[CentOS-virt] Which driver interface do I need to install Windows 2008 R2 as a KVM guest?

Wed Feb 17 22:21:16 UTC 2010
carlopmart <carlopmart at gmail.com>

S.Tindall wrote:
> On Wed, 2010-02-17 at 19:21 +0100, carlopmart wrote:
>> compdoc wrote:
>>> I have both windows 7 and win 2008 installed as kvm guests,
>>> but they were installed with the initial release of centos
>>> 5.4. And I have installed all updates since. I don't like
>>> the virtio drivers, so I never use them. Are you having
>>> issues?
>>>
>> Not at this momment because i didn't start any installation. I would to know where I 
>> can find problems using virtio or e1000 net drivers ...
> 
> Of the two, I only have win7 64-bit installed as a kvm guest.
> 
> Using e1000 was trivial. Use it at installation or add it after
> installation.
> 
> 
> To use the virtio-win drivers in vista 64-bit and later, you will need
> signed drivers for installation. From my reading about 32-bit vista and
> later, you can use unsigned drivers there.
> 
> As far as I know, only redhat provides release-signed drivers via the
> virtio-win supplement.  Those have redistribution restriction, so unless
> you have a rhn entitlement... The unsigned drivers themselves were
> opensourced.
> 
> You can test-sign the netkvm (virtio net) driver, but you need to run
> the guest in testsigning mode to install them after the fact. I have run
> test-signed netkvm drivers (Sept. 24, 2009 driver release) on win7 and
> they worked OK, but did not extensively test them. Actually, they worked
> fine on all guests I tried (winxp 32-bit, vista 64-bit, win7 64-bit).
> 
> Went back to e1000, rather than run the system in testsigning mode (ugly
> display, something like safe mode). The e1000 works fine, no hassles
> installing/using it under win7.
> 
> Currently, the only guest I have running the netkvm driver is winxp,
> because e1000 was not a trivial option.
> 
> 
> Before you ask, could never get win7 to boot using the viostor (virtio
> blk) drivers, but could get winxp and vista to boot on them. From what I
> have read, the viostor drivers (Sept. 24, 2009 release) are not ready
> for prime time, but there were updated viostor drivers released recently
> that I have not tested.
> 
> Steve
> 
>

Many thanks for this info Steve.


-- 
CL Martinez
carlopmart {at} gmail {d0t} com