1VIRT-INSTALL(1) Virtual Machine Manager VIRT-INSTALL(1)
2
6 virt-install - provision new virtual machines
7
9 virt-install [OPTION]...
10
12 virt-install is a command line tool for creating new KVM, Xen, or Linux
13 container guests using the "libvirt" hypervisor management library.
14 See the EXAMPLES section at the end of this document to quickly get
15 started.
16 virt-install tool supports graphical installations using (for example)
18 VNC or SPICE, as well as text mode installs over serial console. The
19 guest can be configured to use one or more virtual disks, network
20 interfaces, audio devices, physical USB or PCI devices, among others.
21 The installation media can be local ISO or CDROM media, or a distro
23 install tree hosted remotely over HTTP, FTP, or in a local directory.
24 In the install tree case "virt-install" will fetch the minimal files
25 necessary to kick off the installation process, allowing the guest to
26 fetch the rest of the OS distribution as needed. PXE booting, and
27 importing an existing disk image (thus skipping the install phase) are
28 also supported.
29 Given suitable command line arguments, "virt-install" is capable of
31 running completely unattended, with the guest 'kickstarting' itself
32 too. This allows for easy automation of guest installs.
33 Many arguments have sub options, specified like opt1=foo,opt2=bar, etc.
35 Try --option=? to see a complete list of sub options associated with
36 that argument, example: virt-install --disk=?
37 Most options are not required. Minimum requirements are --name,
39 --memory, guest storage (--disk or --filesystem), and an install
40 option.
41
43 --connect URI
44 Connect to a non-default hypervisor. If this isn't specified,
45 libvirt will try and choose the most suitable default.
46 Some valid options here are:
48 qemu:///system
50 For creating KVM and QEMU guests to be run by the system
51 libvirtd instance. This is the default mode that virt-manager
52 uses, and what most KVM users want.
53 qemu:///session
55 For creating KVM and QEMU guests for libvirtd running as the
56 regular user.
57 xen:///
59 For connecting to Xen.
60 lxc:///
62 For creating linux containers
63
65 General configuration parameters that apply to all types of guest
66 installs.
67 -n NAME
69 --name NAME
70 Name of the new guest virtual machine instance. This must be unique
71 amongst all guests known to the hypervisor on the connection,
72 including those not currently active. To re-define an existing
73 guest, use the virsh(1) tool to shut it down ('virsh shutdown') &
74 delete ('virsh undefine') it prior to running "virt-install".
75 --memory OPTIONS
77 Memory to allocate for the guest, in MiB. This deprecates the
78 -r/--ram option. Sub options are available, like 'maxmemory',
79 'hugepages', 'hotplugmemorymax' and 'hotplugmemoryslots'. The
80 memory parameter is mapped to <currentMemory> element, the
81 'maxmemory' sub-option is mapped to <memory> element and
82 'hotplugmemorymax' and 'hotplugmemoryslots' are mapped to
83 <maxMemory> element.
84 To configure memory modules which can be hotunplugged see --memdev
86 description.
87 Use --memory=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
89 details at
90 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryAllocation>
91 --memorybacking OPTIONS
93 This option will influence how virtual memory pages are backed by
94 host pages.
95 Use --memorybacking=? to see a list of all available sub options.
97 Complete details at
98 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryBacking>
99 --arch ARCH
101 Request a non-native CPU architecture for the guest virtual
102 machine. If omitted, the host CPU architecture will be used in the
103 guest.
104 --machine MACHINE
106 The machine type to emulate. This will typically not need to be
107 specified for Xen or KVM, but is useful for choosing machine types
108 of more exotic architectures.
109 --metadata OPT=VAL,[...]
111 Specify metadata values for the guest. Possible options include
112 name, uuid, title, and description. This option deprecates
113 -u/--uuid and --description.
114 Use --metadata=? to see a list of all available sub options.
116 Complete details at
117 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMetadata>
118 --events OPT=VAL,[...]
120 Specify events values for the guest. Possible options include
121 on_poweroff, on_reboot, and on_crash.
122 Use --events=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
124 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsEvents>
125 --resource OPT=VAL,[...]
127 Specify resource partitioning for the guest.
128 Use --resource=? to see a list of all available sub options.
130 Complete details at
131 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#resPartition>
132 --sysinfo OPT=VAL,[...]
134 Configure sysinfo/SMBIOS values exposed to the guest OS. '--sysinfo
135 host' can be used to expose the host's SMBIOS info to the VM,
136 otherwise values can be manually specified.
137 Use --sysinfo=? to see a list of all available sub options.
139 Complete details at
140 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSysinfo>
141 --qemu-commandline ARGS
143 Pass options directly to the qemu emulator. Only works for the
144 libvirt qemu driver. The option can take a string of arguments, for
145 example:
146 --qemu-commandline="-display gtk,gl=on"
148 Environment variables are specified with 'env', for example:
150 --qemu-commandline=env=DISPLAY=:0.1
152 Complete details about the libvirt feature:
154 <https://libvirt.org/drvqemu.html#qemucommand>
155 --vcpus OPTIONS
157 Number of virtual cpus to configure for the guest. If 'maxvcpus' is
158 specified, the guest will be able to hotplug up to MAX vcpus while
159 the guest is running, but will startup with VCPUS.
160 CPU topology can additionally be specified with sockets, cores, and
162 threads. If values are omitted, the rest will be autofilled
163 preferring sockets over cores over threads.
