Hi guys, I''m new to Xen - in fact I haven''t installed it yet - wanted to find out a bit more before I test the waters. Here''s what I want to do: 1. I''m getting a new Intel Core duo laptop within a couple of days. I believe the core duo chips have Vanderpool technology so it shouldn''t be a problem getting Xen to run windows unmodified - is this correct? 2. I need to install WIndows normally on the hard-drive. In fact, it comes pre-installed by the manufacturer, but I don''t mind blowing it away and reinstalling it from scratch if I need to. I plan to run this installation normally at times when I need to run hardware intensive software - aka 3D games :) 3. I plan to dual boot to a linux installation (Ubuntu??). This installation will have Xen installed in it. From here I hope to be able to load up the Windows installation mentioned in point 2 above when I need to. Is this possible? Or do I need to (I am hoping to avoid this) install a second Windows installation (and get the required licenses) from within Xen? Thanks, Ishaaq _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Umm, any clues on this one? Ishaaq On 10/08/06, Ishaaq Chandy <ishaaq@gmail.com> wrote:> > Hi guys, > I''m new to Xen - in fact I haven''t installed it yet - wanted to find out a > bit more before I test the waters. > > Here''s what I want to do: > > 1. I''m getting a new Intel Core duo laptop within a couple of days. I > believe the core duo chips have Vanderpool technology so it shouldn''t be a > problem getting Xen to run windows unmodified - is this correct? > > 2. I need to install WIndows normally on the hard-drive. In fact, it comes > pre-installed by the manufacturer, but I don''t mind blowing it away and > reinstalling it from scratch if I need to. I plan to run this installation > normally at times when I need to run hardware intensive software - aka 3D > games :) > > 3. I plan to dual boot to a linux installation (Ubuntu??). This > installation will have Xen installed in it. From here I hope to be able to > load up the Windows installation mentioned in point 2 above when I need to. > Is this possible? Or do I need to (I am hoping to avoid this) install a > second Windows installation (and get the required licenses) from within Xen? > > > Thanks, > Ishaaq >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
While it may be possible to do, I would strongly recommend against it. The thing is that the virtualized hardware is completely different from what the actual hardware in your system is. Lets say you load Windows on your machine baremetal, it sees a nice new Intel chipset, GeForce video card, and a SATA hard drive. Then when you try to boot that partition with Xen, it suddenly being thrown a completely different set of hardware. It now is seeing a Cirrus Logic video card, some older generic chipset, and an IDE hard drive. This will most likely cause your system to blue screen, or worst case you will have some major data loss. -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Ishaaq Chandy Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 9:17 AM To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: [Xen-users] Re: dual boot windows Umm, any clues on this one? Ishaaq On 10/08/06, Ishaaq Chandy <ishaaq@gmail.com> wrote: Hi guys, I''m new to Xen - in fact I haven''t installed it yet - wanted to find out a bit more before I test the waters. Here''s what I want to do: 1. I''m getting a new Intel Core duo laptop within a couple of days. I believe the core duo chips have Vanderpool technology so it shouldn''t be a problem getting Xen to run windows unmodified - is this correct? 2. I need to install WIndows normally on the hard-drive. In fact, it comes pre-installed by the manufacturer, but I don''t mind blowing it away and reinstalling it from scratch if I need to. I plan to run this installation normally at times when I need to run hardware intensive software - aka 3D games :) 3. I plan to dual boot to a linux installation (Ubuntu??). This installation will have Xen installed in it. From here I hope to be able to load up the Windows installation mentioned in point 2 above when I need to. Is this possible? Or do I need to (I am hoping to avoid this) install a second Windows installation (and get the required licenses) from within Xen? Thanks, Ishaaq _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Turk, JohnX wrote:> While it may be possible to do, I would strongly recommend against it. The thing is that the virtualized hardware is completely different from what the actual hardware in your system is. Lets say you load Windows on your machine baremetal, it sees a nice new Intel chipset, GeForce video card, and a SATA hard drive. Then when you try to boot that partition with Xen, it suddenly being thrown a completely different set of hardware. It now is seeing a Cirrus Logic video card, some older generic chipset, and an IDE hard drive. This will most likely cause your system to blue screen, or worst case you will have some major data loss.It seems reasonable to add: Does there exist any official installation guide for how to install and setup Linux+Windows on Xen? Rgds, Terje J. Hanssen _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
