Reduces the storage footprint of the Windows 7 installation.
remained supported until October 2021. Converting Windows 7 to a
Use qemu-img convert to compress or move from raw to qcow2 format to free up unused space. windows 7qcow2 2021
# Inside Windows 7, run MSI from virtio-win ISO # On host, add to QEMU command: -chardev socket,path=/tmp/qga.sock,server=on,wait=off,id=qga0 \ -device virtio-serial \ -device virtserialport,chardev=qga0,name=org.qemu.guest_agent.0
Windows 7 is out of mainstream support, but these steps help you create or obtain a compatible QCOW2 disk image. Reduces the storage footprint of the Windows 7 installation
qemu-system-x86_64 -drive file=win7.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=virtio \ -netdev user,id=net0 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0 \ -machine pc-q35-5.2 -cpu host -smp 4 -m 4096 \ -usb -device usb-tablet
man qemu-img , VirtIO specification v1.2, and the libvirt domain XML format. # Inside Windows 7, run MSI from virtio-win
A look at the official Microsoft ESU program which, in 2021, provided the only legitimate path for patching Windows 7 against critical vulnerabilities like BlueKeep.