kvm: windows xp installation hangs after "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration"

Bug #1074460 reported by Jamin W. Collins
10
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
qemu-kvm (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

Attempting to build a Windows XP virt using KVM results in a black screen after the familiar "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration". No matter how long I wait there is no apparent progress of any kind and the VM CPU is pegged.

Very similar to: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=684288. However, that report indicates the problem was fixed upstream in a version prior to what is provided with 12.10. So, perhaps the problem has reappeared.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: kvm 1:84+dfsg-0ubuntu16+1.2.0+noroms+0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-18.29-generic 3.5.7
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-18-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu6
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Nov 2 11:43:17 2012
InstallationDate: Installed on 2009-12-21 (1046 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
KvmCmdLine: Error: command ['ps', '-C', 'kvm', '-F'] failed with exit code 1: UID PID PPID C SZ RSS PSR STIME TTY TIME CMD
MachineType: LENOVO 2436CTO
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-18-generic root=/dev/mapper/ssd-root ro vga=792 splash nox2apic crashkernel=384M-2G:64M,2G-:128M quiet splash
SourcePackage: qemu-kvm
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to quantal on 2012-10-12 (21 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 05/25/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: G5ET29WW (1.07 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 2436CTO
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrG5ET29WW(1.07):bd05/25/2012:svnLENOVO:pn2436CTO:pvrThinkPadW530:rvnLENOVO:rn2436CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 2436CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad W530
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote :

I did some further digging on this and it appears that it only happens when the virtual machine definition includes a floppy device, either via -drive or -fda. Removal of the floppy device results in being able to successfully boot and install Windows XP. However, this does seem to prevent one from providing the virtio drivers for storage during installation as the additional storage drivers are provided via floppy.

Revision history for this message
Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn) wrote :

Thanks for reporting this bug. I don't currently have a windows license available to reproduce. If you know how to build upstream qemu, are you able to reproduce this with that as well?

Changed in qemu-kvm (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote :

You don't need a license to reproduce this. You only need to attempt to boot from installation media.

I'll happily try upstream qemu, can't say that I've done it before. Any pointers?

Revision history for this message
Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn) wrote : Re: [Bug 1074460] Re: kvm: windows xp installation hangs after "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration"

Quoting Jamin W. Collins (<email address hidden>):
> You don't need a license to reproduce this. You only need to attempt to
> boot from installation media.
>
> I'll happily try upstream qemu, can't say that I've done it before. Any
> pointers?

I usually do the following:

git clone git://git.qemu.org/qemu.git
cd qemu
./configure --target-list=i386-softmmu
make

cd i386-softmmu
./qemu-system-i386 <qemu-args>

Revision history for this message
Jamin W. Collins (jcollins) wrote :

Followed the steps provided and the current upstream source does not suffer from this issue. Last commit in current upstream source: commit 6801038bc52d61f81ac8a25fbe392f1bad982887.

Revision history for this message
MegaBrutal (qbu6to) wrote :

I experience this even today with Ubuntu Vivid. Anyone has a workaround (which not involves building QEMU/KVM from source)?
My current qemu package version is 1:2.2+dfsg-5expubuntu9.2.

To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.