164 'cpuset' sets which physical cpus the guest can use. "CPUSET" is a
166 comma separated list of numbers, which can also be specified in
167 ranges or cpus to exclude. Example:
168 0,2,3,5 : Use processors 0,2,3 and 5
170 1-5,^3,8 : Use processors 1,2,4,5 and 8
171 If the value 'auto' is passed, virt-install attempts to
173 automatically determine an optimal cpu pinning using NUMA data, if
174 available.
175 Use --vcpus=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
177 details at
178 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPUAllocation>
179 --numatune OPTIONS
181 Tune NUMA policy for the domain process. Example invocations
182 --numatune 1,2,3,4-7
184 --numatune 1-3,5,mode=preferred
185 Specifies the numa nodes to allocate memory from. This has the same
187 syntax as "--vcpus cpuset=" option. mode can be one of
188 'interleave', 'preferred', or 'strict' (the default). See 'man 8
189 numactl' for information about each mode.
190 Use --numatune=? to see a list of all available sub options.
192 Complete details at
193 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsNUMATuning>
194 --memtune OPTIONS
196 Tune memory policy for the domain process. Example invocations
197 --memtune 1000
199 --memtune hard_limit=100,soft_limit=60,swap_hard_limit=150,min_guarantee=80
200 Use --memtune=? to see a list of all available sub options.
202 Complete details at
203 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryTuning>
204 --blkiotune OPTIONS
206 Tune blkio policy for the domain process. Example invocations
207 --blkiotune 100
209 --blkiotune weight=100,device_path=/dev/sdc,device_weight=200
210 Use --blkiotune=? to see a list of all available sub options.
212 Complete details at
213 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsBlockTuning>
214 --cpu MODEL[,+feature][,-feature][,match=MATCH][,vendor=VENDOR],...
216 Configure the CPU model and CPU features exposed to the guest. The
217 only required value is MODEL, which is a valid CPU model as known
218 to libvirt.
219 Libvirt's feature policy values force, require, optional, disable,
221 or forbid, or with the shorthand '+feature' and '-feature', which
222 equal 'force=feature' and 'disable=feature' respectively
223 Some examples:
225 --cpu core2duo,+x2apic,disable=vmx
227 Expose the core2duo CPU model, force enable x2apic, but do not
228 expose vmx
229 --cpu host
231 Expose the host CPUs configuration to the guest. This enables
232 the guest to take advantage of many of the host CPUs features
233 (better performance), but may cause issues if migrating the
234 guest to a host without an identical CPU.
235 --cpu host-model-only
237 Expose the nearest host CPU model configuration to the guest.
238 It is the best CPU which can be used for a guest on any of the
239 hosts.
240 --cpu
242 cell0.memory=1234,cell0.cpus=0-3,cell1.memory=5678,cell1.cpus=4-7
243 Example of specifying two NUMA cells. This will generate XML
244 like:
245 <cpu>
247 <numa>
248 <cell cpus="0-3" memory="1234"/>
249 <cell cpus="4-7" memory="5678"/>
250 </numa>
251 </cpu>
252 --cpu host-passthrough,cache.mode=passthrough
254 Example of passing through the host cpu's cache information.
255 Use --cpu=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
257 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPU>
258 --cputune OPTIONS
260 Tune CPU parameters for the guest.
261 Configure which of the host's physical CPUs the domain VCPU will be
263 pinned to. Example invocation
264 --cputune vcpupin0.vcpu=0,vcpupin0.cpuset=0-3,vcpupin1.vcpu=1,vcpupin1.cpuset=4-7
266 Use --cputune=? to see a list of all available sub options.
268 Complete details at
269 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPUTuning>
270 --security type=TYPE[,label=LABEL][,relabel=yes|no]
272 Configure domain security driver settings. Type can be either
273 'static' or 'dynamic'. 'static' configuration requires a security
274 LABEL. Specifying LABEL without TYPE implies static configuration.
275 To have libvirt automatically apply your static label, you must
277 specify relabel=yes. Otherwise disk images must be manually labeled
278 by the admin, including images that virt-install is asked to
279 create.
280 Use --security=? to see a list of all available sub options.
282 Complete details at
283 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#seclabel>
284 --features FEAT=on|off,...
286 Set elements in the guests <features> XML on or off. Examples
287 include acpi, apic, eoi, privnet, and hyperv features. Some
288 examples:
289 --features eoi=on
291 Enable APIC PV EOI
292 --features hyperv_vapic=on,hyperv_spinlocks=off
294 Enable hypver VAPIC, but disable spinlocks
295 --features kvm_hidden=on
297 Allow the KVM hypervisor signature to be hidden from the guest
298 --features pvspinlock=on
300 Notify the guest that the host supports paravirtual spinlocks
301 for example by exposing the pvticketlocks mechanism.
302 --features gic_version=2
304 This is relevant only for ARM architectures. Possible values
305 are "host" or version number.
306 --features smm=on
308 This enables System Management Mode of hypervisor. Some UEFI
309 firmwares may require this feature to be present. (QEMU
310 supports SMM only with q35 machine type.)
311 Use --features=? to see a list of all available sub options.
313 Complete details at
314 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsFeatures>
315 --clock offset=OFFSET,TIMER_OPT=VAL,...
317 Configure the guest's <clock> XML. Some supported options:
318 --clock offset=OFFSET
320 Set the clock offset, ex. 'utc' or 'localtime'
321 --clock TIMER_present=no
323 Disable a boolean timer. TIMER here might be hpet, kvmclock,
324 etc.
