When Windows setup starts and asks for a drive, you won't see any disk. Click Load Driver → Browse to the VirtIO CD drive → viostor\w8.1\amd64 → Next. The disk will appear. Proceed with normal installation.
Right-click any item with a yellow exclamation mark (e.g., "Ethernet Controller"). Update Driver Browse my computer Point it to the entire VirtIO CD-ROM drive and check Include subfolders Repeat this for the Balloon driver QXL graphics Optimization Tips Performance machine type and windows 81 qcow2 install
qemu-system-x86_64 \ -enable-kvm \ -cpu host \ -smp 4 \ -m 4096 \ -drive file=win81.qcow2,if=none,id=drive0 \ -device virtio-blk-pci,drive=drive0 \ -cdrom win8.1.iso \ -cdrom virtio-win.iso \ -boot d \ -vga qxl \ -machine type=q35,accel=kvm \ -usb -device usb-tablet When Windows setup starts and asks for a
Then, use a slightly modified command to boot from the ISO and install Windows onto the .qcow2 image: Proceed with normal installation
qemu-system-x86_64 \ -enable-kvm \ -m 8G \ -smp 4 \ -cpu host \ -drive file=/path/win8.1.qcow2,if=virtio,cache=none,format=qcow2 \ -cdrom /path/Win8.1.iso \ -drive file=/path/virtio-win.iso,if=cdrom \ -netdev user,id=net0 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0 \ -vga qxl -spice port=5930,disable-ticketing \ -boot d
: Select the newly visible drive and proceed with the installation as normal. Step 4: Post-Installation Drivers
