Is there a mechanism for running windows from an existing partition under Solaris? If so can somebody please point me at the right manual section or FAQ section that covers doing this. If not then why? TIA, mph
Michael Hunter wrote:> Is there a mechanism for running windows from an existing partition > under Solaris? If so can somebody please point me at the right manual > section or FAQ section that covers doing this. If not then why? > > TIA, > mph > _______________________________________________ > xen-discuss mailing list > xen-discuss@opensolaris.org >That would require access to the raw device through respective /dev/dsk entries. I don''t think you can currently use an existing disk, but you can use a raw cdrom so it might be possible. Boris might know. James
Not quite sure what you are asking here. If you want to use an existing partition on the disk to be the backing store when installing a Windows Virtual Machine then that is certainly supported. The docs should show you the syntax to set that up in the disk specification section when configuring the Virtual Machine. If you have an already installed instance of Windows that was installed on the metal and not under the hypervisor on a partition on your machine and want to run that under the hypervisor, then that is almost certainly not going to work due to the differences in the actual hardware that windows was configured and installed on and the Virtual Machine presented by the hypervisor. James Cornell wrote:> Michael Hunter wrote: >> Is there a mechanism for running windows from an existing partition >> under Solaris? If so can somebody please point me at the right manual >> section or FAQ section that covers doing this. If not then why? >> >> TIA, >> mph >> _______________________________________________ >> xen-discuss mailing list >> xen-discuss@opensolaris.org >> > That would require access to the raw device through respective /dev/dsk > entries. I don''t think you can currently use an existing disk, but you > can use a raw cdrom so it might be possible. Boris might know. > > James > _______________________________________________ > xen-discuss mailing list > xen-discuss@opensolaris.org
On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:11:55 -0600 Stuart Maybee <Stuart.Maybee@Sun.COM> wrote:> > Not quite sure what you are asking here. If you want to use an existing > partition on the disk to be the backing store when installing a Windows > Virtual Machine then that is certainly supported. The docs should show > you the syntax to set that up in the disk specification section when > configuring the Virtual Machine.No.> If you have an already installed > instance of Windows that was installed on the metal and not under the > hypervisor on a partition on your machine and want to run that under the > hypervisor, then that is almost certainly not going to work due to the > differences in the actual hardware that windows was configured and > installed on and the Virtual Machine presented by the hypervisor.This is what I am interested in. I''ve pulled hard drives from machines and moved them between different machines and booted windows so I don''t understand the issue in general. mph> > > James Cornell wrote: > > Michael Hunter wrote: > >> Is there a mechanism for running windows from an existing partition > >> under Solaris? If so can somebody please point me at the right manual > >> section or FAQ section that covers doing this. If not then why? > >> > >> TIA, > >> mph > >> _______________________________________________ > >> xen-discuss mailing list > >> xen-discuss@opensolaris.org > >> > > That would require access to the raw device through respective /dev/dsk > > entries. I don''t think you can currently use an existing disk, but you > > can use a raw cdrom so it might be possible. Boris might know. > > > > James > > _______________________________________________ > > xen-discuss mailing list > > xen-discuss@opensolaris.org >
Michael Hunter wrote:>> If you have an already installed >> instance of Windows that was installed on the metal and not under the >> hypervisor on a partition on your machine and want to run that under the >> hypervisor, then that is almost certainly not going to work due to the >> differences in the actual hardware that windows was configured and >> installed on and the Virtual Machine presented by the hypervisor. > > This is what I am interested in. I''ve pulled hard drives from machines > and moved them between different machines and booted windows so I don''t > understand the issue in general.In the most general sense, it works - the VM will boot off of a pre-installed drive just fine. Copy the drive into a file, or use a phy:/dev/dsk/... disk specifier for physical direct access. The problem is that Windows will detect that the hardware has changed (different type of NIC, CPU, disk drive manufacturer, BIOS, etc), and possibly refuse to run, or at least demand that you re-activate it. Certainly worth a shot. ----------------------------------------------------- Russ Blaine | Solaris Kernel | russell.blaine@sun.com