There is an installation guide in the Xen Wiki ("Installing Windows on Xen"). The link in the wiki points to http://www.xensource.com/files/xen_install_windows.pdf Regards, Benn -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Terje J. Hanssen Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 1:13 PM To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Re: dual boot windows Turk, JohnX wrote:> While it may be possible to do, I would strongly recommend against it.The thing is that the virtualized hardware is completely different from what the actual hardware in your system is. Lets say you load Windows on your machine baremetal, it sees a nice new Intel chipset, GeForce video card, and a SATA hard drive. Then when you try to boot that partition with Xen, it suddenly being thrown a completely different set of hardware. It now is seeing a Cirrus Logic video card, some older generic chipset, and an IDE hard drive. This will most likely cause your system to blue screen, or worst case you will have some major data loss. It seems reasonable to add: Does there exist any official installation guide for how to install and setup Linux+Windows on Xen? Rgds, Terje J. Hanssen _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
I haven''t seen any official guides on installing a Windows guest on Xen. But it seems that the way to do it is fairly simple: Make an ISO image of the installation CD and use that as the "CDROM" while installing. When the installer screen comes up and says "Press F6 to load third party drivers...", don''t press F6, but press F5. You won''t see anything immediately, but shortly you will see a screen that says to manually choose your HAL. Simply choose "Standard PC" and your install should go smoothly. The only downside is that you can''t install a 64-bit flavor of Windows, nor can you get multi-processor support. ------------- I think this is also the same reason that you will not be able to boot an already installed copy of Windows in Xen. Typically the HAL is for an ACPI PC, or if you have dual core or hyperthreading, the HAL will be Multiprocessor ACPI PC, which I don''t believe anybody has working in Xen just yet. -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Terje J. Hanssen Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 1:13 PM To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Re: dual boot windows Turk, JohnX wrote:> While it may be possible to do, I would strongly recommend against it. The thing is that the virtualized hardware is completely different from what the actual hardware in your system is. Lets say you load Windows on your machine baremetal, it sees a nice new Intel chipset, GeForce video card, and a SATA hard drive. Then when you try to boot that partition with Xen, it suddenly being thrown a completely different set of hardware. It now is seeing a Cirrus Logic video card, some older generic chipset, and an IDE hard drive. This will most likely cause your system to blue screen, or worst case you will have some major data loss.It seems reasonable to add: Does there exist any official installation guide for how to install and setup Linux+Windows on Xen? Rgds, Terje J. Hanssen _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Turk, JohnX wrote:> I haven''t seen any official guides on installing a Windows guest on Xen. But it seems that the way to do it is fairly simple: > > Make an ISO image of the installation CD and use that as the "CDROM" while installing. > > When the installer screen comes up and says "Press F6 to load third party drivers...", don''t press F6, but press F5. You won''t see anything immediately, but shortly you will see a screen that says to manually choose your HAL. Simply choose "Standard PC" and your install should go smoothly. The only downside is that you can''t install a 64-bit flavor of Windows, nor can you get multi-processor support. > > ------------- > > I think this is also the same reason that you will not be able to boot an already installed copy of Windows in Xen. Typically the HAL is for an ACPI PC, or if you have dual core or hyperthreading, the HAL will be Multiprocessor ACPI PC, which I don''t believe anybody has working in Xen just yet. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Terje J. Hanssen > Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 1:13 PM > To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com > Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Re: dual boot windows > > Turk, JohnX wrote: > > >> While it may be possible to do, I would strongly recommend against it. The thing is that the virtualized hardware is completely different from what the actual hardware in your system is. Lets say you load Windows on your machine baremetal, it sees a nice new Intel chipset, GeForce video card, and a SATA hard drive. Then when you try to boot that partition with Xen, it suddenly being thrown a completely different set of hardware. It now is seeing a Cirrus Logic video card, some older generic