How to install Windows 7 in QEMU
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This page details how to install Windows 7 in QEMU. Windows 7 is an operating system created by Microsoft, released October 22, 2009. Support ended on January 14, 2020.
Prerequisites
QEMU
You will need QEMU installed.
Windows 7 ISO
You'll need a Windows 7 ISO for this guide. You can:
- You can use a physical disc
- Download the Windows 7 ISO from Computernewb
- Source an ISO from elsewhere
Installation
Creating the Disk Image
First, open a command window and create a disk image for the VM using a command like the following.
qemu-img create -f qcow2 win7.qcow2 40G
40G can be replaced with however big you want the hard drive to be (with G standing for Gigabytes).
Starting QEMU
You can now start up QEMU with a command like the following:
qemu-system-x86_64 -M q35,usb=on,acpi=on,hpet=off -m 4G -cpu host,hv_relaxed,hv_frequencies,hv_vpindex,hv_ipi,hv_tlbflush,hv_spinlocks=0x1fff,hv_synic,hv_runtime,hv_time,hv_stimer,hv_vapic -smp cores=2 -accel kvm -drive file=win7.qcow2 -device usb-tablet -device VGA,vgamem_mb=128 -nic user,model=e1000 -monitor stdio -cdrom en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_677332.iso
If you don't have virtualization enabled, then it is highly recommended to go with Tiny7 and turn the Aero theme off. Like Windows Vista, this helps with the load slightly (but not much). To do that in Windows 7, right click the desktop, click "Personalization", select the "Windows Classic" theme, and close the window. Also, if you don't have virtualization enabled, the 64-bit version of Windows DOES work, but is hideously slow, so go with 32-bit Windows 7 instead.
Installing Windows
From here, the installation is pretty straightforward. Agree to the license, select a custom install to the unallocated space, and wait for it to install. The OS should install pretty quick on newer systems.
Post-install
Invoking QEMU
After installing, you should remove the same QEMU command as before, except the -cdrom ... argument should be removed.
Browsers
Despite both Firefox and Chromium dropping support for Windows 7 a few years ago, there are maintained forks of modern versions of both of these browsers that work on Windows 7.
Supermium
Supermium is a Chromium fork that works in Windows 7. It needs around 2 GB of RAM to function.
- Open Internet Explorer (or whatever browser you have installed)
- Navigate to
http://win32subsystem.live/supermium/legacy/ - Download the Setup executable for your VM's bit width and run it
- You will get a few options in the setup. All of them are optional but I recommend installing the Noto Emoji font and creating shortcuts for Supermium. Hit OK
- If all went well, Supermium should be working!
r3dfox
r3dfox is a Firefox fork that works in Windows 7. It requires Service Pack 1.
- Download the following files onto your host:
- VCRedist AIO for Windows 7
- The latest r3dfox installer for your bit width
- On your host, pack both the r3dfox installer and VCRedist zip onto an ISO file
- On Windows, you can use ImgBurn
- On Linux, you can use the following command: mkisofs -o r3dfox.iso r3dfox-(version).en-US.win(arch).installer.exe VisualCppRedist_AIO_x86_x64_(ver).zip
- You can also get the files onto the VM a different way.
- Insert the ISO file into the VM (change ide2-cd0 r3dfox.iso)
- Extract and install the VCRedist AIO contained on the CD
- Finally, run the r3dfox installer from the CD and install it
- If all went well, r3dfox should be running!
Activation
Windows 7 can be activated using Massgrave's Microsoft Activation Scripts:
- Download the latest MAS_AIO.cmd and run it
- Select 3 for TSForge Activation, followed by 1 to activate Windows.
- You should now have an activated copy of Windows 7.