some repeatable progress after cleanup force-updated/resintalled latest Xen/Grub/KernelStable @ both Dom0 & DomU@chroot @ DomU/chroot verified/rewrote grub2/custom.cfg re-exec'd grub2-install --nonvram ... mkinitrd grub2-mkconfig rm'd NvVars rewrote startup.nsh echo "fs0:\EFI\opensuse\grubx64.efi" > /boot/efi/startup.nsh @ Dom0 edit guest.cfg ... bios = 'ovmf' bios_path_override = '/usr/share/qemu/ovmf-x86_64.bin' ... launch guest @ efi config disable SecureBoot select EFI shell continue boots to EFI Shell, fallsthrough to startup.nsh grub menu , autoselects custom config drops to dracut emergency shell; stalls there @ dracut:/# dmesg ========> http://pastebin.com/kXx56VbC