Renaming VMs doesn't change qubes-manager entry

[ghost]

Qubes OS version (e.g., R3.1):

R3.1

Affected TemplateVMs (e.g., fedora-23, if applicable):

All

---

Expected behavior:

Renaming an VM modify and moves all relevant files, and no problems with finding relevant files.

Actual behavior:

The files and directory change (/var/lib/qubes/appvms) but the entry in the Qubes manager doesn't. This make it impossible to start the VM, both from the application launcher and via command-line.

When I'm trying to start an application in the qube from the application launcher results in the icons just jumping (indicating loading) and then dissaprears. Nothing else happens.

Starting the qube from the command-line (qvm-start [vm]) results in the output A VM with the name '[VM-name]' does not exist in the system.

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

NOTE: I can't reliable reproduce this bug, but is has occurred several times for me.

1. Rename VM.

General notes:

It has occurred for both standalone VMs and appVMs. This happens on a seemly random basis.

---

[andrewdavidwong]

Starting the qube from the command-line (qvm-start [vm]) results in the output A VM with the name 'untrusted-2' does not exist in the system.

Sounds like it's not just a Qubes Manager issue, but rather that qubes.xml isn't getting updated.

[andrewdavidwong]

Starting the qube from the command-line (qvm-start [vm]) results in the output A VM with the name 'untrusted-2' does not exist in the system.

Sounds like it's not just a Qubes Manager issue, but rather that qubes.xml isn't getting updated.

[marmarek]

Did you get any error while renaming the VM? Have you tried renaming using qvm-prefs?

[marmarek]

Did you get any error while renaming the VM? Have you tried renaming using qvm-prefs?

[ghost]

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

Did you get any error while renaming the VM? Have you tried renaming using qvm-prefs?

---

You are receiving this because you authored the thread.
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub:
#2054 (comment)

No, I didn't get any errors when renaming the VM. I used the manager for
renaming, and haven't tested with qvm-prefs. Reporting back soon.

[ghost]

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

Did you get any error while renaming the VM? Have you tried renaming using qvm-prefs?

---

You are receiving this because you authored the thread.
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub:
#2054 (comment)

No, I didn't get any errors when renaming the VM. I used the manager for
renaming, and haven't tested with qvm-prefs. Reporting back soon.

[ghost]

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

Have you tried renaming using qvm-prefs?

I've now tested renaming a StandaloneVM with qvm-prefs. No problems,
but at the same time no problems occurred using Qubes manager. It's just
sometimes that this problem occur. The files from the VM with problems
still exist, something from there (logs, etc.) that can help you? Can't
start the VM, but I assume that it's possible to access the files
another way, or possible to manually add the VM?

[ghost]

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

Have you tried renaming using qvm-prefs?

I've now tested renaming a StandaloneVM with qvm-prefs. No problems,
but at the same time no problems occurred using Qubes manager. It's just
sometimes that this problem occur. The files from the VM with problems
still exist, something from there (logs, etc.) that can help you? Can't
start the VM, but I assume that it's possible to access the files
another way, or possible to manually add the VM?

[pstansell]

Hello,

I just wanted to say that I had a similar problem with R3.1. I
recently installed Qubes and during the course of exploring it's
behaviour I renamed a template VM using the VM Manager. It didn't
report any errors, but the name displayed by the VM Manager was not
updated.

Now both the commands

qvm-prefs old-vm-name

and

qvm-prefs new-vm-name

report that the VM "does not exist in the system", but I still have
3.5G of files in /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/new-vm-name.

After this I can no longer start the VM from the Manager or from the
command line. Using the Manager I deleted the VM (which still had the
old name). That worked in that the name has gone from the Manager,
but the files are still present on my system (under the new name).

Is there any way I can edit a config file by hand so that the VM Manager
can see the VM in /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/new-vm-name?

Thanks

[pstansell]

Hello,

I just wanted to say that I had a similar problem with R3.1. I
recently installed Qubes and during the course of exploring it's
behaviour I renamed a template VM using the VM Manager. It didn't
report any errors, but the name displayed by the VM Manager was not
updated.

Now both the commands

qvm-prefs old-vm-name

and

qvm-prefs new-vm-name

report that the VM "does not exist in the system", but I still have
3.5G of files in /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/new-vm-name.

After this I can no longer start the VM from the Manager or from the
command line. Using the Manager I deleted the VM (which still had the
old name). That worked in that the name has gone from the Manager,
but the files are still present on my system (under the new name).

Is there any way I can edit a config file by hand so that the VM Manager
can see the VM in /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/new-vm-name?

Thanks

[andrewdavidwong]

@pstansell, check /var/lib/qubes/qubes.xml for the old and new VM names, but be very careful if editing this file.

[andrewdavidwong]

@pstansell, check /var/lib/qubes/qubes.xml for the old and new VM names, but be very careful if editing this file.

[pstansell]

Thanks for the advice. I managed to break my installation other ways too (eg. "qvm-trim-template fedora-23" stopped working with error "File exists: /var/lib/gubes/appvms/fedora-23-fstrim"), so I reinstalled the whole system and started again. It's all part of the learning experience!

[pstansell]

Thanks for the advice. I managed to break my installation other ways too (eg. "qvm-trim-template fedora-23" stopped working with error "File exists: /var/lib/gubes/appvms/fedora-23-fstrim"), so I reinstalled the whole system and started again. It's all part of the learning experience!

[xloem]

Just to confirm, I had this issue, and editing /var/lib/qubes/qubes.xml worked for me. I changed the name three times: the path, the conf file, and the name itself. Then the vm launched fine.

[xloem]

Just to confirm, I had this issue, and editing /var/lib/qubes/qubes.xml worked for me. I changed the name three times: the path, the conf file, and the name itself. Then the vm launched fine.

[tntdynamight]

Same here on Qubes R3.1. andrewdavidwong/xloem's workaround worked for me nicely, thanks!

[tntdynamight]

Same here on Qubes R3.1. andrewdavidwong/xloem's workaround worked for me nicely, thanks!

[jpouellet]

It looks like this ABA problem may be addressed generally in core3 as result of QubesOS/qubes-core-admin@0141e1a

[jpouellet]

It looks like this ABA problem may be addressed generally in core3 as result of QubesOS/qubes-core-admin@0141e1a

[marmarek]

@jpouellet I don't think this is the problem - API in 3.x explicitly allow this already, and it is used by Qubes Manager.

[marmarek]

@jpouellet I don't think this is the problem - API in 3.x explicitly allow this already, and it is used by Qubes Manager.

[jpouellet]

Another report: https://groups.google.com/d/topic/qubes-users/8lk9v7awLnY/discussion

[jpouellet]

Another report: https://groups.google.com/d/topic/qubes-users/8lk9v7awLnY/discussion

[marmarta]

3.1 is no longer supported, and I can't seem to reproduce it on 3.2; I think this one is safe to close.

[marmarta]

3.1 is no longer supported, and I can't seem to reproduce it on 3.2; I think this one is safe to close.