XCP-ng Windows PV tools announcements

[abudef]

abudef said:

I was thinking more of updating the entire set of the agent and drivers, similar to how XenServer VM Tools for Windows have it implemented. Using a scheduled job, they regularly check whether an update is available, and if so, they carry out the update of both the agent and the drivers themselves.

Hi, how’s it looking regarding a possible automatic update?

[dinhngtu]

@abudef An overhaul of the guest agent is coming. We're considering adding some kind of update notifications as part of that overhaul, but it'll take some time to suss out the details. Autoupdating the Xen drivers is potentially disruptive and I'd prefer avoiding outages arising from an update coming at a bad time.

[dinhngtu]

Hello all,

Version 9.2.350 Release of the Windows guest tools has been released.

Download the latest release here: https://github.com/xcp-ng/win-pv-drivers/releases

It will be integrated into the XCP-ng built-in tools ISO after a test period of 2 weeks.

This major release brings a new Windows guest agent with many new features, plus multiple other improvements.

To download XenClean, click here. The installer downloads also includes a copy of XenClean and XenBootFix. It is not necessary to run XenClean when upgrading from previous versions of the XCP-ng Windows guest tools, unless prompted by the installer. Remember to carefully read XenClean docs before use.

Note: Always download the latest XenClean/XenBootFix from https://github.com/xcp-ng/win-pv-drivers/releases

Before installing

Thank you for using our Windows PV tools. Please carefully read the instructions below.

• It is not necessary to run XenClean when upgrading from previous versions of the XCP-ng Windows guest tools, unless prompted by the installer.
• Not compatible with the "Manage Citrix PV drivers via Windows Update" option. You must disable this option before installing.

Changes since 9.1.200

• NEW: Overhauled Windows guest agent with many new features:
  • Supports configuring guest IP addresses from within the host using xe vif-configure-ipv4 and xe vif-configure-ipv6.
  • Session agent now gains a tray icon and About dialog.
  • Improved clipboard sync stability and accuracy.
  • Better reporting of OS versions.
  • Time sync is now integrated with W32Time. NTP is now the only recommended setup for time sync on XCP-ng Windows guests.
• Improved: Update XSTDVGA to v0.1.211.1039; improve compatibility.
• Improved: Better reporting of IPv6 addresses.
• Fixed: Better network stability during high load.
• Fixed: Storage driver bug fixes.
• Fixed: Better installer resilience when the offboard task is pending.

Help / Community support

If you encounter installation/uninstallation errors, please try again with one of the following commands:

For installing:
msiexec.exe /i XenTools-x64.msi /log install.log

For uninstalling:
msiexec.exe /x XenTools-x64.msi /log uninstall.log

Please include this log along with the file C:\Windows\INF\setupapi.dev.log in your bug report. These files will help us troubleshoot any installation issues.

Additionally, please report any errors or BSOD you encounter during testing of this release. Your feedback is very appreciated.

• Discussion: https://xcp-ng.org/forum (preferred)
• Issue Tracker: https://github.com/xcp-ng/xcp/issues
• IRC: #xcp-ng and #xcp-ng-dev on irc.freenode.net

Full Changelog: https://github.com/xcp-ng/win-pv-drivers/compare/v9.1.200...v9.2.350
Original build: https://github.com/xcp-ng/win-pv-drivers/actions/runs/31088530595

[Greg_E]

@dinhngtu

Let me ask a question... Since the ability to set IP has been given in xe commands, will we be getting this ability through XO in the future? That would be really nice and would also help prevent shifting IP address when the driver updates.

Also what about NTP timing, if it is joined to a windows domain, will it still work using the domain controller as the time reference? I assume yes, but worth asking.

I normally have my hosts sync to GPS ntp server, the AD guests also sync to same ntp server, and all clients and member servers sync to AD (physical or virtual).

[dinhngtu]

@Greg_E NTP sync assist will work with any W32Time time sources, AD or external.

[clip]

@dinhngtu Thank you for the nice update. Just wondering, is it/will it be possible to disable the tray icon somehow (if an additional icon in the tray is not desired)? Even a persistent reg entry would be fine if too much hassle to add option to installer.

[dinhngtu]

@clip Just right-click the icon and select Hide, which will stick across reboots for you. You can also set this via Registry (using GP preference if you wish):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\XCP-ng\XenPlus]
"ShowTrayIcon"=dword:00000000

[clip]

@dinhngtu Fantastic - thank you for thinking of and including that!

[yomeyo]

@dinhngtu Thank you, is it possible to set globally for all (new and existing) users when unable to use GPP?

[dinhngtu]

@yomeyo For now, there's no easy way to set for everyone without GPP. You can modify the setting for existing users via HKEY_USERS and future users by editing the C:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT hive.

[john.c]

@dinhngtu said:

@yomeyo For now, there's no easy way to set for everyone without GPP. You can modify the setting for existing users via HKEY_USERS and future users by editing the C:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT hive.

@dinhngtu Thanks for pointing out the ShowTrayIcon key under HKCU\SOFTWARE\XCP-ng\XenPlus.

Since a full Group Policy Administrative Template (ADMX/ADML) option isn't available right now to natively enforce this across fleets of VMs, modifying individual user profiles or loading NTUSER.DAT can be a bit fragile for automated deployments. As a cleaner stopgap, could we implement a cascading fallback check directly inside the Xen Guest Agent binary?

The logic would look like this when the agent checks whether to draw the icon:

Check HKLM (System-Wide Enforced Policy):

HKLM\SOFTWARE\XCP-ng\XenPlus -> "ShowTrayIcon"

If this key exists (e.g., set to 0), the agent respects it globally for all users and ignores everything else. Fallback to HKCU (Per-User Choice).

If the HKLM key is absent, the agent falls back to the existing user-level path:

HKCU\SOFTWARE\XCP-ng\XenPlus -> "ShowTrayIcon"

If this path is also absent, it defaults to showing the icon (1). Adding this hierarchical lookup is usually just a few extra lines of code in the agent's initialisation routine. It completely removes the need for sysadmins to hack the default profile template, making it incredibly easy to hide the icon universally via a single standard command (like reg add HKLM...) during an automated deployment script or MDM push. Let me know if that's something feasible to roll into a minor update for the Guest Agent!

Implementing this will also lay the foundation groundwork for a later group policy enforcement, of this setting.

@yomeyo I’ve requested an addition to the Windows PV tools which would make a good stop gap, until they can add group policy support.

[john.c]

@dinhngtu Along with my above request, can we please have the option of an integration with the Windows Event Log?

Having this integration would drastically help with managing fleets of Windows or Windows Server-based VMs, as managing and monitoring flat log files across dozens of machines is very difficult. If the guest agent could log its status, version handshakes, and errors directly to a dedicated Event Log source, sysadmins could easily ingest those flags using standard centralized monitoring tools.

[dinhngtu]

@john.c I'll consider adding relevant GPOs for this. There's no real complexity difference compared to normal Registry settings.

As for event logs, what information do you need? The various guest agents already report via Event Log exclusively.

[john.c]

@dinhngtu said:

@john.c I'll consider adding relevant GPOs for this. There's no real complexity difference compared to normal Registry settings.

As for event logs, what information do you need? The various guest agents already report via Event Log exclusively.

Thanks, so when the agent is unable to sync time via NTP from the Windows in built client. As well as log at info level other relevant info, including other things that affect its operation.

Anyway thanks for letting me know that it already exclusively uses Windows Event Log.