Unable to Install Windows 11 on CloudStack

[Sombra-js]

I’m having trouble installing Windows 11 on CloudStack.
Even though my VM is configured with 30 GB of RAM, 4–8 CPUs, and over 700 GB of storage, the installation fails.
I’ve also enabled UEFI mode and Secure Boot, but Windows 11 still refuses to install.

Could anyone please help me figure out what I might be missing?

Thanks in advance.

[SviridoffA]

Hi @Sombra-js ! Please do not duplicate your messages across different discussion threads; there's no point in that. Could you please describe in more detail at which exact stage the problem occurs for you? Also, describe your infrastructure, for example, which hypervisor you are using, and which version of CloudStack you are using.

[MTEVOLUTIONOnline]

[SviridoffA]

OK, and still, what specific error do you get? What does "refuses to install" mean?

[MTEVOLUTIONOnline]

After downloading the Windows 11 ISO and applying the following UEFI configuration:

Besides enabling UEFI mode and Secure Boot, I also enabled UEFI support on the hypervisor by adding these lines to /etc/cloudstack/agent/uefi.properties:

textguest.nvram.template.secure=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS_4M.ms.fd
guest.nvram.template.legacy=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS_4M.fd
guest.nvram.path=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram/
guest.loader.secure=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.secboot.fd
guest.loader.legacy=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.fd

However, when attempting to start the Windows 11 VM, it begins the boot process but then fails with an error.

[SviridoffA]

Also, did you restart Cloudstack agent after creation uefi.properties?
And what is displayed in the details of your hosts?

[SviridoffA]

Hi @Sombra-js ! Did you manage to solve the problem? I just wanted to add information from my colleagues—they claim they saw a similar issue on Win11 24H2, and it was resolved by changing the CPU mode in agent.properties. There was a suspicion that the default value (qemu64) is not supported by this OS. In our case, we use:
guest.cpu.mode=host-passthrough

[daviftorres]

Hey @Sombra-js , have you enabled vTPM?

[SviridoffA]

@MTEVOLUTIONOnline
Please check this PR #10543 from 4.20.1 it can be done by UI

[weizhouapache]

No, I haven’t enabled vTPM yet. Could you please explain how to enable it?

refer to https://docs.cloudstack.apache.org/en/latest/adminguide/virtual_machines.html#instance-settings-for-virtual-trusted-platform-module-vtpm

[davift]

Question for @SviridoffA and @weizhouapache ,

Is there any EUFI firmware alternative to Tiano?

The reason I am asking this is because we are having issues when doing Instance Snapshots of UEFI Windows instances (they freeze during the process). Maybe I am installing the wrong agent...

Any words of wisdom for this scenario?

[weizhouapache]

instance snapshot with memory or not ?

[davift]

It does not allow me to do an Instance Snapshot of a running instance unless I toggle the Memory.

[Sombra-js]

I successfully installed Windows 11 and applied the following configurations in the /etc/cloudstack/agent/uefi.properties file:

guest.nvram.template.secure=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS_4M.ms.fd
guest.nvram.template.legacy=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS_4M.fd
guest.nvram.path=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram/
guest.loader.secure=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.secboot.fd
guest.loader.legacy=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.fd

I enabled Secure Boot and UEFI directly from the VM creation interface.
In addition, I applied the following configuration based on reports from colleagues who faced a similar issue on Windows 11 24H2 and resolved it by changing the CPU mode in agent.properties (the default value qemu64 appears to be incompatible with this OS version):

guest.cpu.mode=host-passthrough