Qubes R3.2 on Thinkpad X250: cannot install Windows 7 (hangs on "Starting Windows" at install)

[Pablo Di Noto]

Hello,

Never had much use for a Windows7 HVM so far.

Months ago, I installed W7 on Qubes just for the sake of testing. Got to the point of installing qubes-windows-tools and had some success with it, but never used it much (in fact, never activated a license on the resulting W7 install).

Now I want to start from scratch, but cannot make a HVM to go further than "Starting Windows" screen on the install phase.

Only changes I recognize on my setup are:
- R3.2 final installed (which included several Xen updates, 4.6 to 4.6.3 IIRC)
- Got a "storage pool" enabled, to use the machine SHDD together with the boot SSD.

So far, tried all this:
- several W7 ISO versions (including the ones I successfully used before).
- creating the HVM with 2, 3 and 4gb of memory.
- creating the HVM on my "big storage" pool, the local SHDD, using -P option in the qvm-create command
- creating the HVM on the original storage pool, the local boot qubes-dom0-root volume, using the GUI to create the machine.
- using debug options on all the attempts, but logs show absolutely nothing that I can recognize as error.

Any pointers on what to try next, or how to debug?

Thanks in advance!
///Pablo

[Myron Weber]

I don't have any answers, but a data point that might be useful. I've installed windows HVMs on Qubes 3.2 on both Lenovo T460 and x260 recently, and had no issues. The x250 should be similar. One variable I see is that you have a storage pool whereas mine both had a single drive. Don't know if that makes a difference.

[sc...@scotanderson.com]

On Wednesday, November 9, 2016 at 5:03:12 AM UTC-8, Pablo Di Noto wrote:

New to Qubes (installed today!), and this is my first post, but I had this same problem on my Thinkpad T420 and have gotten past it. Some light google sleuthing led me to a Proxmox issue that was similar, and they suggested trying a 'cirrus' video card instead of default.

Digging around in Qubes source, I found you can pass a custom config to qvm-start. I copied the config for the vm to another location (from /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/win7/win7.conf in my case) and edited the line in domain->devices->video->model and changed the type from 'xen' to 'cirrus'. So the result looked like this:

<model type='cirrus' vram='16384' />

Then I started the vm with:
qvm-start win7 --custom-config=[path to new config]

This allowed me to get past the install hang. I haven't completed the install yet, so don't know if it'll be necessary once the install is complete.

Hope that helps!
Scot

[Pablo Di Noto]

El domingo, 20 de noviembre de 2016, 20:11:45 (UTC), Scot Anderson escribió:

> New to Qubes (installed today!), and this is my first post, but I had this same problem on my Thinkpad T420 and have gotten past it. Some light google sleuthing led me to a Proxmox issue that was similar, and they suggested trying a 'cirrus' video card instead of default.
>
> Digging around in Qubes source, I found you can pass a custom config to qvm-start. I copied the config for the vm to another location (from /var/lib/qubes/vm-templates/win7/win7.conf in my case) and edited the line in domain->devices->video->model and changed the type from 'xen' to 'cirrus'. So the result looked like this:
>
> <model type='cirrus' vram='16384' />
>
> Then I started the vm with:
> qvm-start win7 --custom-config=[path to new config]
>
> This allowed me to get past the install hang. I haven't completed the install yet, so don't know if it'll be necessary once the install is complete.
>

Great tip, Scot!
Doing that I was able to move on into the install process.

Being a long-time proxmox user, it never occurred to me that look there for tips (my understanding is that proxmox is kvm- or lxc-based, and since Qubes is trying to move away from qemu-related stuff that sort of things would not apply here).

So, for the record, storage pools and specific Lenovo X250 had nothing to do with this Windows 7 "no further than glowing logo" issue.

Thanks again!
///Pablo

[bal...@gmail.com]

I have the same Problem :(

When I change the model type to Cirrus,then appear a libvirtError that doesn't make any sense to me:

Orignal Message: libvirt.libvirtError: Operation schlug fehl: Domain 'win7x64test2' ist bereits mit UUID xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx definiert

In english it should be something like: libvirt.libvirtError: operation failed: Domain 'win7x64test2' already exists with UUID xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

The Original command that I run:
qvm-start win7x64test2 --cdrom=/home/dave/Schreibtisch/win7_x64.iso --custom-config=/home/dave/Schreibtisch/win7x64test2.conf

Can anyone help me please??

[trule...@gmail.com]

четверг, 9 февраля 2017 г., 21:10:00 UTC+3 пользователь bal...@gmail.com написал:

I finished install win7 HVM with succes on Qubes using thinkpad t430


Also libvirtError error solved by :

win7 -> advanced > type > cdrom > backened domain > [path to your iso]

When fisrt start

Then follow this instructions https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/2488

It's also works for me, VT-x enabled.

[Marcus...@mdnetz.com]

That worked for me also. (T420 / Qubes 3.2)
Many thank's for that great Tip.

Regards
Marcus

[shak...@gmail.com]

Hello Mr. weber. I also have a x260, im having issues installing windows app vms, but off topic, does your system shut down and reboot normally? i get errors for memmap not enabled... ive been shutting down by holding onto power button since and i know i have to find a solution soon.. hope this message gets to you. thanks.

[Amilton Justino]

Many thank's for that great Tip Scot Anderson. Work Fine !