Server 2022 installs but when restarting, stuck at Tiano Core Screen

SUSE Virtualization
1

Hey everyone! I am having an issue creating a Windows Server 2022 VM. I use the ISO template along with ISO installer and the virtio drivers from SUSE. It goes through installation but get stuck at the Tiano core screen and wont do anything else. I have tried using Red hats virtio drivers and no luck. Has anyone had this issue and a work around? thanks!

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This is a known issue with Windows VMs in EFI mode on Harvester. According to the official Harvester docs (Create a Windows VM - Known Issues section), the system boots into the UEFI/Tiano Core shell instead of continuing to the OS after installation. Here is what is happening and how to fix it:

What’s happening:

When using EFI mode, the UEFI firmware (TianoCore EDK2) is looking for a bootable EFI entry. After Windows installation completes, if the boot order isn’t correctly set to the installed Windows EFI bootloader, the system drops to the UEFI shell or Tiano Core screen.

Solutions from the official docs:

Option 1 — Boot Order in the VM spec:

The official docs explicitly warn: “The bootOrder values need to be set first on the installation image. If you change them, your VM may not boot from the installation disk.”

After installation completes, you need to ensure the boot order points to the hard disk (rootdisk), not the ISO CD-ROM. In the Harvester UI:

  1. Stop the VM.
    1. Go to Edit Config > Volumes tab.
      1. Set the bootOrder of the root disk (e.g., rootdisk) to 1 (first boot device).
        1. Set the CD-ROM boot order to 2 or remove it.
          1. Start the VM.
        3. Option 2 — From the UEFI shell:
        4. If you are at the TianoCore UEFI shell, type reset to reboot. If a “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD…” prompt appears, do not press any key — let it time out to boot from the hard disk. Or: in the UEFI shell, navigate to fs0:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi and execute it directly.
      3. Option 3 — Use the correct VM template:
      4. Make sure you use the windows-iso-image-base-template template in Harvester, which pre-configures the SUSE VMDP virtio drivers for Windows Server 2022 (path: win10-11-server22\x86_64\pvvx).
    3. Reference: Official Harvester docs > VM Management > Create a Windows VM > Known Issues