+++ /dev/null
-title: Virtual Windows 7
-linktitle: virtual-win7
-parent: Home
-ctime: 2011-07-28
-
-# Introduction
-
-This page documents the process of converting a dual-boot Linux/Windows
-installation into a Linux installation running the Windows partition under a
-KVM virtual machine. This work was first performed under Ubuntu 10.10 and
-11.04 versions.
-
-# Why virtualize Windows 7?
-
-During my development activities, customer needs infrequently require use of
-software only available under Windows. But booting between OSes is an
-incredible waste of time and drain on productivity. My work notebook, a Lenovo
-X201, came pre-installed with an OEM version Windows 7 Home Premium. The
-obvious solution? Virtualize Windows under Linux.
-
-# Microsoft licensing issues?
-
-[[!pquote text="The OEM Windows EULA allows for virtualization"]]
-
-I downloaded the EULA for Windows 7 from microsoft.com as applicable for
-pre-installed OEM versions of Windows 7 Home Premium. For this OS configuration,
-the license specifically allows execution of the pre-installed OEM OS when
-virtualized on the same hardware. The actual text is found in Section 3.d:
-
-> Use with Virtualization Technologies. Instead of using the software directly
-on the licensed computer, you may install and use the software within only one
-virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system on the licensed computer. When
-used in a virtualized environment, content protected by digital rights
-management technology, BitLocker or any full volume disk drive encryption
-technology may not be as secure as protected content not in a virtualized
-environment. You should comply with all domestic and international laws that
-apply to such protected content.
-
-# Virtualization requirements
-
-For Windows virtualization to be effective in my development use cases, the
-following requirements and constraints must be met. Additionally, I want the
-virtualization solution to support running additional virtual machines as well.
-
-* Run 32-bit x86 Windows 7 from 32-bit x86 Ubuntu Linux 10.10 and newer.
-* Run various flavors of Linux or other Intel x86 based operating environments.
-* No unnecessary dependences to software or hardware that will limit the
-ability of the virtualized OS from functioning properly in the future.
-* Ability to run with native disk, not disk-as-file, for improved IO
-performance.
-* Supports use of VT-x and VT-d, again for performance.
-* Will be sufficiently performant on the target hardware when virtualized. The
-X201 has an i5-M560 CPU which offers 4 cores at 2.66 GHz each, and 8 GB of RAM.
-* Simple management of VMs, including configuration, start and stop.
-* VMs must behave sanely in the presence of host OS power saving functionality,
-like suspend.
-* There is no requirement to continue to run Win7 natively.
-* High end graphics are not required: no need for 3D, Aero effects, video
-playback, etc.
-* And finally, a reliable mechanism return to the prior physical configuration
-if the VM experiment fails to work as hoped.
-
-# Selecting a virtualization framework
-
-There are a few virtualization options suitable for use on a development system,
-including VMware, Xen, VirtualBox, and KVM. All can do the job, but KVM was
-chosen for a variety of reasons:
-
-* KVM has the features needed, and is available through the standard
-Ubuntu repositories.
-* KVM management via libvirt is more than adequate.
-* KVM can use an SDL local window for rendering the virtualized OS, for quite
-good display performance.
-* The enterprise features of Xen are overkill for this application.
-* VMWare is not open source, so there is some concern about support for this
-particular hardware in the far future (I tend to keep hardware for a very long
-time).
-* VirtualBox can not access USB hardware unless the purchased version is used.
-
-The virtual machine manager, using libvirt, is a pretty nice environment. This
-management tool already supports a few different VM strategies, called
-*backends*, and they are likely to improve moving forward. Therefore, gaining
-knowledge about VMM, libvirt, and KVM could in the near future represent
-an intellectual asset deployable against future customer needs.
-
-# Disk organization, pre-virtualization
-
-Prior to any changes, the 320 GB notebook disk drive was organized as follows:
-
- /dev/sda1, 1.17 GiB, Label=SYSTEM_DRV
- /dev/sda2, 78.17 GiB, Label=WindowsOS_7
- /dev/sda3, 19.68 GiB, Label=Lenovo_Recovery
- /dev/sda4, an extended partition container
- /dev/sda5, 15.26 GiB, swap partition
- /dev/sda6, 23.84 GiB, / partition
- /dev/sda7, 159.96 GiB, /home partition
-
-* The SYSTEM_DRV apparently supports the Lenovo ThinkVantage functionality
-which includes some backup and restore capability.
