Difference between revisions of "Windows VirtIO Drivers"

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==Introduction==
 
==Introduction==
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VirtIO Drivers are paravirtualized drivers for kvm/Linux (see http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Virtio).  
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VirtIO Drivers are paravirtualized drivers for [[KVM|kvm]]/Linux (see http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Virtio). In short, they enable direct (paravirtualized) access to devices and peripherals for virtual machines using them, instead of slower, emulated, ones. <br>
 +
A quite extended explanation about VirtIO drivers can be found here http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-virtio.
  
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A quite extended explanation can be found here http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-virtio.
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At the moment these kind of devices are supported:
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* block (disks drives), see [[Paravirtualized Block Drivers for Windows]]
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* network (ethernet cards), see [[Paravirtualized Network Drivers for Windows|Paravirtualized Network Drivers for Windows]]
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* balloon (dynamic memory management), see [[Dynamic Memory Management]]
  
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Recent Linux kernels already have those drivers so any distribution, running in a kvm VM, should recognize virtio devices exposed by the kvm hypervisor.
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You can maximize performances by using VirtIO drivers. The availability and status of the VirtIO drivers depends on the guest OS and platform.
  
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On the other side, All Windows OS need special drivers to use virtio devices. Microsoft does not provide them, so someone kindly managed to make virtio drivers available also for windows systems.
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== Windows OS support ==
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 +
Windows does not have VirtIO drivers included. The Fedora project provides CD ISO images with compiled and signed VirtIO drivers for Windows.
  
 
See  
 
See  
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* http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers
 
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* http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/Download_Drivers
 
  
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Following info on those page you can find:
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*https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/creating-windows-virtual-machines-using-virtio-drivers/index.html
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* a git repository: https://github.com/YanVugenfirer/kvm-guest-drivers-windows
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*http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers
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*: this is the source for the Windows drivers and is hosted in a repository on GIT hub. Anonymous users can clone the repository
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*http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/Download_Drivers
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* a web repository http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/virtio-win/
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*: here you can find "packaged" sets of drivers
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The source code of those drivers can be found on Github. See https://github.com/virtio-win/kvm-guest-drivers-windows
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*:* in source format (.zip)
 
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*:* in compiled format (.iso)
 
  
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===Packaged sets of drivers===
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=== Driver ISOs ===
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Each of those "packaged" sets of drivers available is labelled with a numeric release, and differs by features & bugs as it improves through the time.
 
  
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Most recent set is virtio-win-0.1-74, with updates to virtio drivers as of 16 Oct 2013.
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Each of the ISOs is labelled with a numeric release.
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*Older versions could still be useful when, as it happens, a Windows VM shows instability or incompatibility with the latest drivers.
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*a web repository https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/archive-virtio/
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*:here you can find both [https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso stable] and [https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/latest-virtio/virtio-win.iso latest] sets of drivers
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*:*in source format (.zip)
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*:*in compiled format (.iso)
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*:*'''The binary drivers are digitally signed by Red Hat (but NOT WHQL), and will work on 64-bit versions of Windows'''
  
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Previous versions could still be useful when, as it happens, some Windows VM shows instability or imcompatibility with latest drivers set.
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In the iso there are several dirs, with subdir for each supported OS version (2k19, 2k16, 2k12, 2k12R2, 2k3, 2k8, 2k8R2, w7, w8, w8.1, w10):
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*Balloon
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*guest-agent
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*NetKVM
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*pvpanic
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*qemupciserial
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*qxl
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*qxldod
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*viorng
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*vioscsi
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*vioserial
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*viostor
  
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Based on the "status.txt" that can be found on each "packaged" sets of drivers, in the source format (.zip), this wiki hosts also a sort of "Changelog", since apparently it sis not to be found anywhere on the internet, to author knowledge.
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= See also =
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* [[Paravirtualized Block Drivers for Windows]]
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* [[Paravirtualized Network Drivers for Windows]]
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* [[Dynamic Memory Management]]
  
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see [[Windows_VirtIO_Drivers/Changelog]]
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[[Category: HOWTO]]
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[[Category: Qemu/KVM]]

Revision as of 17:42, 18 May 2020

Introduction

VirtIO Drivers are paravirtualized drivers for kvm/Linux (see http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Virtio). In short, they enable direct (paravirtualized) access to devices and peripherals for virtual machines using them, instead of slower, emulated, ones.
A quite extended explanation about VirtIO drivers can be found here http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-virtio.

At the moment these kind of devices are supported:

You can maximize performances by using VirtIO drivers. The availability and status of the VirtIO drivers depends on the guest OS and platform.

Windows OS support

Windows does not have VirtIO drivers included. The Fedora project provides CD ISO images with compiled and signed VirtIO drivers for Windows.

See

The source code of those drivers can be found on Github. See https://github.com/virtio-win/kvm-guest-drivers-windows

Driver ISOs

Each of the ISOs is labelled with a numeric release.

In the iso there are several dirs, with subdir for each supported OS version (2k19, 2k16, 2k12, 2k12R2, 2k3, 2k8, 2k8R2, w7, w8, w8.1, w10):

  • Balloon
  • guest-agent
  • NetKVM
  • pvpanic
  • qemupciserial
  • qxl
  • qxldod
  • viorng
  • vioscsi
  • vioserial
  • viostor

See also

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