→ Applies to: Hyperion 9.x and above

On Syneto Hyperion, using VirtIO for virtual disks provides better performance than the default emulated interfaces such as SATA or SCSI.

VirtIO is a paravirtualized driver that increases I/O speed and reduces CPU usage, making it a perfect fit for Hyperion's high-performance SyFS storage backend.

Step 1. Shut down all VMs on the system

Step 2. Connect to SynetoOS appliance via SSH as admin

ssh admin@<your_ip_address_or_hostname>

Step 3. Become Super User

sudo su

Step 4. Edit manually a virtual machine (replace <vm-name> with the correct information)

virsh edit <vm-name>

Step 5. Change the disk interface type to VirtIO

<disk type='file' device='disk'>
  <driver name='qemu' type='raw' discard='unmap'/>
  <source file='/nvme/syn-volumes/.../win-11_2.img' index='3'/>
  <target dev='sdc' bus='scsi'/>
  <serial>win-11_2</serial>
  <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='2'/>
</disk>

• On the <target> line, set dev='vdb' and bus='virtio'
• Remove the <address> line

<disk type='file' device='disk'>
  <driver name='qemu' type='raw' discard='unmap'/>
  <source file='/nvme/syn-volumes/.../win-11_2.img' index='3'/>
  <target dev='vdb' bus='virtio'/>
  <serial>win-11_2</serial>
</disk>

IMPORTANT

• If you do not remove the address line, the configuration will fail with the following error: Unsupported configuration: Virtio disk cannot have an address of type "drive".
• If your Windows VM is installed on a SATA boot disk (usually the C: drive), it can be safely converted to VirtIO, provided that the VirtIO drivers have been installed beforehand. The procedure is the same as for secondary disks, but the changes are applied to the boot disk.
• If the VirtIO drivers were not installed properly before changing the boot disk interface, the system will not boot. In such cases, discard the changes and verify that the drivers are installed properly before trying again.

Step 6. Save the file and exit

ESC

:wq!

Step 7. Power on VM on the system

If the VirtIO drivers are not installed yet, please follow to the article “How to install VirtIO and Guest Agent Tools on a Windows VM”.