chipset, and an IDE hard drive. This will most likely cause your system to blue screen, or worst case you will have some major data loss. > > It seems reasonable to add: > Does there exist any official installation guide for how to install and > setup Linux+Windows on Xen? > > Rgds, > Terje J. Hanssen >John / Terje, For an official guide to installing Windows on Xen check the pdf that''s available on the Wiki - http://www.xensource.com/files/xen_install_windows.pdf The guide does state that it is not intended for production use. I haven''t read it in detail or tried it out. I''d be interested in your experience trying it. Hope it works for you. Andy -- Andrew Wafaa, RHCT Tel: +44 (0)7974 074546 e-Mail: andrew@forcev.net http://www.forcev.net _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Thursday 10 August 2006 17:17, Ishaaq Chandy wrote:> Umm, any clues on this one? > > Ishaaq > > On 10/08/06, Ishaaq Chandy <ishaaq@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi guys, > > I''m new to Xen - in fact I haven''t installed it yet - wanted to find out > > a bit more before I test the waters. > > > > Here''s what I want to do: > > > > 1. I''m getting a new Intel Core duo laptop within a couple of days. I > > believe the core duo chips have Vanderpool technology so it shouldn''t be > > a problem getting Xen to run windows unmodified - is this correct?If the chips have the Intel Vanderpool extensions then, yes, you should be able to run Windows XP under hardware assisted virtualisation with XEN.> > 2. I need to install WIndows normally on the hard-drive. In fact, it > > comes pre-installed by the manufacturer, but I don''t mind blowing it away > > and reinstalling it from scratch if I need to. I plan to run this > > installation normally at times when I need to run hardware intensive > > software - aka 3D games :)You''ll probably want to blow it away so that you can get the partitions set up correctly. Once you''ve both WinXP and Ubuntu installed you''ll configure XEN to use a physical partition to load Windows.> > 3. I plan to dual boot to a linux installation (Ubuntu??). This > > installation will have Xen installed in it. From here I hope to be able > > to load up the Windows installation mentioned in point 2 above when I > > need to. Is this possible? Or do I need to (I am hoping to avoid this) > > install a second Windows installation (and get the required licenses) > > from within Xen?I''ve previously done something very similar with VMware - loading Windows from a raw partition. It did work, however I needed to create a separate hardware profile in Windows - one physical, one virtual. Remember that when loading with XEN the hardware *will* appear to change to the Windows installation. This will trigger the Windows Activation utility (again). Within VMware, Windows was a bit unstable until it had successfully redetected things like IDE controllers, and PCI buses. I''d suggest giving it a go but to be prepared to have several goes before getting it right :-) Jon _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Thanks Jon, I think I will give it a go - since it is a new machine it won''t have any data to potentially destroy, so the risk is fairly low. So did the Windows activation thingie annoy you each time you switched from native to virtual and vice-versa? I don''t run the risk of locking it out and requiring a phonecall to Microsoft? Cheers, Ishaaq Jonathan Ervine wrote:> > On Thursday 10 August 2006 17:17, Ishaaq Chandy wrote: >> Umm, any clues on this one? >> >> Ishaaq >> >> On 10/08/06, Ishaaq Chandy <ishaaq@gmail.com> wrote: >> > Hi guys, >> > I''m new to Xen - in fact I haven''t installed it yet - wanted to find >> out >> > a bit more before I test the waters. >> > >> > Here''s what I want to do: >> > >> > 1. I''m getting a new Intel Core duo laptop within a couple of days. I >> > believe the core duo chips have Vanderpool technology so it shouldn''t >> be >> > a problem getting Xen to run windows unmodified - is this correct? > > If the chips have the Intel Vanderpool extensions then, yes, you should be > able to run Windows XP under hardware assisted virtualisation with XEN. > >> > 2. I need to install WIndows normally on the hard-drive. In fact, it >> > comes pre-installed by the manufacturer, but I don''t mind blowing it >> away >> > and reinstalling it from scratch if I need to. I plan to run this >> > installation normally at times when I need to run hardware intensive >> > software - aka 3D games :) > > You''ll probably want to blow it away so that you can get the partitions > set up > correctly. Once you''ve both WinXP and Ubuntu installed you''ll configure > XEN > to use a physical partition to load Windows. > >> > 3. I plan to dual boot to a linux installation (Ubuntu??). This >> > installation will have Xen installed in it. From here I hope to be able >> > to load up the Windows installation mentioned in point 2 above when I >> > need to. Is this possible? Or do I need to (I am hoping to avoid this) >> > install a second Windows installation (and get the required licenses) >> > from within Xen? > > I''ve