Issue with creating an Windows 2008 virtualized image with QEMU

Question

I'm trying to create a QEMU image of a 64-bit Windows 2008 Server install. It will be used on OpenStack as an instance.

The virtualization environment (of QEMU) is being run from a VMware virtual instance. (This is a development environment, not bare metal).

At the moment I'm following the directions on http://docs.openstack.org/admin-guide/creating-a-windows-image.html.

However, I keep running into the issue that when the install starts up I get a BSoD:

STOP: 0x0000005D (0x00000000078BFBF9 0x0 0x0 0x0).

Command I'm running to boot into the image:

sudo qemu-system-x86_64 -cpu Nehamen -m 2048 -cdrom ./en_windows_server_2008_r2_standard_enterprise_datacenter_web_x64_dvd_x15-50365.iso -drive file=windowsserver.img,if=virtio -drive file=virtio-win-0.1-59.iso,index=3,media=cdrom -net nic,model=virtio -net user -nographic -vnc 0.0.0.0:0

My CPU information:

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x13
cpu MHz         : 2400.085
cache size      : 12288 KB
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes hypervisor lahf_lm ida arat dtherm
bogomips        : 4800.17
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x13
cpu MHz         : 2400.085
cache size      : 12288 KB
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes hypervisor lahf_lm ida arat dtherm
bogomips        : 4800.17
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 2
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x13
cpu MHz         : 2400.085
cache size      : 12288 KB
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes hypervisor lahf_lm ida arat dtherm
bogomips        : 4800.17
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 3
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40 GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x13
cpu MHz         : 2400.085
cache size      : 12288 KB
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes hypervisor lahf_lm ida arat dtherm
bogomips        : 4800.17
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 4
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x13
cpu MHz         : 2400.085
cache size      : 12288 KB
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes hypervisor lahf_lm ida arat dtherm
bogomips        : 4800.17
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 5
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x13
cpu MHz         : 2400.085
cache size      : 12288 KB
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes hypervisor lahf_lm ida arat dtherm
bogomips        : 4800.17
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 6
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x13
cpu MHz         : 2400.085
cache size      : 12288 KB
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes hypervisor lahf_lm ida arat dtherm
bogomips        : 4800.17
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 7
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x13
cpu MHz         : 2400.085
cache size      : 12288 KB
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes hypervisor lahf_lm ida arat dtherm
bogomips        : 4800.17
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

uname -a

Linux openstackdev01 3.8.0-19-generic #30-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 1 16:35:23 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Things I've tried:

Different CPU Types
1. Changing the type to kvm32 causes Windows Server 2008 to complain that a 64-bit application was being run on a 32-bit processor (no BSoD)
2. BSoD (I've tried SandyBridge, Nahemen, etc.)
Different Windows Server 2008 ISO images. The only one that got to the install process was the x86 (no 64-bit one). However, that could not identify the storage device. (Some reason it wasn't working with the virtual ISO).

Result of qemu -cpu ?

x86           qemu64  QEMU Virtual CPU version 1.4.0
x86           phenom  AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor
x86         core2duo  Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T7700  @ 2.40GHz
x86            kvm64  Common KVM processor
x86           qemu32  QEMU Virtual CPU version 1.4.0
x86            kvm32  Common 32-bit KVM processor
x86          coreduo  Genuine Intel(R) CPU           T2600  @ 2.16GHz
x86              486
x86          pentium
x86         pentium2
x86         pentium3
x86           athlon  QEMU Virtual CPU version 1.4.0
x86             n270  Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270   @ 1.60GHz
x86           Conroe  Intel Celeron_4x0 (Conroe/Merom Class Core 2)
x86           Penryn  Intel Core 2 Duo P9xxx (Penryn Class Core 2)
x86          Nehalem  Intel Core i7 9xx (Nehalem Class Core i7)
x86         Westmere  Westmere E56xx/L56xx/X56xx (Nehalem-C)
x86      SandyBridge  Intel Xeon E312xx (Sandy Bridge)
x86          Haswell  Intel Core Processor (Haswell)
x86       Opteron_G1  AMD Opteron 240 (Gen 1 Class Opteron)
x86       Opteron_G2  AMD Opteron 22xx (Gen 2 Class Opteron)
x86       Opteron_G3  AMD Opteron 23xx (Gen 3 Class Opteron)
x86       Opteron_G4  AMD Opteron 62xx class CPU
x86       Opteron_G5  AMD Opteron 63xx class CPU

