Cannot install Windows 7 HVM unless "cirrus" driver is used

[lorenzog]

Qubes OS version (e.g., R3.2): 3.2

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

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Expected behavior: Installing a Windows HVM should at least show the install screen

Actual behavior: The HVM is stuck at the "glowing logo"

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install a windows HVM following the documentation
2. Watch the glowing logo glow

To fix:

1. Create a new Windows HVM with qvm-create --hvm --label green win7

2. Start it with an install ISO as described in the documentation

3. The VM will be stuck at the glowing logo: kill it with qubes VM manager

4. Copy the configuration file: cp /var/lib/qubes/appvms/win7/win7.conf /tmp

5. Edit the file, substituting the video driver from 'xen' to 'cirrus':

6. Start the VM using the modified config file: qvm-start win7 --custom-config=/tmp/win7.conf

7. Install windows note Windows will reboot a few times: make sure to start the VM with the --custom-config argument every time

8. When windows is successfully installed, disable driver signing with bcedit (see install docs)

9. Start the VM, but use the Qubes Tools option: qvm-start win7 --install-windows-tools

10. The VM will get stuck at the glowing logo: kill it with Qubes VM manager

11. Copy the config file: cp /var/lib/qubes/appvms/win7/win7.conf /tmp

12. Edit the file, replacing 'xen' with 'cirrus' like at step 5 (note: this file will not have the windows ISO as cdrom but the Qubes Tools ISO instead)

13. Start the VM using the modified config file: qvm-start win7 --custom-config=/tmp/win7.conf

14. Install Qubes tools, making sure to reboot with the --custom-config

15. When the Qubes tools are installed, try booting the VM with its own config file: qvm-start win7

16. The VM should now be running with the Xen driver.

General notes:

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Related issues:

[mfc]

see related qubes-users thread for reference: https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qubes-users/592a8ca0-255d-4172-a36f-0b64c01cbc0a%40googlegroups.com

[MegaTraveller]

Working, only thing is, that you have to run
sudo qubes-dom0-update --enablerepo=qubes-dom0-current-testing qubes-windows-tools
otherwise thewindows-tools are not downloaded, because of an issue with the repo.

[BlueOrigin]

The very first line of this procedure results in this output:

Wrong label name, supported values are the following:

• blue
• gray
• green
• yellow
• orange
• black
• purple
• red

I think the syntax is wrong...

[lorenzog]

@BlueOrigin --label L was intended to mean "give it a color you want". I've put "green" now.

[mfc]

this needs to be captured in the documentation at minimum.

also this seems like something that could be easily fixed to reduce major user headaches related to a major feature (Windows 7 integration).

[bogdanstoica35]

Thanks for sharing the fix. It worked just fine in my case.

[vemrun]

Qubes OS version : R3.2
General notes:

Hey
I have problem with install Windows on QubeOS with HVM.
When i runing vm with windows system my vm stop and loading file /windows/system32/drivers/CLASSPBP.SYS and i have glowning logo but i fix this with this solution:
#2488
I change "xen" to "cirrus" in vga but,
i finish in steps 5 because
when i run vm with custom config:

  <domain type='xen'>
  <name>win</name>
  <uuid>17fc3487-6eeb-4b15-8ac1-5a263ef669db</uuid>
  <memory unit='MiB'>10000</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='MiB'>10000</currentMemory>
  <vcpu placement='static'>2</vcpu>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='xenfv'>hvm</type>
    <loader>hvmloader</loader>
    <boot dev='cdrom'/>
    <boot dev='hd'/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <pae/>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <viridian/>
    
  </features>
  <clock offset='variable' adjustment='0' basis='localtime'/>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>destroy</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <!--<emulator type='stubdom'/>-->
    <emulator type='stubdom' cmdline='-net lwip,client_ip=10.137.2.11,server_ip=10.137.2.254,dns=10.137.2.1,gw=10.137.2.1,netmask=255.255.255.0'/>
    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
      <driver name='phy'/>
      <source dev='/var/lib/qubes/appvms/win/root.img'/>
      <target dev='xvda' bus='xen'/>
    </disk>

