7.0.2 Getting started on VMWare

1st Official Post

    Using the image LibreELEC-Virtual.x86_64-7.0.2.img.gz

    I was not able to use the installer under VMWare, so I used QEMU to work around:

    Create a VMWare disk image to contain the installation[font="courier new,courier,monospace"]:[/font]

    Code
    qemu-img create -f vmdk LibreElec702.vmdk 4G


    Then run the qemu with USB and boot menu:

    Code
    qemu-system-x86_64 -boot menu=on -usb -usbdevice disk:format=raw:LibreELEC-Virtual.x86_64-7.0.2.img -hda LibreElec702.vmdk

    Select the USB device, then select installer SYSLINUX option. The process will take about 10 minutes.

    Go back to VMWare and create a new VM (Other 64bit) using the disk image created previously.

    You must now fix the virtual sound driver: the sb16 and es1371 modules are not installed so we have to use hdaudio. Edit the .vmx configuration and make sure the sound entries are as follows:
    sound.present = "TRUE"
    sound.filename = "-1"
    sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
    sound.virtualdev = "hdaudio"

    You should now be able to start the VMWare LibreElec guest.

    Edited once, last by Stavr0 (November 12, 2016 at 5:03 PM).

    Quote from lrusak


    Or just use this tool ;)

    LibreELEC.tv/create_virtualimage at master · LibreELEC/LibreELEC.tv · GitHub

    Not everyone has a Linux distro on hand...

    This being said, I wonder why the installer option launches to a black screen under VMWare. Syslinux shows up, then installer shows the LibreELEC splash then nothing.

    Code
    2016-11-12T13:32:28.456-05:00| vcpu-0| I120: Unknown int 10h func 0x0000
2016-11-12T13:32:28.457-05:00| vcpu-0| I120: SVGA enabling SVGA
2016-11-12T13:32:29.571-05:00| vcpu-0| I120: SVGA hiding SVGA

    Edited once, last by Stavr0 (November 12, 2016 at 6:35 PM).

    a use case for this is what i used to do :

    Esxi Server with 2 cheap ati GPUs.
    create 2 VMs with openelec/libreelec
    passthrough the GPUs.

    so you can use your server to power all your TVs + all your other VM stuff you do as well.

    really, i could never get it to work with openelec so i used kodibuntu. but i suspect this libreelec image will actually work.

    • Official Post
    Quote from snailboy1


    a use case for this is what i used to do :

    Esxi Server with 2 cheap ati GPUs.
    create 2 VMs with openelec/libreelec
    passthrough the GPUs.

    so you can use your server to power all your TVs + all your other VM stuff you do as well.

    really, i could never get it to work with openelec so i used kodibuntu. but i suspect this libreelec image will actually work.

    The virtual build doesn't have an GPU drivers, it only has a vmware driver. So if you want to passthrough GPU's you'd have to use the Generic build

    Quote from snailboy1


    a use case for this is what i used to do :

    Esxi Server with 2 cheap ati GPUs.
    create 2 VMs with openelec/libreelec
    passthrough the GPUs.

    so you can use your server to power all your TVs + all your other VM stuff you do as well.

    really, i could never get it to work with openelec so i used kodibuntu. but i suspect this libreelec image will actually work.


    My main htpc is essentially a kvm/qemu vm with an amd 6450 passed through. It ran LE 7.0.2 (generic) for many months and now it is running the latest betas (generic)

    Quote from lrusak

    The virtual build doesn't have an GPU drivers, it only has a vmware driver. So if you want to passthrough GPU's you'd have to use the Generic build

    I'm wondering why it doesn't have any GPU drivers.
    What's the real scope of the virtual build?
    I could get the development OVA to work but than I can only access Kodi via the VMWARE console.
    I have then tried to use 7.0.3 generic with my AMD Radeon 6450 in pass-through, which works perfectly with Windows 10.
    I don't see any failures and X claims to start, but at the same time I don't see anything on the HDMI output and I can't access the system by console to view logs/dmesg/xrand etc (it could be a very cool nice to have in order to debug these cases, if you can't even reach to enable ssh).

    Happy new year! :)

    Edited once, last by r4w (January 1, 2017 at 10:42 PM).

    • Official Post

    Virtual is a developer tool used for basic functional and GUI testing. It supports vmware (we dropped vbox as it breaks with every kernel bump and nobody used it). Virtual has no AMD/Intel/nVidia drivers so you will not be able to do GPU passthrough in ESXi. If you wanted to do that you'd need create something custom that has both vmware things (else the OS won't boot) and the video drivers required.

    In a Generic/QEMU combo there should be a console on CTRL+ALT+F3 ..but it's not really a 'supported' configuration in the sense you won't find staff that know anything about running it, although we're aware it can be made to work.

    Quote from chewitt


    Virtual is a developer tool used for basic functional and GUI testing. It supports vmware (we dropped vbox as it breaks with every kernel bump and nobody used it). Virtual has no AMD/Intel/nVidia drivers so you will not be able to do GPU passthrough in ESXi. If you wanted to do that you'd need create something custom that has both vmware things (else the OS won't boot) and the video drivers required.

    In a Generic/QEMU combo there should be a console on CTRL+ALT+F3 ..but it's not really a 'supported' configuration in the sense you won't find staff that know anything about running it, although we're aware it can be made to work.

    Thank you chewitt!
    That makes sense now.

    I can confirm that I'm able to boot the OS without any issues on my ESXi passing through the AMD video card using the Generic version.
    I will try to access the console and I was able to retrieve the IP assigned to the VM from my router and access the samba share, so I will try to look at the logs from there too.

    If you have any further suggestions, I'm happy to hear them :)

    I have tried CTRL+ALT+F3 but unfortunately without luck.
    However, despite the Generic version 7.0.2 or 7.0.3 claims to start X, I can see in dmesg log (got them through Samba) that for some reasons the video card bios ROM is unavailable/unreachable.

    Just for reference:

    It would be ideal, at least for me, to have all the drivers in the virtual release, so that I could try something more :)
    Anyway, I tried!

    Quote from r4w


    I have tried CTRL+ALT+F3 but unfortunately without luck.
    However, despite the Generic version 7.0.2 or 7.0.3 claims to start X, I can see in dmesg log (got them through Samba) that for some reasons the video card bios ROM is unavailable/unreachable.

    Just for reference:

    It would be ideal, at least for me, to have all the drivers in the virtual release, so that I could try something more :)
    Anyway, I tried!

    In qemu, you can load gpu bios from file by adding the info into the config xml.

    If ctrl alt f3 didn't work, but you know the ip, you can always ssh in. Enable ssh in the libreelec settings addon first.

    If you are passing through a gpu, you need the generic version. The virtual build is for a setup without a physical dedicated gpu, for testing and development purposes.

    Quote from aptalca

    In qemu, you can load gpu bios from file by adding the info into the config xml.

    If ctrl alt f3 didn't work, but you know the ip, you can always ssh in. Enable ssh in the libreelec settings addon first.

    If you are passing through a gpu, you need the generic version. The virtual build is for a setup without a physical dedicated gpu, for testing and development purposes.

    Which file in which folder should I edit to enable ssh? I can also mount the virtual disk in my ubuntu VM, if the file is not visible in Samba.

    I'm not using Qemu but Vmware. Maybe the process will be the same?
    snailboy1: as you managed to pass through the video card in kvm, have you had to load GPU bios from file?

    Edited once, last by r4w (January 3, 2017 at 11:59 AM).