@ovicz I've built xapi-26.1.16-1.2.0.pirq.1.xcpng8.3 on xcp-ng-ndinh2. You can update as usual, then install my packages on top.

@ovicz xapi-26.1.16-1.1.0.pirq.2.xcpng8.3 is now available on xcp-ng-ndinh2, which disables HVM PIRQ for all existing VMs by default on reboot. Please try it out.

I've prepared an upstream PR for this feature. If you'd like to be listed as a tester, please respond with your name and email address (or your fake github email if you prefer) and I'll update my commit with your credit.

@archw Which AV is causing the warning, can you report it as a false positive?

@clip This often happens with Driver Verifier enabled, what do verifier /querysettings and verifier /query say?

@ovicz Thanks for testing. Is everything working without the pci=nomsi or GRUB command line tweaks? We'll work to integrate this fix into a future update.

@ovicz Are you up for a test package with a fix? Note that the fix is not yet tested nor supported at the moment.

Add user repos using this command:

yum-config-manager --add-repo https://koji.xcp-ng.org/repos/user/8/8.3/xcpng-users.repo

To know what you need to upgrade, run this command (as xcp-ng-ndinh2 contains some changes that you don't need):

rpm -qa --qf '%{NAME}\t%{SOURCERPM}\n' | grep $'\txapi'

Then upgrade just the XAPI-related packages:

yum update --enablerepo=xcp-ng-ndinh2 <list of packages from above>

Remember to reboot the host after installing.

Finally, disable hvm-pirq on your affected VM and reboot it (parameter name subject to change):

xe vm-param-set uuid=... platform:hvm-pirq=false

To go back, list what you installed and downgrade them:

yum list installed | grep ndinh
yum downgrade ...

@yomeyo It's a client shutdown being misreported as a client error. I'll fix this in the next release.

The warning on upgrade should be harmless and you can simply close the application/click OK as you've done.

@john.c The new XenPlus guest agent emits relevant warnings/errors in the Application event log whenever a failure happens somewhere in its communication with the hypervisor. This was not documented in the release, but it's much improved over the previous 9.1.200 guest agent. Right now events aren't assigned IDs yet (but you can filter by source)

@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.

@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.

@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

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

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

@kagbasi-wgsdac Normally, this issue has already been fixed upstream since a long time.
XS tools 9.4.0 is pretty old, you should update to 9.6.0 which should contain a newer Xenbus balloon driver.
Better yet, you can switch to the XCP-ng tools (as you've done), since the XCP-ng tools are what we now recommend for all Windows guests.
A new version of the XCP-ng tools is coming out soon with lots of improvements.

You can check for the driver version by running this command on the host:

xe vm-param-get uuid=<VM UUID> param-name=PV-drivers-version

For XS 9.6.0, I'd expect it to report xenbus: XenServer 9.1.13.23.

@poddingue FWIW I've seen the same on FC44 as well, but I don't yet know where it came from.

I've taken a quick look, looks like it'll be solved as part of the Windows guest agent overhaul, so please look forward to that.

@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.

Hello all,

Version 9.1.200 Release of the Windows PV 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 release brings bug fixes and improvements to the PV drivers.

Changes since 9.1.146/9.1.152

• Improved: Update XSTDVGA to v0.1.124.1151; add extra resolutions
• Fixed: Better compatibility with Xen block backends with large sector sizes
• Fixed: Fix more network unplug issues
• Improved: Driver optimizations

@taghjichte A PCI card should be more reliable than an USB card in most cases. Do you have realtime/low latency audio requirements or is it simply for normal playback (music etc)? Virtualization will work fine for typical playback but for low latency, you might want some specific tuning. Also, you might want to test DPC latencies with the Xen drivers when there's I/O activity.

@jr-m4 Could you check if your VMs are using XenServer or XCP-ng tools?