Re: Windows 10 guest hanging

[Hank Knox]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried UPGRADING the qemu packages to 
unstable, thinking maybe they would fixed a problem but no. I'll see 
about downgrading instead.

And thanks for the idea of looking at configuration file.

Normally when something breaks in testing I root through log files to 
get a sense of what might have broken. I looked at the qemu and libvirtd 
files and folders in /var/log but don't see anything indicating a 
problem than might be linked to a Windows freeze. And I tried looking 
through the Windows event manager logs but the instance hasn't stayed 
running long enough to look carefully at those. I'm not sure what I'm 
looking for in any case! (Suggestions welcome).

Hank

On 10/5/24 10:15, G.W. Haywood wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> On Sat, 5 Oct 2024, Hank Knox wrote:
>
> > I have been running Windows 10 as a guest in a QEMU/KVM VM under 
> > Debian testing for several years now with no problems.
>
> Perhaps you've just been lucky. :)  Debian says
>
> [https://wiki.debian.org/DebianStability]
>
> "Testing is just what it says it is; it's for testing whether it works
> reliably prior to its release as a future Stable." and "If it breaks,
> you get to keep both pieces."
>
> Stable is bad enough, in my experience there is *always* something
> badly broken by a major version number upgrade.  Typically it will
> take a week to recover.  I wouldn't touch Testing with a bargepole.
> Of course it depends a lot on which packages you're using, but my idea
> of fun isn't getting on an aeroplane to stop the reboot loop because
> 'fsck' takes longer than 30 seconds, or to edit the network config so
> things that need to talk IP can recognize the only friggin' Ethernet
> port on the friggin' box.  You understand I mention just a couple of
> really stupid Debian screwups - both down to Systemd as it happens -
> but I have quite a long list. [*]
>
> > After a recent set of qemu updates from Debian early this last week,
> > Windows freezes after a few minutes of use: I get a spinning 'busy'
> > cursor and the UI stops responding.
> > ...
> > Something with QEMU? A WIndows problem ...? ... other Debian ... 
> > problem?
>
> I'd caution against guessing what the problem is.  Try, er, testing. :)
>
> Your description *seems* to indicate that the cause was possibly the
> "recent set of qemu updates from Debian early this week", and if it
> were me (not that under any foreseeable circumstances I'd be running
> Windows:) I'd back out the qemu updates and see what happens.  You
> could use APT pinning to do that.  Alternatively install a minimal
> Debian Stable somewhere and see if you have more luck.  The problem
> might not be executable code, it might be some trivial configuration
> change.  [*] Debian seems prone to trashing configurations which have
> worked for ages; often, when I find what they've done, it seems to me
> to be inexplicable.  Like changing 'eth0' to 'enp2s0'.
--
Hank Knox, FRSC
Schulich School of Music of
McGill University (retired)
Montreal, QC