Spice with Existing VMs

[kai4785]

I'd really like to try out spice, but I'm having issues.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Featur...ce#How_To_Test

I've got an existing VM running Windows 7 that I use at sundry times for testing, so it sounds like I should be able to simply boot the VM with spice options for QEMU and have some success. I run the following command:

sudo qemu -drive file=/virt/images/windows7.img,if=none,id=drive-ide0-0-0,boot=on,format=qcow2 -usbdevice tablet -soundhw ac97 -vga qxl -spice port=5930,disable-ticketing -enable-kvm -m 1024

Then I connect to the VM with the command

spicec -h localhost -p 5930

I get a spice window opened, and if I did it quick enough, I catch the bios boot screen. Then it flips over to the Windows Boot Manager, and I see "windows is loading files..." just like normal, so I know it's booting. Then the spice viewer window goes black and stays black.

Any ideas on what the problem might be, or how to fix it?

[AndrewSerk]

Hello,
I had issues when I used the "qemu" command from the CLI and found that using "qemu-kvm" from the CLI did work well. Not sure if that is the issue you are experiencing but might be worth a try.

Good luck with spice, it is still a work in progress.

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM GMT ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 AM GMT ----------

PS. Is sound working with the above command? If not and you want it to, change "-soundhw ac97" to "-soundhw all" and it worked for me.

[kai4785]

Did you get Windows7 working? It looks like an existing XP vm is booting fine for me, but my windows7 vm is not.

[AndrewSerk]

I haven't tried win7 as a VM but XP and Vista works for me.

---------- Post added at 12:11 PM GMT ---------- Previous post was at 11:59 AM GMT ----------

I wonder if win7 needs more than "-m 1024" . I thought win7 need at least 2 gigs.

[kai4785]

Ok, this worked:

sudo qemu-kvm -drive file=/virt/images/windows7.img,if=ide,id=drive-ide0-0-0,boot=on,format=qcow2 -usbdevice tablet -enable-kvm -m 1024 -net nic,macaddr=52:54:00:47:a7:97,model=rtl8139 -net tap,ifname=W71,script=/home/kai/qemu-ifup -monitor stdio -soundhw all -vga qxl 1 -spice port=5931,disable-ticketing

for both windows7 and windowsXP. However, I admit I'm a little dissapointed in the youtube playback performance. Since Spice is boasting about it's 2D accelerated performance, I was hoping that would improve 1080p youtube. Am I mistaken about what the 2D performance is supposed to help with?

[AndrewSerk]

Glad you can get your vm's to work.
I don't think you are mistaken, It' just that qemu-kvm and spice are still works in progress. VM's in the linux world, IMO have focused on server applications and not desktop. The linux VM servers have always been accessed through ssh and managed by CLI without a real need for a desktop.

I am glad to see the effort that is being put forth by many devs at RH toward getting a fully functioning working desktop with qemu-kvm and would guess that a working vm desktop with all functions working is in the very near future.

[Ben.Hahlen]

So how is performance in general as compared to running it without Spice?
As I understand it, Spice uses resources from the local computer when you are doing stuff on the VM, is that true?

I am inclined to try it, however, that would mean rebuilding my VM's to QEMU/KVM from VirtualBox, which will prob be quite some work.

Is there any "guide" yet on how to set this up?

[Yuras]

Hi!
Sorry, but my English is not very good.
I'm also testing a Spice.
My comp core quad 8400, Fedora 14.
I'm create vm (winxp32) etc... connecting to vm over spicec, it's ok.
I want to thank the developer protocol Spice, very very good.
HD video (1080p) not see (~20 fps), apparently it in the nearest future.... .
SD video shows good, audio also good.
Testing connect from another computer (win7 64 bit).
Download client and lib (32bit) and connect. all as well !!!
Spice need to develop but is now very well !
Thank you!


I would like to use a thin client for network boot and use a Spice.
Like a thinstation... and desktop virtualization availability...