[CentOS] Console access to kvm guest running WindowsV7

Thu Feb 6 17:40:39 UTC 2014
Milos Blazevic <milos.blazevic at sbb.rs>

On 02/06/2014 04:49 PM, Les Mikesell wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 8:50 AM, Nux! <nux at li.nux.ro> wrote:
>>> I have installed a Windows instance as a kvm guest on a host running
>>> CentOS-6.5.  I can access the desktop through the virt-manager console
>>> and
>>> everythign seems to work, although the mouse cursor seems to get lost
>>> from
>>> time to time.
>>>
>>> The virt-manager console display supports various resolutions but when
>>> I
>>> re-size the desktop display remains essentially a square inside a
>>> letter box.
>>>   What other methods are available to open the windows desktop from the
>>> CentOS-6.5 host console or by remote access that allow me to have a
>>> re-sizable
>>> MS-Windows desktop display for this guest running on my normal
>>> (gnome2)
>>> desktop?
>> What I do is change the resolution inside the guest, or use rdesktop
>> with the desired geometry.
>> There's no resizable display with virt-manager yet (a la Vbox).
> Even with VMware I generally prefer to connect directly to the guest
> with vnc, redesktop, NX, etc. instead of the VM console once the
> network access is configured.
>
> However the main problem I have with the virt-manager console is that
> when using NX/freenx to the KVM host, the mouse pointers seems to run
> at a wildly different resolution than the screen display.   I can
> usually manage to get the pointer where I want but it often involves
> going 'past' the edge of the guest screen to get somewhat in sync,
> then back where I wanted it.    Is there some way to get the console's
> mouse to track the positioning of the host's X screen as managed by
> freenx?
>
James, you may want to try out:

Spice client +
QXL drivers installed inside VM +
Spice Guest tools installed inside VM +
VM video driver set to 'qlx' +
configuring Windows 7 VM with Spice Display device

 From there, you'll be connecting to the VM console via the hypervisor: 
console displays are only exported on hypervisor localhost.

That way you should be getting the best user experience - smooth mouse 
control, guest resolution adapting to the client screen resolution/geometry.

Worked for me with both WindowsXP and CentOS 6.



-- 
*Milos Blazevic*

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