[SOLVED] How can I retrofit virtio drivers into a fully installed Windows 11 VM

[TomHildebrand]

ProxMox VE 9.1.1 (free version without license)
Hardware GMKtec NucBox G3
Windows 11 Professional

Before re-imaging my NUKBok G3 with Proxmox VE, I extracted the pre-installed Windows 11 Professional to a Clonezilla image (bootability verify passed ok).
I should have installed the virtio drivers before extracting, but I didn't.
After re-imaging the box with Proxmox, I created a VM with with sufficient memory and storage for Windows 11, plus a bootable CD-ROM with Clonezilla (iso image).
I started the VM and used Clonezilla's restore function to copy the previously saved Windows 11 image back to the VM's hard disk. Upon restart of the VM (with the Clonezilla .iso removed) the Windows machine tries to boot but immediately drops into the Windows recovery screen indicating that no hard disks were found. I suppose this is the case because the virtio drivers required for the VirtIO SCSI single boot disk are missing. I tried booting with the virtio-win-0.1.285.iso in a second CD-ROM in hopes of installing the drivers at boot time, but Windows doesn't even see the virtual IDE CD-ROM drive. I also tried different hard disk controller types (LSI, VirtIO SCSI, VirtIO SCSI single, and even IDE), but none worked.

How can I get the Windows VM (which doesn't have virtio drivers yet) to recognize the boot disk?
Or how can I add the virtio drivers into Windows while the VMis stopped?

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[narrateourale]

You get the "Inaccessible Boot Device" bluescreen right?
First, detach the boot disk, and attach it using IDE or SATA. Then don't forget to enable it as bootable disk in the VMs Options -> boot order menu.
This way, it will hopefully boot.
Then follow this guide on how you can switch an existing Windows installation to boot from VirtIO disks: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Paravirtualized_Block_Drivers_for_Windows#Setup_On_Running_Windows

 

[TomHildebrand]

You get the "Inaccessible Boot Device" bluescreen right?
First, detach the boot disk, and attach it using IDE or SATA. Then don't forget to enable it as bootable disk in the VMs Options -> boot order menu.
This way, it will hopefully boot.
Then follow this guide on how you can switch an existing Windows installation to boot from VirtIO disks: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Paravirtualized_Block_Drivers_for_Windows#Setup_On_Running_Windows

Yes, that did it. Thank you so much narrateourale
My mistake was that I didn't adjust the Proxmox VM Options -> boot order. I kept going around in circles trying to adjust the boot order in the Windows repair screen, which of course didn't work. I'm still stunned why the Windows repair screen came up at all, but once I corrected the Proxmox boot order to start with the IDE disk where my image was attached, Windows booted up perfectly. I then followed the instructions in the link you provided to install virtio drivers (as well as virtio guest tools) in the VM and change the disk to VirtIO SCSI Single. Everything works now!