previously done something very similar with VMware - loading Windows > from > a raw partition. It did work, however I needed to create a separate > hardware > profile in Windows - one physical, one virtual. Remember that when loading > with XEN the hardware *will* appear to change to the Windows installation. > This will trigger the Windows Activation utility (again). Within VMware, > Windows was a bit unstable until it had successfully redetected things > like > IDE controllers, and PCI buses. > > I''d suggest giving it a go but to be prepared to have several goes before > getting it right :-) > > Jon > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users > >-- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/dual-boot-windows-tf2082321.html#a5759454 Sent from the Xen - User forum at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
As long as you have ONE legal license, you should be OK changing the configuration any number of times you like - I used to work for a graphics card company, and we''d frequently change the config of our test-machines such that Windows requires an call to MS - but it''s no big deal [aside from being somewhat time-consuming, but usually over in about 5 minutes once you''ve figured out what the NEW telephone number is]. Of course, if you haven''t got a legal license in the first place, you''re a bit stuck if you do these sort of things... ;-) As far as I understand, as long as your installation is on the same machine and can''t be used simultaneously, you should be allowed to use the same copy of Windows twice on the same machine on different partitions [or two different variants of HW config for the same machine]. Jon''s suggestion to use multiple hardware profiles makes sense tho''. That''s definitely going to help the system not get confused when you switch from one config to another... -- Mats> -----Original Message----- > From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com > [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of > Ishaaq Chandy > Sent: 11 August 2006 10:41 > To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com > Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Re: dual boot windows > > > Thanks Jon, > I think I will give it a go - since it is a new machine it > won''t have any > data to potentially destroy, so the risk is fairly low. > > So did the Windows activation thingie annoy you each time you > switched from > native to virtual and vice-versa? I don''t run the risk of > locking it out and > requiring a phonecall to Microsoft? > > Cheers, > Ishaaq > > > Jonathan Ervine wrote: > > > > On Thursday 10 August 2006 17:17, Ishaaq Chandy wrote: > >> Umm, any clues on this one? > >> > >> Ishaaq > >> > >> On 10/08/06, Ishaaq Chandy <ishaaq@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > Hi guys, > >> > I''m new to Xen - in fact I haven''t installed it yet - > wanted to find > >> out > >> > a bit more before I test the waters. > >> > > >> > Here''s what I want to do: > >> > > >> > 1. I''m getting a new Intel Core duo laptop within a > couple of days. I > >> > believe the core duo chips have Vanderpool technology so > it shouldn''t > >> be > >> > a problem getting Xen to run windows unmodified - is > this correct? > > > > If the chips have the Intel Vanderpool extensions then, > yes, you should be > > able to run Windows XP under hardware assisted > virtualisation with XEN. > > > >> > 2. I need to install WIndows normally on the hard-drive. > In fact, it > >> > comes pre-installed by the manufacturer, but I don''t > mind blowing it > >> away > >> > and reinstalling it from scratch if I need to. I plan to run this > >> > installation normally at times when I need to run > hardware intensive > >> > software - aka 3D games :) > > > > You''ll probably want to blow it away so that you can get > the partitions > > set up > > correctly. Once you''ve both WinXP and Ubuntu installed > you''ll configure > > XEN > > to use a physical partition to load Windows. > > > >> > 3. I plan to dual boot to a linux installation (Ubuntu??). This > >> > installation will have Xen installed in it. From here I > hope to be able > >> > to load up the Windows installation mentioned in point 2 > above when I > >> > need to. Is this possible? Or do I need to (I am hoping > to avoid this) > >> > install a second Windows installation (and get the > required licenses) > >> > from within Xen? > > > > I''ve previously done something very similar with VMware - > loading Windows > > from > > a raw partition. It did work, however I needed to create a separate > > hardware > > profile in Windows - one physical, one virtual. Remember > that when loading > > with XEN the hardware *will* appear to change to the > Windows installation. > > This will trigger the Windows Activation utility (again). > Within VMware, > > Windows was a bit unstable until it had successfully > redetected things > > like > > IDE controllers, and PCI buses. > > > > I''d suggest giving it a go but to be prepared to have > several goes before > > getting it right :-) > > > > Jon > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Xen-users mailing list > > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users > > > > > > -- > View this message in context: > http://www.nabble.com/dual-boot-windows-tf2082321.html#a5759454 > Sent from the Xen - User forum at Nabble.com. > > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users > > >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
