How to install Windows 11 inside virtual machine on Blufin?

Bluefin
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Option 1: BOXES
I tried to install Windows 11 inside Boxes virtualization on Blufin 42 Stable.

This is little bit strange, because on this same laptop I have been running Windows 11 as native installation before I have wiped it out and install Blufin on it.

Any idea what may be wrong?

Option 2: VIRTUALIZATION MANAGER
I also tried to install Virtualization Manager, but it looks like background software (e.g kvm) is not installed on Blufin 41 Stable. Like searching forum… it should be available on DX images. I am not a programmer, I don’t know if I want to rebase to DX and have plenty of software that I do not need, just to get Virtualization Manager working.

Option 3: VIRTUALBOX
I have considered to install VirtualBox, that I have been using for years, but this would mean layering the software that I would like to avoid, because it is not recommended by Blufin maintainers (and I don’t know if it working at all).

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Boxes doesn’t include swtpm and Microsoft signed ovmf which is necessary for windows 11. Use the workarounds for installing win11 without a tpm2.

Otherwise use -dx which includes virt-manager + swtpm.

Virtualbox will not work due to the lack of kmods.

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I agree with @m2Giles. I was not able to do install using virt-manager without the -dx version of the image. With the -dx version it was extremely easy. I don’t think you will notice the extra software that comes with -dx if you don’t use them, and some of the packages that come with -dx may be quite useful to you in the future.

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For quick solution I have used Boxes to install Windows 11 and followed How to Bypass TPM and Install Windows 11: A Step-by-Step Guide to bypass hardware checks during Windows 11 install.

This is fine for now, because I only need some quick test solution and then delete Windows virtual machine.

But… this may not be future bullet proof solution, because Microsoft can decide to update some packages that may produce errors in such “hardware bypassed system”.

If/when I need more permanent Windows install solution, I will probably go the rebase route. It looks this is now super easy to switch in Blufin just ujust devmode and select Enable and maybe there is some additional subquestion… just follow it.

EDIT:
What an annoyance to install Windows 11. I haven’t install Windows for a while, now I understand @j0rge, that installation should be fast and without hassle. For example install Windows without Microsoft account How to use Windows 11 without setting up Microsoft account. Then answering all kind of “stupid” questions during installation? Interesting… It looks they want to force users to go through that lengthy n-questions process, to get all kind of users grants to collect as much data as possible.

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dockurr is another option for running Windows (and supposedly maOS). You do need to be on a -dx image.

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