325 --clock TIMER_tickpolicy=VAL
327 Set a timer's tickpolicy value. TIMER here might be rtc, pit,
328 etc. VAL might be catchup, delay, etc. Refer to the libvirt
329 docs for all values.
330 Use --clock=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
332 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsTime>
333 --pm OPTIONS
335 Configure guest power management features. Example suboptions
336 include suspend_to_mem=on|off and suspend_to_disk=on|off
337 Use --pm=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
339 details at
340 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsPowerManagement>
341
343 -c OPTIONS
344 --cdrom OPTIONS
345 ISO file or CDROM device to use for VM install media. After
346 install, the the virtual CDROM device will remain attached to the
347 VM, but with the ISO or host path media ejected.
348 -l LOCATION
350 --location OPTIONS
351 Distribution tree installation source. virt-install can recognize
352 certain distribution trees and fetches a bootable kernel/initrd
353 pair to launch the install.
354 --location allows things like --extra-args for kernel arguments,
356 and using --initrd-inject. If you want to use those options with
357 CDROM media, you can pass the ISO to --location as well.
358 The "LOCATION" can take one of the following forms:
360 https://host/path
362 An HTTP server location containing an installable distribution
363 image.
364 ftp://host/path
366 An FTP server location containing an installable distribution
367 image.
368 ISO Probe the ISO and extract files using 'isoinfo'
370 DIRECTORY
372 Path to a local directory containing an installable
373 distribution image. Note that the directory will not be
374 accessible by the guest after initial boot, so the OS installer
375 will need another way to access the rest of the install media.
376 Some distro specific url samples:
378 Fedora/Red Hat Based
380 https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/29/Server/x86_64/os
381 Debian
383 https://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/
384 Ubuntu
386 https://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/wily/main/installer-amd64/
387 Suse
389 https://download.opensuse.org/pub/opensuse/distribution/leap/42.3/repo/oss/
390 Mandriva
392 ftp://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu/linux/mandrake/official/2009.0/i586/
393 Mageia
395 ftp://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia/distrib/1
396 Additionally, --location can take 'kernel' and 'initrd' sub
398 options. These paths relative to the specified location URL/ISO
399 that allow selecting specific files for kernel/initrd within the
400 install tree. This can be useful if virt-install/ libosinfo doesn't
401 know where to find the kernel in the specified --location.
402 For example, if you have an ISO that libosinfo doesn't know about
404 called my-unknown.iso, with a kernel at 'kernel/fookernel' and
405 initrd at 'kernel/fooinitrd', you can make this work with:
406 --location my-unknown.iso,kernel=kernel/fookernel,initrd=kernel/fooinitrd
408 --pxe
410 Use the PXE boot protocol to load the initial ramdisk and kernel
411 for starting the guest installation process.
412 --import
414 Skip the OS installation process, and build a guest around an
415 existing disk image. The device used for booting is the first
416 device specified via "--disk" or "--filesystem".
417 --livecd
419 Specify that the installation media is a live CD and thus the guest
420 needs to be configured to boot off the CDROM device permanently. It
421 may be desirable to also use the "--disk none" flag in combination.
422 -x EXTRA
424 --extra-args OPTIONS
425 Additional kernel command line arguments to pass to the installer
426 when performing a guest install from "--location". One common usage
427 is specifying an anaconda kickstart file for automated installs,
428 such as --extra-args "ks=https://myserver/my.ks"
429 --initrd-inject PATH
431 Add PATH to the root of the initrd fetched with "--location". This
432 can be used to run an automated install without requiring a network
433 hosted kickstart file:
434 --initrd-inject=/path/to/my.ks --extra-args "ks=file:/my.ks"
436 --boot BOOTOPTS
438 Optionally specify the post-install VM boot configuration. This
439 option allows specifying a boot device order, permanently booting
440 off kernel/initrd with option kernel arguments, and enabling a BIOS
441 boot menu (requires libvirt 0.8.3 or later)
442 --boot can be specified in addition to other install options (such
444 as --location, --cdrom, etc.) or can be specified on its own. In
445 the latter case, behavior is similar to the --import install
446 option: there is no 'install' phase, the guest is just created and
447 launched as specified.
448 Some examples:
450 --boot cdrom,fd,hd,network,menu=on
452 Set the boot device priority as first cdrom, first floppy,
453 first harddisk, network PXE boot. Additionally enable BIOS boot
454 menu prompt.
455 --boot kernel=KERNEL,initrd=INITRD,kernel_args="console=/dev/ttyS0"
457 Have guest permanently boot off a local kernel/initrd pair,
458 with the specified kernel options.
459 --boot kernel=KERNEL,initrd=INITRD,dtb=DTB
461 Have guest permanently boot off a local kernel/initrd pair with
462 an external device tree binary. DTB can be required for some
463 non-x86 configurations like ARM or PPC
464 --boot loader=BIOSPATH
466 Use BIOSPATH as the virtual machine BIOS.
467 --boot menu=on,useserial=on
469 Enable the bios boot menu, and enable sending bios text output
470 over serial console.
471 --boot init=INITPATH
473 Path to a binary that the container guest will init. If a root
474 "--filesystem" has been specified, virt-install will default to
475 /sbin/init, otherwise will default to /bin/sh.
476 --boot uefi
478 Configure the VM to boot from UEFI. In order for virt-install
479 to know the correct UEFI parameters, libvirt needs to be
480 advertising known UEFI binaries via domcapabilities XML, so
481 this will likely only work if using properly configured distro
482 packages.
