Cannot connect to VM's using SPICE

[Trevor68]

Ok not only has VNC been removed, but so has the display buttons for my VM's? After a fair bit of guesswork I found the spice javascript client directory at an unspecified port 5902.
Using that I can actually connect to both Win11 VM's, but one is 2 inches tall, and the other has no mouse and keyboard, even though I can type the password on the login screen.
I have both recreated the display devices on both VM's and restarted them, and also restarted the cobia box itself.

 

[Trevor68]

created a ticket.

[NAS-124296] - iXsystems TrueNAS Jira

ixsystems.atlassian.net

 

[Trevor68]

@ABain Ok I kind of know why this is not working now, but not how to fix it. I tried to create a new W11 VM from scratch and was soon told that I could not create a display using the "legacy" BIOS mode. Aha, Went and checked my existing VM's, yep, legacy. Changed them to UEFI and I get display buttons, that accept my new passwords! Alas but they do not actually start, so back to square one.
I wonder why COBIA no longer supports legacy BIOS mode, was this intended?

 

[Trevor68]

I found how VirtualBox stop the annoying UEFI interactive stuff, just have no idea how truenas might handle it?

How to Fix Windows 11 VM VirtualBox Shell Boot the UEFI Interactive Shell

The text version of this video: https://bonguides.com/how-to-fix-windows-11-vm-virtualbox-shell-boot-the-uefi-interactive-shell/- The UEFI Interactive Shel...

www.youtube.com

 

[ABain]

@Trevor68 thank you for that information, I'll get that added to the ticket you raised and get it discussed. Appreciate your investigation!

 

[sfatula]

@ABain Ok I kind of know why this is not working now, but not how to fix it. I tried to create a new W11 VM from scratch and was soon told that I could not create a display using the "legacy" BIOS mode. Aha, Went and checked my existing VM's, yep, legacy. Changed them to UEFI and I get display buttons, that accept my new passwords! Alas but they do not actually start, so back to square one.
I wonder why COBIA no longer supports legacy BIOS mode, was this intended?

You can convert a BIOS mode WIndows install to a UEFI mode Windows install. Look for instructions on using mbr2gpt with Windows 11. I converted a Windows 10 install to UEFI and it does work though a hassle.

You cannot just change the boot mode in Truenas.

Note, I would suggest snapshotting your Windows system disk zvol before doing the conversion. I had to rolback once.

 

[Trevor68]

I remember the UEFI interactive shell being a pain when I created them, but back then the VNC display had a menu button where you could interact with it and get it to boot and after that they just worked.

@11:00 is what happened originally.

TrueNAS Scale Setup Windows Server 2019 Virtual Machine

IN TODAY'S VIDEO Step by step creating a virtual machine in TrueNAS Scale. Virtio drivershttps://github.com/virtio-win/virtio-win-pkg-scripts/blob/master/RE...

www.youtube.com

 

[try_this]

I got it working if i didnt use localhost but the ip number of host, for the bind in display properties
to connect to vm i used http://<ip number of host>:<web port seen in details for display>/spice_auto.html
eg: http://192.168.1.178:5902/spice_auto.html

 

[Trevor68]

Interesting, I kind of got it working the same way, though slightly different URL. http://192.168.50.104:5900/spice.html

I have also managed to recreate one of my VM's from scratch using the UEFI bios option, so it has a proper "Display" button now.

 

[try_this]

if you use the auto page parameters is filled in for you for your system eg:
http://192.168.50.104:5903/spice_auto.html

FYI:
i also had to change the nic adapter from VirtIO to the intel one to get network working

 

[Trevor68]

Thanks, my networking has been fine on virtio

 

[jrp]

Can anyone explain to me why novnc was replaced by spice?

I do not see any advantages and a whole slew of seriously impacting operational issues.

Has anyone been able to get novnc reinstalled?

 

[tprelog]

Can anyone explain to me why novnc was replaced by spice?

VNC was removed, not replaced. Spice has always been an option.

I don't recall ever reading any reason why it was removed, though - It's certainly not mentioned in the release notes. No luck finding answers in the "full release notes" on Jira either - At least nothing evident from searching "VNC"

SCALE 23.10 Release Notes

Highlights, change log, and known issues for each SCALE 23.10 (Cobia) release.

www.truenas.com

I guess it's better to surprise users with breaking changes. But let's be honest, who bothered to read the release notes anyway?

I've always used Spice for my single VM. But I'm still curious why VNC was removed and surprised there's no explanation, especially since it seems to be causing so many issues for people.

 

[jrp]

I did not know spice was there before

My issue is that spice is not working for me in any type of stable fashion and I have no workable solution