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adam777

Member

Registered: 2012-05-28

Posts: 161

[Solved] Qemu VGA Driver With XP Guest

Hello all,
I've been using VirtualBox for quite some time and while there's nothing wrong with it for my needs, I decided to try QEMU.
Installation of Windows XP SP3 went fine and I also managed to set virtio for network and disk.
The only thing I can't seem to resolve is the graphic driver.
When using "vga std", although the driver is supposed to be automatically detected by Windows, it isn't.
I have no idea what QEMU is emulating and so the device remains unrecognized in Windows, which, I suspect, leads to quite poor responsiveness.
Before I venture on to other areas such as VMware drivers/Spice-QXL and so, is there any way to sort things out with the regular vga device?
Thanks, Adam.

Last edited by adam777 (2013-07-12 07:50:58)

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: [Solved] Qemu VGA Driver With XP Guest

Are you also including the option -sdl ?
I use:

qemu-system-i386 -enable-kvm -boot c -drive file=/blah/winxp.img,media=disk,if=virtio,cache=none -m 1500 -localtime -usb -usbdevice tablet -sdl -vga std -no-frame -name xp -net user,smb=/blah/shared -net nic,model=rtl8139 -daemonize

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: [Solved] Qemu VGA Driver With XP Guest

I'm pretty sure sdl is the default. The other options are curses, vnc, and none.

Also FWIW -sdl is depreciated in the old git version I'm running. The proper method would be -display sdl .

---

But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

adam777

Member

Registered: 2012-05-28

Posts: 161

Re: [Solved] Qemu VGA Driver With XP Guest

Thanks.
I tried toying with the options a bit more, with no success.
I then decided to try Spice+QXL anyway, and am very happy with it.
Aside from the lengthy compilation of the Qemu version that supports Spice from the AUR, once I got it set up, installing the guest was a breeze.
Using the Spice guest tools for windows, everything was set up very conveniently (virtio for network, hdd, qxl driver, mouse integration etc.).
Responsiveness is much better comparing to previous attempts with "vga std", "vga cirrus" and normal adapter.
Bottom line, I'm sticking with Spice+QXL, seems to work best for me.