How to install Windows 11 on a Virtual Machine

[hybrid rain]

I want to setup a virtual machine for Windows 11 on my Arch Linux installation so I can get the full speed of my main drive.
I have never setup a Virtual Machine before and I really need some help!

[urban snow]

Is there anything in particular you need help with?

[thorn timber]

^

[hybrid rain]

I did some research on how to setup a virtual machine on linux but the guides i looked at haven't helped. So im kinda looking for someone to guide me through the proccess

[thorn timber]

also look over this

[hybrid rain]

dont worry i used to use windows 11 before i switched to linux

[thorn timber]

yeah but the requirements

you need to set them correctly for the vm

you allocate parts of your hardware (number of cpu cores, amount of ram) to the vm

[hybrid rain]

ah ok

yeah well im planning on allocating 80GB of storage, 6 cores and 24GB of ram

[thorn timber]

thats more than enough lol, youll be fine

ok so what do you need help with

setting up the vm? what vm software to use? how to get the iso?

[hybrid rain]

installing virtualbox correctly and being able to run windows

i have downloaded the iso

[thorn timber]

you can just look up a guide probs

[hybrid rain]

.

the furthest i got

was installing virtual box

setting up the virtu machine

but then i cant boot because the "kernel drivers not installed"

and i read 3 guides non of them explaning how to fix it properly

im also not sure which virtualbox packages to install

[urban snow]

Which one did you install?

[urban snow]

Do you know which kernel your system is running?

[hybrid rain]

the default linux kernel as far as i know

[urban snow]

cat /proc/cmdline can provide info on that btw

Alright good

Try installing virtualbox-host-modules-arch and removing virtualbox-host-dkms

[hybrid rain]

done

[urban snow]

basically I'm reading from this https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/VirtualBox#Load_the_VirtualBox_kernel_modules

[hybrid rain]

i also get this error just after creating the virtual machien

OH

WAI

i ran that modprobe command

something is happening

[urban snow]

In new versions of virtualbox they have the unattended installation thing checked by default for some operating systems

[hybrid rain]

its taking a long time to load

[urban snow]

But is it actually loading?

[hybrid rain]

no idea

says starting virtual macchine

[urban snow]

VirtualBox isn't really the best performing hypervisor available either

[hybrid rain]

well im guessing its not wroking

its been stuck on starting for ages

[urban snow]

Rip

Check the VM settings for stuff related to TPM, secure boot, stuff like that

[hybrid rain]

TPM 2.0 is on

so is secure boot

[thorn timber]

did u reboot

the virtualbox drivers dont load unless u reboot

[urban snow]

modprobe can load it on a running system

[thorn timber]

ah

[calm thunder]

If all else fails, try virt-manager
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Virt-Manager

[urban snow]

virt-manager is the good one

More config though

[thorn timber]

GNOME Boxes aint bad and is pretty easy to use

Should work with a Windows VM

[urban snow]

But if you mess up the first boot from an iso, you'd have to do back end config to reattach it.

[thorn timber]

hm?

ah

[urban snow]

(These kinds of subtle issues with GNOME frustrate me.)

[thorn timber]

Use LSW /j

[urban snow]

@hybrid rain make sure that the box is checked to skip the unattended install, I'm not sure Windows has capabilities to handle that like Linux has.

[hybrid rain]

ok

[urban snow]

That's from back at the VM creation window btw

[hybrid rain]

yeah

i was just restoring my snapshot again

because i broke vbox somehow

but i made a system snapshot before i installed anything

[hybrid rain]

I did this but it still isnt doin anything

Now how do i exit

i can't click and buttons in the program

[urban snow]

It's one of the Ctrl or Alt keys or combo of them

[hybrid rain]

what

im not sure what the key combos are

[urban snow]

Do you mean that the mouse is captured by the VM window?

[hybrid rain]

just whenever i hover my mouse over the VM window its just the loading cursor and i cant click anything on that window

[urban snow]

Weird

If it's not working you might have to kill virtualbox

[urban snow]

do you have htop or other in the command line?

