Red Hat Training

A Red Hat training course is available for Red Hat Virtualization

Chapter 3. Installing Windows Virtual Machines

This chapter describes the steps required to install a Windows virtual machine:
  1. Create a blank virtual machine on which to install an operating system.
  2. Add a virtual disk for storage.
  3. Add a network interface to connect the virtual machine to the network.
  4. Attach the virtio-win.vfd diskette to the virtual machine so that VirtIO-optimized device drivers can be installed during the operating system installation.
  5. Install an operating system on the virtual machine. See your operating system's documentation for instructions.
  6. Install guest agents and drivers for additional virtual machine functionality.
When all of these steps are complete, the new virtual machine is functional and ready to perform tasks.

3.1. Creating a Windows Virtual Machine

Create a new virtual machine and configure the required settings.

Procedure 3.1. Creating Windows Virtual Machines

  1. Click the Virtual Machines tab.
  2. Click the New VM button to open the New Virtual Machine window.
    The New Virtual Machine Window

    Figure 3.1. The New Virtual Machine Window

  3. Select a Windows variant from the Operating System drop-down list.
  4. Enter a Name for the virtual machine.
  5. Add storage to the virtual machine. Attach or Create a virtual disk under Instance Images.
  6. Connect the virtual machine to the network. Add a network interface by selecting a vNIC profile from the nic1 drop-down list at the bottom of the General tab.
  7. Specify the virtual machine's Memory Size on the System tab.
  8. Choose the First Device that the virtual machine will boot from on the Boot Options tab.
  9. You can accept the default settings for all other fields, or change them if required. For more details on all fields in the New Virtual Machine window, see Section A.1, “Explanation of Settings in the New Virtual Machine and Edit Virtual Machine Windows”.
  10. Click OK.
The new virtual machine is created and displays in the list of virtual machines with a status of Down. Before you can use this virtual machine, you must install an operating system and VirtIO-optimized disk and network drivers.