Procedure A.1. Installing Para-Virtualized Storage Drivers for Windows 7 32-bit

1. Shut down the Windows 7 VM Guest and use Virtual Machine Manager to add an additional hard disk of type virtio (a para-virtualized hard disk). This disk is only temporarily needed and will be removed again from the VM Guest.

2. If necessary, use Virtual Machine Manager to adjust the Boot Device Order. It must start with Hard Disk, otherwise the system will not boot once the system disk is para-virtualized. You need to confirm your changes with Apply, otherwise they will not be written to the configuration.

3. Reboot the VM Guest. Once it has booted, open the Device Manager, for example, by opening the main menu and entering devmgmt.msc followed by into the Start programs and files field.

4. Search for the entry Other devices+SCSI Controller. The entry is marked with an exclamation mark as being problematic. Right-click this entry and choose Update Driver Software.

5. Install the driver. Choose to Browse my computer for driver software. Use the Browse button to select the directory on the driver CD containing the storage drivers for your operating system and architecture (viostor\install\Win7\x86\). Confirm the security exception by clicking Install.

6. Once the driver installation is finished, a new Storage Controller named Novell VirtIO SCSI Adapater is listed in the Device Manager. Additionally, the entry Disk Drives now contains the temporary para-virtualized disk. It is listed as Novell VirtIO SCSI Disk Device.

7. Shut down the Windows 7 VM Guest and use Virtual Machine Manager to remove the temporary para-virtualized disk added earlier.

8. Changing the type of a virtual hard disk is currently not supported by Virtual Machine Manager—therefore the XML configuration needs to be changed directly. Open a terminal and enter the following command (replace NAME with the name of you Windows 7 VM Guest). If operating from a remote host, also specify a connection URL with the -c parameter.

   virsh edit NAME

   An editor (vi by default) opens. Search for a block similar to the following:

   <disk type='block' device='disk'>
     <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
     <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/win7.raw'/>
     <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
     <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' unit='0'/>
   </disk>

   Remove the <address> tag. Change the attributes of the <target> tag to dev='vda' and bus='virtio':

   <disk type='block' device='disk'>
     <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
     <source dev='/dev/Virtual/win7'/>
     <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
   </disk>

   Save the file. A successful save results in Domain NAME XML configuration edited. In case an error is reported (for example, when having produced invalid XML), the configuration has not been changed.

9. Restart the VM Guest. If starting it via Virtual Machine Manager, make sure the hardware change is visible in the Details screen before you start (this may take a few seconds after you have saved the configuration changes from virsh). Otherwise your changes will be overwritten with the configuration last used by Virtual Machine Manager.

   Your Windows 7 VM Guest now uses a para-virtualized system disk.

Procedure A.2. Installing Para-Virtualized Network Drivers for Windows 7

1. Shut down the Windows 7 VM Guest and use Virtual Machine Manager to add an additional network adapter of type virtio (a para-virtualized network adapter). This ensures that you still have network connectivity while installing the drivers.

2. Reboot the VM Guest and install the driver via the Device Manager as described above. The new network adapter can be found under Other devices+Ethernet controller. After a successful driver installation, a Novell VirtIO Ethernet Adapter is listed in the Device Manager under Network Adapters.

3. Shut down the VM Guest and remove the original, non-para-virtualized network adapter from the guest configuration using Virtual Machine Manager. Reboot the guest—now it uses a para-virtualized network adapter.