System monitor of any kind?

[hybrid rain]

yep i just used htop

hm

im really not sure how to fix this

[urban snow]

I found two processes running when I killed mine

Yeah, I'm using Fedora at the moment so I can't really test all that well lmao

[hybrid rain]

ok

[elfin mist]

libvirtd + virt-manager is so much better, it's FOSS, no pay for premium, works good, made for linux primarily, and I've had a (mostly) painless history.

[hybrid rain]

I installed those and get this error

I fixed it

But

when i click New Virtual Machine

im stuck ehre

and then

i read the guide

and fixed it

lol

[elfin mist]

lol

it works?

[hybrid rain]

Sort of yeah

[hybrid rain]

I setup a virtual machine with Windows 11 using the iso provided on microsofts website

However

instead of booting to the windows setup screen

it boots to a really weird terminal interface with bootloader settings and a Shell

So i have no idea whats happening there

[elfin mist]

I think you need to attach the iso properly and configure it in the boot order

[elfin mist]

you downloaded the regular installer iso right?

or something meant for a vm?

[hybrid rain]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

[hybrid rain]

The Windows 11 Disk Image ISO

[hybrid rain]

im not sure how to do that

[elfin mist]

I did using this

[hybrid rain]

you know that downloads the medicreation tool

which is a exe

which wine cant run

[hybrid rain]

how did you do it

[elfin mist]

brb

okay so I attached a blank disk (qcow2 is good since its expandable and copyonwrite means if the disk is of 32gb, but only 10gb is used the disk image file size is 10gb)

and I attached the iso

and then I booted the installer iso and installed on the disk

like we do irl, we use a installer usb to install to a bigger disk

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1379063-windows-11-in-virt-manager/

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/6/html/virtualization_host_configuration_and_guest_installation_guide/sect-virtualization_host_configuration_and_guest_installation_guide-windows_installations-installing_windows_xp_as_a_fully_virtualized_guest

I installed win10...

[hybrid rain]

uhuh

well thanks i will take a look at those guides

[hybrid rain]

.aw virtualbox

[quaint blade]

Arch Wiki: Virtualbox

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Virtualbox

[hybrid rain]

No need. You need to follow the wiki

You need kernel headers tho

I do not like the arch wiki

[hybrid rain]

this is exactly wwhat i need

[hybrid rain]

But it's the official place to get help

[hybrid rain]

^

Arch wiki tells exactly how to setup virtualbox

i switched to virt-manger

its simpler than virtualbox

Both are good

I run both

Yet you still need kernel headers

[elfin mist]

it's very good and comprehensive actually learns you something rather than just getting your stuff to work...

[hybrid rain]

Yup. When using Arch, read the wiki

It literally has all the steps you need to do something

[elfin mist]

even for libvirtd? don't they like install automatically
I don't remember explicitly installing those for qemu/libvirtd...

[hybrid rain]

Instead of random, outdated guides

[hybrid rain]

It's good to have those just in case

Since I use the LTS and Zen kernel, I need those

[elfin mist]

Now I'm running zen too, albeit it's only ~2days old

[hybrid rain]

Both are good

[hybrid rain]

You need to change your user agent or use a Linux PC to get windoz ISO

As Ms website will give you the mct exe instead of the iso if on windoz

That's why I use arch also

Direct iso download

[urban snow]

virt-manager requires a user to hit apply at the bottom of the VM settings page for every hardware item entry. It's annoying when first using it because it's possible to forget so it won't boot from a device. Also needs a user to be part of the libvirt group with the setting enabled in /etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Virt-Manager

I'm actually having some issues right now with the permissions config setting myself... in fedora lol

Here's a reference to commands for EFI shell if needed... There might be some scenarios where they might be needed. https://docstore.mik.ua/manuals/hp-ux/en/5991-1247B/ch04s13.html

[urban snow]

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1409590/uefi-boot-and-different-ovmf-firmware-files-when-building-a-vm