KVM/QEMU startup problem

[Qwebec]

I'm facing fossapup64 9.5 startup problem which is installed under KVM. Looks like partition with sfs files cannot be found at step two.

I tried different options to install fossapup64 but result is always the same - partition no found.
Last time I used the following config:
KVM with UEFI firmware
GPT: vda1 - 300Mb FAT32, vda2 - 3Gb Ext4
Frugalpup installer with recommended option for UEFI (boot to vda1, puppy files to vda2)

My startup log is on the attached screenshot:

Screenshot_20221204_145918.png (293.21 KiB) Viewed 1074 times

any help or idea is appreciated

[rockedge]

What does the QEMU command arguments look like? Can you share how QEMU is starting Fossapup64 please? Perhaps it is a simple fix.

I have seen similar errors and crashes and 99% were either caused by the QEMU command line parameters or the host system's kernel it not have KVM built into it or have available as a module.

In your screenshot it appears that the Fossapup64 system files are not being located or indicated correctly. Might look like a lot of red error reports but it might be just some minor adjustments needed to start Fossapup in a QEMU virtual machine.

[Qwebec]

please take a look at qemu startup log:

Code: Select all

2022-12-06 16:52:52.798+0000: starting up libvirt version: 8.9.0, qemu version: 7.1.0, kernel: 5.15.78-1-MANJARO, hostname: scs-82b1
LC_ALL=C \
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin \
HOME=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/domain-1-puppy \
XDG_DATA_HOME=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/domain-1-puppy/.local/share \
XDG_CACHE_HOME=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/domain-1-puppy/.cache \
XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/domain-1-puppy/.config \
/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 \
-name guest=puppy,debug-threads=on \
-S \
-object '{"qom-type":"secret","id":"masterKey0","format":"raw","file":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/domain-1-puppy/master-key.aes"}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/usr/share/edk2-ovmf/x64/OVMF_CODE.secboot.fd","node-name":"libvirt-pflash0-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-pflash0-format","read-only":true,"driver":"raw","file":"libvirt-pflash0-storage"}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram/puppy_VARS.fd","node-name":"libvirt-pflash1-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-pflash1-format","read-only":false,"driver":"raw","file":"libvirt-pflash1-storage"}' \
-machine pc-q35-7.1,usb=off,vmport=off,smm=on,dump-guest-core=off,memory-backend=pc.ram,pflash0=libvirt-pflash0-format,pflash1=libvirt-pflash1-format \
-accel kvm \
-cpu host,migratable=on \
-global driver=cfi.pflash01,property=secure,value=on \
-m 4096 \
-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"pc.ram","size":4294967296}' \
-overcommit mem-lock=off \
-smp 2,sockets=2,cores=1,threads=1 \
-uuid b6bdd151-0701-485e-b333-cfb0e1cc4b63 \
-no-user-config \
-nodefaults \
-chardev socket,id=charmonitor,fd=33,server=on,wait=off \
-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=control \
-rtc base=utc,driftfix=slew \
-global kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=delay \
-no-hpet \
-no-shutdown \
-global ICH9-LPC.disable_s3=1 \
-global ICH9-LPC.disable_s4=1 \
-boot strict=on \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":16,"chassis":1,"id":"pci.1","bus":"pcie.0","multifunction":true,"addr":"0x2"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":17,"chassis":2,"id":"pci.2","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x1"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":18,"chassis":3,"id":"pci.3","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x2"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":19,"chassis":4,"id":"pci.4","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x3"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":20,"chassis":5,"id":"pci.5","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x4"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":21,"chassis":6,"id":"pci.6","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x5"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":22,"chassis":7,"id":"pci.7","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x6"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":23,"chassis":8,"id":"pci.8","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x7"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":24,"chassis":9,"id":"pci.9","bus":"pcie.0","multifunction":true,"addr":"0x3"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":25,"chassis":10,"id":"pci.10","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x3.0x1"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":26,"chassis":11,"id":"pci.11","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x3.0x2"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":27,"chassis":12,"id":"pci.12","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x3.0x3"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":28,"chassis":13,"id":"pci.13","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x3.0x4"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":29,"chassis":14,"id":"pci.14","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x3.0x5"}' \
-device '{"driver":"qemu-xhci","p2":15,"p3":15,"id":"usb","bus":"pci.2","addr":"0x0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-serial-pci","id":"virtio-serial0","bus":"pci.3","addr":"0x0"}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/var/lib/libvirt/images/ubuntu20.04-2.qcow2","node-name":"libvirt-2-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-2-format","read-only":false,"discard":"unmap","driver":"qcow2","file":"libvirt-2-storage","backing":null}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-blk-pci","bus":"pci.4","addr":"0x0","drive":"libvirt-2-format","id":"virtio-disk0","bootindex":1}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/home/scs/Downloads/fossapup64-9.5.iso","node-name":"libvirt-1-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-1-format","read-only":true,"driver":"raw","file":"libvirt-1-storage"}' \
-device '{"driver":"ide-cd","bus":"ide.0","drive":"libvirt-1-format","id":"sata0-0-0"}' \
-netdev tap,fd=34,vhost=on,vhostfd=36,id=hostnet0 \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-net-pci","netdev":"hostnet0","id":"net0","mac":"52:54:00:d1:89:ee","bus":"pci.1","addr":"0x0"}' \
-chardev pty,id=charserial0 \
-device '{"driver":"isa-serial","chardev":"charserial0","id":"serial0","index":0}' \
-chardev socket,id=charchannel0,fd=32,server=on,wait=off \
-device '{"driver":"virtserialport","bus":"virtio-serial0.0","nr":1,"chardev":"charchannel0","id":"channel0","name":"org.qemu.guest_agent.0"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charchannel1,name=vdagent \
-device '{"driver":"virtserialport","bus":"virtio-serial0.0","nr":2,"chardev":"charchannel1","id":"channel1","name":"com.redhat.spice.0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"usb-tablet","id":"input0","bus":"usb.0","port":"1"}' \
-audiodev '{"id":"audio1","driver":"spice"}' \
-spice port=5900,addr=127.0.0.1,disable-ticketing=on,image-compression=off,seamless-migration=on \
-device '{"driver":"VGA","id":"video0","vgamem_mb":16,"bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x1"}' \
-device '{"driver":"ich9-intel-hda","id":"sound0","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x1b"}' \
-device '{"driver":"hda-duplex","id":"sound0-codec0","bus":"sound0.0","cad":0,"audiodev":"audio1"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir0,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir0","id":"redir0","bus":"usb.0","port":"2"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir1,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir1","id":"redir1","bus":"usb.0","port":"3"}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-balloon-pci","id":"balloon0","bus":"pci.5","addr":"0x0"}' \
-object '{"qom-type":"rng-random","id":"objrng0","filename":"/dev/urandom"}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-rng-pci","rng":"objrng0","id":"rng0","bus":"pci.6","addr":"0x0"}' \
-sandbox on,obsolete=deny,elevateprivileges=deny,spawn=deny,resourcecontrol=deny \
-msg timestamp=on
char device redirected to /dev/pts/2 (label charserial0)

