Installation guide

Chapter 9. Installing a fully-virtualized Windows guest

This chapter describes how to create a fully-virtualized Windows guest using the command-line

(vi rt-i nstal l ), launch the operating system's installer inside the guest, and access the installer

through vi rt-vi ewer.

To install a Windows operating system on the guest, use the vi rt-vi ewer tool. This tool allows you

to display the graphical console of a virtual machine (via the spice or VNC protocol). In doing so,

vi rt-vi ewer allows you to install a fully-virtualized guest's operating system with that operating

system's installer (for example, the Windows XP installer).

Installing a Windows operating system involves two major steps:

1. Creating the guest virtual machine, using either vi rt-i nstal l or vi rt-manag er.

2. Installing the Windows operating system on the guest virtual machine, using vi rt-vi ewer.

Refer to Chapter 6, Guest virtual machine installation overview for details about creating a guest virtual

machine with vi rt-i nstal l or vi rt-manag er.

Note that this chapter does not describe how to install a Windows operating system on a fully-

virtualized guest. Rather, it only covers how to create the guest and launch the installer within the

guest. For information on how to install a Windows operating system, refer to the relevant Microsoft

installation documentation.

9.1. Using virt -inst all t o creat e a guest

The vi rt-i nstal l command allows you to create a fully-virtualized guest from a terminal, for

example, without a GUI.

Important

Before creating the guest, consider first if the guest needs to use KVM Windows para-

virtualized drivers. If it does, keep in mind that you can do so during or after installing the

Windows operating system on the guest. For more information about para-virtualized drivers,

refer to Chapter 10, KVM Para-virtualized (virtio) Drivers.

For instructions on how to install KVM para-virtualized drivers, refer to Section 10.1, “Installing

the KVM Windows virtio drivers” .

It is possible to create a fully-virtualized guest with only a single command. To do so, run the

following program (replace the values accordingly):

# virt-install \

--name=guest-name \

--os-type=windows \

--network network=default \

--disk path=path-to-disk,size=disk-size \

--cdrom=path-to-install-disk \

--graphics spice --ram=1024

⁠Chapt er 9 . Inst allin g a fu lly- virt ualized Windows guest