"QEMU guest agent is not running" after installing qemu agent on WIN 2019

[bu2chlc]

Hello all.
I am running proxmox 7.2 with a windows 2019 server guest.
I installed the virtio drivers, then the guest agent, and shut down. I enabled the QEMU agent in properties on the VM. After booting, I tried the command (proxmox shell):
qm agent 101 ping
(101 is the ID of the windows VM)
I get the error that the agent isn't running.
I verified the agent IS running in the services app in windows. I have even tried turning off the firewall and that didn't help either.
Any thoughts?

 

[oguz]

hi,

it works here.

* did you install the guest agent from the virtio CD-ROM? it should be located in folder guest-agent\qemu-ga-x86_64.msi

I verified the agent IS running in the services app in windows.

* do you see it in the windows task manager as well?

* which virtio version did you use?

 

[RussellNS]

I hope I'm adding additional information, and not hijacking this person's issue. However, I have the same issue (almost). The similarities are that the guest agent stops running. The differences for me are this will happen regardless of OS (Windows 10/11, 2019/2022 or Linux CentOS 7/8) or virtio version.

For me, I have various Windows and Linux VM's running. Within 24-72 hours, the guest agents that was installed and running successfully will report back that it's not running. Once this happens, the entire VM will become unresponsive (even the Console view in Proxmox will not show anything), and the virtual CPU(s) will peg at almost 100%.

If this is a different issue, let me know and I'll make a new thread/new post. If it's related, then how do I troubleshoot it? The OS for the VM is unresponsive when it's happening. So I'm not sure I can get anything there. I've looked in the 'syslog' on the Proxmox host, but the only reference is this:

MMM DD HH:mm:ss proxmox pvedaemon[####]: VM ## qmp command failed - VM ## qmp command 'guest-ping' failed - got timeout

I had thought this was a BIOS issue (upgraded to latest), then a heat issue (blew out all heatsyncs and fans). It could maybe be a memory corruption issue. I plan on testing with a MemTest USB on the Proxmox host. Is there something else I can do to further pinpoint the source of this issue?

For reference, I've had this issue for about a year now, but just saw this gentleman's post. This issue is super annoying, because when it happens, the only thing to do is to spike (force reset) the VM. But my Proxmox server is for a home lab, so it's not production critical.

Any thought on where or how to troubleshoot the issue would be helpful. Thank you in advance.

 

[gjvdsteen]

I had exactly the same problem,

In Windows 11
The QEMU agent service in Windows was running
The qm agent <id> ping returned: QEMU guest agent is not running

After some checking, the issue happend to be that the PCI Simple Communications Controller driver was not installed.

See: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/File:Screen-vioserial-device-manager.png

Installing this driver from the Virtio CD-ROM fixed the issue

 

[RussellNS]

I guess my issue is different from the original issue. I have all drivers installed, including the vioserial driver. Also, for me this will happen on all VM's, regardless of OS (Windows or Linux).

I had thought it was maybe some multi-pronged issue between the qemu-ga agent, the guest configuration, and a Proxmox host automated task (similar to how Proxmox backups use MS Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), and if the guest isn't configured correctly, it will have issues). The problem with this is I'm checking all the locations I know to check (Syslog on host, Event Viewer on guest, etc.), but I'm still missing something.

I'll keep trying to isolate my issue and make a new post.

Thank you!

 

[kitkat]

hi,

have you resolved this issue?

im comming accross the same thing with Windows11, downloaded the latest ISO and ran the virtio-win-gt-x64 and also the virtio-win-guest-tools and still doesnt show the IP in the Summary windows of the host. Rebooted several times, and no drivers missing on the device manager in windows.

can anyone provide guidance how to resolve this?

 

[kitkat]

[UPDATE]

I just disabled and re-enabled the QEMU agent option from the Options page and rebooted the vm and now it's working. Weird...

 

[Neobin]

[UPDATE]

I just disabled and re-enabled the QEMU agent option from the Options page and rebooted the vm and now it's working. Weird...

In your screenshot, you can clearly see, that the change (enable guest agent) is on hold.
Some changes on a guest config need a full stop and start cycle to become active.

 

[RussellNS]

hi,

have you resolved this issue?

im comming accross the same thing with Windows11, downloaded the latest ISO and ran the virtio-win-gt-x64 and also the virtio-win-guest-tools and still doesnt show the IP in the Summary windows of the host. Rebooted several times, and no drivers missing on the device manager in windows.

can anyone provide guidance how to resolve this?

I can't comment on bu2chlc's original issue, as my issue was definitely different from his. However, just to have something documented somewhere about my issue...

My issue mirror's the symptoms here exactly. However, it turned out to be completely hardware related. The issue progressed from the symptoms here in this thread, so increasingly frequent system faults (monthly, then weekly, then daily, now the host might run for a few hours). I've taken the host apart to try and investigate, and the only thing I could find was a questionable, non-standard, SATA cable plug on the motherboard that may have expanded over time giving increasingly inconsistent issues over time. It may have also been down in the CPU die's themselves, as I couldn't inspect to that level.

In short, I don't know what the specific issue was, but for me it turned out to definitely be hardware related. Your mileage may (probably will) vary.

I've since replaced the host, restored everything from backup (same config and VM's), and everything is rock solid stable.