i believe it's something trivial, but i'm out of ideas

[at1981]

Hello

Thought I'd post up a quick reply here in case anyone else gets stuck on this problem, as I came across this post via search engine. Like you, I was finding that Puppy Linux (various versions) were all booting fine off the virtual USB/ISO image, but then after frugal installing them on the virtual drive within QEMU/KVM, I was getting this same problem, its inability to locate the main sfs file half-way during boot-up.

I spent hours on this yesterday, trying endless installation options, including a "FULL" (i.e. legacy) install, trying both Grub4dos and Grub2 boot loaders via the provided applications/installers within Puppy, experimenting with both UEFI and MBR installs, creating a small fat32 /boot partition, etc etc. But every time, the same problem: it'd seem to do the first-stage of the boot process, finding a kernel, but then fail as it started booting up, as it obviously wasn't probably locating the filesystem in order to decompress all of the sfs files.

Fast forward to today, after some sleep, then suddenly the solution was obvious and a five minute thing:

1. By default, when you set up a new virtual machine using Virt-Manager (which is what I'm using), the storage type is set to using a bus type of "virtIO". This is the problem.
2. In your virtual machine settings, right click and delete the virtIO disk (you can keep the underlying .qcow2 storage container).
3. Now right click to "Add Hardware", and add a new storage device, but this time select SATA as the bus type.
4. Your new drive will now appear/be available for formatting within Puppy as (typically) /dev/sda.
5. So ensure that your virtual storage appears under Puppy as type/device /dev/sda and NOT /dev/vda.
6. When you format the drive within Puppy (under QEMU), unless you have some specific advanced configuration you wish to do, it is simplest and works fine just formatting the entire partition as ext4. You don't need to create a separate /boot partition or worry about any UEFI stuff. Then just follow the prompts and accept the default Grub4dos or Grub2 bootloader (depending on which installer you use). "MBR" type is fine and it boots up in seconds under QEMU/KVM.

Screenshots below should illustrate the solution within Virt-Manager GUI for QEMU/KVM. Hope this helps.