SOLVED Win10 VM Issues.

[Grinas]

Hey,


I have Window 10 Pro VM installed using the GUI on FreeNas 11.


Windows 10 Pro, Ram = 8GB, CPU cores = 2.


This VM has RDP, TeamViewer etc. running so I can remotely access my home network.


ISSUES

Since I installed the VM it seems to be shutdown anytime I go to access it. Usually it will stay up for about 10 hours. I can’t figure out why it is shutting down.

All the VMs on my FreeNas seem very slow. Increasing the RAM had no noticeable effect.


What i tried for the shutting down issue.

1. Changing screen sleep, machine shutdown etc. to never.
2. Reviewed the system event viewer logs. Nothing in there to say when it shutting down or why. From the looks of the logs there are no new entries about 10hrs after start-up so I am assuming that’s when it shuts down.
3. Installed another Ubuntu VM to see if the issue is related to Bhyve. The Ubuntu desktop VM seems to always be running anytime I have checked.
4. Cionfirmed there wasnt a power cut over night. Free Nas notifications say its up for 5 days.

What I am going to try next for shutting down issue.

Set the wait for VNC connection to off so the VM will auto start after shutdown. This wont resolve the issue but at least i will be able to remotely access the VM. I read that this can cause issues has anyone else turned this off with a Windows VM and did it cause any issues?


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

I had the same sorts of problems before I adopted the VirtIO drivers in place of the ACHI/Intel E1000 drivers. Not sure if it was the solution or a coincidence but my Windows 10 VM has been rock solid ever since. Before I couldn't even keep it up and running for a few hours. Now that VM (which records my security cameras) has been online for more than a week.

If you want your VM to start properly on reboot of FreeNAS without any human intervention, make sure you do check 'Autostart' and do NOT check 'Wait to boot:' in the VNC device configuration. Now that RDP is working like a champ, I'm considering removing the VNC device, too. Not sure if that is a good idea or not but I'm going to try it the next time I am in an experimental mood.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[chris crude]

I had the same sorts of problems before I adopted the VirtIO drivers in place of the ACHI/Intel E1000 drivers. Not sure if it was the solution or a coincidence but my Windows 10 VM has been rock solid ever since. Before I couldn't even keep it up and running for a few hours. Now that VM (which records my security cameras) has been online for more than a week.

Agreed on the VirtIO driver update. Big difference for me. I also see people fail to give a WIN10 VM enough RAM, provisioning it like a Linux VM but the original post says there should be plenty of resources

Now that RDP is working like a champ, I'm considering removing the VNC device, too. Not sure if that is a good idea or not but I'm going to try it the next time I am in an experimental mood.

I have my WIN10 VM set to Autostart. I forgot to setup automatic update rules, and overnight i received updates which caused a reboot. When i realized my machine was down i tried RDP and couldnt connect. I opened VNC Viewer and the reboot completed and i was able to login. Makes sense since VNC is connected to FreeNAS IP: port# direct connect, and my RDP is setup for IP of the VM network address.
Sorry for rambling, just giving you something to think about in your decision to drop a VNC, or helps someone with the same issue.

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

I installed Windows 10 with 8GB RAM but, after seeing how little RAM my security cameras required, dropped it back to 4GB.

Good point on the Windows automatic update configuration.

I opened VNC Viewer and the reboot completed and i was able to login.

Uncheck 'Wait to boot:' in the VNC device configuration and your VM will start unattended. That option is designed so that you can watch the VM boot and not miss anything. In most cases, 'wait to boot' should be unchecked.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[chris crude]

Uncheck 'Wait to boot:' in the VNC device configuration and your VM will start unattended. That option is designed so that you can watch the VM boot and not miss anything. In most cases, 'wait to boot' should be unchecked.

Cheers,
Matt

You were right. Even though I have that set in my Ubuntu Pi-Hole VM, i forgot the setting with the WIn10. Thank you.

 

[Grinas]

I had the same sorts of problems before I adopted the VirtIO drivers in place of the ACHI/Intel E1000 drivers. Not sure if it was the solution or a coincidence but my Windows 10 VM has been rock solid ever since. Before I couldn't even keep it up and running for a few hours.

Is the only way to install the driver by reinstalling windows 10 again with the virtIO drivers? I have spent a lot of time already configuring the VM and would prefer not to have to go through the whole process again.
In your link there are 2 virtIO(virtio-win-0.1.139.iso & virtio-win.iso) .iso's are they both the same or for specific windows versions?

Now that VM (which records my security cameras) has been online for more than a week.

I also have CCTV cameras(Dahua) and had trouble getting them to record to freenas via ftp. I havent done much research into it yet as the VM is the proirty. May i ask why you are using your win10 VM to record your CCTV footage and why you arent just directly recording onto freenas.

If you want your VM to start properly on reboot of FreeNAS without any human intervention, make sure you do check 'Autostart' and do NOT check 'Wait to boot:' in the VNC device configuration. Now that RDP is working like a champ, I'm considering removing the VNC device, too. Not sure if that is a good idea or not but I'm going to try it the next time I am in an experimental mood.

