[Solved] Best option for a Windows guest VM

[CwF]

Both the Microsoft-official version of Windows 11 and the (unofficial) stripped-down version run quiet nicely as VirtualBox VM in Sid/Bookworm. This is a very interesting development.

If it does well in qemu/kvm, that would be interesting.

[pwzhangzz]

Both the Microsoft-official version of Windows 11 and the (unofficial) stripped-down version run quite nicely as VirtualBox VM in Sid/Bookworm. This is a very interesting development.

If it does well in qemu/kvm, that would be interesting.

I will be happy to try Win11 on qemu/kvm again if someone is willing to help me and when I have time (probably in July).

The key issue is not whether it will work, but how well it works (especially with the virtual video drivers) and whether it will work consistently surviving system upgrades. VBox has been pretty good in these regards (plus it works with Solaris).

[pwzhangzz]

The open-source 3D driver support for use within KVM/QEMU has long been a sore spot. But as reported in Phoronix today:

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mesa-23.2 ... GL-4.6-VMs

The Virgl driver within Mesa for allowing open-source OpenGL support within virtualized environments in conjunction with the Virglrenderer is now capable of exposing OpenGL 4.6.

Just wondering if any of our KVM/QEMU experts on this forum will be willing to test it out?

One of the biggest problems with VirtualBox is that it requires a contiguous chunk of RAM to be set aside*. You may have a lot of ram, but if you have been running the host for some time and don't have enough contiguous RAM, the virtual machine may be paged to death. (Although the situation should have been ameliorated by using SSD or NVMe.) Furthermore, a VBox VM can be paused to release CPU but not RAM.

* I don't know if this is still true, but when I need to run Windows in VBox, I always rebooted or booted into a fresh partition, so I can be sure that I have enough contiguous chunk of RAM.

[CwF]

I'm pretty familiar with kvm/qemu but my Windows interest stopped at Win7. I virtualize for hardware requirements not software, well both, but hardware not useable in linux and it's associated software.

If I understand correctly there is no such thing as offline installations for Windows. I am the desert island example, and why isn't the phrase desert(ed) island... https://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq.html
...and maybe the dissident example too.

The importance of long term endurance of any solution escapes many. Fortunately virtualization can be nested. I've run windows in VBox running in a Debian liveDVD fed by a virtual usb repository launched within kvm/qemu guest...Works fine, as long as there is ZERO online requirement.

All my VM's are over five years old and run under current Debian. Online examples have been upgraded without issue. Static XP (legit registered) images that will never be upgraded continue to be functional under current qemu, though the xml has needed updates.

That would be another question! Do these images transfer/migrate from computer to computer and transferred from file to raw disc and back? XP qcow2 images can.

I'm not a fan of repetitive installs, I am a fan of golden images.

* I don't know if this is still true, but when I need to run Windows in VBox, I always rebooted or booted into a fresh partition, so I can be sure that I have enough contiguous chunk of RAM.

I'm not sure what this means. How does a "fresh partition" relate to contiguous ram?
Do you mean a "fresh boot" ?
I can see the advantage of vmware or vbox on limited laptops, but not for big computers. Neither offer any advantage over qemu/kvm when vfio is included.

[eugrus]

Could connecting to the Windows system inside a VM via RDP be a better option?

[CwF]

Could connecting to the Windows system inside a VM via RDP be a better option?

No. virt-manager and virt-viewer using spice doesn't need a physical or emulated network to display the desktop. In fact you can network to the host with vmm and use the windows vm remotely, without the windows vm even having any network.

[eugrus]

Could connecting to the Windows system inside a VM via RDP be a better option?

No. virt-manager and virt-viewer using spice doesn't need a physical or emulated network to display the desktop. In fact you can network to the host with vmm and use the windows vm remotely, without the windows vm even having any network.

So what?

[CwF]

So what?

What's the point of RDP?

[eugrus]

So what?

What's the point of RDP?

The consideration of the TS was basically the lowest possible latency for mouse movements.

I didn't test it, but it could well be that this is going to be better with RDP than with an emulated GPU and monitor.

[CwF]

The consideration of the TS was basically the lowest possible latency for mouse movements.

Protocols may have differences when some factor is throttled by slow hardware but when sufficient there is no appreciable lag for most activities.

Last I tested vbox it was faster than qxl or virtio, and more 3d capable and also grossly inaccurate. Nothing approach's vfio, even with a simple gpu But qxl is at least accurate enough to use.

I didn't test it, but it could well be that this is going to be better with RDP than with an emulated GPU and monitor.

How exactly is RDP not an emulated gpu and monitor? It is serving a vm that made those choices for it. Once vfio gpu and network are in place X2VNC would be my choice accessing a windows vm.