Re: How to automatically install guest drivers inside a Windows VM

[Cameron Showalter <cameronsplaze222@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Are you installing on existing VMs or on new VMs as you create them?

I'm down for either! My main goal is to find a way that works across all windows OS's. (I.e if virtio-win gets updated to support `windows 12` one day, my script gets it for free. I only maintain an overall "windows" script).

> slipstream the drivers into the gold Windows image using DISM

I had to do some research on this, it's a great idea! I can't find a way to slipstream windows drivers on linux though. I think that means I'd have to spin up a windows VM, mount in the iso and modify it, then delete the original VM. Then spin up a new one with the modified ISO? That's a lot of steps to automate. Though I found a good guide on slipstreaming virtos drivers here: https://github.com/Zer0CoolX/proxmox-windows-slipstream-virtio-drivers. It would be nice to be able to save updates to the iso too, so I hope there's an easier way I'm missing.

Thanks!

Cameron

On Sun, Apr 24, 2022 at 10:59 PM Peter Crowther <peter.crowther@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Are you installing on existing VMs or on new VMs as you create them? If the latter, slipstream the drivers into the gold Windows image using DISM: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/add-and-remove-drivers-to-an-offline-windows-image?view=windows-11

Cheers,

Peter 

On Mon, 25 Apr 2022, 00:28 Cameron Showalter, <cameronsplaze222@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm trying to write an automatic way to install drivers inside guests, and I'm starting with Windows first. I'm trying to follow this guide here:

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_virtualization/4.4/html/virtual_machine_management_guide/installing_guest_agents_and_drivers_windows

So I install virtio-win to the host, and mount that as a cd-rom inside the Windows 10 VM. I then want to install ALL drivers and agents like so (Command Prompt as Admin, go to the drive letter the iso is mounted as before running this):

start /wait msiexec /i "virtio-win-gt-x64.msi" /qn ADDLOCAL=ALL

<wait a few minutes JUST TO BE SURE it finished>

<restart VM>

And from what I can tell, it works. I can go into device manager, and see drivers for virtio-balooning  / etc. The problem is in virt-manager, going to "View: Scale Displays: Auto-resize VM with window", and it's still greyed out. (Says Guest Agent is not available). Going to "View: Consoles", it says I have "Graphical Console Spice" selected. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

And, is this the right approach for automatic guest drivers? Mounting the iso, then use something like "virsh x-exec" to run that msiexec command above.

Thanks!

Cameron