On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 7:53 AM, Russ Blaine <russell.blaine@sun.com> wrote:> > In the most general sense, it works - the VM will boot off of a > pre-installed drive just fine. Copy the drive into a file, or use a > phy:/dev/dsk/... disk specifier for physical direct access. The problem is > that Windows will detect that the hardware has changed (different type of > NIC, CPU, disk drive manufacturer, BIOS, etc), and possibly refuse to run, > or at least demand that you re-activate it. >This has worked for me. I had to reactivate Windows once it booted up in Xen, but after that, every thing was fine.> Certainly worth a shot. > > ----------------------------------------------------- > Russ Blaine | Solaris Kernel | russell.blaine@sun.com > > > _______________________________________________ > xen-discuss mailing list > xen-discuss@opensolaris.org >
Michael Hunter wrote:> On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:11:55 -0600 > Stuart Maybee <Stuart.Maybee@Sun.COM> wrote: > > >> Not quite sure what you are asking here. If you want to use an existing >> partition on the disk to be the backing store when installing a Windows >> Virtual Machine then that is certainly supported. The docs should show >> you the syntax to set that up in the disk specification section when >> configuring the Virtual Machine. >> > > No. > > >> If you have an already installed >> instance of Windows that was installed on the metal and not under the >> hypervisor on a partition on your machine and want to run that under the >> hypervisor, then that is almost certainly not going to work due to the >> differences in the actual hardware that windows was configured and >> installed on and the Virtual Machine presented by the hypervisor. >> > > This is what I am interested in. I''ve pulled hard drives from machines > and moved them between different machines and booted windows so I don''t > understand the issue in general. > > mph > > >> James Cornell wrote: >> >>> Michael Hunter wrote: >>> >>>> Is there a mechanism for running windows from an existing partition >>>> under Solaris? If so can somebody please point me at the right manual >>>> section or FAQ section that covers doing this. If not then why? >>>> >>>> TIA, >>>> mph >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> xen-discuss mailing list >>>> xen-discuss@opensolaris.org >>>> >>>> >>> That would require access to the raw device through respective /dev/dsk >>> entries. I don''t think you can currently use an existing disk, but you >>> can use a raw cdrom so it might be possible. Boris might know. >>> >>> James >>> _______________________________________________ >>> xen-discuss mailing list >>> xen-discuss@opensolaris.org >>>It''s a windows issue. Try moving from one machine to another (Physical) you''ll get a BSOD and it won''t work. You could use it as a secondary under xVM and copy files off with another instance. If you went bare metal Linux (With proper kernel support) you could use it in xVM no problem. (As a HVM dom0) James
WAITwaitwait!!
Simply create a new windows hw profile (System properties -> hw profiles
-> copy ( -> rename))
...and when the existing (physical) windows boots off from its own partition (I
mean under Xen), it will ask, which hw profile you want to start.
Choose whichever you want to run under Xen, and it will detect all the new
devices, and you''ll have all your programs, settings, desktop, etc. as
you have it on bare metal.
You can even have different screen resolution for example!
I renamed one of the profiles to xVM, and I set the startup delay to 3 secs, and
choose the default to be the "Bare metal" conf.
If I start xp on its own, there''s only a 3 secs delay in the boot
process, if I start it from SXCE, I sit there and 3 secs are enough to choose.
It works flawlessly on my box (Asus barebone, Q6600, 4G RAM)!
(well, it doesn''t on my other box; but that''s another story :)
)
regards
A
Message was edited by:
aspirin
This message posted from opensolaris.org
Thanks, good to know about this capability of Windows. I readily confess to knowing very little about Windows outside of being able to manage to install a PC from time to time. Perhaps Micheal can try this and report back on whether it was successful or not. Attila Nagy wrote:> WAITwaitwait!! > > Simply create a new windows hw profile (System properties -> hw profiles -> copy ( -> rename)) > ...and when the existing (physical) windows boots off from its own partition (I mean under Xen), it will ask, which hw profile you want to start. > Choose whichever you want to run under Xen, and it will detect all the new devices, and you''ll have all your programs, settings, desktop, etc. as you have it on bare metal. > You can even have different screen resolution for example! > I renamed one of the profiles to xVM, and I set the startup delay to 3 secs, and choose the default to be the "Bare metal" conf. > If I start xp on its own, there''s only a 3 secs delay in the boot process, if I start it from SXCE, I sit there and 3 secs are enough to choose. > > It works flawlessly on my box (Asus barebone, Q6600, 4G RAM)! > (well, it doesn''t on my other box; but that''s another story :) ) > > regards > A > > Message was edited by: > aspirin > > > This message posted from opensolaris.org > _______________________________________________ > xen-discuss mailing list > xen-discuss@opensolaris.org