483 --boot
485 loader=/.../OVMF_CODE.fd,loader_ro=yes,loader_type=pflash,nvram_template=/.../OVMF_VARS.fd,loader_secure=no
486 Specify that the virtual machine use the custom OVMF binary as
487 boot firmware, mapped as a virtual flash chip. In addition,
488 request that libvirt instantiate the VM-specific UEFI varstore
489 from the custom "/.../OVMF_VARS.fd" varstore template. This is
490 the recommended UEFI setup, and should be used if --boot uefi
491 doesn't know about your UEFI binaries. If your UEFI firmware
492 supports Secure boot feature you can enable it via
493 loader_secure.
494 Use --boot=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
496 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsOS>
497 --idmap OPTIONS
499 If the guest configuration declares a UID or GID mapping, the
500 'user' namespace will be enabled to apply these. A suitably
501 configured UID/GID mapping is a pre-requisite to make containers
502 secure, in the absence of sVirt confinement.
503 --idmap can be specified to enable user namespace for LXC
505 containers
506 Example:
508 --idmap
509 uid_start=0,uid_target=1000,uid_count=10,gid_start=0,gid_target=1000,gid_count=10
510 Use --idmap=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
512 details at
513 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsOSContainer>
514
516 --os-variant OS_VARIANT
517 Optimize the guest configuration for a specific operating system
518 (ex. 'fedora29', 'rhel7', 'win10'). While not required, specifying
519 this options is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, as it can greatly increase
520 performance by specifying virtio among other guest tweaks.
521 By default, virt-install will attempt to auto detect this value
523 from the install media (currently only supported for URL installs).
524 Autodetection can be disabled with the special value 'none'.
525 Autodetection can be forced with the special value 'auto'.
526 Use the command "osinfo-query os" to get the list of the accepted
528 OS variants.
529
531 --disk OPTIONS
532 Specifies media to use as storage for the guest, with various
533 options. The general format of a disk string is
534 --disk opt1=val1,opt2=val2,...
536 The simplest invocation to create a new 10G disk image and
538 associated disk device:
539 --disk size=10
541 virt-install will generate a path name, and place it in the default
543 image location for the hypervisor. To specify media, the command
544 can either be:
545 --disk /some/storage/path[,opt1=val1]...
547 or explicitly specify one of the following arguments:
549 path
551 A path to some storage media to use, existing or not. Existing
552 media can be a file or block device.
553 Specifying a non-existent path implies attempting to create the
555 new storage, and will require specifying a 'size' value. Even
556 for remote hosts, virt-install will try to use libvirt storage
557 APIs to automatically create the given path.
558 If the hypervisor supports it, path can also be a network URL,
560 like https://example.com/some-disk.img . For network paths,
561 they hypervisor will directly access the storage, nothing is
562 downloaded locally.
563 pool
565 An existing libvirt storage pool name to create new storage on.
566 Requires specifying a 'size' value.
567 vol An existing libvirt storage volume to use. This is specified as
569 'poolname/volname'.
570 Other available options:
572 device
574 Disk device type. Value can be 'cdrom', 'disk', 'lun' or
575 'floppy'. Default is 'disk'. If a 'cdrom' is specified, and no
576 install method is chosen, the cdrom is used as the install
577 media.
578 boot_order
580 Guest installation with multiple disks will need this parameter
581 to boot correctly after being installed. A boot_order parameter
582 will take values 1,2,3,... Devices with lower value has higher
583 priority.
584 bus Disk bus type. Value can be 'ide', 'sata', 'scsi', 'usb',
586 'virtio' or 'xen'. The default is hypervisor dependent since
587 not all hypervisors support all bus types.
588 removable
590 Sets the removable flag (/sys/block/$dev/removable on Linux).
591 Only used with QEMU and bus=usb. Value can be 'on' or 'off'.
592 readonly
594 Set drive as readonly (takes 'on' or 'off')
595 shareable
597 Set drive as shareable (takes 'on' or 'off')
598 size
600 size (in GiB) to use if creating new storage
601 sparse
603 whether to skip fully allocating newly created storage. Value
604 is 'yes' or 'no'. Default is 'yes' (do not fully allocate)
605 unless it isn't supported by the underlying storage type.
606 The initial time taken to fully-allocate the guest virtual disk
608 (sparse=no) will be usually balanced by faster install times
609 inside the guest. Thus use of this option is recommended to
610 ensure consistently high performance and to avoid I/O errors in
611 the guest should the host filesystem fill up.
612 backing_store
614 Path to a disk to use as the backing store for the newly
615 created image.
616 backing_format
618 Disk image format of backing_store
619 cache
621 The cache mode to be used. The host pagecache provides cache
622 memory. The cache value can be 'none', 'writethrough',
623 'directsync', 'unsafe' or 'writeback'. 'writethrough' provides
624 read caching. 'writeback' provides read and write caching.
625 'directsync' bypasses the host page cache. 'unsafe' may cache
626 all content and ignore flush requests from the guest.
627 discard
629 Whether discard (also known as "trim" or "unmap") requests are
630 ignored or passed to the filesystem. The value can be either
631 "unmap" (allow the discard request to be passed) or "ignore"
632 (ignore the discard request). Since 1.0.6 (QEMU and KVM only)
633 format
635 Disk image format. For file volumes, this can be 'raw',
636 'qcow2', 'vmdk', etc. See format types in
637 <https://libvirt.org/storage.html> for possible values. This is
638 often mapped to the driver_type value as well.
