Display output is not active

[jo.chen]

Hello Everyone,

I'm trying to install a Win 11 VM in Proxmox VE 8.3.2. As soon as I select Bios: OVMF (UEFI) I get an error when I start the VM: Display output is not active.

I tried all different kind of settings for CPU and Display but I can't get it running. When I select SeaBIOS the VM starts and the Windows installation process begins. However, it stops when it checks the system requirements and fails (probably because of the SeaBIOS).

This is the conf:

agent: 0
bios: ovmf
boot: order=scsi0;ide0;ide2;net0
cores: 2
cpu: host
efidisk0: pve-dwdesktop:0.0.0.scsi-36589cfc00000047ecf8717cc9364c454,efitype=4m,size=2>
ide0: edinas1-isos:iso/Win11_24H2_German_x64.iso,media=cdrom,size=5692008K
ide2: edinas1-isos:iso/virtio-win-0.1.262.iso,media=cdrom,size=708140K
machine: pc-q35-9.0
memory: 4096
meta: creation-qemu=9.0.2,ctime=1735931039
name: dwdesktop
net0: virtio=BC:24:11:3C:49:FF,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1
numa: 0
ostype: win11
scsi0: pve-dwdesktop:0.0.0.scsi-36589cfc00000047ecf8717cc9364c454,cache=writeback,disc>
scsihw: virtio-scsi-single
smbios1: uuid=da92b03c-946d-4f0b-af17-8a2973071f52
sockets: 1
tpmstate0: pve-dwdesktop:0.0.0.scsi-36589cfc00000047ecf8717cc9364c454,size=268435472K,>
vga: virtio
vmgenid: 85774920-31f5-4fdc-94b7-ce0fca231cb9

Do you have any idea how I could solve this issue? I would appreciate any help!

Best,
Jochen

 

[mr44er]

Wir sind im englischen Part des Forums.

Wenn deine GPU so alt ist, dass sie noch kein UEFI-Rom hat, dann bringt sie keinen post, weil sie das nicht kann und deswegen klappts mit SeaBIOS, weil das "legacy" ist.
Wenn es eine Nvidia ist und die GPU nicht Asbach uralt ist, versuche die Firmware zu installieren: https://support.nvidia.eu/hc/de/articles/8615074978834-NVIDIA-GPU-UEFI-Firmware-Update-Tool
Am einfachsten klappt das, wenn du noch einen Gammelrechner rumfliegen hast auf dem Windows nativ läuft und du dort schnell die Karte reinsteckst, die Firmware flashst, kurz testen und dann wieder umbauen.

Ist die Karte zu alt oder von AMD gibts kein ähnliches Firmwareupdate, dann bleiben dir zwei Optionen:
1. Mit Seabios leben (nachträglich wechseln wäre mehr Umstand als neue Installation und bringt quasi nichts)
2. Auf UEFI/Q35 aber zunächst mit VGA "default" installieren. Dann die Updates erstmal alle drauf, damit du nicht zu lange "blind" bist und nervös wirst. Nun runterfahren und mach sicherheitshalber jetzt einen snapshot davon. Nun machst du das passthrough mit der Karte als primary und bootest die VM. Du wirst keinen BIOS-Post sehen, auch nicht das bootende Winlogo...aber wenn Windows dann im Hintergrund automatisch den Treiber geladen und aktiviert hat, dann flackert dein Bild auf. Wie gesagt, nicht nervös werden, es bis 15 Mins warten ist keine Seltenheit.

Edit:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/nv-uefi-update-x64/
Das gibts auch noch, eventuell ist das das Gleiche oder nur eine ältere Version oder nur für ältere Karten. Nicht beirren lassen, weil da für DP-Port steht, das passt schon so.

##############

If your GPU is so old that it doesn't have a UEFI ROM, then it won't post because it can't do that and that's why it works with SeaBIOS because that's "legacy".

If it's an Nvidia and the GPU isn't that old, try installing the firmware: https://support.nvidia.eu/hc/de/articles/8615074978834-NVIDIA-GPU-UEFI-Firmware-Update-Tool

The easiest way to do this is if you have a crappy computer lying around that runs Windows natively and you can quickly plug the card in, flash the firmware, test it briefly and then rebuild it.

If the card is too old or there is no similar firmware update from AMD, then you have two options:

1. Live with Seabios (changing later would be more of a hassle than a new installation and basically achieves nothing)

2. Install on UEFI/Q35 but first with VGA "default". Then install all the updates first so that you are not "blind" for too long and get nervous. Now shut down and take a snapshot of it to be on the safe side. Now do the passthrough with the card as primary and boot the VM. You won't see a BIOS post, nor the booting Winlogo...but if Windows has automatically loaded and activated the driver in the background, then your image will flicker. As I said, don't get nervous, waiting 15 minutes is not uncommon.

