Qubes 4.0 system requirements
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vas...@keemail.me
May 19, 2017, 11:49:51 AM5/19/17
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I'm aware of the requirements for Qubes 4.0 listed here: https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2016/09/02/4-0-minimum-requirements-3-2-extended-support
. But is it maybe possible to still start VMs minus some features which require VT-x and/or VT-d or will those be so deeply integrated into Qubes that there is no way around this?
. But is it maybe possible to still start VMs minus some features which require VT-x and/or VT-d or will those be so deeply integrated into Qubes that there is no way around this?
Vít Šesták
May 20, 2017, 6:30:21 AM5/20/17
to qubes-users
I doubt it will be easy. In theory, you casn patch it and get something between Qubes 3 and Qubes 4, but I am not sure about its complexity.
Qubes switches from PVs to HVMs in Qubes 4. This unfortunately adds some hardware requirements. While most today CPUs have VT-x and EPT (or AMD equivalents), missing VT-d might be the issue. The VT-d is needed for assigning a PCI device to a VM, which is needed for sys-net and sys-usb VMs.
With older Qubes, there is some hack used in absence of VT-d. The hack has, however, tweo drawbacks:
* It exposes all the memory via DMA.
* It works with PVs only.
Maybe you can be lucky when trying to use PVs just for sys-net and sys-usb and other parts will work out of box. I don't know the exact way to achieve it. And I doubt there will be a complete howto for that.
Regards,
Vít Šesták 'v6ak'
Qubes switches from PVs to HVMs in Qubes 4. This unfortunately adds some hardware requirements. While most today CPUs have VT-x and EPT (or AMD equivalents), missing VT-d might be the issue. The VT-d is needed for assigning a PCI device to a VM, which is needed for sys-net and sys-usb VMs.
With older Qubes, there is some hack used in absence of VT-d. The hack has, however, tweo drawbacks:
* It exposes all the memory via DMA.
* It works with PVs only.
Maybe you can be lucky when trying to use PVs just for sys-net and sys-usb and other parts will work out of box. I don't know the exact way to achieve it. And I doubt there will be a complete howto for that.
Regards,
Vít Šesták 'v6ak'
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