Re: Run the MSWindows on wd0g as a domU

["Joel CARNAT" <joel%carnat.net@localhost>]

> On Fri, Jan 19, 2007 at 11:46:36PM +0100, Joel CARNAT wrote:
>> I'd like to try xen on my Dell D420 that has the hardware virtualization
>> module. My question is : is there any known issue to run an already
>> installed Windows instance inside netbsd/dom0 ?
>
> Yes, the same issue that you can get on an Intel Mac if you try to use
> your Bootcamp Windows XP inside Paralles:
> 1.) Windows might not boot because of missing drivers.
> 2.) Windows will ask you to reactive everytime because the hardware
>     was changed. And Microsoft will only let you active one set of
>     hardware over the Internet every 3 (or 4?) month.
>
>> ... the idea is to be able to boot the windows when I need my 3G
>> card and to not have 2 windows install.
>
> 1.) Sharing one Windows partition between the physical and a virtual
>     machine will result in the problems mentioned above.

I expected that... I faced the same problem when trying to boot "real"
windows partition with things like qemu.

> 2.) How do you want to access the 3G card from a Xen virtual machine?
>     NetBSD's Xen3 implementation supports neither PCI nor USB
>     passthrough.

I didn't expect to.
I meant I keep the "real" windows installation to be able to use the 3G
card - hence not in Xen anymore. But if I work 80% on the Xened windows, I
would have liked to get my profile back. Maybe I could have my profile
stored in another NTFS partition that would be accessible from both (real
and xened) windows installations.

For now I have Windows installed and running (without network yet, and
video card is cirrus or such) as a domU. Not usable for working time (yet)
but I expect it to be a matter or configuration :)