Windows 10 HVM with PCI devices does not boot

tavalon · December 28, 2022, 6:43pm

I have found a solution: setting the Windows 10 VMs RAM to 3500MB. Now it boots fine, with the USB controllers attached.

After coming across the issue below I tried lowering the VMs RAM:

github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues

VM with USB controller unable to start with more than 2200MB memory

opened 05:40PM - 19 Jul 22 UTC

airelemental

T: bug C: other P: major needs diagnosis

[How to file a helpful issue](https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/issue-tracking/) #…## Qubes OS release debian-11: bullseye-testing enabled in qubes-r4.list dom0: 4.1 "testing-updates" xen-hvm-stubdom-linux-1.2.4-1 ### Brief summary Above about 2200MB, an HVM with assigned USB controller is unable to start. ### Steps to reproduce 1. Create HVM with memory = 3072, memory balancing off, template = debian-11 2. Assign a USB controller 3. Start the VM. ### Expected behavior VM starts. ### Actual behavior VM fails to start. Popup message: ~~~ Qube test-pci has failed to start: qrexec-daemon startup failed: ... qrexec-daemon[748421]: qrexec-daemon.c:135:sigchld_parent_handler: Connection to the VM failed ~~~ ### Workaround The VM starts if I `qubes-dom0-update --action=downgrade` xen-hvm-stubdom-linux from 1.2.4-1 to 1.2.3-1. Edit: only need to downgrade xen-hvm-stubdom-linux

For me, 3500MB turned out to be the limit. With more RAM, I got the ‘no bootable device’ error. Initially I had the Windows 10 VM set to use 6GB.