Xen users - Aug 2008 - drivers to run windows as HVM guest

Hi,

I''ve made a copy of the harddisks of a Windows XP Pro. machine and now
I''m
trying to get this image running within Xen, but now I got stuck a little 
bit.

The Xen dom0 is a SLES10SP2, running Xen 3.2.0.

I used the virt-manager to create the virtual machine, however due to 
changed hardware, the boot process of the hvm domU ends up in a BSOD.
I found the WindowsPV GPL drivers version 0.8.9, where I copied the 
windowsxp *inf files to C:\windows\inf and the corresponding *sys files to 
c:\windows\system32\drivers. But I still get the BSOD when booting windows.

Or do I need to reconfigure the xen configuration of the domU, to make the 
PV drivers work? 

Otherwise I wonder, what hardware Xen emulates for a plain HVM guest, so 
that I can install the right drivers from the Windows installation CD.
So, which driver files belong into which place?

Any hint or just a pointer to the right documentation is be very 
appreciated.

kind regards
Sebastian


_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

> Hi,
> 
> I''ve made a copy of the harddisks of a Windows XP Pro. machine and
now
I''m
> trying to get this image running within Xen, but now I got stuck a
little
> bit.
> 
> The Xen dom0 is a SLES10SP2, running Xen 3.2.0.
> 
> I used the virt-manager to create the virtual machine, however due to
> changed hardware, the boot process of the hvm domU ends up in a BSOD.
> I found the WindowsPV GPL drivers version 0.8.9, where I copied the
> windowsxp *inf files to C:\windows\inf and the corresponding *sys
files to
> c:\windows\system32\drivers. But I still get the BSOD when booting
> windows.
> 
> Or do I need to reconfigure the xen configuration of the domU, to make
the
> PV drivers work?
> 
> Otherwise I wonder, what hardware Xen emulates for a plain HVM guest,
so
> that I can install the right drivers from the Windows installation CD.
> So, which driver files belong into which place?
> 
> Any hint or just a pointer to the right documentation is be very
> appreciated.
> 
Try downloading 0.9.11-pre12 of the drivers which should be pretty
stable, with the exception of disabling and enabling the network drivers
(causes a crash sometimes - fixed in hg). You''ll need to completely
uninstall 0.8.9 though as an upgrade really isn''t supported. The wiki
has information on how to do this.

My testing has shown a huge increase in network performance vs the qemu
emulated drivers under 2003, but not so much under XP, although I''m
testing them on a different machine.

James

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Hi,

thanks a lot for your answer.
"James Harper" <james.harper@bendigoit.com.au> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I''ve made a copy of the harddisks of a Windows XP Pro.
machine and now
> I''m
> > trying to get this image running within Xen, but now I got stuck a
> little
> > bit.
> > 
> > The Xen dom0 is a SLES10SP2, running Xen 3.2.0.
> > 
> > I used the virt-manager to create the virtual machine, however due to
> > changed hardware, the boot process of the hvm domU ends up in a BSOD.
> > I found the WindowsPV GPL drivers version 0.8.9, where I copied the
> > windowsxp *inf files to C:\windows\inf and the corresponding *sys
> files to
> > c:\windows\system32\drivers. But I still get the BSOD when booting
> > windows.
> > 
> > Or do I need to reconfigure the xen configuration of the domU, to make
> the
> > PV drivers work?
> > 
> > Otherwise I wonder, what hardware Xen emulates for a plain HVM guest,
> so
> > that I can install the right drivers from the Windows installation CD.
> > So, which driver files belong into which place?
> > 
> > Any hint or just a pointer to the right documentation is be very
> > appreciated.
> > 
> 
> Try downloading 0.9.11-pre12 of the drivers which should be pretty
> stable, with the exception of disabling and enabling the network drivers
> (causes a crash sometimes - fixed in hg). You''ll need to
completely
> uninstall 0.8.9 though as an upgrade really isn''t supported. The
wiki
> has information on how to do this.
> 
> My testing has shown a huge increase in network performance vs the qemu
> emulated drivers under 2003, but not so much under XP, although
I''m
> testing them on a different machine.
I downloaded the version you mentioned, and put the copied disk back into 
the physical host, and installed the drivers. In the end it said, 
successfully installed. However, I saw such messages, when I took a look 
into the detailed installation log:

