Create EVE-OS Compatible Windows 10 VM using VirtualBox for HVM Mode

Prerequisites:

• Windows-10 iso image (64-bit).
• Virtual box 6.1 or above.
• Downloadable link for virtio drivers–https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/creating-windows-virtual-machines-using-virtio-drivers.

Create a Virtual Machine (VM):

• Open VirtualBox manager and create a new VM. Provide the name of the VM. Click on continue.

• Select the memory size as appropriate. Try to keep a minimum of 4GB and click continue.

• Select create a virtual disk now and click continue.

• Choose type as vmdk and click continue.

• Choose dynamic allocation and click continue.

• Choose the file location and size. Try to keep the minimum size to 30GB, and location can be the default.

• Click on the settings and then system and check for the following settings:
  • The boot order should be the first cd-rom and then the hard disk.
  • In the extended features make sure EFI is not selected.

• Click on storage and perform the following.
  • Add windows 10 optical drive downloaded.
  • Add virtio driver iso downloaded.
  • Please refer to the snapshots below.

Review the Final Configuration

Check for the following:

• EFI should not be enabled.
• The boot order should be first optical drive and then hard disk.
• In the storage, windows iso should be there on port1 and on port 2
• Virtio driver iso
•  

Start the Windows Installations

Install Virtio Driver:

• Right-click on windows and click on file explorer.
• Navigate to drive where virtio drivers are mounted.
• Here it is on e-drive.
• Look for virtio-win-gt-x64. You will see it in the drivers.
• Follow the installation guide and install the drivers.
• Refer to the attached screenshots.

Inject storage drivers in pe environment:

• https://superuser.com/questions/1057959/windows-10-in-kvm-change-boot-disk-to-virtio
• https://christian.hofstaedtler.name/blog/2013/01/using-dism-to-add-drivers.html

Search for settings in search and click on settings.

• Select update and security settings.

• Select recovery and click on recovery.

• Select restart.

• Select Troubleshoot.

• Select Advanced options.

• Select command prompt

• The system will be rebooted. Please enter your username and password if asked.
• You will land in the command prompt.

• We need to look for our mounted drivers. Please type the following commands:

• In this setup, it’s on e-drive

• Go to the following directory: e:\amd64\w10 (as the virtio drivers are mounted on e-drive)

• Let’s load and install both scsi and viostor driver.
• First load the driver

• Inject the driver. Here the drive-c represents the drive where my Windows installation is.

• Exit and Turn off the PC.

Convert the Image to qcow2 Format

Use the following command to convert the Image to qcow2 Format:

qemu-img convert -f vmdk -O qcow2 fml-vbox-vm.vmdk virtual-box-w10vm.qcow2