still seems the best way to do this. But I am open to a way that is more tightly integrated into unRAID.
February 4, 20179 yr I am unable to do an install of WHS2011. I am using the Win Server 2008 as a template, upping the mem to 4GB and using 180GB of disk. I use SeaBIOS and cirrus. I start the install, point it to the VirtIO disk but then the install craps out with the following messages: ERROR: Win7 Setup Exited with 31 [TRACE] UIBackend::RunWindowsSetup : Exited (0x80004005) I googled this and it looks like the main issue was bad installation media. So I tried creating another ISO but I got the same thing. I have also tried three different VirtIO versions - 126,118 and 130. Anyone have any ideas? Early in the thread there was some talk about floppy emulation. Do you still have to do that? Here is my xml dump: <domain type='kvm' id='11'> <name>WHS2011</name> <uuid>9c633276-22dc-b855-8ba2-9794dca3d03c</uuid> <metadata> <vmtemplate xmlns="unraid" name="Windows Server 2008" icon="windows7.png" os="windows2008"/> </metadata> <memory unit='KiB'>4194304</memory> <currentMemory unit='KiB'>4194304</currentMemory> <memoryBacking> <nosharepages/> </memoryBacking> <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu> <cputune> <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='0'/> </cputune> <resource> <partition>/machine</partition> </resource> <os> <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.5'>hvm</type> </os> <features> <acpi/> <apic/> <hyperv> <relaxed state='on'/> <vapic state='on'/> <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/> <vendor id='none'/> </hyperv> </features> <cpu mode='host-passthrough'> <topology sockets='1' cores='1' 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/local/sbin/qemu</emulator> <disk type='file' device='disk'> <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/> <source file='/mnt/disk3/WHS2011/vdisk1.img'/> <backingStore/> <target dev='hdc' bus='virtio'/> <boot order='1'/> <alias name='virtio-disk2'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/> </disk> <disk type='file' device='cdrom'> <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/> <source file='/mnt/user/isos/WHS2011_INSTALL_DVD.ISO'/> <backingStore/> <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/> <readonly/> <boot order='2'/> <alias name='ide0-0-0'/> <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/> </disk> <disk type='file' device='cdrom'> <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/> <source file='/mnt/user/isos/virtio-win-0.1.130.iso'/> <backingStore/> <target dev='hdb' bus='ide'/> <readonly/> <alias name='ide0-0-1'/> <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='1'/> </disk> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-ehci1'> <alias name='usb'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x7'/> </controller> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci1'> <alias name='usb'/> <master startport='0'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/> </controller> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci2'> <alias name='usb'/> <master startport='2'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x1'/> </controller> <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci3'> <alias name='usb'/> <master startport='4'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x2'/> </controller> <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'> <alias name='pci.0'/> </controller> <controller type='ide' index='0'> <alias name='ide'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/> </controller> <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'> <alias name='virtio-serial0'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/> </controller> <interface type='bridge'> <mac address='52:54:00:22:f0:36'/> <source bridge='br0'/> <target dev='vnet1'/> <model type='virtio'/> <alias name='net0'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/> </interface> <serial type='pty'> <source path='/dev/pts/0'/> <target port='0'/> <alias name='serial0'/> </serial> <console type='pty' tty='/dev/pts/0'> <source path='/dev/pts/0'/> <target type='serial' port='0'/> <alias name='serial0'/> </console> <channel type='unix'> <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/domain-WHS2011/org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/> <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0' state='disconnected'/> <alias name='channel0'/> <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/> </channel> <input type='tablet' bus='usb'> <alias name='input0'/> </input> <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/> <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/> <graphics type='vnc' port='5901' autoport='yes' websocket='5701' listen='0.0.0.0' keymap='en-us'> <listen type='address' address='0.0.0.0'/> </graphics> <video> <model type='cirrus' vram='16384' heads='1'/> <alias name='video0'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/> </video> <memballoon model='virtio'> <alias name='balloon0'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/> </memballoon> </devices> </domain>
February 4, 20179 yr Try installing with a boot drive as IDE rather than virtio device. Have a dummy 2nd drive of several MB in size as a virtio connected drive. If you can install this way then once Windows is installed and sees both the IDE boot drive and the virtio 2nd device you can switch the boot device back to virtio.
February 5, 20179 yr It is installing right now but I couldn't figure out the bit about a virtio 2nd device. How do you do that? Currently the disk situation that shows up in WHS is a C and D drive of 60GB and 110GB in size. So how do I do the virtio connected drive that you mentioned? And to do that will I have to nuke the VM and start over again?
February 5, 20179 yr It is installing right now but I couldn't figure out the bit about a virtio 2nd device. How do you do that? Currently the disk situation that shows up in WHS is a C and D drive of 60GB and 110GB in size. So how do I do the virtio connected drive that you mentioned? And to do that will I have to nuke the VM and start over again? I don't think you will have to nuke and start over again. You add a second disk to the VM in the unRAID GUI see graphic. Switch to advanced mode and set the vDisk bus type to VirtIO if it isn't already. Then start the VM and install the drivers. Make sure the drive is visible in Windows and you can access files on it. Then delete the drive and change the vDisk access to VirtIO on your boot drive and boot the VM. When I installed my WHS v1 VM I created a custom floppy driver disk the one that came with the VirtIO driver CD image didn't work. Then I added it to the VM XML so that WHS v1 could see the floppy. Took a while to get it setup right in the TXTSETUP.OEM file but I got it to work. I did this because as I remember it didn't work to install the way I describe above for me so you might have to create the driver floppy as well. Don't expect you to have to modify the TXTSETUP.OEM file for WHS2011 however.
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