Xen devel - Sep 2006 - [HVM][PATCH] Prompt users a proper warning if HVM feature disabled in BIOS

Current Xen prompts a warning message, saying that machine is not a
"hvm-capable" platform if it can not detect "hvm" in
xen_caps. This
warning is misleading, especially when CPU is actually hvm-capable but
the feature was disabled in BIOS. This patch detects whether CPU is
hvm-capable during boot and uses this variable to prompt correct warning
message when users try to boot hvm guests.


Tested on the following configurations:
  AMD''s AMD-V processor: 32-bit and 64-bit
  Intel''s VT processor: 32-bit and 64-bit

Applies cleanly to 11677. Please apply to xen-unstable.hg

Signed-off-by: Wei Huang <wei.huang2@amd.com> 


Thanks

-Wei


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On 29/9/06 8:59 pm, "Huang2, Wei" <Wei.Huang2@amd.com> wrote:
> Current Xen prompts a warning message, saying that machine is not a
> "hvm-capable" platform if it can not detect "hvm" in
xen_caps. This
> warning is misleading, especially when CPU is actually hvm-capable but
> the feature was disabled in BIOS. This patch detects whether CPU is
> hvm-capable during boot and uses this variable to prompt correct warning
> message when users try to boot hvm guests.
This is a lot of hassle just to change a warning message. Why not extend
(and fix the English!) of the existing warning message. For example:
 "HVM guest support is unavailable: is VT/AMD-V supported by your CPU and
enabled in your BIOS?"

If the hardware feature *is* enabled in the BIOS, I don''t think there
are
any situations where Xen will hide the feature from domain 0. So the above
warning should only display when the platform really doesn''t support
VT/AMD-V, or the support is disabled in the BIOS.

 -- Keir



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