Oracle® VM Windows Paravirtual Drivers Installation Guide Release 1.0.8 for Microsoft Windows Part Number E15298-01 |
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Windows Paravirtual Drivers Installation Guide
Release 1.0.8 for Microsoft Windows
E15298-01
July 2009
This document is intended for users, and administrators of Oracle VM guests running the Microsoft Windows operating system. It includes a brief introduction of the Windows paravirtual (PV) drivers, how to install them, and describes potential issues and the corresponding workarounds you may encounter while using the drivers.
Oracle recommends that you read this document before installing and using the Windows PV drivers for Oracle VM.
This document may be updated after it is released. To check for updates to this document, and to view other Oracle documentation, refer to the Documentation section on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Web site:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/
This document includes the following topics:
The Windows PV drivers for Oracle VM provide a performance boost for network and block (disk) devices on Microsoft Windows guests running in a virtual environment on Oracle VM.
Download the Windows PV drivers from:
http://edelivery.oracle.com/linux
The Windows PV drivers installer installs paravirtualized drivers for block (disk) and network devices.
The Windows PV drivers are supported in the guest operating systems listed in Table 1, "Supported Guest Operating Systems" running on Oracle VM Server Release 2.1.5 or higher.
The Windows PV drivers are supported on the Microsoft Windows operating systems listed in Table 1, "Supported Guest Operating Systems".
There are two procedures for installing the Windows PV drivers, depending on the guest's operating system.
Installing Windows PV Drivers on Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP
Installing Windows PV Drivers on Windows Server 2008, and Windows Vista
To install the Windows PV drivers:
Create a new guest with one of the following operating systems installed:
Windows Server 2003 (X86 or X64)
Windows XP (X86 or X64)
Install the .Net Framework 2.0 on the guest.
Copy the Windows PV drivers (Setup.exe) to the guest.
Double click the Setup.exe file to start the Windows PV drivers installer. The Start Install window is displayed.
The installer prompts you to start the install. Click Install to start the Windows PV drivers installation. The installer copies files to the guest and installs the Windows PV drivers.
Due to a known issue, on some operating systems the Found New Hardware Wizard is displayed behind the Windows PV drivers Installer window.
Click Cancel to ignore the wizard. If you do not click Cancel, the Windows PV drivers Installer closes the wizard automatically.
Due to a known issue, the Software Installation window is displayed warning the driver has not been signed by Microsoft.
Click Continue Anyway.
You are prompted to restart the guest.
Check Yes, restart the system now and click Finish. The guest is restarted.
To install the Windows PV drivers:
Create a new guest with one of the following operating systems installed:
Windows Server 2008 (X86 or X64)
Windows Vista (X86 or X64)
Copy the Windows PV drivers (Setup.exe) to the guest.
Double click the Setup.exe file to start the Windows PV drivers installer. The Start Install window is displayed.
The installer prompts you to start the install. Click Install to start the Windows PV drivers installation. The installer copies files to the guest and installs the Windows PV drivers.
The Windows Security window is displayed and prompts you to confirm the installation of the paravirtual device drivers and trust the certificate from Oracle.
Check Always trust software from "Oracle USA Inc." and select Install.
The installer copies the Windows PV drivers files, and installs the drivers in the guest. The Installation Complete window is displayed.
Check Yes, restart the system now and click Finish. The guest is restarted.
To uninstall the Windows PV drivers, run the Windows PV driver installer (Setup.exe). Do not use the Add/Remove Software in the Windows Control Panel as this does not properly remove all the registry keys and system configuration.
This section contains information on known limitations and workarounds for the Windows PV drivers:
The following features are not supported with guests using the Windows PV drivers:
Live migration
Save
Restore
During the installation or uninstallation of the Windows PV drivers, the Found New Hardware window is displayed when the guest restarts.
Workaround: Click Cancel to ignore the message and close the window.
If you install the Windows PV drivers into a guest with the vif type
set to ioemu
in the guest configuration file (vm.cfg), the network device(s) may fail. The Windows Device Manager displays an error code 10 and an exclamation point (!) to show the network driver cannot be started.
This is caused by the network type being set incorrectly in the guest configuration file. The network card type can be set three ways:
type=ioemu
: Network card is available in QEMU mode only.
type=netfront
: Network card is available in paravirtualized mode.
No type entry: Network card is available in both QEMU and paravirtualized modes.
Workaround: Change the network type
from ioemu
to netfront
in the guest configuration file. Alternatively, delete the network type
entry. You can make this change using Oracle VM Manager, or manually. To change the configuration manually:
Shut down the guest.
Edit the guest configuration file (vm.cfg) and change the type=ioemu
entry to type=netfront
, or delete the entry.
Restart the guest.
The network driver is started.
If you use the Windows PV drivers, the maximum number of virtual CPUs (VCPUs) is eight.
Some operating systems require the .Net Framework 2.0 be installed on the guest before you install the Windows PV drivers. The affected operating systems are:
Windows Server 2003 (X86 and X64)
Windows XP (X86 and X64)
Download the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86) from:
Download the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x64) from:
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Oracle VM Windows Paravirtual Drivers Installation Guide, Release 1.0.8 for Microsoft Windows
E15298-01
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