Windows 7

[jjstorm]

I am going to need to run Windows 7 and I would prefer to do it in a virtualized environment, rather than on a separate computer. I intend on upgrading the memory on this machine to 16 gigs to help manage this.

I need to know if qemu supports usb ports and external devices, (e.g, built in camera). In other words, If I plug in usb devices would Windows 7 recognize them?

[jggimi]

No, sorry. Those features of Qemu are linux-specific.

[jjstorm]

Originally Posted by jggimi

No, sorry. Those features of Qemu are linux-specific.

Is qemu the only virtualized environment available for OpenBSD?

[ocicat]

Originally Posted by jjstorm

Is qemu the only virtualized environment available for OpenBSD?

vmm(4) is currently in development, & is not enabled in the amd64 kernels. Undeadly had an article on this some time back which can be found at the following:

http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=artic...20150831183826

Your next question will undoubtedly be whether it is possible for Windows 7 to run under vmm(4). From what I have not seen on the mailing lists, no one is claiming this capability yet.

Currently, emulators/qemu is the only virtualization environment available to OpenBSD users at this time.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by jjstorm

Is qemu the only virtualized environment available for OpenBSD?

Yes and no. Mike Larkin is working on OpenBSD native hypervisor

http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=artic...20150831183826

So far the greatest upshot of Mike's work is the fact that OpenBSD runs as DomU on Xen so I can finally run OpenBSD firewall as a AWS instance to protect my Amazon VPC.

Qemu is very useful for hacking on the current, building packages and similar. Beyond that it is pretty useless on OpenBSD (from a mouth of a guy who runs KVM on RedHat).

If you are dead set on using BSDs as a virtualization for your Windows 7 you might try VirtualBox on FreeBSD (that is unofficial release which never worked for me). I think Bhyve can now boot Windows 7 but be aware of PR overstatements coming from FreeBSD camp if you opt for Bhyve. Again Bhyve would makes more sense on the top of ZFS pool which in turns means that it is cost prohibitive (hardware is too expensive) for a home users.

[sw2wolf]

VirtualBox on FreeBSD works great ! So it is possible to port VBox to OpenBSD in the future by awesome guy(s) ?

Regards!

[e1-531g]

You can always dual boot Windows and OpenBSD on the same machine.
I use Windows 8.1 and OpenBSD amd64 -current on the same laptop.
You need only to:
1. Had some free space on HDD and partition for Windows
2. Install OpenBSD
3. Install Windows (in this order)
4. Configure bootloader.

Regarding 4-th step:
I have used bcdedit to setup Windows bootloader, but now I use Grub. I installed Grub using Debian Live CD even though I don't use Debian and I don't have Debian installed.
Unfortunately for Grub you need one more primary MBR partition. One for Windows, one for Grub. I don't know if OpenBSD requires primary partition, but I have OpenBSD inside third primary MBR partition.
With UEFI and GPT it should be more flexible, but I installed OpenBSD before UEFI booting was supported. You also need have capable hardware.

[jggimi]

As designed, vmm(4) will not run Windows. It loads virtual machines via ELF kernels. See vmctl(8) start -k.

[gpatrick]

If one is looking for virtualization options, SmartOS is a great choice. Of course it isn't using any BSD as the hypervisor, but one can run Solaris zones; lx-brand zones so you can run Linux on metal; Docker on metal; and KVM so you can run whatever you choose.

Windows inside KVM on SmartOS works. I also run OpenBSD and FreeBSD as well as Plan 9 inside KVM on SmartOS.

[jjstorm]

For me, it's OpenBSD or nothing, that is, If I can't run Windows 7 in a virtual environment and be able to use the usb ports, then I just won't run Windows 7 in a virtual environment period.

I'll either wait until someone makes this possible on OpenBSD, or I'll run Windows 7 in another way. From the looks of it, it may be possible in the near future. Let's see what happens.


All your thoughts are appreciated.

[jggimi]

Originally Posted by jjstorm

...From the looks of it, it may be possible in the near future.

You may have missed my post above. http://daemonforums.org/showpost.php...63&postcount=8

The vmm(4) hypervisor in development cannot and will not be able to have any version of Windows as a guest operating system, as currently architected. In addition, there are no plans I'm aware of for any intended support of dynamic attachment of devices of any kind. Today you cannot even use a physical drive as guest image.

The vmm(4) driver is not yet in GENERIC, even on -current, but the vmctl(8) man page and related pages can be reviewed, and may help put a frame around the blue sky you are drawing.

Your choices today are multibooting (shared disk or multiple disks), separate workstations, or a different hypervisor solution.