Citrix or XCP-ng drivers for Windows Server 2022

Forza

Hi,

What is the consensus on Windows Server 2022 on XCP-ng regarding what drivers to use, the Citrix ones from Windows Update, or use the XCP-ng ones?

Background
I have for many years now use the XCP-ng drivers and have not had any issues with previous versions of Windows.

Now it is time to look to migrate older servers to Windows Server 2022 so I wanted to check with the community what yoru experiences are with each option.

I did two installs to test and so far I do not see any stability issues with either drivers.

The installation of Citrix drivers took many reboots to get fully working. At first I had used Windows Update, which installed Citrix nvme drivers and a few things like that, but when I installed the Citrix drivers/tools from https://www.xenserver.com/downloads, it removed already installed drivers and then installed its own versions. Issues like https://xcp-ng.org/forum/topic/9896/pv-nic-not-working-after-upgrade-to-win-11-24h2 is what I am worried about - that some Windows Update or Citrix update leads to problems.

With XCP-ng drivers I only needed a single reboot.

olivierlambert

Pinging @dinhngtu

dinhngtu

We're currently working on a new driver build for Windows Server 2016 and newer. In the meantime, I recommend using Citrix's installation package since their VM drivers come with some fixes since our last XCP-ng driver release.
In any case, I don't recommend using the Windows Update option since it brings less control over driver updates, and might even cause the PV drivers to fail sometimes.
Issues like what you've posted are caused by major OS upgrades (like the one from 23H2 to 24H2). We're looking into why, but as long as you only apply monthly updates you shouldn't have any problems.

Forza

@dinhngtu OK, just to clarify; we have 3 different driver options?

Windows Update - (What management tool should be installed, as this is not available in WU?)
XenServer VM Tools - https://www.xenserver.com/downloads
XCP-ng tools - https://github.com/xcp-ng/win-pv-drivers/releases

And that the "XenServer VM Tools for Windows 9.4.0" is the recommended version for now? Should then this checkbox be enabled or not?

The drivers/tools I have been using on all my Windows VMs so far is the "XCP-ng Windows PV Tools 8.2.2.200-RC1".

dinhngtu

If you use the Windows Update option, then you still need to install XenServer VM tools to provide the management agent.
If the 8.2 XCP-ng tools work for you, feel free to continue using it; however, if you want the newest fixes you should use XenServer VM Tools 9.4.0.
In any case, you should keep the "Manage Citrix PV drivers" option disabled and let the installer manage its drivers.

Forza

@dinhngtu What do I do to install only the management agent for the Windows Update option? What file should I download?

dinhngtu

You simply install the XenServer tools as usual, making sure to disable driver installing and auto-updating in the setup wizard:

Forza

@dinhngtu Thank you. I think it is clear for me now.

The docs at https://xcp-ng.org/docs/guests.html#windows could be improved to cover all three options but also to be a little more concise to make it easier to read.

manilx

@dinhngtu We're running the old xcpng Windows drivers on 2 Windows 2022 servers.
We would like to change them to the latest Citrix 9.4.0 ones.

How can we do this?

olivierlambert

@Forza as you know it very well now, I think that would be wonderful if you could provide an update to the doc directly. Would you like to try?

dinhngtu

@manilx You can use the XenClean tool from our 9.0.9000 driver release: https://github.com/xcp-ng/win-pv-drivers/releases/tag/v9.0.9000.0

Just go into package\XenClean\x64 and run Invoke-XenClean.ps1 as admin, it will remove all existing drivers and automatically reboot.
Afterwards you can install the Citrix 9.4.0 tools.

Note: Please make sure to take a snapshot before running the tool.

manilx

@dinhngtu Thx for the info.

Actually trying to do this I realized that I have installed the Citrix 9.4.0 tools on top of the xcpng ones when they came out (forgot that I had the xcpng ones installed on those 2 servers, dumb me) But as all was working I just realized this now.
I used the batch anyway and it removed the tools, reinstalled the Citrix ones, had to reenter the IP4 config but all working after that.

WayneSherman

(In regards to uninstalling XenServer / Citrix Tools)

I tested uninstalling XenServer tools v9.4.0 on Windows and it seems to uninstall cleanly. (the xcp-ng docs mention there have been problems uninstalling everything cleanly in the past)

Also since XenServer tools v9.3.1 there is a new purge function:

uninstall.exe purge - (9.3.1 and later) Resets the VM to a clean state as it was before any part of the XenServer VM Tools were installed.

Full uninstall of all XenServer VM Tools components
https://docs.xenserver.com/en-us/citrix-hypervisor/vms/windows/vm-tools.html#full-uninstall-of-all-xenserver-vm-tools-components

What does the purge option remove?
https://docs.xenserver.com/en-us/citrix-hypervisor/vms/windows/vm-tools.html#what-does-the-purge-option-remove