libvirt users - May 2014 - Re: convert physical windows 8 machine to virtual machine

I dual boot w8 and Arch Linux. Both are on the same ssd drive (each OS
have of course a partition).
Now I would like to virtualize w8 and run it inside Arch Linux using
KVM/QEMU and Libvirt.
w8 has already been installed on a ntfs partition. As it is brand new,
it will not be difficult to reinstall it on a image.raw

I have been reading some articles and found myself a little bit confused.

1- Some articles point to driver issues on the windows size, which
could lead to an unusable OS. Is this a real issue ? Workaround found
is to uninstall IDE/SATA driver in w8 and then install
general/universal driver.

2- I can of course copy my w8 partition to a image.raw in my second
HD, then create the VM. But in this case, after time, I will not have
the same w8 on my ssd and my VM. What I am looking for is a VM that
will ever replicate w8 on ssd. In this case, I guess I need to
reinstall w8 on a raw qemu-img then use this image for the VM. Am I
correct ? Is there anyother solution ?
Is it worth keeping the raw image on the ssd for better performance,or
moving the image to the other HD will make no difference?

3- Most of the reading talk about virtualise a physical windows using
Virtualbox or VMware, which I certainly don't want. I would appreciate
any good pointer for the overall set-up.


Thank you in advance for hints, tips and advices.

On 05/15/2014 03:34 AM, arnaud gaboury wrote:
> I dual boot w8 and Arch Linux. Both are on the same ssd drive (each OS
> have of course a partition).
> Now I would like to virtualize w8 and run it inside Arch Linux using
> KVM/QEMU and Libvirt.
> w8 has already been installed on a ntfs partition. As it is brand new,
> it will not be difficult to reinstall it on a image.raw
The virt-p2v project is your friend; http://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v/

Be aware that you CANNOT have a windows partition that does both
bare-metal booting and virtual booting without risking having to
re-register your machine at practically every boot - Windows is highly
sensitive to hardware changes, and the change between bare metal and
virtual is significant.

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org

>
> The virt-p2v project is your friend; http://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v/
Yes, it seems so. I came across some readings about this
tool.
>
> Be aware that you CANNOT have a windows partition that does both
> bare-metal booting and virtual booting without risking having to
> re-register your machine at practically every boot
Hum hum, that's what I am trying to do. I found some .zip files to
apply from w8 that will modify IDE/SATA drivers. Are these driver
changes not enough ?