In a PVE 8.x environment, adding a new disk to a Windows 11 or Windows Server 2019 virtual machine may result in the disk not being recognized or the VM failing to boot. The article suggests avoiding IDE and e1000 network cards and recommends using VirtIO and VirtIO SCSI/Block controllers. When switching to SCSI, the VirtIO drivers need to be downloaded to ensure Windows recognizes the new disk.
Environment:
– PVE 8.x
– Windows 11/Windows Server 2019
Issue 1: The Disk Does Not Take Effect After Adding It to a Windows VM
After adding a disk to a Windows VM and restarting the VM from within the Windows system, the disk might not be recognized and appears orange.
Orange indicates that a VM reboot is required for the changes to take effect. However, the reboot must be performed via the CLI or web interface. Restarting the VM from within the Windows system will not work.
Note: Using e1000 network cards and IDE disks results in very poor performance. It is recommended to use VirtIO (paravirtualized) for network devices and VirtIO SCSI or VirtIO Block controllers for disks.
Issue 2: QEMU Start Failure After Adding a New Disk
Great! The first issue is resolved. After rebooting the VM, you may encounter the following error when starting the VM:
Error: start failed: QEMU exited with code 1
Detailed Error:
swtpm_setup: Not overwriting existing state file.
kvm: -device ide-hd,bus=ide.0,unit=1,drive=drive-ide1,id=ide1: Can’t create IDE unit 1, bus supports only 1 units
stopping swtpm instance (pid 150711) due to QEMU startup error
TASK ERROR: start failed: QEMU exited with code 1
The main cause of this issue is that the new disk was configured to use the IDE bus.
if you use ‘q35’ as the machine type, only ide0 and ide2 are available…
this is a QEMU limitation.
The exact reason for this limitation is unclear and requires further investigation.
Solution:
After identifying the cause, simply delete the disk configured with the IDE bus and add a new disk using a different bus type. It is recommended to use VirtIO SCSI or VirtIO Block controllers.
Once the new disk is added, the VM should boot successfully. Afterward, the newly added disk can be managed from within the Windows system.
Perfect!
Issue 3: Windows Fails to Recognize the Disk When Using the SCSI Bus
If you switch the disk to the SCSI bus, Windows may still fail to recognize the new disk. In this case, you need to download and install the VirtIO drivers.
Download the SCSI Driver:
https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/archive-virtio/virtio-win-0.1.229-1/
Choose the 32-bit or 64-bit driver based on your system requirements.
Once the driver is installed, you can manage the newly added disk from Disk Management in Windows.
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