How to install VirtIO NIC and Disk driver in Windows KVM VPS?

Question

How to install VirtIO NIC and Disk driver in Windows KVM VPS?

Answer

1. Connect to the slave KVM node via SSH
2. Enable virtio-win repository:
   

   # wget https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/virtio-win.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/virtio-win.repo

3. Install the virtio-win package:
   

   # yum install virtio-win

4. Attach the ISO image with VirtIO drivers to the Windows KVM VPS in question:
   

   # virsh attach-disk kvmID /usr/share/virtio-win/virtio-win-0.1.171.iso hdc --type cdrom --mode readonly

   kvmID should be replaced with actual ID of the VPS

5. Create a dummy disk image in raw format:

   # cd /var/lib/libvirt/images/
   # qemu-img create -f raw dummy 100M

6. Attach the created image to VPS:

   On Centos 7 node:

   Execute the command:

   # virsh attach-disk kvmID /var/lib/libvirt/images/dummy hdb --cache none --targetbus virtio

   On Centos 6 node:

   • Login to SolusVM admin panel
   • Open SolusVM > Virutal Servers > VPS > Custom Config
   • Copy the configuration from Live Config field and paste into Custom Config field
   • Add the following lines:

     CONFIG_TEXT: <disk type='file' device='disk'>
     <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/dummy'/>
     <target dev='hdb' bus='virtio'/>
     </disk>

     Example:

     CONFIG_TEXT: domain type='kvm' xmlns:qemu='http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0'>
     <name>kvm103</name>
     <uuid>408e0d98-e402-45ac-9365-a5a9d3c7a6c6</uuid>
     <memory>1024000</memory>
     <currentMemory>1024000</currentMemory>
     <memtune>
     <hard_limit>1075200</hard_limit>
     </memtune>
     <vcpu>1</vcpu>
     <cpu>
     </cpu>
     <os>
     <type machine='pc'>hvm</type>
     <boot dev='hd'/>
     <boot dev='cdrom'/>
     </os>
     <clock sync='localtime'/>
     <devices>
     <emulator>/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm</emulator>
     <graphics type='vnc' port='5903' passwd='mRQEtfTN' listen='0.0.0.0'/>
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
     <source file='/dev/solusvm/kvm103_img'/>
     <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
     </disk>
     
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
     <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/dummy'/>
     <target dev='hdb' bus='virtio'/>
     </disk>
     
     <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
     <target dev='hdc'/>
     <readonly/>
     </disk>
     <interface type='bridge'>
     <model type='virtio' />
     <source bridge='br0'/>
     <target dev='kvm103.0'/>
     <mac address='00:16:3c:c3:3a:9f'/>
     </interface>
     <input type='tablet'/>
     <input type='mouse'/>
     </devices>
     <features>
     <acpi/>
     <apic/>
     </features>
     <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
     <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
     </domain>

    

7. Install virtio dirver inside the VPS

   Instruction

   • Access the VPS via VNC
   • Open Command Prompt and execute the following command to open Device Manager:

     C:\> devmgmt.msc

   • Expand Other devices, right clicked on unidentified device and selected Update Driver Software to access the driver update wizard.
     
   • Click Browse my computer for driver software
   • Click Browse, select CD-ROM drive and click Next
   • Repeat steps 8-10 for all the unidentified devices
   • Reboot the server