Installing Windows 11 on QEMU/KVM: network inaccessible

[gloriousiguana]

Hi! I’m having troubles installing Windows 11 on QEMU/KVM on Tumbleweed. I went as far this screen:

I installed win-virtio drivers for storage and the network (NetKVM) but it still cannot identify the network. I have to say that I’m trying to set it up as a user (not-root). To that end I added export LIBVIRT_DEFAULT_URI=qemu:///system to the ~/.profile and this made sure that virsh shows default network as active when run as user:

$ virsh net-list
 Name      State    Autostart   Persistent
--------------------------------------------
 default   active   yes         yes

At this point I’m out of ideas and would welcome any suggestions! Cheers!

[malcolmlewis]

@gloriousiguana I’m assuming your using NAT and not a separate interface set to a bridge for use by VM’s?

You can skip the network part, then you can also create a local/offline user instead of requiring the mandated MS login…
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-11-without-microsoft-account

[gloriousiguana]

@malcolmlewis

I’m assuming your using NAT and not a separate interface set to a bridge for use by VM’s?

I don’t think I understand this part - I certainly didn’t make any additional configurations regarding NAT and bridges.

Thanks for the tip on using an offline user, I certainly don’t want to log into my MS account. However, I will actually need the network access in my VM.

[malcolmlewis]

@gloriousiguana Skip the network part then, as per that link. Then you will have a completed install, then can sort out the rest. In Virt-Manager for the VM, look at the network options and ensure the Network Source is set to NAT in the dropdown (It’s the default).
For example (I use bridge devices here);

The host is a desktop or a laptop, your not trying to use a wireless device are you?

[kmullins0295]

I use QEMU on Tumbleweed and I had to do the following for my W11 VM:

Edit the networking file to iptables as follows:

sudo nano /etc/libvirt/network.conf

and change the backend to iptables. Once donce, execute:

sudo systemctl restart libvirtd

I had the same issue and after doing that, my VMs have internet now

[gloriousiguana]

@kmullins0295

Edit the networking file to iptables as follows:

sudo nano /etc/libvirt/network.conf

That was really it, internet now works in the VM. I would never have guessed - thank you so much!

[gloriousiguana]

yeah, it was that iptables issue. I had the NAT set already as you suggested.

[malcolmlewis]

@gloriousiguana I don’t run a firewall, not needed on the local network…

[arvidjaar]

@kmullins0295

change the backend to iptables

Well, it is the second time this issue comes up. It would be really helpful if someone posted the following both with iptables and nftables:

iptables-save
ip6tables-save
nft list ruleset