QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

gshearer · 2015-10-14 14:03:15

Anyone using SPICE (remote-viewer in my case) to view Windows 10 guests running inside Linux/QEMU/KVM ?

My mouse is laggy especially if anything else is going on (such as the start button box animations etc)

Notes:

* My SPICE client is on the same LAN as the server (gig-e)

* I'm using the latest (as of this post) Virtio drivers (SSD backend)
* Using QXL video driver for Windows 8.1 (latest as of this post)
* Virtviewer 2.0 package on the client (from which remote-viewer is supplied)
* QEMU 2.4.0-4 package on the server
* Linux 4.2.2 (arch) on server

KVM command-line:

qemu-system-x86_64 -name sis -enable-kvm -S -nodefaults -nodefconfig -no-user-config \
-boot strict=on -rtc base=utc -no-fd-bootchk -realtime mlock=off \
-uuid eb6c3f58-e2c0-4c87-9f15-9a568d8c9e45 -msg timestamp=on \
-m 2048 -smp cores=2,threads=1,sockets=1 \
-global PIIX4_PM.disable_s3=1 -global PIIX4_PM.disable_s4=1 \
-device qxl-vga,id=video0,ram_size=67108864,vram_size=67108864,vgamem_mb=16,bus=pci.0,addr=0x2 \
-netdev type=tap,id=nic0,script=/usr/local/bin/qemu-ifup-lan,downscript=/usr/local/bin/qemu-ifdown-lan \
-device virtio-net-pci,mac=68:09:68:09:68:09,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3,netdev=nic0 \
-drive if=none,id=hd0,media=disk,cache=none,format=qcow2,file=/mnt/qemu/newsis.qcow2 \
-device virtio-blk-pci,drive=hd0,scsi=off,config-wce=off,bus=pci.0,addr=0x4 \
-device intel-hda,id=sound0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x5 \
-device hda-micro,id=sound0-codec0,bus=sound0.0,cad=0 \
-device ich9-usb-ehci1,id=usb,bus=pci.0,addr=0x6.0x7 \
-device ich9-usb-uhci1,masterbus=usb.0,firstport=0,bus=pci.0,multifunction=on,addr=0x6 \
-device ich9-usb-uhci2,masterbus=usb.0,firstport=2,bus=pci.0,addr=0x6.0x1 \
-device ich9-usb-uhci3,masterbus=usb.0,firstport=4,bus=pci.0,addr=0x6.0x2 \
-device usb-tablet,id=input0 \
-device virtio-serial-pci,id=virtio-serial0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x8 \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charchannel0,name=vdagent \
-device virtserialport,bus=virtio-serial0.0,nr=1,chardev=charchannel0,id=channel0,name=com.redhat.spice.0 \
-spice port=5951,addr=0.0.0.0,image-compression=auto_glz,playback-compression=off,agent-mouse=on,zlib-glz-wan-compression=never,jpeg-wan-compression=never,seamless-migration=on,disable-ticketing,plaintext-channel=main,plaintext-channel=display,plaintext-channel=inputs,plaintext-channel=cursor,plaintext-channel=playback,plaintext-channel=record,plaintext-channel=usbredir,streaming-video=filter \
-device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x9 \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir0,name=usbredir \
-device usb-redir,chardev=charredir0,id=redir0 \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir1,name=usbredir \
-device usb-redir,chardev=charredir1,id=redir1 \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir2,name=usbredir \
-device usb-redir,chardev=charredir2,id=redir2 \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir3,name=usbredir \
-device usb-redir,chardev=charredir3,id=redir3 \
-monitor telnet:127.0.0.1:7008,server,nowait,nodelay

NOTE: Have also tried image-compression=off for spice (above) no noticable change.

Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated. For now, it's back to xfreerdp (which, honestly, does a fine job, its just not quite as cool as spice)

-G

Last edited by gshearer (2015-10-14 14:22:20)

gshearer · 2015-11-18 13:42:42

So, this seems to be an issue with Windows 10 - but not sure what. Windows 7 (64-bit) installed on the exact virtual machine doesn't have this "lag". Any ideas are appreciated.

In case I didn't mention it, I'm using virtio-win-0.1.110 drivers -- for video, etc. Using Windows 8.1 64-bit versions.

Lone_Wolf · 2015-11-18 17:59:57

For clarification , are you using the aur virtio-win pacakge version 0.110.2-1 ?

If you downloaded the spice iso directly , make sure you got it here :
https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/vi … 0.1.110-2/

gshearer · 2015-11-20 18:47:01

Thanks for the reply. I'm not using the AUR version, but I am using the exact ISO from the link you mentioned. I've also tried the latest from here:

http://www.spice-space.org/download/windows/

So, here's an interesting update:

I've recently rebuilt a Windows-7 guest but using QXL and Spice. This lag I speak of with Windows X does not exist here, not even a little bit. It's very nice! Better than RDP in fact.

