OS Windows run on VM (ubuntu, libvirt, qemu-kvm). And I have PS/2 keyboard on host hardware. Is there any way to pass it to guest OS without lost of performance (maybe emulate USB keyboard with keys mapping from PS/2 keyboard). I tried to use Spice server (from libvirt GUI "Virtual Machine Manager"), but it gives very annoying delay when pressing keys.
1 Answer
First you must use virsh edit <vm-name> to modify the configuration XML, as you can't do this through the virt-manager GUI.
Check your top-level <domain> tag. It should look something like this:
<domain type='kvm' xmlns:qemu='http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0'>
If the type isn't kvm, you've boarded the wrong flight - start over with a new VM. If the xmlns:qemu attribute isn't there, add it.
If you already have a <qemu:commandline> section, then add these two lines inside it:
<qemu:arg value='-object'/>
<qemu:arg value='input-linux,id=kbd,evdev=/dev/input/eventN,grab_all=on,repeat=on'/>
If you don't, then create it right under the <domain> tag with those two tags inside it.
You will also need to create the keyboard device in the guest using the following XML, which you should add to the <devices> section:
<serial type='dev'>
<source path='/dev/input/eventN'/>
<target port='0'/>
</serial>
The second qemu:arg and the source path defined here both have eventN defined. You will need to replace N with the input device number for your keyboard. Don't change the target port - just the source path.
My keyboard device is 2, but yours might be 0, or some other number. To find out which one yours is, do dmesg | grep input and look for your keyboard device. Mine says:
input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input2
You still want to use the path of /dev/input/eventN - this just lets you know what the right number is to use for N. If you're using X with evdev, which you probably are, you can also find this information in the X logfile. One caveat: Your device number might change if you reconfigure your host hardware.
Your keyboard will no longer be recognized by the host while you are using it in a guest. To control the host, you can:
- Exit the guest, or
- Attach another keyboard via USB, or
- Log in via ssh, or
- Use a serial console.
I got most of this information from this link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/VFIO/comments/5hja2k/how_do_you_pass_through_a_ps2_keyboard/