639 If not specified when creating file images, this will default
641 to 'qcow2'.
642 If creating storage, this will be the format of the new image.
644 If using an existing image, this overrides libvirt's format
645 auto-detection.
646 driver_name
648 Driver name the hypervisor should use when accessing the
649 specified storage. Typically does not need to be set by the
650 user.
651 driver_type
653 Driver format/type the hypervisor should use when accessing the
654 specified storage. Typically does not need to be set by the
655 user.
656 io Disk IO backend. Can be either "threads" or "native".
658 error_policy
660 How guest should react if a write error is encountered. Can be
661 one of "stop", "ignore", or "enospace"
662 serial
664 Serial number of the emulated disk device. This is used in
665 linux guests to set /dev/disk/by-id symlinks. An example serial
666 number might be: WD-WMAP9A966149
667 startup_policy
669 It defines what to do with the disk if the source file is not
670 accessible. See possible values in
671 <https://www.libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsDisks>,
672 "startupPolicy" attribute of the <disk> element
673 snapshot_policy
675 Defines default behavior of the disk during disk snapshots.
676 See possible values in
677 <https://www.libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsDisks>,
678 "snapshot" attribute of the <disk> element.
679 See the examples section for some uses. This option deprecates
681 -f/--file, -s/--file-size, --nonsparse, and --nodisks.
682 Use --disk=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
684 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsDisks>
685 --filesystem
687 Specifies a directory on the host to export to the guest. The most
688 simple invocation is:
689 --filesystem /source/on/host,/target/point/in/guest
691 Which will work for recent QEMU and linux guest OS or LXC
693 containers. For QEMU, the target point is just a mounting hint in
694 sysfs, so will not be automatically mounted.
695 The following explicit options can be specified:
697 type
699 The type or the source directory. Valid values are 'mount' (the
700 default) or 'template' for OpenVZ templates.
701 mode
703 The access mode for the source directory from the guest OS.
704 Only used with QEMU and type=mount. Valid modes are
705 'passthrough' (the default), 'mapped', or 'squash'. See libvirt
706 domain XML documentation for more info.
707 source
709 The directory on the host to share.
710 target
712 The mount location to use in the guest.
713 Use --filesystem=? to see a list of all available sub options.
715 Complete details at
716 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsFilesystems>
717
719 -w OPTIONS
720 --network OPTIONS
721 Connect the guest to the host network. The value for "NETWORK" can
722 take one of 4 formats:
723 bridge=BRIDGE
725 Connect to a bridge device in the host called "BRIDGE". Use
726 this option if the host has static networking config & the
727 guest requires full outbound and inbound connectivity to/from
728 the LAN. Also use this if live migration will be used with this
729 guest.
730 network=NAME
732 Connect to a virtual network in the host called "NAME". Virtual
733 networks can be listed, created, deleted using the "virsh"
734 command line tool. In an unmodified install of "libvirt" there
735 is usually a virtual network with a name of "default". Use a
736 virtual network if the host has dynamic networking (eg
737 NetworkManager), or using wireless. The guest will be NATed to
738 the LAN by whichever connection is active.
739 type=direct,source=IFACE[,source_mode=MODE]
741 Direct connect to host interface IFACE using macvtap.
742 user
744 Connect to the LAN using SLIRP. Only use this if running a QEMU
745 guest as an unprivileged user. This provides a very limited
746 form of NAT.
747 none
749 Tell virt-install not to add any default network interface.
750 If this option is omitted a single NIC will be created in the
752 guest. If there is a bridge device in the host with a physical
753 interface enslaved, that will be used for connectivity. Failing
754 that, the virtual network called "default" will be used. This
755 option can be specified multiple times to setup more than one NIC.
756 Other available options are:
758 model
760 Network device model as seen by the guest. Value can be any nic
761 model supported by the hypervisor, e.g.: 'e1000', 'rtl8139',
762 'virtio', ...
763 mac Fixed MAC address for the guest; If this parameter is omitted,
765 or the value "RANDOM" is specified a suitable address will be
766 randomly generated. For Xen virtual machines it is required
767 that the first 3 pairs in the MAC address be the sequence
768 '00:16:3e', while for QEMU or KVM virtual machines it must be
769 '52:54:00'.
770 filterref
772 Controlling firewall and network filtering in libvirt. Value
773 can be any nwfilter defined by the "virsh" 'nwfilter'
774 subcommands. Available filters can be listed by running 'virsh
775 nwfilter-list', e.g.: 'clean-traffic', 'no-mac-spoofing', ...
776 virtualport_type
778 The type of virtual port profile, one the following values
779 "802.Qbg"
781 The following additional parameters are accepted
782 virtualport_managerid
784 The VSI Manager ID identifies the database containing
785 the VSI type and instance definitions. This is an
786 integer value and the value 0 is reserved.
787 virtualport_typeid
789 The VSI Type ID identifies a VSI type characterizing
790 the network access. VSI types are typically managed by
791 network administrator. This is an integer value.
792 virtualport_typeidversion
794 The VSI Type Version allows multiple versions of a VSI
795 Type. This is an integer value.
796 virtualport_instanceid
798 The VSI Instance ID Identifier is generated when a VSI
799 instance (i.e. a virtual interface of a virtual
800 machine) is created. This is a globally unique
801 identifier.
802 "802.Qbh"
804 The following additional parameters are accepted
805 virtualport_profileid
807 The profile ID contains the name of the port profile
808 that is to be applied to this interface. This name is
809 resolved by the port profile database into the network
810 parameters from the port profile, and those network
811 parameters will be applied to this interface.