Recognized CPUID flags:
  pbe ia64 tm ht ss sse2 sse fxsr mmx acpi ds clflush pn pse36 pat cmov mca pge mtrr sep apic cx8 mce pae msr tsc pse de vme fpu
  hypervisor rdrand f16c avx osxsave xsave aes tsc-deadline popcnt movbe x2apic sse4.2|sse4_2 sse4.1|sse4_1 dca pcid pdcm xtpr cx16 fma cid ssse3 tm2 est smx vmx ds_cpl monitor dtes64 pclmulqdq|pclmuldq pni|sse3
  3dnow 3dnowext lm|i64 rdtscp pdpe1gb fxsr_opt|ffxsr mmxext nx|xd syscall
  perfctr_nb perfctr_core topoext tbm nodeid_msr tce fma4 lwp wdt skinit xop ibs osvw 3dnowprefetch misalignsse sse4a abm cr8legacy extapic svm cmp_legacy lahf_lm

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 18 '13 at 19:22

You seem to be having a problem related to virtualization (QEMU/KVM) and Win2008.

It's pretty much impossible to say for certain, but based on what you've told us above (The Virtualization environment [of qemu] is being run from a VMware virtual instance.) I am going to guess that your problem is the layered virtualization.

Running virtualization software inside of other virtualization software is generally a Bad Idea, and can lead to "interesting" problems.
Try running QEMU/KVM on bare metal instead (or consider an any number of other alternate solutions that only require one level of virtualization).

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:16

1

You've fat-fingered your CPU type:

sudo qemu-system-x86_64 -cpu Nehamen

If you actually specified 'Nehalem' correctly, then check to ensure /etc/qemu/target-x86_64.conf includes the following for Nehalem (specifically check for nx in extfeature_edx):

[cpudef]
   name = "Nehalem"
   level = "2"
   vendor = "GenuineIntel"
   family = "6"
   model = "2"
   stepping = "3"
   feature_edx = "sse2 sse fxsr mmx pat cmov pge sep apic cx8 mce pae msr tsc pse de fpu    mtrr clflush mca pse36"
   feature_ecx = "sse3 cx16 ssse3 sse4.1 sse4.2 popcnt"
   extfeature_edx = "fxsr mmx pat cmov pge apic cx8 mce pae msr tsc pse de fpu    lm syscall nx"
   extfeature_ecx = "lahf_lm"
   xlevel = "0x8000000A"
   model_id = "Intel Core i7 9xx (Nehalem Class Core i7)"

The part that Windows 8 is complaining about is the missing 'nx' feature. It's possible that it's missing because of your virtualization-within-virtualization setup - it may not be able to properly use nx. Perhaps your 1-layer-deep VM doesn't support NX?

Try again running qemu on bare metal that supports nx.

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:16

Community

1

answered Jun 18 '13 at 19:26

MikeyB

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I used the suggestsions: The mispelling of the cpu was only for this post. I double checked that and I got the same result – monksy Jun 19 '13 at 14:31
target-x86_64.conf was completely empty – monksy Jun 19 '13 at 14:32
VMware has "Expose the NX/XD flag" option set for the vm – monksy Jun 19 '13 at 14:32
More importantly, does the VM see it? Also, see if you can find where your CPU types are defined inside your level-1 guest. – MikeyB Jun 19 '13 at 15:51
Qemu and /proc/cpuinfo mention having nx support. – monksy Jun 19 '13 at 16:30

Issue with creating an Windows 2008 virtualized image with QEMU

2 Answers2