Cheers,
Matt

As far a i know the VNC connection doesn't cause any issues so i wouldnt boder removing it as it will surely come in handy at some stage or another

 

[chris crude]

You do not need to reinstall, you can add the driver at any time. I used this page for a link to VirtIO drivers. https://www.ateamsystems.com/tech-blog/howto-windows-10-bhyve-w-freebsd-11/
If you go to the section that explains setting up network driver it shows the file name. Just open from inside your win10 VM, it should install itself. After that, I shutdown windows inside the VM, made sure it was stopped in the FreeNas display, then changed the VM NIC device to VirtIO. After I restarted everything it's been solid.
EDIT: Phone-like syntax detected, fixed to make a coherent sentence.

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

why you are using your win10 VM to record your CCTV footage and why you arent just directly recording onto freenas.

We've been using GeoVision cameras and their network video recorder at the office for nearly five years. I was familiar with the software, happy with the features and the price (free!). It only runs on a Windows platform. When I bought cameras for my house, I went with what I knew.

I really wanted to find a camera system that would run in an Linux VM but wasn't happy with any of the options I found a couple years ago. Maybe they are better now but all seemed unstable, too complex, poorly documented or had a lousy interface.

The GeoVision NVR runs in the Windows VM. The Windows VM NFS mounts a FreeNAS share. The VM itself is small - 20GB, I think - while the NFS share has about 3TB - two weeks - of video; enough for a long vacation. I'm really happy with the setup.

The FreeNAS server is in a solidly-locked closest with an exterior-grade door. Not as secure as sending the video directly to the cloud but good enough. If my home's security alarm goes off, I've got a script that sends the last five minutes of video to an off-site server as well as starting to replicate new video to the same off-site server. The police will likely arrive before the closet is accessed so the off-site video is just me being extra cautious.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Grinas]

We've been using GeoVision cameras and their network video recorder at the office for nearly five years. I was familiar with the software, happy with the features and the price (free!). It only runs on a Windows platform. When I bought cameras for my house, I went with what I knew.

I really wanted to find a camera system that would run in an Linux VM but wasn't happy with any of the options I found a couple years ago. Maybe they are better now but all seemed unstable, too complex, poorly documented or had a lousy interface.

The GeoVision NVR runs in the Windows VM. The Windows VM NFS mounts a FreeNAS share. The VM itself is small - 20GB, I think - while the NFS share has about 3TB - two weeks - of video; enough for a long vacation. I'm really happy with the setup.

The FreeNAS server is in a solidly-locked closest with an exterior-grade door. Not as secure as sending the video directly to the cloud but good enough. If my home's security alarm goes off, I've got a script that sends the last five minutes of video to an off-site server as well as starting to replicate new video to the same off-site server. The police will likely arrive before the closet is accessed so the off-site video is just me being extra cautious.

Cheers,
Matt

Hey,

thanks for the info about the CCTV. hoprfully it will save me a bit of time when i have to sort out my own.


-------VM UPDATE------
Its been 15 hours and the VM is still up. Hopefully using the virtIO driver fixed the problem.

Thanks for you help.

 

[Grinas]

I didn’t have any issues since my last post until 2 days ago. The VM crashed when I was remotely accessing it from work.

I went home and found the other VM Ubuntu desktop also was stopped. I started both and everything was fine. I don’t know the cause and assumed it was just a once off as i was using the VM remotely from work all day yesterday.
Went to work today and can’t access the VM so it must have stopped again. Not sure if it’s both or just Win10 VM yet.

I have no idea what the cause is but the only thing to change on the FreeNaS machine, was on Tuesday i configured my CCTV camera to record to the freenas. Could the load of constantly recording from the camera and running the VMs cause the VMs to crash. If that was the case why didn't it crash yesterday when i was using it?

Where are the freenas logs kept so i can inspect?

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

We have five HD security cameras running in the Windows 10 VM. The load is solid but low. They have been online in the VM about a month now without any problems. I can't imagine the load would cause a crash.

I have no idea where (or if) there is detailed VM logging.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Grinas]

We have five HD security cameras running in the Windows 10 VM. The load is solid but low. They have been online in the VM about a month now without any problems. I can't imagine the load would cause a crash.

I have no idea where (or if) there is detailed VM logging.

Cheers,
Matt

It was windows 10 updates. don't know how that happened since i had them deactivated.

 

[Goose]

I'm glad I found this thread, same thing here, using a VM to run my security cameras, SightHound in my case, and it seems to be up for maybe 12 hours max before it dies. Interestingly in my case when the crash happens (I can tell the rough time from the feeds and event viewer) Windows thinks that it got an unexpected shutdown. No BSOD though so something is literally pulling the plug!

Just installed the virtIO drivers and we'll see what happens!

Update: Stable since I originally posted this (24/01/18) so that's the longest so far, fingers crossed!

Final Update: Still all good... It seems that the default e1000 drivers really don't work with Windows 10. My thoughts are that you use them to bring up the VM first and then install the virtIO drivers and switch. I'm sure you can use VNC to bypass that step but if you only know RDP then maybe it's helpful. In my mind anything that makes Windows barf after a week is not a driver problem...