Qcow2 Install — Windows 81

Windows installer won’t show the disk if virtio drivers aren’t loaded:

QCOW2 is not just a file; it is a filesystem wrapper. Its primary superpower is Copy-On-Write (COW) . When you create a 100GB QCOW2 image for Windows 8.1, it initially consumes near-zero bytes on your host drive. The file grows dynamically only as data is written to the virtual disk. windows 81 qcow2 install

Keep this ISO handy, as you will need to mount it alongside the Windows installer. Step 1: Create the QCOW2 Virtual Disk Windows installer won’t show the disk if virtio

Once Windows 8.1 boots:

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 4096 -cpu host -smp 4 \ -drive file=win81.qcow2,if=virtio,format=qcow2 \ -net nic -net user -vga qxl -display spice-app The file grows dynamically only as data is

G -enable-kvm -cpu host -smp cores=2 \ -drive file=windows81.qcow2,if=virtio \ -cdrom windows_8.1.iso \ -drive file=virtio-win.iso,index=3,media=cdrom \ -net nic,model=virtio -net user \ -vga qxl Use code with caution. Copied to clipboard Step 3: Loading Drivers During Installation