KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2

Emad R

In Virt Manager you have the following options:

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Virtualization_Getting_Started_Guide/images/virt-manager_create_step1.png

choose Import existing disk image, instead of re-creating the VM then selecting the disk image.

That never failed me, and if it fails on your machine, what is the error ?
sometimes the console of Virt Manager will be blank, it happens, close it and re-open it.

FATeknollogee

@penguinwrangler said in KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2:

Do you have access to the original host?

The orig host is no more.

FATeknollogee

@emad-r said in KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2:

@fateknollogee

In Virt Manager you have the following options:

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Virtualization_Getting_Started_Guide/images/virt-manager_create_step1.png

choose Import existing disk image, instead of re-creating the VM then selecting the disk image.

That never failed me, and if it fails on your machine, what is the error ?
sometimes the console of Virt Manager will be blank, it happens, close it and re-open it.

This ^^ is exactly what I did.
Error is "System BootOrder not found"

PenguinWrangler

@fateknollogee okay. I was going to suggest if it was available that you do an export: virsh dumpxml vmname > vmname.xml then move the hard drives and the xml to the new host and do an import: virsh net-define vmname.xml

Emad R

@fateknollogee said in KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2:

System BootOrder not found"

System BootOrder not found seems to be EFI related.

Can you try playing with those setting in Virt manager, there was an option to alternate between both (EFI and legacy BIOS)

And if you are testing and have free time , and the VM you are importing was EFI, can you try re-creating in standard BIOS mode and try again to import and see if that changes anything.

FATeknollogee

@emad-r said in KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2:

@fateknollogee said in KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2:

System BootOrder not found"

System BootOrder not found seems to be EFI related.

Can you try playing with those setting in Virt manager, there was an option to alternate between both (EFI and legacy BIOS)

And if you are testing and have free time , and the VM you are importing was EFI, can you try re-creating in standard BIOS mode and try again to import and see if that changes anything.

In BIOS mode, it says "Booting from Hard Disk..." with a flashing cursor...no progress after that.

The image was definitely created as EFI.

FATeknollogee

@stacksofplates said in KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2:

I would also try switching to a non pv driver. If it boots with a normal SCSI driver then it's probably virtio.

No go, same error.

FATeknollogee

@stacksofplates said in KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2:

Did you try passing through the host CPU type?

Yes, error is still the same.

Francesco Provino

Have you tried virt-install and its switches?

FATeknollogee

@francesco-provino said in KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2:

Have you tried virt-install and its switches?

I tried virt-install & created a new vm using the qcow2 image, that did not work either.

Emad R

@fateknollogee

I tried installing Centos on UEFI and then enabling KVM to trouble-shoot your issue, however when I wanted to create new EFI Q35 VM it complained that I dont have EFI packages, so I was unable to change the VM from BIOS:

I440FX
to
Q35

Using Virt Manager, did you do anything special on the host KVM or to qemu to enable EFI Q35 ? or you were able to select it from the start ?

thanks.

FATeknollogee

@emad-r said in KVM: create new guest from existing qcow2:

@fateknollogee

I tried installing Centos on UEFI and then enabling KVM to trouble-shoot your issue, however when I wanted to create new EFI Q35 VM it complained that I dont have EFI packages, so I was unable to change the VM from BIOS:

I440FX
to
Q35

Using Virt Manager, did you do anything special on the host KVM or to qemu to enable EFI Q35 ? or you were able to select it from the start ?

thanks.

Q35 has to be selected as you are creating the vm.

FATeknollogee

Turns out the Windows 10 vm's booted just fine, they were UEFI + i440FX (no Q35).

The Fedora 26 vm's (UEFI + Q35) would not boot & gave the error listed in my orig post.

FATeknollogee

Solved
I posted this on https://www.redhat.com/archives/virt-tools-list/2017-August/msg00210.html

Laszlo Ersek posted the solution: https://www.redhat.com/archives/virt-tools-list/2017-August/msg00244.html
It can be mitigated manually: when the VM boots, interrupt it at the
TianoCore splash screen. In the setup utility, navigate to:

Boot Maintenance Manager
Boot Options
Add Boot Option

In the file chooser, select

<whatever device you have>/EFI/fedora/shim.efi

and enter a description (name) for the boot option.

Then,

Boot Maintenance Manager
Boot Options
Change Boot Order

and move the new boot option to the top of the list.

After you commit the changes, you can forcibly reset the VM, or else
return to the setup TUI front page, and select Reset there.