812 "openvswitch"
814 The following additional parameters are accepted
815 virtualport_profileid
817 The OpenVSwitch port profile for the interface
818 virtualport_interfaceid
820 A UUID to uniquely identify the interface. If omitted
821 one will be generated automatically
822 "midonet"
824 The following additional parameters are accepted
825 virtualport_interfaceid
827 A UUID identifying the port in the network to which the
828 interface will be bound
829 Use --network=? to see a list of all available sub options.
831 Complete details at
832 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsNICS>
833 This option deprecates -m/--mac, -b/--bridge, and --nonetworks
835
837 If no graphics option is specified, "virt-install" will try to select
838 the appropriate graphics if the DISPLAY environment variable is set,
839 otherwise '--graphics none' is used.
840 --graphics TYPE,opt1=arg1,opt2=arg2,...
842 Specifies the graphical display configuration. This does not
843 configure any virtual hardware, just how the guest's graphical
844 display can be accessed. Typically the user does not need to
845 specify this option, virt-install will try and choose a useful
846 default, and launch a suitable connection.
847 General format of a graphical string is
849 --graphics TYPE,opt1=arg1,opt2=arg2,...
851 For example:
853 --graphics vnc,password=foobar
855 The supported options are:
857 type
859 The display type. This is one of:
860 vnc
862 Setup a virtual console in the guest and export it as a VNC
864 server in the host. Unless the "port" parameter is also
865 provided, the VNC server will run on the first free port number
866 at 5900 or above. The actual VNC display allocated can be
867 obtained using the "vncdisplay" command to "virsh" (or
868 virt-viewer(1) can be used which handles this detail for the
869 use).
870 spice
872 Export the guest's console using the Spice protocol. Spice
874 allows advanced features like audio and USB device streaming,
875 as well as improved graphical performance.
876 Using spice graphic type will work as if those arguments were
878 given:
879 --video qxl --channel spicevmc
881 none
883 No graphical console will be allocated for the guest. Guests
885 will likely need to have a text console configured on the first
886 serial port in the guest (this can be done via the --extra-args
887 option). The command 'virsh console NAME' can be used to
888 connect to the serial device.
889 port
891 Request a permanent, statically assigned port number for the
892 guest console. This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'
893 tlsport
895 Specify the spice tlsport.
896 listen
898 Address to listen on for VNC/Spice connections. Default is
899 typically 127.0.0.1 (localhost only), but some hypervisors
900 allow changing this globally (for example, the qemu driver
901 default can be changed in /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf). Use 0.0.0.0
902 to allow access from other machines.
903 Use 'none' to specify that the display server should not listen
905 on any port. The display server can be accessed only locally
906 through libvirt unix socket (virt-viewer with --attach for
907 instance).
908 Use 'socket' to have the VM listen on a libvirt generated unix
910 socket path on the host filesystem.
911 This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'
913 keymap
915 Request that the virtual console be configured to run with a
916 specific keyboard layout. If the special value 'local' is
917 specified, virt-install will attempt to configure to use the
918 same keymap as the local system. A value of 'none' specifically
919 defers to the hypervisor. Default behavior is hypervisor
920 specific, but typically is the same as 'local'. This is used by
921 'vnc' and 'spice'.
922 password
924 Request a console password, required at connection time.
925 Beware, this info may end up in virt-install log files, so
926 don't use an important password. This is used by 'vnc' and
927 'spice'
928 gl Whether to use OpenGl accelerated rendering. Value is 'yes' or
930 'no'. This is used by 'spice'.
931 rendernode
933 DRM render node path to use. This is used when 'gl' is enabled.
934 Use --graphics=? to see a list of all available sub options.
936 Complete details at
937 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsGraphics>
938 This deprecates the following options: --vnc, --vncport,
940 --vnclisten, -k/--keymap, --sdl, --nographics
941 --noautoconsole
943 Don't automatically try to connect to the guest console. The
944 default behaviour is to launch virt-viewer(1) to display the
945 graphical console, or to run the "virsh" "console" command to
946 display the text console. Use of this parameter will disable this
947 behaviour.
948
950 Options to override the default virtualization type choices.
951 -v
953 --hvm
954 Request the use of full virtualization, if both para & full
955 virtualization are available on the host. This parameter may not be
956 available if connecting to a Xen hypervisor on a machine without
957 hardware virtualization support. This parameter is implied if
958 connecting to a QEMU based hypervisor.
959 -p
961 --paravirt
962 This guest should be a paravirtualized guest. If the host supports
963 both para & full virtualization, and neither this parameter nor the
964 "--hvm" are specified, this will be assumed.
965 --container
967 This guest should be a container type guest. This option is only
968 required if the hypervisor supports other guest types as well (so
969 for example this option is the default behavior for LXC and OpenVZ,
970 but is provided for completeness).
971 --virt-type
973 The hypervisor to install on. Example choices are kvm, qemu, or
974 xen. Available options are listed via 'virsh capabilities' in the
975 <domain> tags.
976 This deprecates the --accelerate option, which is now the default
978 behavior. To install a plain QEMU guest, use '--virt-type qemu'
979
981 All devices have a set of address.* options for configuring the
982 particulars of the device's address on its parent controller or bus.
983 See "https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsAddress" for
984 details.
985 --controller OPTIONS
987 Attach a controller device to the guest. TYPE is one of: ide, fdc,
988 scsi, sata, virtio-serial, or usb.
