Template to install Win7 (cannot find target hard-disk)

Community Support
1

Hello,
I’ve created the following Windows 7 template:

CONTEXT=[NETWORK="YES"]
CPU="4"
DISK=[CACHE="writethrough",DEV_PREFIX="hd",IMAGE="win7-boot",IMAGE_UNAME="oneadmin",READONLY="yes",TARGET="hda"]
DISK=[CACHE="writethrough",DEV_PREFIX="hd",IMAGE="win7-empty-hd",IMAGE_UNAME="oneadmin",TARGET="hdb"]
FEATURES=[ACPI="yes"]
GRAPHICS=[LISTEN="0.0.0.0",TYPE="VNC"]
HYPERVISOR="kvm"
LOGO="images/logos/windows8.png"
MEMORY="4096"
NIC=[NETWORK="shared-2100",NETWORK_UNAME="oneadmin"]
OS=[ARCH="x86_64",BOOT="cdrom,hd"]
RAW=[DATA="<cpu mode = 'host-passthrough'/>",TYPE="kvm"]
VCPU="4"

The image win7-boot is the installer ISO provided by the Microsoft website.
the image win7-empty-hd is an empty datablock of 20 GB.
Upon boot, the windows installation wizard boots just fine, I choose the ‘Custom (advanced)’ procedure to install a system from scratch, but I don’t see the destination hard-disk.
See screenshot here: screenshot of installer
What could the problem be ?
I’ve already tried changing the image type from DATABLOCK to OS, without any benefit.

We are using OpenNebula 4.14.2.

Thanks for your help.
Valerio

2

Hi Valerio!,

if you don’t mind using VirtIO drivers which are recommended for enhanced performance when using KVM, I’d have a look at this post which explains how to install Windows 7 in OpenNebula. If you need help just post here what you need.

Your win7-empty-hd is configured with the DEV_PREFIX=“hd” which should be an IDE emulated disk and Windows should see it but it’s been a long time since I installed Windows in OpenNebula.

Cheers!

3

Hello,
your suggestion mostly helps, and after the installation of the virtio drivers using the Red-Hat signed files, I managed to install Windows 7.
The VM boots fine, the context files worked as expected and the OS installed.

Now the next issue: is it possible to take a snapshot of the main disk of this VM, and use it as main HD of a new VM template so that the OS boots directly with all the packages and required software installed ?

Thanks,

4

This is what I’ve already tried:

  • took a snapshot the disk where the OS was installed from the currently running VM;
  • clone the template of the VM and just change the storage part so that it uses the snapshot created just before, removing everything else;
  • the VM boots, but without internet connectivity: it seems the context is not being correctly configured.

The template is:

CONTEXT=[FILES_DS="$FILE[IMAGE_ID=832] $FILE[IMAGE_ID=833]",INIT_SCRIPTS="startup.vbs",NETWORK="YES"]
CPU="4"
DISK=[CACHE="writethrough",IMAGE="win7-contextualized",IMAGE_UNAME="oneadmin"]
DISK=[CACHE="writethrough",IMAGE="win-virtio",IMAGE_UNAME="oneadmin",READONLY="yes"]
FEATURES=[ACPI="yes"]
GRAPHICS=[LISTEN="0.0.0.0",TYPE="VNC"]
HYPERVISOR="kvm"
LOGO="images/logos/windows8.png"
MEMORY="4096"
NIC=[NETWORK="shared-2100",NETWORK_UNAME="oneadmin"]
NIC_DEFAULT=[MODEL="virtio"]
OS=[ARCH="x86_64",BOOT="hd,cdrom"]
RAW=[DATA="<cpu mode = 'host-passthrough'/>",TYPE="kvm"]
VCPU="4"

The file startup.vbs is the one from https://github.com/OpenNebula/addon-context-windows
But probably the way it is specified in the INIT_SCRIPTS is not correct.

5

Morning Valerio!
Don’t know if you’ve already tried these steps though I’ve gathered from 5.2 documentation it’s quite the same for 4.14 (http://docs.opennebula.org/4.14/user/virtual_machine_setup/windows_context.html)

  1. Contextualization in Windows requires that two files are present in C:/
  2. You’ve to do some changes in your local group policy.

This post also looks useful for troubleshooting.

Cheers!