Windows 7

Installing VirtIO drivers into Windows7 is a very painful process as it involves multiple devices communications and a "chicken and egg" problem. However, using virtIO drivers provides a large speed boost over the host-guest IO communications since QEMU does not need to emulate a hardware just to perform an I/O operations.

It involves 3 stages of proper setup before you can proceed to use it. These steps are critical so pay attention closely. Also, since this is a 1 time effort, you are advised to use libvirt-manager interface to simplify the progress. This guide is written in a way to scroll from top to bottom without jumping around.

IMPORTANT NOTE

If you're looking for ways to counter anti-VM techniques like Nvidia graphic cards and some other software, installing virtio driver is a dead give away traces where the driver is only being used in QEMU VM. Hence, avoid it if you're looking for countering anti-vm implementations.

1. Setting Up VM and Install Windows 7

Now, you can create a VM as usual. You need the Windows 7 Installer ISO file in order to set things up. However, in this step these are the things you need to watch out:

Hard Disk Bus - set to SATA
CDROM - set to SATA
Network Card - set to VirtIO

This way, you can install Windows7 in the most optimized manner at this stage. Shut down the Windows 7 right after a successful login.

2. Install VirtIO Drivers

This step is now setting up the VirtIO driver inside the Windows 7 driver. These are the steps in sequences.

Download from Red Hat via Fedora Project

Once you're done, proceed to download VirtIO signed driver from Fedora Red Hat here: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/creating-windows-virtual-machines-using-virtio-drivers/index.html. You should get an ISO file based on your guest VM configurations. The name should be:

Stable - virtio-win.iso

Add New Devices

Now, you need to add a new dummy hard disk for triggering a driver install inside Windows 7. Set the hard disk to:

Size - Any size, recommended 5GB
Device Type - set to Disk Device
Bus Type -set to VirtIO
Performance > Cache mode - set to none
Performance > IO mode - set to native

Boot The Windows Up

We need to install virtIO driver into Windows 7. Now boot up the Windows.

Mount the VirtIO Driver ISO File

Once inside, mount the VirtIO driver into the CDROM just like the Windows 7 Installer ISO. This will facilitates all the contents inside the ISO file.

Mounting VirtIO Driver ISO for Windows 7

Install the Drivers

Now most of the drivers require manual installation. Hence, bring up your device manager for unknown devices. Right click and update the driver. Point them to the CD-ROM and get all of them to get installed.

By the completion time, you should have your network and dummy hard disk drivers installed and connected.

Restart

After all the drivers are installed, give it a reboot for a quick refreshment.

Reset Hard Disk I/O Mode Registry

Next is to reset the Hard Disk I/O registry to allow Windows to re-recognize the I/O mode. Otherwise, you will bump into the hard disk boot up bluescreen.

1. bring up the regedit editor and seek out these folders and do the step #2 for each of them:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pciide
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStorV

2. Each of them has a "start" registry. Double click it and set it to zero.

3. Once you're done, close the editor.

Shutdown the Windows

We're now ready to switch the hard disk I/O mode. Shutdown the Windows.

3. Update Hard Disk I/O Mode

We are now ready to switch the hard disk I/O mode to virtIO for very fast read/write speed in QEMU. Head over the VM settings for configurations.

Set Hard Disk I/O Mode

Now, you can safely set the hard disk to:

Hard Disk Bus -set to VirtIO
Performance > Cache mode - set to none
Performance > IO mode - set to native

This will give a great boost over the hard disk read/write.

Delete The Dummy Disk

At the same time, we do not need the dummy disk anymore, remove it from your VM. Please make sure you remove the image disk as well to recover the disk space.

Power Up Again

Once all are done, you can power up the Windows 7. Now, your bootable hard disk is using virtio driver and feel the speed boost offered by QEMU.

That's all about getting VirtIO into Windows7.

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