7.10. Installing VirtIO driver on a new Windows virtual machine

Procedure

1. Add the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk as a cdrom disk in the Windows virtual machine configuration file. The container disk will be downloaded from the registry if it is not already present in the cluster.

   spec:
     domain:
       devices:
         disks:
           - name: virtiocontainerdisk
             bootOrder: 2 1
             cdrom:
               bus: sata
   volumes:
     - containerDisk:
         image: container-native-virtualization/virtio-win
       name: virtiocontainerdisk

   1

   OpenShift Virtualization boots virtual machine disks in the order defined in the VirtualMachine configuration file. You can either define other disks for the virtual machine before the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk or use the optional bootOrder parameter to ensure the virtual machine boots from the correct disk. If you specify the bootOrder for a disk, it must be specified for all disks in the configuration.

2. The disk is available once the virtual machine has started:

   • If you add the container disk to a running virtual machine, use oc apply -f <vm.yaml> in the CLI or reboot the virtual machine for the changes to take effect.
   • If the virtual machine is not running, use virtctl start <vm>.

Procedure

1. Start the virtual machine and connect to a graphical console.
2. Begin the Windows installation process.
3. Select the Advanced installation.
4. The storage destination will not be recognized until the driver is loaded. Click Load driver.
5. The drivers are attached as a SATA CD drive. Click OK and browse the CD drive for the storage driver to load. The drivers are arranged hierarchically according to their driver type, operating system, and CPU architecture.
6. Repeat the previous two steps for all required drivers.
7. Complete the Windows installation.

Procedure

1. Edit the configuration file and remove the disk and the volume.

   $ oc edit vm <vm-name>

   spec:
     domain:
       devices:
         disks:
           - name: virtiocontainerdisk
             bootOrder: 2
             cdrom:
               bus: sata
   volumes:
     - containerDisk:
         image: container-native-virtualization/virtio-win
       name: virtiocontainerdisk

2. Reboot the virtual machine for the changes to take effect.