Windows virtio drivers

Windows does not have native support for VirtIO devices included. But, there is excellent external support through opensource drivers, which are available compiled and signed for Windows:.

Note that this repository provides not only the most recent, but also many older versions. Refer to the installation documentation for your version of Windows for specific installation steps. Open Device Manager and expand Other devices to list any Unknown device. Open the Device Properties to identify the unknown device. Right-click the device and select Properties. Click the Details tab and select Hardware Ids in the Property list. The drivers are arranged hierarchically according to their driver type, operating system, and CPU architecture.

Open virt-manager , then open the guest virtual machine from the list by double-clicking the guest name. Click on the toolbar at the top of the window to view virtual hardware details. Ensure that the Select managed or other existing storage radio button is selected, and browse to the virtio driver's. Reboot or start the virtual machine to begin using the driver disk.

Virtualized IDE devices require a restart to for the virtual machine to recognize the new device. There are up to four drivers available: the balloon driver, the serial driver, the network driver, and the block driver. Right-click on the device whose driver you wish to update, and select Update Driver from the pop-up menu.

From the drop-down menu, select Update Driver Software to access the driver update wizard. The first page of the driver update wizard asks how you want to search for driver software.

Click Browse my computer for driver software. A separate driver is provided for each combination of operating systems and architectures. You can install the virtio drivers during a Windows installation. This method allows a Windows guest virtual machine to use the virtio drivers for the default storage device. Important: Create the virtual machine, as normal, without starting the virtual machine.

Follow one of the procedures below. This method attaches the virtio driver floppy disk to a Windows guest before the installation. If the virtual machine is created from an XML definition file with virsh , use the virsh define command not the virsh create command. Create, but do not start, the virtual machine. Add the driver disk as a virtualized floppy disk with the virsh command. This example can be copied and used if there are no other virtualized floppy devices attached to the guest virtual machine.

At the final step of the virt-manager guest creation wizard, check the Customize configuration before install checkbox. Append the following parameter exactly as listed below to add the driver disk to the installation with the virt-install command:. Based on the version of Windows you are installing, append the relevant option to the virt-install command.

It may take a while to complete the Windows installation on the VM. Now, right click mouse on the Windows logo of the start menu and select Device Manager.

To install the virtio network driver, right click on Ethernet Controller and select Update driver. Once the virtio network driver is installed, click on Close. Your VM should now have a working network connection. If you see any other unrecognized devices in the Driver Manager of your Windows VM, you can install drivers for them the same way.