Re: Alternative(s) to VirtualBox

[Chris Davies <chris-usenet@roaima.co.uk>]

Carl Fink <carl@finknetwork.com> wrote:
> Believe it or not that helped a lot.
> I was using a command I found online somewhere:
> virsh start /mnt/data/kvm-images/xp2

Ah. That tells libvirt to start a guest that has been previously
configured within libvirt, and that /mnt/data/kvm-images/xp2 is the
name of (not path to!) the configuration. Although over here it produces
this error:

    $ virsh start /etc/motd
    error: failed to get domain '/etc/motd'
    error: Domain not found: no domain with matching name '/etc/motd'


> Inspired by your question I looked for alternatives. I found this one:
> kvm -usb -m 512 /mnt/data/kvm-images/xp2

> (I should clarify that I made a qcow2 image from a VB virtual hard drive and
> named it xp2.)

> This boots! Then it spontaneously bluescreens and reboots. Forever. Windows
> reports a STOP error but it then reboots before I can transcribe anything.

Does VB use kvm as its underlying execution system? If not, you may find
that Windows needs different device drivers for the "new" (emulated)
hardware environment, and finding it hasn't got them, throws its hands
up in horror.


> If I replace kvm with qemu in the above and boot in safe mode, it takes much
> longer to reboot. Then it reboots.

Qemu is a CPU emulator. Kvm uses the physical CPU. Hence the significant
speed difference. Park that one for now and stick with Kvm.


What worked for me just now was to use the Virtual Machine Manager GUI
to create a new machine (from an existing libvirt/kvm image):

    Name: WindowsXP
    Install: Import existing disk image
    Existing storage path: {as appropriate}
    OS type: Windows
    Version: Windows XP (x86)
    Memory: 768
    CPUs: 1

If you try this it will give you a working libvirt XML configuration
file that you can (try to) tweak as necessary. (Note that the "import"
of the existing disk image isn't a file copy; the libvirt definition
simply uses the file path you provide.)

    sudo virsh list
     Id Name                 State
     ----------------------------------
      1 WindowsXP            running


> I'd still like to know why virt-manager isn't working.

I think it might be, but it isn't working the way you think it should
be...?


As an extra thought, here is a kvm command that I used recently to start
a WindowsXP image by hand:

    kvm -m 768 -name WindowsXP -rtc base=localtime -boot c \
	-hda /var/lib/libvirt/images/WindowsXP.img -usb -usbdevice tablet \
	-vga std -device AC97 -net nic -net user

Chris