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Install VirtIO drivers on Windows VMs

VirtIO drivers are paravirtualized device drivers required for Microsoft Windows virtual machines (VMs) to run in OKD Virtualization. The drivers are shipped with the rest of the images and do not require a separate download.

The container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk must be attached to the VM as a SATA CD drive to enable driver installation. You can install VirtIO drivers during Windows installation or add them to an existing Windows installation.

After the drivers are installed, the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk can be removed from the VM.

Table 1. Supported drivers
Driver name Hardware ID Description

viostor

VEN_1AF4&DEV_1001, VEN_1AF4&DEV_1042

The block driver. Sometimes labeled as an SCSI Controller in the Other devices group.

viorng

VEN_1AF4&DEV_1005, VEN_1AF4&DEV_1044

The entropy source driver. Sometimes labeled as a PCI Device in the Other devices group.

NetKVM

VEN_1AF4&DEV_1000, VEN_1AF4&DEV_1041

The network driver. Sometimes labeled as an Ethernet Controller in the Other devices group. Available only if a VirtIO NIC is configured.

Attaching VirtIO container disk to Windows VMs during installation

You must attach the VirtIO container disk to the Windows VM to install the necessary Windows drivers. This can be done during creation of the VM.

Procedure

  1. When creating a Windows VM from a template, click Customize VirtualMachine.

  2. Select Mount Windows drivers disk.

  3. Click the Customize VirtualMachine parameters.

  4. Click Create VirtualMachine.

Result

After the VM is created, the virtio-win SATA CD disk will be attached to the VM.

Attaching VirtIO container disk to an existing Windows VM

You must attach the VirtIO container disk to the Windows VM to install the necessary Windows drivers. This can be done to an existing VM.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the existing Windows VM, and click Actions → Stop.

  2. Go to VM Details → Configuration → Storage.

  3. Select the Mount Windows drivers disk checkbox.

  4. Click Save.

  5. Start the VM, and connect to a graphical console.

Installing VirtIO drivers from a container disk added as a SATA CD drive

You can install VirtIO drivers from a container disk that you add to a Windows virtual machine (VM) as a SATA CD drive.

Downloading the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk from the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog is not mandatory, because the container disk is downloaded from the Red Hat registry if it not already present in the cluster. However, downloading reduces the installation time.
Prerequisites

  • You must have access to the Red Hat registry or to the downloaded container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk in a restricted environment.

  • You have installed the virtctl CLI.

  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Add the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk as a CD drive by editing the VirtualMachine manifest:

    # ...
spec:
  domain:
    devices:
      disks:
        - name: virtiocontainerdisk
          bootOrder: 2
          cdrom:
            bus: sata
volumes:
  - containerDisk:
      image: container-native-virtualization/virtio-win
    name: virtiocontainerdisk

    OKD Virtualization boots the VM disks in the order defined in the VirtualMachine manifest. You can either define other VM disks that boot before the container-native-virtualization/virtio-win container disk, or use the optional bootOrder parameter to ensure the VM boots from the correct disk. If you configure the boot order for a disk, you must configure the boot order for the other disks.

  2. Apply the changes:

    • If the VM is not running, run the following command:

      $ virtctl start <vm> -n <namespace>

    • If the VM is running, reboot the VM or run the following command:

      $ oc apply -f <vm.yaml>

  3. After the VM has started, install the VirtIO drivers from the SATA CD drive.

Installing VirtIO drivers during Windows installation

You can install the VirtIO drivers while installing Windows on a virtual machine (VM).

This procedure uses a generic approach to the Windows installation and the installation method might differ between versions of Windows. See the documentation for the version of Windows that you are installing.
Prerequisites

  • A storage device containing the virtio drivers must be attached to the VM.

Procedure

  1. In the Windows operating system, use the File Explorer to navigate to the virtio-win CD drive.

  2. Double-click the drive to run the appropriate installer for your VM.

    For a 64-bit vCPU, select the virtio-win-gt-x64 installer. 32-bit vCPUs are no longer supported.

  3. Optional: During the Custom Setup step of the installer, select the device drivers you want to install. The recommended driver set is selected by default.

  4. After the installation is complete, select Finish.

  5. Reboot the VM.

Verification

  1. Open the system disk on the PC. This is typically C:.

  2. Navigate to Program Files → Virtio-Win.

If the Virtio-Win directory is present and contains a sub-directory for each driver, the installation was successful.

Installing VirtIO drivers from a SATA CD drive on an existing Windows VM

You can install the VirtIO drivers from a SATA CD drive on an existing Windows virtual machine (VM).

This procedure uses a generic approach to adding drivers to Windows. See the installation documentation for your version of Windows for specific installation steps.
Prerequisites

  • A storage device containing the virtio drivers must be attached to the VM as a SATA CD drive.

Procedure

  1. Start the VM and connect to a graphical console.

  2. Log in to a Windows user session.

  3. Open Device Manager and expand Other devices to list any Unknown device.

    1. Open the Device Properties to identify the unknown device.

    2. Right-click the device and select Properties.

    3. Click the Details tab and select Hardware Ids in the Property list.

    4. Compare the Value for the Hardware Ids with the supported VirtIO drivers.

  4. Right-click the device and select Update Driver Software.

  5. Click Browse my computer for driver software and browse to the attached SATA CD drive, where the VirtIO drivers are located. The drivers are arranged hierarchically according to their driver type, operating system, and CPU architecture.

  6. Click Next to install the driver.

  7. Repeat this process for all the necessary VirtIO drivers.

  8. After the driver installs, click Close to close the window.

  9. Reboot the VM to complete the driver installation.