I'll assume "OVMF_15214.fd" is from <http://www.tianocore.org/ovmf/>. It's an ancient build of OVMF (older than two and half years). The binary packaged in that ZIP file isn't even a split one, it's a unified binary that is unsuitable for the command line that you've given above.
Please either grab the most recent OVMF build from your distribution, or a bleeding edge build from <https://www.kraxel.org/repos/> (recommended). Then create a copy of the varstore template, to be used as the VM's own private variable store. Also, fix the "-display std" command line option, as in "-vga std". It will just work then. Below I'll specify the commands that I just re-tested. Note that I'm also renaming the QEMU_BIOS and QEMU_BIOS_TMP variables (whose names are quite inappropriate) to FIRMWARE_BINARY and VARIABLE_STORE. # this binary corresponds to upstream git cc9a366d3b16, # dated "Thu Sep 29 00:34:20 2016 +0100" QEMU_BINARY=/opt/qemu-installed/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 # these files are from package # "edk2.git-ovmf-x64-0-20160929.b2144.g84bc72f.noarch", installed # from kraxel.org FIRMWARE_BINARY=/usr/share/edk2.git/ovmf-x64/OVMF_CODE-pure-efi.fd VARIABLE_STORE_TEMPLATE=/usr/share/edk2.git/ovmf-x64/OVMF_VARS-pure-efi.fd VARIABLE_STORE=/tmp/guest1-vars.fd # Windows 7 installer disk QEMU_WINDOWS_7_CD=en_windows_7_enterprise_n_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_677704.iso # other settings QEMU_MEMORY=2048 # create empty variable store from pristine template if the varstore doesn't # exist yet, or has been lost for some reason if ! [ -e "$VARIABLE_STORE" ]; then cp -v -- "$VARIABLE_STORE_TEMPLATE" "$VARIABLE_STORE" fi $QEMU_BINARY \ -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly,file="$FIRMWARE_BINARY" \ -drive if=pflash,format=raw,file="$VARIABLE_STORE" \ -enable-kvm \ -m $QEMU_MEMORY \ -vga std \ -cpu host,kvm=off -smp 4,sockets=1,cores=4 \ -cdrom $QEMU_WINDOWS_7_CD ** Changed in: qemu Status: New => Invalid -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of qemu- devel-ml, which is subscribed to QEMU. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1629282 Title: QEMU (still) hangs on Windows 7 install Status in QEMU: Invalid Bug description: I'm trying to install Windows 7 as guest, but the machine still hangs (more precisely, the windows icon keeps flashing, but never goes past this stage). I think this is a different bug from https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1581936. Specifically, its happens when the OVMF BIOS is used, and I can't find any workaround (in the above bug, by changing the display, the installation doesn't hang). The most minimal commandline that reproduces the issue is (generic format): $QEMU_BINARY \ -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly,file=$QEMU_BIOS \ -drive if=pflash,format=raw,file=$QEMU_BIOS_TMP \ -enable-kvm \ -m $QEMU_MEMORY \ -display std \ -cpu host,kvm=off -smp 4,sockets=1,cores=4 \ -cdrom $QEMU_WINDOWS_7_CD \ ; I'm using `OVMF_15214.fd` as BIOS. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1629282/+subscriptions