It only needed a second activation - one for the physical instance and one for the virtual instance. Having the Hardware Profiles set up helped to reduce Windows constantly trying to activate itself I think. You can always choose not to activate Windows until you''re happy you''ve got it working of course. Jon On Friday 11 August 2006 10:41, Ishaaq Chandy wrote:> Thanks Jon, > I think I will give it a go - since it is a new machine it won''t have any > data to potentially destroy, so the risk is fairly low. > > So did the Windows activation thingie annoy you each time you switched from > native to virtual and vice-versa? I don''t run the risk of locking it out > and requiring a phonecall to Microsoft? > > Cheers, > Ishaaq > > Jonathan Ervine wrote: > > On Thursday 10 August 2006 17:17, Ishaaq Chandy wrote: > >> Umm, any clues on this one? > >> > >> Ishaaq > >> > >> On 10/08/06, Ishaaq Chandy <ishaaq@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > Hi guys, > >> > I''m new to Xen - in fact I haven''t installed it yet - wanted to find > >> > >> out > >> > >> > a bit more before I test the waters. > >> > > >> > Here''s what I want to do: > >> > > >> > 1. I''m getting a new Intel Core duo laptop within a couple of days. I > >> > believe the core duo chips have Vanderpool technology so it shouldn''t > >> > >> be > >> > >> > a problem getting Xen to run windows unmodified - is this correct? > > > > If the chips have the Intel Vanderpool extensions then, yes, you should > > be able to run Windows XP under hardware assisted virtualisation with > > XEN. > > > >> > 2. I need to install WIndows normally on the hard-drive. In fact, it > >> > comes pre-installed by the manufacturer, but I don''t mind blowing it > >> > >> away > >> > >> > and reinstalling it from scratch if I need to. I plan to run this > >> > installation normally at times when I need to run hardware intensive > >> > software - aka 3D games :) > > > > You''ll probably want to blow it away so that you can get the partitions > > set up > > correctly. Once you''ve both WinXP and Ubuntu installed you''ll configure > > XEN > > to use a physical partition to load Windows. > > > >> > 3. I plan to dual boot to a linux installation (Ubuntu??). This > >> > installation will have Xen installed in it. From here I hope to be > >> > able to load up the Windows installation mentioned in point 2 above > >> > when I need to. Is this possible? Or do I need to (I am hoping to > >> > avoid this) install a second Windows installation (and get the > >> > required licenses) from within Xen? > > > > I''ve previously done something very similar with VMware - loading Windows > > from > > a raw partition. It did work, however I needed to create a separate > > hardware > > profile in Windows - one physical, one virtual. Remember that when > > loading with XEN the hardware *will* appear to change to the Windows > > installation. This will trigger the Windows Activation utility (again). > > Within VMware, Windows was a bit unstable until it had successfully > > redetected things like > > IDE controllers, and PCI buses. > > > > I''d suggest giving it a go but to be prepared to have several goes before > > getting it right :-) > > > > Jon > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Xen-users mailing list > > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users-- Jonathan Ervine Premium Support Engineer - NTS UK tel: +44 (0) 1344 326 057 mob: +44 (0) 7802 357 042 SUSE® Linux Enterprise 10 Your Linux is ready™ http://www.novell.com/linux _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Friday 11 August 2006 10:52, Jonathan Ervine wrote:> It only needed a second activation - one for the physical instance and one > for the virtual instance. Having the Hardware Profiles set up helped to > reduce Windows constantly trying to activate itself I think. You can always > choose not to activate Windows until you''re happy you''ve got it working of > course.Knew there was something I''d forgotten about my experiences with VMware. In order to boot Windows virtually I needed to make the Linux root partition (I hadn''t separately partitioned /boot) available to the virtual environment so that the grub menu could be picked up and I could then pick Windows as the OS to load. I''m pretty sure Ubuntu will be the same as SUSE in this respect. It''s a *very bad* thing if you boot your host OS (in VMware; Dom0 in XEN) as a virtual machine and forget to change the OS to load to be Windows. I trashed my laptop once by forgetting to select Windows and having my Linux host try to boot the same copy via VMware. I was rebuilding the whole thing within 15 minutes... Jon _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users