Arch Linux

CreeperKong

Member

Registered: 2024-05-29

Posts: 4

VM broken after upgrade

I have a vm managed with virt-manager running AlmaLinux to reproduce the production server environment where I test server applications during development.
But suddenly after I 'pacman -Syu' like before, the OS inside this VM stuck at grub without booting at all, with 1 core staying at 100% usage! This may related to OVMF or QEMU in some way.
I cannot find any solution for this. I've already tried recreating the VM and changeing CPU type config but no luck.
Even the install iso won't boot in the VM.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,999

Website

Re: VM broken after upgrade

We can test without virt-manager or OVMF, for example:

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 2G -display gtk -drive file=/path/to/disk.img -cdrom /path/to/install_ISO -boot d

^ That should boot the install ISO with the VM disk image loaded. Omit the -cdrom & -boot options to just start the VM without the install ISO.

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

Toolybird

Member

Registered: 2017-09-30

Posts: 87

Re: VM broken after upgrade

More than likely this: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … -/issues/9

topcat01

Member

Registered: 2019-09-17

Posts: 273

Re: VM broken after upgrade

Unless I’m mistaken the ISO uses systemd-boot for UEFI. Why is it hanging in that case?

Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 682

Re: VM broken after upgrade

I'm not entirely sure if I have the same problem, but qemu 10.1.0-1 is broken for me. I'm running a headless Arch server with a VM (Home Assistant), so my situation might be slightly different. When I try and launch the vm I get the following.

$ sudo /usr/bin/runuser -u hass -- virsh start hass
error: Failed to start domain 'hass'
error: internal error: Process exited prior to exec: libvirt:  error : cannot limit core file size of process 6952 to 18446744073709551615: Operation not permitted

I tested this

More than likely this: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … -/issues/9

I tried downgrading to edk2-ovmf 202411-1 then restarting, but this did not fix the problem.

I also tried reverting qemu-common qemu-img qemu-system-x86-firmware qemu-system-x86 qemu-base from 10.1.0-1 -> 10.0.3-1, which solves the problem for now.

I'm not sure if it's a "feature" in the newer version, so with the newer versions installed, I also tried editing /etc/security/limits.conf to add

* soft core unlimited
* hard core unlimited

then restarting. I now get a different error

$ sudo /usr/bin/runuser -u hass -- virsh start hass
error: Failed to start domain 'hass'
error: operation failed: guest CPU doesn't match specification: missing features: pdcm

CreeperKong

Member

Registered: 2024-05-29

Posts: 4

Re: VM broken after upgrade

I'm not entirely sure if I have the same problem, but qemu 10.1.0-1 is broken for me. I'm running a headless Arch server with a VM (Home Assistant), so my situation might be slightly different. When I try and launch the vm I get the following.

Seems like 10.1.1-1 is still broken.

I am now using lxc for that environment.

Last edited by CreeperKong (2025-10-19 02:06:29)

topcat01

Member

Registered: 2019-09-17

Posts: 273

Re: VM broken after upgrade

I use qmu commandline directly for my VMs, using a simple script wrapper. In my VM directory, I keep a copy of the OVMF files, because I have had issues from updates. I wonder if using the older FW files helps.
Edit: I see that downgrading EDK did not help, so that's not the issue.

Last edited by topcat01 (2025-10-19 17:34:22)

Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 682

Re: VM broken after upgrade

My VM seems to boot fine with the latest 10.1.2-1 (for the five packages mentioned above)

I also tried reverting qemu-common qemu-img qemu-system-x86-firmware qemu-system-x86 qemu-base from 10.1.0-1 -> 10.0.3-1

CreeperKong

Member

Registered: 2024-05-29

Posts: 4

Re: VM broken after upgrade

My VM seems to boot fine with the latest 10.1.2-1 (for the five packages mentioned above)

AlmaLinux 9.6 still not booting.