Thomas Mullaly

DevOps, Security and IT Leadership

Windows 8.1 Enterprise Virtual Machine Install on KVM

First download the evaluation version of Windows 8.1 Enterprise

Now download the fedora storage drivers from the kvm site 

tom@kvm:~$ wget http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/virtio-win/latest/images/virtio-win-0.1-81.iso
--2014-11-14 13:22:18--  http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/virtio-win/latest/images/virtio-win-0.1-81.iso
Resolving alt.fedoraproject.org (alt.fedoraproject.org)... 209.132.181.24, 209.132.181.25, 209.132.181.26, ...
Connecting to alt.fedoraproject.org (alt.fedoraproject.org)|209.132.181.24|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 74143744 (71M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘virtio-win-0.1-81.iso’

100%[==========================================================>] 74,143,744   429KB/s   in 2m 49s 

2014-11-14 13:25:08 (429 KB/s) - ‘virtio-win-0.1-81.iso’ saved [74143744/74143744]

Now move it into place:

tom@kvm:~$ sudo mv virtio-win-0.1-81.iso /var/lib/libvirt/images/

Transfer the iso to the kvm host and put it in /var/lib/libvirt/images

Create the virtual machine

root@kvm:/var/lib/libvirt/images# virt-install -n Win81 -r 2048 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/Win81.qcow2,bus=virtio,size=40,format=qcow2 -c /var/lib/libvirt/images/9600.17050.WINBLUE_REFRESH.140317-1640_X64FRE_ENTERPRISE_EVAL_EN-US-IR3_CENA_X64FREE_EN-US_DV9.ISO --accelerate --network network=default,model=virtio --connect=qemu:///system --vnc --noautoconsole -v --os-type=windows --os-variant=win7

Starting install...
Allocating 'Win81.qcow2'                                                     |  40 GB     00:00     
Creating domain...                                                           |    0 B     00:01     
Domain installation still in progress. Waiting for installation to complete.

When the install gets stuck on the storage page, eject the windows 8.1 install dvd and insert the driver iso:

virsh # domblklist Win81
Target     Source
------------------------------------------------
vda        /var/lib/libvirt/images/Win81.qcow2
hdc        /var/lib/libvirt/images/9600.17050.WINBLUE_REFRESH.140317-1640_X64FRE_ENTERPRISE_EVAL_EN-US-IR3_CENA_X64FREE_EN-US_DV9.ISO

virsh # change-media Win81 hdc --eject
succeeded to complete action eject on media

virsh # change-media Win81 hdc /var/lib/libvirt/images/virtio-win-0.1-81.iso --insert
succeeded to complete action insert on media

You’ll see three drivers, a network driver, a scsi driver and a balloon driver, choose the scsi driver.

Now you’ll have to put the install disk back in:

virsh # change-media Win81 hdc /var/lib/libvirt/images/virtio-win-0.1-81.iso --eject
succeeded to complete action eject on media

virsh # change-media Win81 hdc /var/lib/libvirt/images/9600.17050.WINBLUE_REFRESH.140317-1640_X64FRE_ENTERPRISE_EVAL_EN-US-IR3_CENA_X64FREE_EN-US_DV9.ISO --insert
succeeded to complete action insert on media

Update the Network driver change the cdrom again:

virsh # change-media Win81 hdc --eject
succeeded to complete action eject on media

virsh # change-media Win81 hdc /var/lib/libvirt/images/virtio-win-0.1-81.iso --insert
succeeded to complete action insert on media

Choose the Red Hat Virtio Ethernet Adapter driver and PCI Adapter (Balloon Driver)