989 Controller also supports the special values usb2 and usb3 to
991 specify which version of the USB controller should be used (version
992 2 or 3).
993 model
995 Controller model. These may vary according to the hypervisor
996 and its version. Most commonly used models are e.g. auto,
997 virtio-scsi for the scsi controller, ehci or none for the usb
998 controller. For full list and further details on
999 controllers/models, see
1000 "https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsControllers".
1001 address
1003 Shorthand for setting a manual PCI address from an lscpi style
1004 string. The preferred method for setting this is using the
1005 address.* parameters.
1006 index
1008 A decimal integer describing in which order the bus controller
1009 is encountered, and to reference the controller bus.
1010 master
1012 Applicable to USB companion controllers, to define the master
1013 bus startport.
1014 Examples:
1016 --controller usb,model=ich9-ehci1,address=0:0:4.0,index=0
1018 Adds a ICH9 EHCI1 USB controller on PCI address 0:0:4.0
1019 --controller usb,model=ich9-uhci2,address=0:0:4.7,index=0,master=2
1021 Adds a ICH9 UHCI2 USB companion controller for the previous
1022 master controller, ports start from port number 2.
1023 The parameter multifunction='on' will be added automatically to
1025 the proper device (if needed). This applies to all PCI
1026 devices.
1027 Use --controller=? to see a list of all available sub options.
1029 Complete details at
1030 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsControllers>
1031 --input OPTIONS
1033 Attach an input device to the guest. Example input device types are
1034 mouse, tablet, or keyboard.
1035 Use --input=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
1037 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsInput>
1038 --hostdev OPTIONS
1040 --host-device OPTIONS
1041 Attach a physical host device to the guest. Some example values for
1042 HOSTDEV:
1043 --hostdev pci_0000_00_1b_0
1045 A node device name via libvirt, as shown by 'virsh
1046 nodedev-list'
1047 --hostdev 001.003
1049 USB by bus, device (via lsusb).
1050 --hostdev 0x1234:0x5678
1052 USB by vendor, product (via lsusb).
1053 --hostdev 1f.01.02
1055 PCI device (via lspci).
1056 --hostdev wlan0,type=net
1058 Network device (in LXC container).
1059 --hostdev /dev/net/tun,type=misc
1061 Character device (in LXC container).
1062 --hostdev /dev/sdf,type=storage
1064 Block device (in LXC container).
1065 Use --hostdev=? to see a list of all available sub options.
1067 Complete details at
1068 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsHostDev>
1069 --sound MODEL
1071 Attach a virtual audio device to the guest. MODEL specifies the
1072 emulated sound card model. Possible values are ich6, ich9, ac97,
1073 es1370, sb16, pcspk, or default. 'default' will try to pick the
1074 best model that the specified OS supports.
1075 This deprecates the old --soundhw option.
1077 Use --sound=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
1079 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSound>
1080 --watchdog MODEL[,action=ACTION]
1082 Attach a virtual hardware watchdog device to the guest. This
1083 requires a daemon and device driver in the guest. The watchdog
1084 fires a signal when the virtual machine appears to hung. ACTION
1085 specifies what libvirt will do when the watchdog fires. Values are
1086 reset
1088 Forcefully reset the guest (the default)
1089 poweroff
1091 Forcefully power off the guest
1092 pause
1094 Pause the guest
1095 none
1097 Do nothing
1098 shutdown
1100 Gracefully shutdown the guest (not recommended, since a hung
1101 guest probably won't respond to a graceful shutdown)
1102 MODEL is the emulated device model: either i6300esb (the default)
1104 or ib700. Some examples:
1105 Use the recommended settings:
1107 --watchdog default
1109 Use the i6300esb with the 'poweroff' action
1111 --watchdog i6300esb,action=poweroff
1113 Use --watchdog=? to see a list of all available sub options.
1115 Complete details at
1116 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsWatchdog>
1117 --parallel OPTIONS
1119 --serial OPTIONS
1120 Specifies a serial device to attach to the guest, with various
1121 options. The general format of a serial string is
1122 --serial type,opt1=val1,opt2=val2,...
1124 --serial and --parallel devices share all the same options, unless
1126 otherwise noted. Some of the types of character device redirection
1127 are:
1128 --serial pty
1130 Pseudo TTY. The allocated pty will be listed in the running
1131 guests XML description.
1132 --serial dev,path=HOSTPATH
1134 Host device. For serial devices, this could be /dev/ttyS0. For
1135 parallel devices, this could be /dev/parport0.
1136 --serial file,path=FILENAME
1138 Write output to FILENAME.
1139 --serial pipe,path=PIPEPATH
1141 Named pipe (see pipe(7))
1142 --serial tcp,host=HOST:PORT,mode=MODE,protocol=PROTOCOL
1144 TCP net console. MODE is either 'bind' (wait for connections on
1145 HOST:PORT) or 'connect' (send output to HOST:PORT), default is
1146 'bind'. HOST defaults to '127.0.0.1', but PORT is required.
1147 PROTOCOL can be either 'raw' or 'telnet' (default 'raw'). If
1148 'telnet', the port acts like a telnet server or client. Some
1149 examples:
1150 Wait for connections on any address, port 4567:
1152 --serial tcp,host=0.0.0.0:4567
1154 Connect to localhost, port 1234:
1156 --serial tcp,host=:1234,mode=connect
1158 Wait for telnet connection on localhost, port 2222. The user
1160 could then connect interactively to this console via 'telnet
1161 localhost 2222':
1162 --serial tcp,host=:2222,mode=bind,protocol=telnet
1164 --serial udp,host=CONNECT_HOST:PORT,bind_host=BIND_HOST:BIND_PORT
1166 UDP net console. HOST:PORT is the destination to send output to
1167 (default HOST is '127.0.0.1', PORT is required).
