kernel-xen.sh: This script builds the Linux Kernel for a Xen Hypervisor. Kernel configuration files included here are based on generic Slackware config files. For 32bit systems, SMP config was used. To run "make menuconfig" before compiling Xen kernel, use: MENUCONFIG=yes ./kernel-xen.sh Originally, booting Xen kernel with LILO bootloader is not supported, and GRUB has to be used. With mbootpack this has changed, and LILO can be used as well. Basically, mbootpack takes Linux kernel, initrd and Xen VMM, and packages them up into a file that looks like a bzImage Linux kernel. This script will select LILO by default, changing to GRUB is easy: BOOTLOADER=grub ./kernel-xen.sh Slackware generic kernel requires initrd image, this script assumes root is on /dev/sda2 and filesystem is ext4, changes are made with: ROOTMOD=ext3 ROOTFS=ext3 ROOTDEV=/dev/sda5 ./kernel-xen.sh When using LILO bootloader, this is what the lilo.conf should have: image = /boot/vmlinuz-xen root = /dev/sda2 label = XenLinux append="dom0_mem=512M -- nomodeset" read-only Everything on the left side of "--" is passed to Xen kernel, and what's on the right, goes to Linux kernel. When using GRUB, /boot/grub/menu.lst should have these: title Slackware XenLinux 14.2 root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/xen.gz dom0_mem=524288 console=vga module /boot/vmlinuz-xen root=/dev/sda2 ro console=tty0 nomodeset module /boot/initrd-xen.gz Booting Xen on a native EFI system is also an option, but the only clean solution at this time requires a modified binutils package. More experienced user can add "x86_64-pep" to the list of enabled targets and build/replace binutils on their system. Subsequently, building Xen will now also create a Xen EFI binary. To make things a bit easier, a copy of Xen EFI binary can be found here: http://slackware.hr/~mario/xen/xen-4.8.0.efi.gz If an automatic boot to Xen kernel is desired, the binary should be renamed and copied to the following location: /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi Downloaded binary should be unpacked first, and the config file should be present in the same directory (same file name, minus the suffix). For example: "xen.cfg" or "bootx64.cfg", and its contents: [global] default=xen [xen] options=dom0_mem=min:512M,max:512M,512M kernel=vmlinuz-xen root=/dev/sda2 ro console=tty0 nomodeset ramdisk=initrd-xen.gz There are some other EFI bootloaders, for example ELILO comes with the support for VMM images, but their x86 support is lacking. GRUB2 apparently supports only the chainloader method; however, the stock Slackware version is too old for this task. rEFInd should work, but the Xen EFI method was satisfactory to the author :-) Troubleshooting dom0 crashes, freezes, blank screen and such: * Use /proc/fb to find an out of range device id, for example this can be added to Linux kernel: fbcon=map:9 * Look in dmesg/lsmod for potential framebuffer devices to blacklist * Compile Linux kernel with CONFIG_FB=n * Use another VGA card :-)