I understand that the QXL driver for Windows 8.1 and up is a rewritten driver (which would explain why the drivers for each are in different folders on the ISO).

I haven't seen anyone complaining about this lag in the upstream email lists but I also haven't seen many even talking about Windows 10 yet. Unfortunately, i don't have a Windows 8.1 image to try with... not that I really want to.

Astaroth_PoD · 2016-02-05 11:56:16

Did you have any progress on this? I've tried many different QXL driver versions but the lag persists in Windows 10. Noone else using Windows 10 in qemu and spice?

cayspekko · 2016-02-29 21:11:29

I'm having the same problem. I was previously running windows 7 as kvm guest using libvirt and had no slow graphic issues. After updating to Windows 10 and installed the latest qxldod driver from
https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/vi … 0.1.113-1/

I get slow sluggish graphics support and laggy mouse

This is the qemu command generated by libvirt:

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -name win7-hdd -S -machine pc-i440fx-utopic,accel=kvm,usb=off -cpu host,hv_time,hv_relaxed,hv_vapic,hv_spinlocks=0x1fff -m 4096 -realtime mlock=off -smp 4,maxcpus=8,sockets=1,cores=4,threads=2 -uuid 20a3fe64-1447-409c-b51f-25bbd5b146df -no-user-config -nodefaults -chardev socket,id=charmonitor,path=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/win7-hdd.monitor,server,nowait -mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=control -rtc base=localtime,driftfix=slew -global kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=discard -no-hpet -no-shutdown -global PIIX4_PM.disable_s3=1 -global PIIX4_PM.disable_s4=1 -boot strict=on -device ich9-usb-ehci1,id=usb,bus=pci.0,addr=0x6.0x7 -device ich9-usb-uhci1,masterbus=usb.0,firstport=0,bus=pci.0,multifunction=on,addr=0x6 -device ich9-usb-uhci2,masterbus=usb.0,firstport=2,bus=pci.0,addr=0x6.0x1 -device ich9-usb-uhci3,masterbus=usb.0,firstport=4,bus=pci.0,addr=0x6.0x2 -device virtio-scsi-pci,id=scsi0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x9 -device ahci,id=sata0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x8 -device virtio-serial-pci,id=virtio-serial0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x5 -drive file=/dev/mapper/sdx,if=none,id=drive-virtio-disk0,format=raw,cache=none,aio=native -device virtio-blk-pci,scsi=off,bus=pci.0,addr=0xa,drive=drive-virtio-disk0,id=virtio-disk0,bootindex=1 -netdev tap,fd=25,id=hostnet0,vhost=on,vhostfd=26 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=hostnet0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:8a:d9:62,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3 -chardev pty,id=charserial0 -device isa-serial,chardev=charserial0,id=serial0 -chardev spicevmc,id=charchannel0,name=vdagent -device virtserialport,bus=virtio-serial0.0,nr=1,chardev=charchannel0,id=channel0,name=com.redhat.spice.0 -chardev socket,id=charchannel1,path=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/win7-hdd.org.qemu.guest_agent.0,server,nowait -device virtserialport,bus=virtio-serial0.0,nr=2,chardev=charchannel1,id=channel1,name=org.qemu.guest_agent.0 -spice port=5900,addr=127.0.0.1,disable-ticketing,seamless-migration=on -device qxl-vga,id=video0,ram_size=134217728,vram_size=134217728,vgamem_mb=128,bus=pci.0,addr=0x2 -device intel-hda,id=sound0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x4 -device hda-duplex,id=sound0-codec0,bus=sound0.0,cad=0 -chardev spicevmc,id=charredir0,name=usbredir -device usb-redir,chardev=charredir0,id=redir0 -chardev spicevmc,id=charredir1,name=usbredir -device usb-redir,chardev=charredir1,id=redir1 -chardev spicevmc,id=charredir2,name=usbredir -device usb-redir,chardev=charredir2,id=redir2 -chardev spicevmc,id=charredir3,name=usbredir -device usb-redir,chardev=charredir3,id=redir3 -device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x7 -msg timestamp=on

billyJobs · 2016-07-03 02:15:49

Yep, I've been using remmina for a couple months. Other than video, everything works great that way as long as you have the quality set wide-open in the preferences. I found a chrome RDP extension that did video a little better because it had a TCP lossless setting, but I wasn't a fan of the program. It was obviously built for android. Plus, they wanted 5 bucks.

I read somewhere that there was some sort of large driver change in that area for windows 10. (Yeah, I know. Windows actually changed something in that release???) Anyway, Red Hat doesn't have new ones yet. Even the github still has the windows 8.

If I was on a desktop, I'd be buying a cheap graphics card and playing with the passthrough.

Windows 8 is against my religion. I think I'm going to build a windows 7 just to see what it's like.

Anyway, I just wanted to post what I knew about this, so it doesn't seem so open-ended with people trying junk that's obviously not going to work and posting xml that no one's going to read. Unlike the other virtio drivers, if the display driver doesn't say windows 10, well, it's probably not going to work on windows 10.

