[CentOS-docs] new page? - Virtualization/Install MS Windows XP as a CentOS5/Xen guest

[Manuel Wolfshant]

On 04/18/2009 12:22 AM, R P Herrold wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Apr 2009, Ed Heron wrote:
>
>   
>>  I don't see a How To, on this wiki, specifically designed to address the
>> task of creating a Microsoft Windows XP virtual machine as a Xen guest under
>> CentOS 5.  Many of the concepts are covered in
>> http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Xen/InstallingHVMDomU, but it appears to leave
>> some things to the reader.
>>     
>
> People -- this is NOT rocket science, and not undocumented.
>
> WHY are we building maintenance load? What is wrong with the 
> virtualization documentation we already ship?  I know I file 
> bugs upstream on xen and libvirt, but no one participating on 
> this thread here has so far as I can see;  if there is a 
> problem of lack of clarity, the answer is NOT to write yet 
> more non-authoritative doco first
>
> This works out of the box already.  I am against such a new 
> page, as it represents maintenance load to no good end that I 
> have heard.
>
> The thread wandered off topic almost at once.  I think this 
> shows that it is not needed, as expereince sharing 'started' 
> Please move non -docs stuff to the centos-virt ML
>
> I use this minimal script ... prep with a:
>
> dd an install WinXP ISO to a location
>
> [root at centos-5 bin]# ls /var/lib/xen/ISOs
> cd.iso                            openfiler-2.2-x86-disc1.iso  Windows-keys
> cinch-3.0.0-rc8.i386.iso          win-2000pro.iso              win-XPpro.iso
> debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso  win-98.iso
> [root at centos-5 bin]#
>
> mkdir /var/lib/xen/ISOs
> dd if=/dev/hdc of=WinXP.iso
>
> and run this [almost all of which is man page repetition].  It 
> is really a shell one liner, once the arguments are right
>
> [root at centos-5 bin]# cat install-windows.sh
> #!/bin/sh
> #
> #       from the man page
> #
> # NAME="win-2000"
> ISODIR="/var/lib/xen/ISOs"
> #
> #       inventory available images
> WIN_IMAGES=""
> for i in `cd $ISODIR ; ls -1 win* | sed -e "s/.iso$//g"` ; do
>          export WIN_IMAGES=`echo "$WIN_IMAGES $i"`
> done
> [ "x$1" = "x" ] && {
>          echo "Usage: $0 (arg)" 1>&2
>          echo "       where arg is one of: $WIN_IMAGES" 1>&2
>          exit 1
>          }
> export NAME=`echo "$1"`
> [ "x$NAME" = "x" ] && {
>          echo "Error: NAME is empty " 1>&2
>          exit 1
>          }
> #
> #       can we see the install ISO
> ISO=`echo "$ISODIR/$NAME.iso" `
> [ ! -e $ISODIR/$NAME.iso ] && {
>          echo "Error:  cannot see: $ISODIR/$NAME.iso " 1>&2
>          exit 1
>          }
> #
> IMAGEDIR="/var/lib/xen"
> IMG=`echo "$IMAGEDIR/$NAME.img"`
> #
> CONFIGS="/etc/xen"
> #
> #       clean out any prior image
> [ -e $IMG ] && rm -f $IMG
> [ -e $CONFIGS/$NAME ] && rm -f $CONFIGS/$NAME
> virt-install -n $NAME                           \
>          -r 512 -vcpus=1                         \
>          -s 8 -f $IMG                            \
>          -b xenbr0                               \
>          --vnc --accelerate                      \
>          -v                                      \
>          -c $ISO                                 \
>          --os-type=windows --os-variant=win2k
> #
> cat - << END > /dev/null
>
>          -n      name
>          -r      ram
>          -s      image size in G
>          -f      filename (and location) for the image file
>          -b      bridge network device (deprecated)
>                  try: -w bridge:xenbr0
>          -v      FULL virt
>          -c      boot and install image location or name
>
> END
> [root at centos-5 bin]#
>
> For ceonvenience;s sake, I then add the ISO image to the 
> config file
>
> [root at centos-5 xen]# cat win-XPpro
> name = "win-XPpro"
> uuid = "86694f27-22af-e945-a4cb-b5b32cedb8b6"
> maxmem = 512
> memory = 512
> vcpus = 1
> builder = "hvm"
> kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
> boot = "c"
> pae = 1
> acpi = 0
> apic = 0
> localtime = 1
> on_poweroff = "destroy"
> on_reboot = "restart"
> on_crash = "restart"
> device_model = "/usr/lib64/xen/bin/qemu-dm"
> usbdevice = "tablet"
> sdl = 0
> vnc = 1
> vncunused = 1
> disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/win-XPpro.img,hda,w",
>  	",hdc:cdrom,r",
>  	"file:/var/lib/xen/ISOs/win-XPpro.iso,hdd:cdrom,r" ]
> vif = [ "mac=00:16:3e:01:f4:a7,bridge=xenbr0" ]
> serial = "pty"
> [root at centos-5 xen]#
>   
and for it's worth, XP SP3 + ALL the updates that windows updates wanted 
to installed worked just fine for me using stock C5.2, only major 
differences compared to Russ's config being acpi=apic=1 ( minus the fact 
that I was not able to find the magic which would have made the parallel 
port directly accessible ).

I have not used any other doc but the manual ( 
http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/5.2/Virtualization/sect-Virtualization-Guest_operating_system_installation_processes-Installing_a_Windows_XP_Guest_as_a_fully_virtualized_guest.html 
)