...
Installing the driver....
Updating the driver...
The device is not plugged in, cannot update the driver.
Installing the driver...
Completed

Then I put the disk back into the xen host, but I still get the BSOD.
When I boot in save mode, it shows a list of drivers that it loads, but 
there I cannot see anything regarding some xen drivers used, what I 
expected.
In one of the other tests I did, I downloaded the PV drivers from Novell, 
and installed them. With these I also still get the BSOD, but I saw at least 
the xenbus.sys file in the list of loaded drivers when booting windows in 
safe mode.

However, I also installed XP Pro from scratch in Xen, and then installed the 
GPL PV drivers there. After the installer was done, windows detected the new 
hardware and installed the drivers.

Will it work, when I take a look into the installed Xen domU, copy the 
driver *sys files, and corresponding *inf files to a CD, and then use the 
recovery console on the host where  I get the BSOD, to copy the files on the 
same place on that host?
Do I need to do more to get these drivers activated then?

kind regards
Sebastian
> 
> James
> 

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Hi,

Sebastian Reitenbach <sebastia@l00-bugdead-prods.de> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> thanks a lot for your answer.
> "James Harper" <james.harper@bendigoit.com.au> wrote: 
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > I''ve made a copy of the harddisks of a Windows XP Pro.
machine and now
> > I''m
> > > trying to get this image running within Xen, but now I got stuck
a
> > little
> > > bit.
> > > 
> > > The Xen dom0 is a SLES10SP2, running Xen 3.2.0.
> > > 
> > > I used the virt-manager to create the virtual machine, however
due to
> > > changed hardware, the boot process of the hvm domU ends up in a
BSOD.
> > > I found the WindowsPV GPL drivers version 0.8.9, where I copied
the
> > > windowsxp *inf files to C:\windows\inf and the corresponding *sys
> > files to
> > > c:\windows\system32\drivers. But I still get the BSOD when
booting
> > > windows.
> > > 
> > > Or do I need to reconfigure the xen configuration of the domU, to
make
> > the
> > > PV drivers work?
> > > 
> > > Otherwise I wonder, what hardware Xen emulates for a plain HVM
guest,
> > so
> > > that I can install the right drivers from the Windows
installation CD.
> > > So, which driver files belong into which place?
> > > 
> > > Any hint or just a pointer to the right documentation is be very
> > > appreciated.
> > > 
> > 
> > Try downloading 0.9.11-pre12 of the drivers which should be pretty
> > stable, with the exception of disabling and enabling the network
drivers
> > (causes a crash sometimes - fixed in hg). You''ll need to
completely
> > uninstall 0.8.9 though as an upgrade really isn''t supported.
The wiki
> > has information on how to do this.
> > 
> > My testing has shown a huge increase in network performance vs the
qemu
> > emulated drivers under 2003, but not so much under XP, although
I''m
> > testing them on a different machine.
> I downloaded the version you mentioned, and put the copied disk back into 
> the physical host, and installed the drivers. In the end it said, 
> successfully installed. However, I saw such messages, when I took a look 
> into the detailed installation log:
> 
> ...
> Installing the driver....
> Updating the driver...
> The device is not plugged in, cannot update the driver.
> Installing the driver...
> Completed
> 
> Then I put the disk back into the xen host, but I still get the BSOD.
> When I boot in save mode, it shows a list of drivers that it loads, but 
> there I cannot see anything regarding some xen drivers used, what I 
> expected.
> In one of the other tests I did, I downloaded the PV drivers from Novell, 
> and installed them. With these I also still get the BSOD, but I saw at 
least 
> the xenbus.sys file in the list of loaded drivers when booting windows in 
> safe mode.
> 
> However, I also installed XP Pro from scratch in Xen, and then installed 
the 
> GPL PV drivers there. After the installer was done, windows detected the 
new 
> hardware and installed the drivers.
Doh! I was too fast with saying so. At the end of the installation, the 
installer said, there was an error, The device cannot be started (Code 10) 
(freely translated from German)

