Console Access To Kvm Guest Running WindowsV7

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i86_64
CentOS-6.5

I have installed a Windows instance as a kvm guest on a host running CentOS-6.5. I can access the desktop through the virt-manager console and everythign seems to work, although the mouse cursor seems to get lost from time to time.

The virt-manager console display supports various resolutions but when I
re-size the desktop display remains essentially a square inside a letter box. What other methods are available to open the windows desktop from the CentOS-6.5 host console or by remote access that allow me to have a re-sizable MS-Windows desktop display for this guest running on my normal (gnome2)
desktop?

Any suggestions?

10 thoughts on - Console Access To Kvm Guest Running WindowsV7

  • What I do is change the resolution inside the guest, or use rdesktop with the desired geometry. There’s no resizable display with virt-manager yet (a la Vbox).

    HTH

  • Even with VMware I generally prefer to connect directly to the guest with VNC, redesktop, NX, etc. instead of the VM console once the network access is configured.

    However the main problem I have with the virt-manager console is that when using NX/freenx to the KVM host, the mouse pointers seems to run at a wildly different resolution than the screen display. I can usually manage to get the pointer where I want but it often involves going ‘past’ the edge of the guest screen to get somewhat in sync, then back where I wanted it. Is there some way to get the console’s mouse to track the positioning of the host’s X screen as managed by freenx?

  • James, you may want to try out:

    Spice client +
    QXL drivers installed inside VM +
    Spice Guest tools installed inside VM +
    VM video driver set to ‘qlx’ +
    configuring Windows 7 VM with Spice Display device

    From there, you’ll be connecting to the VM console via the hypervisor:
    console displays are only exported on hypervisor localhost.

    That way you should be getting the best user experience – smooth mouse control, guest resolution adapting to the client screen resolution/geometry.

    Worked for me with both WindowsXP and CentOS 6.

  • Been using SPICe for a while now, and while it is definitely better than VNC, it does not support “adaptive reslolution”. If you want a different resolution you need to change it inside the VM. Tested with EL 6.5 host and Windows 7 guest.

  • It does with a F20 host… I have not tested a C6.5 host but I would be surprised if it didn’t work…

  • Nope, not even with the latest spice-guest-tools this feature doesn’t work. Maybe an EL7 host will have this feature.

  • Although I may have used wrong choice of words – that’s what I meant, you *can* adapt the resolution for the VM according to your client’s display resolution/geometry. Didn’t say Spice will do it automagically. I’ve also tested it on Windows XP.

    Without spice+qxl support there are very few resolutions available within the client

    Also, in spite of vdagent installed and running inside RHEL7 beta VM, I
    couldn’t get QXL drivers working as well as they do in CentOS 6. Copy-paste works, but I couldn’t get the resolution I wanted.