VM's on proxmox won't shutdown?

[RodinM]

Hi, I have some VM's installed on three nodes with Proxmox VE 2.1. The problem is that the VM's won't shutdown when I click the button "shutdown" in the main interface. I would say it didn't worked in proxmox ve 1.9 as well without opening the console window of the VM. But the VM DOES shutdown when I open the Console window of the VM and then press the button "shutdown" inside the console window.
Is it normal?

 

[tom]

the "shutdown" button sends just an ACPI shutdown to the VM guest. If your guest does not accepts anonymous acpi shutdowns it does not work. search the forum, you will find a lot of such posts and solutions. if you cannot find something, tell details about your VM guests.

 

[RodinM]

I stress on the fact, that the VM shuts down correct (these are mainly Windows guests) when I press the button on top of the VM console window (where the buttons Start Shutdown SendKey Reset Suspend are placed). So the ACPI signal sent to the VM works fine. I don't try to shutdown the windows guest from inside the guest itself. I repeat: the shutdown button DOES work but it works only when the console window of the guest is opened. When I simply choose the VM in the VM list at the left and press the "shutdown" button in the main interface of the proxmox, the VM won't shutdown, it just keeps running.

 

[tom]

works here. tested with win7.

what task log do you get? (see the "tasks" on the bottom of the main interface).

 

[tom]

I see the issue for Win2008r2 server. using the VM console it shutdowns. using the main windows button, I got:

TASK ERROR: VM quit/powerdown failed - got timeout

 

[RodinM]

Using the VM Console I can shutdown any machine (I have win2003 win7 win2008 win2008r2 and some debian guests). In some windows guests i had to set up in the security policy that the machine may be shutdown without being logged on. By the way the message "TASK ERROR: VM quit/powerdown failed - got timeout" can sometimes appear when shutting down the VM guests using the console window. I noticed it happens when a machine is heavy loaded.
I now tried to shutdown a win7 guest using the main window. The same result:
TASK ERROR: VM quit/powerdown failed - got timeout
In short: I can't shutdown any of my machines using the main proxmox window. This is very inconvenient because I have to open each VM's console and press a shutdown button in the console, then close the console window and go to the next VM.

 

[tom]

as it works here it hard to debug. are you sure that it does not work with a plain win7 (do not add it to ADS, just test with plain iso install)?

also Debian KVM guests works here without problems, as long as acpid is installed (aptitude install acpid).

 

[RodinM]

Hmm... I think if it were up to the missing acpid packet debian guests wouldn't shut down at all regardless of where we press the "shutdown" button...Or am I wrong?

 

[RodinM]

Yes. It was right. After I installed the acpid packet on a debian guest it shuts down correctly even from the main window without having to open the VM console window.
But the question with the windows guests still remains. I already set up the security policy in windows guests that they may be shutdown without anybody being logged on. May be I missed something else?

 

[spirit]

try to edit the regkey

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\Shutdownwithoutlogon

0=disabled
1=enabled

 

[madpilot]

I too have this problem. Tried the key change but it does not help.
I am using 2.1 with all updates. All the windoze vm's on our system have the same issue. Currently using winxp, win2k3 and win2k8r2.

Click shutdown, get: TASK ERROR: VM quit/powerdown failed - got timeout

Click shutdown with console open (but not logged in) and it works as advertised, regardless of the suggested registry key.

All linux vm's with acpid installed shutdown correctly.

 

[ivan901]

Same for me! Using latest 2.1, same behavior for windows: shutdowns ok if console is logged in, otherwise it doesn't work. I've also applied all the changes described in:
http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Windows_2003_guest_best_practices
Hope to find a solution soon.

 

[ivan901]

I answer myself:
Solution is to disable messages when shutting down:
Open gpedit.msc
Go to Local Computer Policy->Computer Configuration->Administrative Templates->System
Select Display Shutdown Event Tracker and disable it.
Now it works.
Thanks anyway.

 

[RodinM]

Yes, it works!
ivan901, you are the best!
So that means, windows xp guest should shutdown out of the box because this option is off by default for windows xp.
Seems like a collision (bug?) which was never noticed by MS company.

 

[giner]

http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Windows_2008_guest_best_practices

 

[RodinM]

http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Windows_2008_guest_best_practices

This solution was already mentioned in some previous posts. It helped partly (with this setting the Windows VM can be shutdown from the console window using the "shutdown" button).
What did help (in 70% cases) is the solution suggested by ivan901 in this post. With this setting the VM can be shutdown (but not always again) using the "shutdown" button in the main gui.
What I mean is shown on 2 screens below




The first screen shows when it works.
The second option shows when it doesn't.

 

[giner]

I have just installed Windows 2008 R2 SP1, so it's clear installation.
1. It shuts down well if console is open (read as "monitor is on") and doesn't work if console is being closed for more than 10 minutes.
2. If I just disalbe "automatic switching monitor off" than a virtual machine can be shutted down any time without opening the console so it can also be shutted down when backup works in "shutdown mode" or when the whole proxmox host goes down.
No more changes necessary for Windows 2008 R2 SP1.

 

[RodinM]

With Windows 2008R2 installation it seems really working. As for Windows 2003R2 installation it behaves very interesting.
I did all the changes mentioned in this post. Now I press "Shutdown" button in the main gui without opening the VM console and wait 5 minutes. After I see that the VM is still running I open the VM console window, see again that the VM is still running, press "Send key" > "Ctrl-Alt-Del" and.... the VM immediately starts shutdown procedure without asking anything more. Looks very stupid.

 

[giner]

With Windows 2008R2 installation it seems really working. As for Windows 2003R2 installation it behaves very interesting.
I did all the changes mentioned in this post. Now I press "Shutdown" button in the main gui without opening the VM console and wait 5 minutes. After I see that the VM is still running I open the VM console window, see again that the VM is still running, press "Send key" > "Ctrl-Alt-Del" and.... the VM immediately starts shutdown procedure without asking anything more. Looks very stupid.

That is because of screensaver.
http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Windows_2003_guest_best_practices#Power_settings

 

[mathx]

And how do you shutdown a VM that's stuck waiting for a TFTPboot/failed boot? doesnt the virt bios accept ACPI signals?

TASK ERROR: VM quit/powerdown failed - got timeout