kind regards
Sebastian


_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

> > However, I also installed XP Pro from scratch in Xen, and then
installed
> > the GPL PV drivers there. After the installer was done, windows
detected
> > the new hardware and installed the drivers.
> Doh! I was too fast with saying so. At the end of the installation,
the
> installer said, there was an error, The device cannot be started (Code
10)
> (freely translated from German)
> 
When you don''t have /GPLPV in your boot.ini file, the drivers will
deliberately fail to load with that ''Code 10'' error. The
reason for this
is that if qemu and gplpv both give windows access to the same
underlying disk or disk image, you get the same results as if you
mounted the same volume in two domains - eg complete corruption

Maybe if you put /GPLPV in your boot.ini file as per the wiki
documentation you might have some luck?

James

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Hi,

"James Harper" <james.harper@bendigoit.com.au> wrote:
> 
> > > However, I also installed XP Pro from scratch in Xen, and then
> installed
> > > the GPL PV drivers there. After the installer was done, windows
> detected
> > > the new hardware and installed the drivers.
> > Doh! I was too fast with saying so. At the end of the installation,
> the
> > installer said, there was an error, The device cannot be started (Code
> 10)
> > (freely translated from German)
> > 
> 
> When you don''t have /GPLPV in your boot.ini file, the drivers will
> deliberately fail to load with that ''Code 10'' error. The
reason for this
> is that if qemu and gplpv both give windows access to the same
> underlying disk or disk image, you get the same results as if you
> mounted the same volume in two domains - eg complete corruption
> 
> Maybe if you put /GPLPV in your boot.ini file as per the wiki
> documentation you might have some luck?
I overlooked the link to the other page, where its exactly described how and 
where to add the /gplpv.

After adding the /gplpv and rebooting the box, the drivers were installed.

Now I go try and edit the boot.ini file on the image that I copied from the 
physical box, and try copying the *sys and *inf files there too, hopefully 
the BSOD will be gone then.

Are these driver installers doing more than just copying the *inf and *sys 
files into the correct places? In case they do more, what would that be?

However, I also tried to activate shutdownmon, but this still fails:
ShutdownMon.exe -i
produces a popup window, with the following contents(freely translated from 
German):
The application could not be initialized correctly (0x0000135).
Klick "OK" to close the application.


kind regards
Sebastian


_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

2008/8/22 Sebastian Reitenbach <sebastia@l00-bugdead-prods.de>:
> Now I go try and edit the boot.ini file on the image that I copied from the
> physical box, and try copying the *sys and *inf files there too, hopefully
> the BSOD will be gone then.
>
> Are these driver installers doing more than just copying the *inf and *sys
> files into the correct places? In case they do more, what would that be?
You need to be careful with adding the drivers manually, there are
some registry entries that add Upper/Lower Filters to device drivers
and change registry entries related to ACPI/HAL, I think you''d be
quite likely to end up with a non-bootable, corrupted disk.

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

> Are these driver installers doing more than just copying the *inf and
*sys
> files into the correct places? In case they do more, what would that
be?
> 
> However, I also tried to activate shutdownmon, but this still fails:
> ShutdownMon.exe -i
> produces a popup window, with the following contents(freely translated
> from
> German):
> The application could not be initialized correctly (0x0000135).
> Klick "OK" to close the application.
You will need .NET 2.0 installed for shutdownmon to work. Could it be
that you don''t have it installed?

James

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

"James Harper" <james.harper@bendigoit.com.au> wrote:
> > Are these driver installers doing more than just copying the *inf and
> *sys
> > files into the correct places? In case they do more, what would that
> be?
> > 
> > However, I also tried to activate shutdownmon, but this still fails:
> > ShutdownMon.exe -i
> > produces a popup window, with the following contents(freely translated
> > from
> > German):
> > The application could not be initialized correctly (0x0000135).
> > Klick "OK" to close the application.
> 
> You will need .NET 2.0 installed for shutdownmon to work. Could it be
> that you don''t have it installed?
Yes, that was the case, now its running too.

thanks a lot for your help.

Sebastian



_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users