Arch Linux

raddecen

Member

Registered: 2015-12-19

Posts: 26

How can I improve the graphics performance of a Windows 8 QEMU image?

I have successfully installed Windows 8 using QEMU on my Arch installation and the performance is fine. However, graphics are still an issue.

I have tried using the -vga std, -vga virtio and -vga vmware options with no differences. I also tried using -vga qxl after enabling the qxl, bochs_drm kernel modules but it was the same. Whenever I try installing the Integrated GPU driver in the Windows image, I get an error that says "This computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements for installing this software." I tried using -vga qxl with SPICE but the command

$ qemu-system-x86_64 -vga qxl -spice port=5930,disable-ticketing -chardev spicevm

complains about a missing id.

I created the Windows 8 image by using the following command

$ qemu-img create -f qcow2 -o cluster_size=2M windows.img 30G

and I installed Windows 8 on this image by using

$ qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -machine type=q35,accel=kvm,iommu=on -m 4G -vga std -cpu host -usbdevice tablet -boot menu=on -cdrom windows8.iso -drive file=windows.img,format=qcow2

and I'm starting the image using the same options.

I don't want to play games or anything on the Windows 8 VM but I want a lag free experience running other operating systems as well. What should I do to achieve the performance I'm looking for?

Last edited by raddecen (2016-03-10 16:01:13)