Failing to start HVM

[KuroSaru]

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

4.0

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

HVMs

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Expected behavior:

To boot from the HVM image.

Actual behavior:

Boots from ROM and loading current Qubes kernel

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Try to load standalone HVM that is not based on qubes templates. eg Win7, NetBSD etc..

General notes:

Within /usr/lib/python3.5/site-packages/qubes/vm/qubesvm.py @ Line 443 we have

kernel = qubes.property('kernel', type=str,
setter=_setter_kernel,
default=(lambda self: self.app.default_kernel),
doc='Kernel Used by this domain.')

if this is replaced with...

if virt_mode == 'pv':
kernel = qubes.property('kernel', type=str,
setter=_setter_kernel,
default=(lambda self: self.app.default_kernel),
doc='Kernel Used by this domain.')
else:
kernel = qubes.property('kernel', type=str,
setter=_setter_kernel,
default=(lambda self: self.app.default_kernel),
doc='Kernel Used by this domain.')

It becoems possible to load the Qubes HVM's that are all set to PV and it also becomes to load a HVM (Windows 7) Image that was restored from 3.2. granted it is very unstable and can get BSODs but networking and disk I/O works for the most part perfectly fine.

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Related issues:

[KuroSaru]

Turns out this can be fixed alot easier and is less of a bug just a gremlin for a lack of documentation about the qubes.xml format.

if you remove the <volume name="kernel" and add a <property name="kernel" instead it will boot from the image and not a ROM image.

[KuroSaru]

Turns out this can be fixed alot easier and is less of a bug just a gremlin for a lack of documentation about the qubes.xml format.

if you remove the <volume name="kernel" and add a <property name="kernel" instead it will boot from the image and not a ROM image.

[0spinboson]

just for completeness's sake, what exactly do I have to add on that <property name="kernel"></property> line? When I leave it empty like so, I get a complaint about the boot device being missing.

[0spinboson]

just for completeness's sake, what exactly do I have to add on that <property name="kernel"></property> line? When I leave it empty like so, I get a complaint about the boot device being missing.

[marmarek]

The correct way to boot from VM image (not qubes kernel) is to set "kernel" property to empty string:

qvm-prefs vmname kernel ''

No qubes.xml or source modifications are needed.

[marmarek]

The correct way to boot from VM image (not qubes kernel) is to set "kernel" property to empty string:

qvm-prefs vmname kernel ''

No qubes.xml or source modifications are needed.

[marmarek]

qvm-prefs man page already have updated text.

[marmarek]

qvm-prefs man page already have updated text.