ERROR: You must have either /usr/bin/kvm or /usr/bin/VBoxManage installed

[sam tygier]

Binary package hint: testdrive

on running testdrive i get the message

ERROR: You must have either /usr/bin/kvm or /usr/bin/VBoxManage installed.
HINT: Consider installing kvm if your CPU supports VT, or virtualbox-ose...
 egrep "flags.*:.*(svm|vmx)" /proc/cpuinfo && \
   sudo apt-get install kvm || \
   sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose

my CPU flags are:
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx tm2

so installed the kvm package. but i still get the same error message.

if i run kvm i get the message:
open /dev/kvm: No such file or directory
Could not initialize KVM, will disable KVM support

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Mar 1 20:19:59 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha amd64 (20100122)
NonfreeKernelModules: openafs
Package: testdrive 1.24-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-14.20-generic
SourcePackage: testdrive
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-14-generic x86_64

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

What is the output of /usr/bin/kvm-ok ?

[sam tygier (samtygier)]

sam@oberon:~$ /usr/bin/kvm-ok
INFO: Your CPU supports KVM extensions
INFO: /dev/kvm exists
KVM acceleration can be used

and it works now. is it possible that kvm needs a reboot before it works?

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

If you modified your bios to enable KVM, you'd need to physically
power your system off and back on.

[sam tygier (samtygier)]

i was able to reproduce the error on a live usb stick.

i think the bit you were looking for is this.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ /usr/bin/kvm-ok
INFO: Your CPU supports KVM extensions
INFO: /dev/kvm does not exist
HINT: sudo modprobe kvm
KVM acceleration can NOT be used

i guess /dev/kvm gets created on the next reboot. so i could not reproduce the error earlier.

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Right, the init/upstart script loads kvm.

So given the HINT, can you modprobe kvm and kvm_amd or kvm_intel and
then get testdrive to work?

[Jorge Castro (jorge)]

I ran into this on a clean install - even after modprobing kvm I still needed to reboot for testdrive to work.

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Jorge,

Can you clarify exactly which module or modules you tried modprobing, and whether your cpu is intel or amd?

[Jorge Castro (jorge)]

I did "modprobe intel", should I have done "modprobe kvm_intel" as well? I have an intel chip with VT enabled.

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Jorge-

You'd need to do:

 $ sudo modprobe kvm kvm_intel

I'll update kvm-ok accordingly, but I'm not sure if that solves you problem ...

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Okay, the testdrive part of this is fixed.

But kvm-ok should improve it's "hint" to include the kvm_(intel|amd) module that needs to be included.

I'll get this uploaded.

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

The qemu-kvm task needs to be changed to cpu-checker as soon as it's uploaded to the archive.