What host kernel are you using? This sounds like a bug we used to have in KVM a while ago. Maybe it's back.
The same problem was also alleviated by a guest driver update, are you using the initial release of Windows 8? -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of qemu- devel-ml, which is subscribed to QEMU. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1829498 Title: window 8 stuck during boot on Qemu Status in QEMU: New Bug description: Description of problem: I've got windows 8 image(64 bit), installed on Qemu(x86-64_softmmu) and then i'm trying to boot/shutdown it in the same Qemu configuration. Windows 8 has feature - when you click "Shutdown" in UI, windows 8 doesn't actually power off, it goes to "Suspend to disc" ACPI state. After shutdown, i'm trying to boot it again, but it stucks during boot. I've discovered, that it hangs when windows 8 writes to AHCI's command register, AHCI triggers irq, but windows 8 sends EOI, don't accessing AHCI register,so irq line stills in high state, and irq will be injected again and again, while windows will send EOI on each AHCI interrupt. Strange thing is that it happens only on TCG mode or with option "kernel-irqchip=off/split", with "kernel-irqchip=on" everything works ok(windows 8 accesses AHCI register and line goes to low state). Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): Qemu revision: d8276573da58e8ce78dab8c46dd660efd664bcb7 Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install Windows 8 on QEMU(qemu command line: "-enable-kvm -m 1G -hda <image> -serial stdio -cpu core2duo -machine q35,kernel-irqchip=off" 2. Click shutdown in UI. 3. Try to boot again(it will stuck) 4. Kill Qemu and boot again, it will boot, now go to 2) :) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1829498/+subscriptions
