[CentOS-virt] Windows Server 2008 with the KVM --no-acpi option

Tue Mar 17 09:51:21 UTC 2009
Julez <centos.org at jul17pri.co.uk>

KVM version 84
Host OS: Centos version: 2.6.18-92.el5
Guest OS: Windows Server 2008 Web
Processor: Intel Xeon L5420 Quad-Core

I have installed kvm version 84 from .rpm's on lfarkas.org.  Without the 
--no-acpi option, Windows 2008 boots fine.  With the --no-acpi option, 
the VM displays the following:

Windows Boot Manager
Windows failed to start...
Status 0xc0000225
Info: Windows failed to load because the firmware (BIOS) is not ACPI 
compatible

I heard that for best performance, the -no-acpi option is recommended.  
Maybe that's only an issue with other versions of Windows/KVM.  Can 
anyone confirm?

Assuming -no-acpi is worth persuing, is there a solution?  Is it a known 
issue? I couldn't find many references on the web.  I downloaded & 
compiled the latest kernel version 2.6.28.7 from kernel.org and I think 
the -no-acpi option worked but I've wiped the machine now so can't 
confirm.  Do I need to install a kernel patch and if so which one?

This is the kvm command-line...

/usr/bin/qemu-kvm -no-acpi -k en-gb -m 1024 -monitor stdio -usb 
-usbdevice tablet -net nic,macaddr=52:54:00:12:34:58 -net 
tap,script=/etc/incharge/qemu-ifup -vnc :1 -hda /media/vm01/vm01-hda.raw 
-hdb /media/archive/vm01-hdb.raw

...although any variant with -no-acpi fails, including the installing 
from the .iso...

/usr/bin/qemu-kvm -no-acpi -m 1024 -vnc :1 -cdrom 
"/media/archive/win2008web-trial.iso" -boot d /media/vm01/vm01-hda.raw

For anyone else wanting to know how to install KVM version 84, this 
worked for me:
yum remove kvm
yum install zlib-devel alsa-lib-devel SDL-devel gnutls-devel dev86 
texi2html glibc-devel.i386
rpm -i -v 
http://www.lfarkas.org/linux/packages/centos/5/x86_64/etherboot-roms-kvm-5.4.4-8.x86_64.rpm
rpm -i -v 
http://www.lfarkas.org/linux/packages/centos/5/x86_64/kmod-kvm-84-1.x86_64.rpm
rpm -i -v 
http://www.lfarkas.org/linux/packages/centos/5/x86_64/kvm-84-1.x86_64.rpm
reboot

Before I post this solution under my original forum post...
http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=19034&forum=38
...is this the recommended method for running KVM 72+?

According to this...
http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Guest_Support_Status
...KVM version 72 is required for Windows Server 2008.  CentOS ships 
with KVM 36 and the testing repositories have version 66 - and that's 
only provided as source: http://dev.centos.org/centos/5/testing/SRPMS/.  
Maybe the KVM HowTo could be updated for anyone with the misfortune to 
require Windows Server 2008: http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/KVM

Thanks,
Julez