    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
      <driver name='phy'/>
      <source dev='/var/lib/qubes/appvms/win/private.img'/>
      <target dev='xvdb' bus='xen'/>
    </disk>


    <interface type='ethernet'>
      <mac address='00:16:3E:5E:6C:09'/>
      <ip address='10.137.2.11'/>
      <script path='vif-route-qubes'/>
      <backenddomain name='sys-whonix'/>
    </interface>


    <input type='tablet' bus='usb'/>
    <video type='vga'>
      <model type='cirrus' vram='16384'/>
    </video>
  </devices>
</domain>

Appears me screen with this error:
http://imgur.com/AKjIN5f
Please help me with this error and im sorry for my bad english :D

[jcholsap]

It sure would be nice to be able to pass a parameter via qvm-start. something like --vga=cirrus. seems to me that this might prove useful for other (less popular) vm's. btw, i remember windows has a history of vga probs at install

[hugoncosta]

I did everything as instructed, but after installing Qubes' tools, the machine would boot up but not show anything (even though I wasn't on seemless GUI). I tried opening programmes using the qvm-run and nothing happened. I followed a french tutorial and used this command

qvm-prefs -s (win7) qrexec_timeout 300

And it's currently working

[chesheer-smile]

Thank you! This instruction totally works.
What is strange, though, it's that I actually installed Windows 7 a couple days before just following official documentation with no problems at all. And having my *.img files accidentally corrupted I had to reinstall it.. And then this particular problem with glowing logo appeared. Looks like it's kinda random.

[Jommoner]

I had the same experience, reinstalling Windows 7 several times (getting a BSOD once installation was complete due to another issue); a few times I needed to use cirrus rather than xen for the video driver, although there seems to be no way to reproduce the behaviour.

Could there be a footnote in the official documentation, describing how to do the 'cirrus' fix - a short entry after the qvm-start --cdrom instruction, saying 'if you get stuck on a glowing Windows 7 logo, then, on some systems, the following workaround may help:' - this would probably save a lot of time for people who need 'cirrus' and experiment and google for a while till they stumble upon it, like I did!

[andrewdavidwong]

@Jommoner: Thanks for the report. If you're interested in contributing the documentation fix, please see here for how to contribute.

[niccokunzmann]

When I tried installing the Windows tools with --install-windows-tools, it still used the Windows 7 cdrom image.

The fix was to add the qubes-windows-tools-*.iso to the edited config file:

1. Edit /tmp/win7.conf and go to the <disk type='block' device='cdrom'> section. In it, do the following:
2. replace the path of the Windows iso file with /usr/lib/qubes/qubes-windows-tools-3.2.2.3.iso (name may change)
3. set the <backenddomain name='...'> to <backenddomain name='dom0'>

Then, you can start the Windows vm again with qvm-start win7 --custom-config=/tmp/win7.conf. The Windows tools can be found in the cdrom drive and can be installed.

[changemenemo]

@hugoncosta I have the same problem than you and the changing of timeout didn't do the trick. I'm still with a running win7 vm but no GUI, not appearing apps or whatsoever

[changemenemo]

no it's okey... Apparently the reboot went wrong after installation or the installation itself.
So I needed to launch the vm in debug mode, then uninstall the tools, reboot,reinstall them, reboot, making sure that everything was in order. then shutdown. try a qvm start without debug mode this time and it was okey. There are still some bugs. The pid bug is still there I think and starting fro the qubes manager seems to be slightly different than start from the terminal

[andrewdavidwong]

This issue is being closed because:

• This issue has the "Release 3.2 updates" milestone.
• Qubes OS 3.2 has reached end-of-life (EOL).
• This issue has not been updated in over a year.

If anyone believes that this issue should be reopened, please let us know in a comment here.