Windows VM BSOD (KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED) (IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL)

User Support General
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1

Hello fellow qubes users,

I have tried for quite some time but i am not able to have a stable windows-vm.
I successfully can run windows10 and windows11 but after a while (it can be 2min or 45min) i run into a blue screen KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED in windows10 (+ continous beeping when browser is playing music) and windows11 and sometimes i got IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL in windows11.

I followed those steps :
First, I created a windows template following the steps described here :

(After creation i set qvm-prefs WindowsNew qrexec_timeout 7200 and powercfg -H off in windows-vm)

Then I installed QWT following :

I tried with and without xen drivers - i seem to got the same result

After successfully install windows : I run a file check : sfc /scannow it usually repairs some files the first time, the next time i run it after a bsod and a reebot, it says its all ok.

I updated windows

I ran memory check, all is ok.

Before installing QWT, in device manager in windows, i have a yellow triangle in front of pci device.
I disabled the faulty driver in device manager in the windows-vm

Then i created an appvm based on that windows-vm.

So, i think it might be more of a hardware related issue…

when I run: journalctl -f -n0in dom0
I get a pcie bus error

The pcie bus error is probably due with my wifi card qualcomm atheros but the error is detected and corrected.
Similar to this issue : "PCIe Bus Error" for my Qualcomm Ethernet controller / Kernel & Hardware / Arch Linux Forums
So I suppressed this messages in case windows vm was having a hard time handling all those errors,
adding to dom0: /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pci=noaer"
and saving changes
Now nothing appears when i run journalctl -f -n0 in dom0

The problem description i have is similar to this one Windows Bluescreen ( KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED ) - #20 by lie
But I don’t think the error come from the cpu, but i still tried to disable Split Lock Detection on the Linux host.

Windows-vm seems a bit more stable following those steps, but stills crashes.

Should i run tailf and monitor from dom0 to monitor as described in the qubes doc for installing windows ? if so i can’t find tailf nor the files to check.

Here are the results of xl dmesg
result-from-xl-dmesg.log (8.4 KB)

and the stubdom log for win10 and win11 located in /var/log/xen/console/guest-VMNAME-dm.log
windows10pro.log (54.3 KB)
windows11pro.log (54.8 KB)

Can some one please help me to understand if there is errors in here ?
And where my issue might be ?
:slight_smile:

2

Do you have the same issue without QWT installed?

3

Yes, i get the same BSOD without QWT.

Windows10 : Kmode Exception Not Handled
Windows11 : Kmode Exception Not Handled and IRQL Not Less or Equal

4

For info i’m running qubes 4.2.2 but i had the same issue with this computer with qubes 4.1.

From an external ssd with debian, I tried running a windows-vm - with quickemu and virtualbox, it work, no bsod so far.
(I get the same pcie bus error (detected and corrected) in journalctl)

.

As a workaround, I am now trying to to convert VirtualBox VMs to Qubes HVMs as described here : Standalones and HVMs | Qubes OS

  • I have a .vdi file and not a .vmdk
  • I converted .vdi to raw with qemu : qemu-img convert -O raw win10.vdi win10.raw
  • (I first tried to create a new windows-template and boot from the raw file - without success - no bootable devices found)
  • i then copied the file to dom0 and created a new HVM as decribed - without success - vm is stuck for 15min at “booting from Hard Disk…”

Maybe something went wrong transfering the vdi file to qubes, i will try again later.

Don’t hesitate to give me a clue :slight_smile:

5

Maybe you’ve installed Windows VM in UEFI mode. The Qubes OS is using Legacy BIOS boot mode by default.
You can enable UEFI for a qube by setting uefi feature for it:
qvm-features <vm-name> uefi 1
And you need to add ovmf.bin in your dom0:

Boot from qube and if you end up in startup.nsh shell then enter exit to enter UEFI menu and in Boot Manger select WIndows boot menu entry.

6

Thank you.

WindowsVM was installed in legacy bios.

The issue was that i was too quick and skiped steps.

7

Workaround :

see : ‘Converting VirtualBox VMs to Qubes HVMs’ in Standalones and HVMs | Qubes OS

From an externall ssd connected to my laptop :

From QubesOs :

  • Copy your .ova file to a qubes

  • Extract your OVA tar archive
    tar -xvf *.ova

  • Convert vmdk to raw:
    (Increase size of qube if necessary to 60GB+)
    qemu-img convert -O raw *.vmdk win10.raw

  • Copy the root image file from the originating qube (here called untrusted) to a temporary location in dom0, typing this in a dom0 terminal:
    (increase dom0 size if needed)
    qvm-run --pass-io untrusted 'cat "/media/user/externalhd/win10.raw"' > /home/user/win10-root.img

  • From within dom0, create a new HVM (here called win10) with the root image we just copied to dom0 (change the amount of RAM in GB as you wish):
    (for a template change --standalone with --class TemplateVM)
    qvm-create --property=virt_mode=hvm --property=memory=4096 --property=kernel=‘’ --label red --standalone --root-move-from /home/user/win10-root.img win10

I now have a working Windows10VM, I also installed Qubes Windows Tools as described here : Qubes Windows Tools (QWT) | Qubes OS

No BSOD so far. QWT works.

8

never mind i just get a BSOD kMode exception not handled in my new windowsTemplate

It’s starting to driving me crazy that i seem to be the only one to have this issue

9

If it works in other hypervisors e.g. KVM then maybe it’s Xen-specific issue and you can try to ask this question in Xen matrix channel or mailing list:
Matrix - Xen Project
Mailing Lists - Xen Project
Maybe they’ll be able to help debugging it.