✅ Windows 10 VM on Bazzite (Silverblue) with VirtIO and QEMU Guest Agent

🧩 System Context

• Host OS: Bazzite 42.20250915 (Silverblue, immutable)
• Host Device: ASUS TUF Gaming A16 FA607NU
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4050 Max-Q + AMD Radeon 680M (Hybrid)
• Secure Boot: Disabled
• Container Tool: Distrobox (Fedora-based)
• Goal: Run Windows 10 VM via Virt-Manager with VirtIO drivers and guest agent

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✅ Phase 1: Container Setup

distrobox create --name virtbox --image fedora \
  --volume ~/Downloads:/mnt/Downloads

distrobox enter virtbox

sudo dnf install virt-manager -y

virsh list --all

What Worked

• Container launched successfully
• Virt-Manager installed and opened
• Host ISO folder mounted correctly

What Failed

• Using --bind instead of --volume (invalid flag)
• Running systemctl inside container (no systemd)
• virsh CLI failed due to missing polkit/systemd

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✅ Phase 2: VM Creation in Virt-Manager

• Launch Virt-Manager:

  virt-manager

• Create new VM:

  • Local install media (ISO)
  • ISO path: /mnt/Downloads/Win10_22H2_English_x64v1.iso
  • OS type: Microsoft Windows → Windows 10
  • RAM: 8112 MB
  • CPUs: 8
  • Disk: 300 GB
  • Customize configuration before install

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✅ Phase 3: QEMU Configuration

• Add second CD-ROM:

  • Bus type: SATA or SCSI
  • Source path: /mnt/Downloads/virtio-win-0.1.285.iso

• Change disk bus to VirtIO

• Change NIC model to VirtIO

• (Optional) Set display to Spice + QXL

• Confirm boot order → Windows ISO first

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✅ Phase 4: Windows Installation

• Inside installer:
  • "Where do you want to install Windows?"
  • "Load driver" → Browse VirtIO CD-ROM
  • Folder: viostor or vioscsi → amd64 → .inf file
  • Disk appears → Select → Continue install

---

✅ Phase 5: Post-Install Driver Setup

• Open VirtIO CD-ROM in File Explorer

• Install drivers manually:

  NetKVM\w10\amd64\NetKVM.inf
  viostor\w10\amd64\viostor.inf
  vioserial\w10\amd64\vioser.inf
  Balloon\w10\amd64\balloon.inf (optional)
  

• Install QEMU Guest Agent:

  guest-agent\qemu-ga-x86_64.msi

• Reboot VM

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✅ Phase 6: Integration Checks

• Use Virt-Manager GUI to reboot/shutdown
• Confirm graceful shutdown
• Clipboard + resolution sync (if Spice/QXL enabled)
• Device Manager shows no missing drivers

What Failed

• virsh CLI inside container blocked by missing polkit/systemd
• virsh from host showed no VMs (container isolation)

---

✅ Phase 7: Desktop Launcher Integration

nano ~/.local/share/applications/virt-manager-distrobox.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Virt-Manager (Distrobox)
Exec=distrobox enter virtbox -- virt-manager
Icon=/home/kev/.local/share/icons/virt-manager.png
Type=Application
Categories=System;Virtualization;
Terminal=false

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/icons
mv ~/Downloads/virt-manager.png ~/.local/share/icons/
chmod +x ~/.local/share/applications/virt-manager-distrobox.desktop

---

✅ Phase 8: Guest Agent Integration

Snapshot Discipline

sudo virsh snapshot-create-as win10 post-activation \
  "Clean state after Windows activation" --disk-only --atomic

sudo virsh snapshot-list win10

XML Editing Protocol

sudo virsh dumpxml win10 > ~/Documents/win10-recovery.xml
nano ~/Documents/win10-recovery.xml

Insert inside <devices>:

<channel type='unix'>
  <source mode='bind'/>
  <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
  <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='2'/>
</channel>

Redefine and Reboot

sudo virsh define ~/Documents/win10-recovery.xml
sudo virsh reboot win10

Verify Agent Connection

sudo virsh qemu-agent-command win10 '{"execute":"guest-info"}'

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❌ What Didn’t Work

• Editing XML in OnlyOffice (changes didn’t persist)
• Searching for socket file (not created due to FD-based channel)
• Assuming guest agent was broken when it was miswired

---

🚫 What to Avoid

• GUI editors that don’t overwrite XML cleanly
• Adding multiple <source> blocks (libvirt rejects it)
• Expecting a named socket file when QEMU uses FD-based channel
• Running virsh snapshot-list or reboot without checking VM state:

  sudo virsh domstate win10

---

🧭 Final State

• Windows 10 VM running with VirtIO drivers and QEMU Guest Agent
• Guest agent channel wired via <channel> block
• Host can issue agent commands:

  sudo virsh qemu-agent-command win10 '{"execute":"guest-info"}'

• No missing drivers in Device Manager
• Snapshot created post-activation
• Launcher integration working via Distrobox