Check VT-x and VT-d presence in installer

[marmarek]

Qubes OS version (e.g., R3.2): R4.0

Since Qubes 4.0 do require them, check it at installation time and refuse to continue if missing.

[blacklight447]

Will this also check the SLAT (EPT) extension for vt-x? This could be important since not all vt-x enabled computers support SLAT.

[blacklight447]

Will this also check the SLAT (EPT) extension for vt-x? This could be important since not all vt-x enabled computers support SLAT.

[marmarek]

Yes.

[marmarek]

Yes.

[JohnnyFGlass]

What about users who use laptops with Intel GPUs that distort graphics during the installation if VT-d is on? So during the installation, they must disable VT-d in the BIOS and enable it back on afterwards, and add iommu=no-igfx to Xen's command line in order for VT-d work properly.

The issue #2284 has more information on this problem. There are also numerous cases like this elsewhere on the internet if you google "qubes vt-d intel graphics iommu no-igfx"

That iommu=no-igfx option is the cure to the entire graphics glitch problem. So you could offer advanced users something like a checkbox that would say "Add iommu=no-igfx to Xen's command line (fixes Intel Graphics problems)" or something alike.

I'd really like to help make this happen because I happen to own a laptop that requires disabling VT-d during installation (and VT-d isn't necessary for the installation itself). After the installer is done, adding that option and enabling VT-d back on lets me run Qubes as it should, with VT-d functioning properly.

Instead of detecting processor's VT-d support (by looking at cat /proc/cpuinfo | egrep "vmx|svm" under normal Linux, or cat /sys/hypervisor/properties/capabilities | grep hvm under Xen and dom0), maybe it could do it by reading the CPU name. But that is a significantly less practical because then a list of CPUs and their VT-d capabilities would have to be added to the installer. Too complex, but hey, I'm merely throwing ideas out there.

Ideally, IMO, there would be a simple checkbox for this which would permit the user to continue the installation and which would add the iommu=no-igfx option to Xen's command line so the user wouldn't have to do it by himself.

Completely refusing an install because VT-d is off in the BIOS would cut off a sizeable portion of users with this issue as it's actually quite common with the Intel GPUs. Let me know what are your thoughts on this as I'd really like to help make this checkbox happen, or at least something like it.

[JohnnyFGlass]

What about users who use laptops with Intel GPUs that distort graphics during the installation if VT-d is on? So during the installation, they must disable VT-d in the BIOS and enable it back on afterwards, and add iommu=no-igfx to Xen's command line in order for VT-d work properly.

The issue #2284 has more information on this problem. There are also numerous cases like this elsewhere on the internet if you google "qubes vt-d intel graphics iommu no-igfx"

That iommu=no-igfx option is the cure to the entire graphics glitch problem. So you could offer advanced users something like a checkbox that would say "Add iommu=no-igfx to Xen's command line (fixes Intel Graphics problems)" or something alike.

I'd really like to help make this happen because I happen to own a laptop that requires disabling VT-d during installation (and VT-d isn't necessary for the installation itself). After the installer is done, adding that option and enabling VT-d back on lets me run Qubes as it should, with VT-d functioning properly.

Instead of detecting processor's VT-d support (by looking at cat /proc/cpuinfo | egrep "vmx|svm" under normal Linux, or cat /sys/hypervisor/properties/capabilities | grep hvm under Xen and dom0), maybe it could do it by reading the CPU name. But that is a significantly less practical because then a list of CPUs and their VT-d capabilities would have to be added to the installer. Too complex, but hey, I'm merely throwing ideas out there.

Ideally, IMO, there would be a simple checkbox for this which would permit the user to continue the installation and which would add the iommu=no-igfx option to Xen's command line so the user wouldn't have to do it by himself.

Completely refusing an install because VT-d is off in the BIOS would cut off a sizeable portion of users with this issue as it's actually quite common with the Intel GPUs. Let me know what are your thoughts on this as I'd really like to help make this checkbox happen, or at least something like it.

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package pykickstart-2.32-4.fc25 has been pushed to the r4.0 testing repository for dom0.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo qubes-dom0-update --enablerepo=qubes-dom0-current-testing

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package pykickstart-2.32-4.fc25 has been pushed to the r4.0 testing repository for dom0.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo qubes-dom0-update --enablerepo=qubes-dom0-current-testing

Changes included in this update