Also, if you're using virt-manager, it doesn't let you change the vram in the gui. You'll have to do that with the virsh edit command. I did receive slightly better performance cranking that up and switching to vmvga (instead of qxl). Nothing as good as remmina though -- but like I said, remmina's pretty useless if you want to play games or watch videos. With remmina, MS Office and Photoshop are a go.

Hopefully we'll see some new drivers soon. Let me know if someone's thought of something better.

Hydranix · 2016-07-03 08:47:30

billyJobs wrote:

Yep, I've been using remmina for a couple months.

Remmina is a client that has support for RDP, VNC, and lots more. Can't really compare it to Spice unless you mention what protocol you're using. I assume RDP, which also cannot be properly compared to Spice since QXL works in an entirely different way then the Windows RDP drivers do. (Technically an assumption since I've never seen the Windows RDP driver source code...)

billyJobs wrote:

Anyway, I just wanted to post what I knew about this, so it doesn't seem so open-ended with people trying junk that's obviously not going to work and posting xml that no one's going to read. Unlike the other virtio drivers, if the display driver doesn't say windows 10, well, it's probably not going to work on windows 10.

Nobody posted any XML. Only a commandline for qemu that was generated by a program.

I've used Windows 10 in QEMU with a little success. If you force install the Windows 7 x86_64 QXL drivers on Windows 10 x86_64 you get a much less laggy desktop and GUI... the only catch is that you'll have the UI bugging out in weird ways in some places. Best to use "High Resolution" theme and deal with it if you can.

billyJobs · 2016-07-03 23:25:41

Hydranix wrote:

I've used Windows 10 in QEMU with a little success. If you force install the Windows 7 x86_64 QXL drivers on Windows 10 x86_64 you get a much less laggy desktop and GUI... the only catch is that you'll have the UI bugging out in weird ways in some places. Best to use "High Resolution" theme and deal with it if you can.

How were you able to force-install the windows 7 drivers? I wasn't able to do that. I tried with the device manager with no success. I'm just curious, is your windows 10 upgraded from 8.1? Mine's a fresh install.

cid03 · 2016-07-10 09:00:48

Same issue here, I resolved it by adding more memory to the system via:

# virsh edit windows10

...
<video>
<model type='qxl' ram='131072' vram='131072' vgamem='65536' heads='1'/>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
</video>
...

Credit goes to: http://bart.vanhauwaert.org/hints/insta … n-KVM.html

brebs · 2016-07-10 15:14:29

Hmm. I've experienced this issue - have just added Debian's patches for qemu, and a superficial test doesn't show the problem.

Worth a try. Debian seems to be patching lotsa security bugs, for starters, and then vga-add-sr_vbe-register-set.patch looks interesting.

billyJobs · 2016-07-10 22:15:54

brebs wrote:

Hmm. I've experienced this issue - have just added Debian's patches for qemu, and a superficial test doesn't show the problem.
Worth a try. Debian seems to be patching lotsa security bugs, for starters, and then vga-add-sr_vbe-register-set.patch looks interesting.

thanx!!!

letni69 · 2016-07-11 17:50:36

I compiled qemu from git which already contains the vga-add-sr_vbe-register-set.patch and set the vgamem to 64MiB (65536). Well, it kinda works but the mouse is still a little bit out of sync (It's just slow), that's probably an issue with qxl guest tools. Also the feature (virt-viewer) which resized the guest resolution doesn't work even with guest tools installed (virtio iso).

Any suggestions?

CasperCG · 2016-08-25 23:16:52

I have the same problem. Win8.1 64bit guest and the lag makes Spice pretty much unusable.
Using virtio-win-0.1.118.iso.

Just moving the mouse pegs the host CPU at 100%, so something is not working right.
Is there some place where we should submit a bug report for something like this, or has anyone found a proper fix?

extr · 2016-09-23 06:17:27

This bug has been bothering me for months with no solution and I have gotten tired of seeing this thread always at the top of every related search. I am now pleased to report drivers from this comment immediately fixed issue for me: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=91219#c26

Was experiencing the bug with the following setup:
xubuntu kernel 4.4.0-36-generic (i run arch on my laptop )
qemu/kvm using virt-manager
windows 10 pro

Arch Linux

#1 2015-10-14 14:03:15

QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#2 2015-11-18 13:42:42

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#3 2015-11-18 17:59:57

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#4 2015-11-20 18:47:01

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#5 2016-02-05 11:56:16

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#6 2016-02-29 21:11:29

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#7 2016-07-03 02:15:49

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#8 2016-07-03 08:47:30

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#9 2016-07-03 23:25:41

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#10 2016-07-10 09:00:48

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#11 2016-07-10 15:14:29

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#12 2016-07-10 22:15:54

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#13 2016-07-11 17:50:36

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#14 2016-08-25 23:16:52

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

#15 2016-09-23 06:17:27

Re: QEMU/KVM with Windows 10 Guest via SPICE = LAG

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