-* The WindowsOS_7 partition is the one to virtualize, containing the licensed
-OEM version of Windows 7 Home Premium that came with this notebook.
-* The system boots using Grub2, which initially included an entry to boot the
-Windows_7 partition.
-
-# The solution
-
-Unfortunately, the solution is not so simple as to point the VM to the /dev/sda2
-partition. First, the virtual hardware expects to see a hard drive, complete
-with partition table. Second, suitable drivers for the virtual hardware must be
-installed into the windows installation. I took several steps to convert
-/dev/sda2 in place to look like a hard drive (kpartx, etc) but the best I could
-accomplish was Windows 7 hanging during boot. Since my expertise with Windows
-internals is limited, and so is the information available online, I elected to
-do a clean re-install Windows from the virtual environment.
-
-## Create backups
-
-### R&R image
-
-Levnovo offers a recovery capability accessible by booting the Lenovo_Recovery
-partition. I used this to create a recovery image for the WindowsOS_7
-partition.
-
-* Create a windows repair disc from the Win7 OS
-* Create an R&R recovery boot disc
-* Back up the current Win7 image via R&R to the Lenovo_Recovery partition. This
-required removing all other prior backups because of size constaints in that
-partition.
-* Back up the current Win7 image to a set of DVD optical discs. It took 3: a
-boot disc and two data discs.
-
-### Partition level backups
-
-Since the space was available in the Linux partition, I opted to create parition
-level backups as well, which would be 'easier' to restore, at least for me.
-
- # Backup the first MiB of /dev/sda to capture MBR and any bootloader stuff
- dd if=/dev/sda of=mbr.save bs=1M count=1
- # Use ntfsclone to make a space-efficient copy of the windows partition
- ntfsclone --save-image -o - /dev/sda2 | gzip -c > sda2.img.gz
-
-## Prepare /dev/sda2 for virtualization
-
-First, /dev/sda2 must look like a DOS style disk, complete with disk level
-partition information. This can be accomplished using this fdisk command:
-
- fdisk -c -u /dev/sda2
-
-Drive fdisk to create a single windows partition spanning the entirety of the
-'disk' (actually the physical partition /dev/sda2). Now /dev/sda2 will look
-like a valid disk image usable by a VM to re-install Windows 7.
-
-## Install the virtualization tools in Linux
-
- sudo apt-get install virt-manager virt-viewer python-vm-builder \
- kvm-pxe ubuntu-vm-builder
-
-I tested the VM tools by creating an Ubuntu 11.04 install. I ran the Virtual
-Machine Manager using an Ubuntu 11.04 install .iso image as its CD-ROM. The
-installation was successful and the resulting virtual machine worked without
-fail.
-
-## Re-install Windows 7
-
-Next windows was re-installed. A Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit OEM .iso was
-used to do a clean install of Win7. See the virtioinstall.sh script for more
-information. I used the Win7 iso, and virtual floppy and CD-ROM images from
-RedHat containing signed virtio drivers for disk and network devices. The VM was
-started using the virtio disk driver, booting into the Win7 iso. Then the
-virtual floppy was accessed during the Win7 install process to load in the
-virtio drivers so the Win7 install program could see the disc, which was of
-course the disk image on the host /dev/sda partition. I formatted the 'drive'
-(which is really the /dev/sda2 partition on the physical drive), then proceeded
-to install Win7 onto it. The installation process, from first boot of the Win7
-iso, to first user login to Win7, took just under 45 minutes.
-
-At this point, the VM was stopped so its configuration could be altered it use
-the virtio network driver. The VM was then restarted with the virtio iso from
-RedHat connected as the virtual CD-ROM disc. Once Win7 was running, in device
-manager the drivers for the broken network device were updated from the .iso to
-get the network running. The virtio network interface seems very efficient. The
-VM configuration was finally modified to provide for 2 CPU cores and 2 GB of
-RAM.
-
-## Re-activate Windows 7
-
-At this time, Win7 had to be re-activated. The online technique failed, so the
-phone call technique was required. It was a bit painful, but the end result was
-a properly activated installation.
-
-## Install other Windows 7 tools
-
-Since I installed from scratch, I had to reinstall the few tools I use under
-Windows. Since these tools were few in number, this process was pretty
-painless. This strategy would be much more painful if there were lots of tools
-and/or custom configuration or data required to be recovered.
