Create and clone a Windows KVM guest
Create and clone a Windows KVM guest

If you want to create a Windows KVM guest you will need first a running KVM installation. Just follow the steps below:

Install the KVM Windows guest

create the qcow2 disk image (in the example, the image file size is set to 15GB)
$ qemu-img create -f qcow2 -o preallocation=metadata /var/lib/libvirt/images/win7.qcow2 15G

get the virtio iso image

cd /var/lib/libvirt/images
$ wget https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso

copy your Windows 7 disk iso file to the folder /var/lib/libvirt/images

edit the qemu configuration file
$ vi /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf

modify the following lines

vnc_listen = "0.0.0.0"
vnc_password = "yourownpassword"

create the guest (answer the questions. In my example, I have set the guest name to ‘win7’)

$ virt-install --connect=qemu:///system --prompt --vnc --vnclisten=0.0.0.0 \
--vncport=5905 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/win7.qcow2,format=qcow2,bus=virtio \
--disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/virtio-win.iso,device=cdrom \
--cdrom /var/lib/libvirt/images/win7inst.iso --os-type=windows

What is the name of your virtual machine? 
win7
How much RAM should be allocated (in megabytes)? 
1024

Starting install...
Creating domain...                                      |    0 B     00:03     
WARNING  Unable to connect to graphical console: virt-viewer not installed. 
Please install the 'virt-viewer' package.
Domain installation still in progress. Waiting for installation to complete.

Now, if you plan to use a Windows station to connect to your KVM guest using VNC, you will have to install UltraVNC viewer. I have encountered a problem to connect to my vm guest using the RealVNC viewer.

Create a VNC session to the ip address of the KVM Host and the vnc port set to “5905” (set in the virt-install command above).

Connect on your KVM guest and configure the disk driver to install Windows properly as shown below:

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Click on “Custom (Advanced)”

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Click on “Load drivers”

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Click on the “OK” button, unselect the tick “Hide…” and then click on the “Browse” button

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Browse the VirtIO iso drive and go to the OS folder you are currently installing

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Click on the “Next” button to load the drivers

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Click on the “Next” button to install Windows on the detected drive

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You are done. Install process is running !

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Clone a KVM guest

Cloning an existing KVM guest is also quiet simple. The steps are:
Create the qcow2 disk image for the clone
qemu-img create -f qcow2 -o preallocation=metadata /var/lib/libvirt/images/win7_clone.qcow2 15G

Clone the guest
virt-clone –connect=qemu:///system -o win7 -n win7_clone -f /var/lib/libvirt/images/win7_clone.qcow2 –force

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My Powershell script categories

Create and clone a Windows KVM guest

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