 

[jo.chen]

Hi mr44er,

Thank you very much for your explanation. I was so focussed on the CPU in the system requirements that I overlooked the fact that Win 11 requires a GPU. I'm using a second-hand VMhost from Gigabyte with an AMD EPYC 7302 16-core CPU and there's simply no GPU installed (yet). So I should probably install one or go for Windows Server 2025 instead, which can be installed without any problems.

edit:
There's a built in "graphics card" but I guess it's not good enough to run Win 11.
Integrated in Aspeed® AST2500
2D Video Graphic Adapter with PCIe bus interface
1920x1200@60Hz 32bpp, DDR4 SDRAM

 

[gfngfn256]

I was so focussed on the CPU in the system requirements that I overlooked the fact that Win 11 requires a GPU.

The PVE HV will provide a virtual GPU for the Win 11 VM to use - so this is not the issue - I fail to see the relevancy of the advice provided by mr44er and possibily he posted by mistake to this thread.

Where I do see issue is with the backend storage you are using (from your config):

efidisk0: pve-dwdesktop:0.0.0.scsi-36589cfc00000047ecf8717cc9364c454,efitype=4m,size=2>
scsi0: pve-dwdesktop:0.0.0.scsi-36589cfc00000047ecf8717cc9364c454,cache=writeback,disc>
tpmstate0: pve-dwdesktop:0.0.0.scsi-36589cfc00000047ecf8717cc9364c454,size=268435472K,>

These do not appear as valid Proxmox storage backend sources.
Are you trying sometype of disk passthrough here?

Could you provide (from PVE host) output for:

cat /etc/pve/storage.cfg

so that we can see what that pve-dwdesktop: storage is.

 

[jo.chen]

Hi gfngfn256,

Thanks for your advice. Here's the relevant output for cat /etc/pve/storage.cfg

iscsi: pve-dwdesktop
        portal 172.24.201.1
        target iqn.2005-10.org.edinas1.ctl:pve-dwdesktop
        content images

It's an iscsi target on a separate machine (TrueNAS Scale). It's mounted as an iSCSI Storage in PVE with the input Disk-Image.

 

[mr44er]

Sorry, I misunderstood the post, there is no passthrough involved at all and I thought that. You don't need a physical GPU for a win11-VM.

Just OVMF (UEFI)/Q35 + VGA "default" is the way to go then.

 

[jo.chen]

Sorry, I misunderstood the post, there is no passthrough involved at all and I thought that. You don't need a physical GPU for a win11-VM.

Just OVMF (UEFI)/Q35 + VGA "default" is the way to go then.

Thanks for clarifying! If I choose your suggested settings, I get a slightly different message: Guest has not initialized the display (yet).

 

[mr44er]

Guest has not initialized the display (yet). <- If you get this, wait 5-10 seconds and try again. Novnc is sometimes not initialized when clicking too fast.
Can you setup a new plain VM to just test it on a local store maybe? (just for the test if the wizard starts without scsi, maybe )


This is plain win11-VM with UEFI.

Edit:
Sure, you need the 2x IDE and the .isos (win11+virtio-win-0.1.262.iso) for installation additionally.

 

[mr44er]

It may be necessary to delete this VM and create a new one (with the win11 profiles' defaults selected) and the EFI-disk, OVMF UEFI etc. for example.

 

[jo.chen]

Guest has not initialized the display (yet). <- If you get this, wait 5-10 seconds and try again. Novnc is sometimes not initialized when clicking too fast.
Can you setup a new plain VM to just test it on a local store maybe? (just for the test if the wizard starts without scsi, maybe )

View attachment 80386
This is plain win11-VM with UEFI.

Edit:
Sure, you need the 2x IDE and the .isos (win11+virtio-win-0.1.262.iso) for installation additionally.

I restarted the VM several times and always get the message: Guest has not initialized the display (yet). I even left it like that for a whole night, but it didn't change.

The installation in an LVM storage works! So it must really be the iSCSI storage that is causing the problem.

 

[gfngfn256]

I would try creating this VM on different storage & then moving the main os disk afterwards. You could even try only creating the efi disk & the TPM one on a different storage.

 

[gfngfn256]

Edit: I must have missed your post just now. Anyway try above.

 

[mr44er]

So it must really be the iSCSI storage that is causing the problem.

Yeah, can you post config from that from Truenas?

 

[jo.chen]

I would try creating this VM on different storage & then moving the main os disk afterwards. You could even try only creating the efi disk & the TPM one on a different storage.

I tried both but it doesn't work, unfortunately. I get the following error message when I try to migrate one of the disk.

create full clone of drive efidisk0 (lvtestvm:vm-113-disk-0)
TASK ERROR: storage migration failed: can't allocate space in iscsi storage