-
-## Improving diplay performance
-
-The default display mechanism when interacting with the Windows VM display is
-VNC. This is not very performant. Since the Windows VM is only to be accessed
-from the local hardware, I instead configured the VM to use SDL for rendering
-the VM display in a window. Interestingly, this change also allowed sound from
-the Win7 VM to propagate to the sound hardware. The SDL configuration is fast
-enough to watch Netflix from the VM.
-
- Stop the win7 VM
- Reconfigure the VM:
- Remove VNC graphics entry for the VM and add the local SDL one.
- Change the sound driver to ac97
- Edit /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf. Add:
- user = "smckown"
- group = "smckown"
- sudo service libvirtd-bin restart
- Restart the virtual machine
-
-### Why not SPICE?
-
-The SDL method creates a new local window that hosts the VM display. It cannot
-be embedded into the virtual manager VM window. It looks like the better
-solution is going to be to use the SPICE facility. Special drivers in the VM
-work with special client features to implement a much improved connection. SPICE
-provides better display performance than VNC, can do stereo sound, and also
-provides for USB redirection. As of 7/13/12, Ubuntu 12.04 does not have the
-right stuff to do spice through virt-manager. There is a PPA that will allow it.
-The nice thing about SPICE is it is network-able and can be embedded. Since
-network access to the VM is not necessary, the SDL window method seems optimal.
-
-## Anti Virus considerations
-
-It should be noted that the VM, as the native install before it, is running
-Microsoft Security Essentials for Anti-Virus. There appears a noticeable
-performance hit for using AV within the VM, in comparison to running it
-natively. Unfortunately, the protection offered is probably worth the
-performance penalty.
-
-# Conclusion
-
-I am quite happy with the results of this process. Win7 boots noticeably faster
-from the VM than it did on native hardware. Disk CPU are perceptibly sluggish
-within the VM with respect to native performance, but it is tolerable. Network
-performance seems on par with native. For the tasks in which I will use
-Windows, the virtual machine performance is more than adequate.
-
-Of course the big win is that Win7 can be running simultaneously with Ubuntu.
-This solves a host of workflow problems and removes the terrible inefficiencies
-caused by having to boot between the two OSes natively. For one, I was able to
-continue working with apps in the host Ubuntu OS while the Win7 VM chugged away
-literally for hours downloading and rebooting ad nauseum as it updated itself
-with the latest Win7 SP1 and subsequent patches.
-
-My overall concern with this strategy is that a change in Microsoft policy could
-complicate my life. Although this use of my windows license is perfectly
-legitimate according to my reading of the EULA, I depend upon Windows Product
-Activation to honor this legitimacy. Here is to hoping that Microsoft will take
-care to ensure that their WPA policies retain convenient use of Windows for all
-legitimate uses.
-
----
-
-# Updates
-
-### 2012-08-13
-After using this configuration for over a year, I have found it to be quite
-reliable. The upgrade to 12.04 triggered Windows Product Activation, and
-another phone call to the automated WPA phone number was required. The
-activation was successful.
-
----
-
-# Links
-
-The following links, in no particular order, were invaluable in completing this project. Thanks to all those who published their prior experience for others to use!
-
-* <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392>
-* <http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/hp-mini-210-windows-7-recovery-0xc000000f-bcd/6c79d900-79dc-4f54-bcf7-22edf6f44dd4>
-* <http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Startup-Repair-frequently-asked-questions>
-* <http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html>
-* <http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/104341-bootmgr-missing-fix.html>
-* <http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/163216-bootrec-exe-tool-how-use-windows-recovery-environment.html>
-* <http://brandonkonkle.com/blog/2009/apr/27/lvm-based-virtualization-kvm-and-jaunty/>
-* <http://techpp.com/2009/11/11/download-windows-7-iso-official-direct-download-links/>
-* <http://bderzhavets.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/set-up-rh-virtio-scsi-driver-on-windows-xp-kvm-at-kvm-qemu-instance-on-f14/>
-* <http://techpp.com/2009/11/11/download-windows-7-iso-official-direct-download-links/>
-* <http://cloud.ubuntu.com/2011/03/fast-win7-kvm-virtiodisk-net-install/>
-* <http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html>
-* <http://rghost.net/3412907>
-* <http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/156599-help-windows-7-clean-install.html>
-* <http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/151566-reinstalling-windows-7-a.html#post1300819>
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