1168 BIND_HOST:BIND_PORT is the optional local address to bind to
1169 (default BIND_HOST is 127.0.0.1, but is only set if BIND_PORT
1170 is specified). Some examples:
1171 Send output to default syslog port (may need to edit
1173 /etc/rsyslog.conf accordingly):
1174 --serial udp,host=:514
1176 Send output to remote host 192.168.10.20, port 4444 (this
1178 output can be read on the remote host using 'nc -u -l 4444'):
1179 --serial udp,host=192.168.10.20:4444
1181 --serial unix,path=UNIXPATH,mode=MODE
1183 Unix socket, see unix(7). MODE has similar behavior and
1184 defaults as --serial tcp,mode=MODE
1185 Use --serial=? or --parallel=? to see a list of all available sub
1187 options. Complete details at
1188 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharSerial> and
1189 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharParallel>
1190 --channel
1192 Specifies a communication channel device to connect the guest and
1193 host machine. This option uses the same options as --serial and
1194 --parallel for specifying the host/source end of the channel. Extra
1195 'target' options are used to specify how the guest machine sees the
1196 channel.
1197 Some of the types of character device redirection are:
1199 --channel SOURCE,target_type=guestfwd,target_address=HOST:PORT
1201 Communication channel using QEMU usermode networking stack. The
1202 guest can connect to the channel using the specified HOST:PORT
1203 combination.
1204 --channel SOURCE,target_type=virtio[,name=NAME]
1206 Communication channel using virtio serial (requires 2.6.34 or
1207 later host and guest). Each instance of a virtio --channel line
1208 is exposed in the guest as /dev/vport0p1, /dev/vport0p2, etc.
1209 NAME is optional metadata, and can be any string, such as
1210 org.linux-kvm.virtioport1. If specified, this will be exposed
1211 in the guest at /sys/class/virtio-ports/vport0p1/NAME
1212 --channel spicevmc,target_type=virtio[,name=NAME]
1214 Communication channel for QEMU spice agent, using virtio serial
1215 (requires 2.6.34 or later host and guest). NAME is optional
1216 metadata, and can be any string, such as the default
1217 com.redhat.spice.0 that specifies how the guest will see the
1218 channel.
1219 Use --channel=? to see a list of all available sub options.
1221 Complete details at
1222 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharChannel>
1223 --console
1225 Connect a text console between the guest and host. Certain guest
1226 and hypervisor combinations can automatically set up a getty in the
1227 guest, so an out of the box text login can be provided
1228 (target_type=xen for xen paravirt guests, and possibly
1229 target_type=virtio in the future).
1230 Example:
1232 --console pty,target_type=virtio
1234 Connect a virtio console to the guest, redirected to a PTY on
1235 the host. For supported guests, this exposes /dev/hvc0 in the
1236 guest. See https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/VirtioSerial
1237 for more info. virtio console requires libvirt 0.8.3 or later.
1238 Use --console=? to see a list of all available sub options.
1240 Complete details at
1241 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharConsole>
1242 --video OPTIONS
1244 Specify what video device model will be attached to the guest.
1245 Valid values for VIDEO are hypervisor specific, but some options
1246 for recent kvm are cirrus, vga, qxl, virtio, or vmvga (vmware).
1247 Use --video=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
1249 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsVideo>
1250 --smartcard MODE[,OPTIONS]
1252 Configure a virtual smartcard device.
1253 Mode is one of host, host-certificates, or passthrough. Additional
1255 options are:
1256 type
1258 Character device type to connect to on the host. This is only
1259 applicable for passthrough mode.
1260 An example invocation:
1262 --smartcard passthrough,type=spicevmc
1264 Use the smartcard channel of a SPICE graphics device to pass
1265 smartcard info to the guest
1266 Use --smartcard=? to see a list of all available sub options.
1268 Complete details at
1269 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSmartcard>
1270 --redirdev BUS[,OPTIONS]
1272 Add a redirected device.
1273 type
1275 The redirection type, currently supported is tcp or spicevmc.
1276 server
1278 The TCP server connection details, of the form 'server:port'.
1279 Examples of invocation:
1281 --redirdev usb,type=tcp,server=localhost:4000
1283 Add a USB redirected device provided by the TCP server on
1284 'localhost' port 4000.
1285 --redirdev usb,type=spicevmc
1287 Add a USB device redirected via a dedicated Spice channel.
1288 Use --redirdev=? to see a list of all available sub options.
1290 Complete details at
1291 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsRedir>
1292 --memballoon MODEL
1294 Attach a virtual memory balloon device to the guest. If the
1295 memballoon device needs to be explicitly disabled, MODEL='none' is
1296 used.
1297 MODEL is the type of memballoon device provided. The value can be
1299 'virtio', 'xen' or 'none'. Some examples:
1300 Use the recommended settings:
1302 --memballoon virtio
1304 Do not use memballoon device:
1306 --memballoon none
1308 Use --memballoon=? to see a list of all available sub options.
1310 Complete details at
1311 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemBalloon>
1312 --tpm TYPE[,OPTIONS]
1314 Configure a virtual TPM device.
1315 Type must be passthrough. Additional options are:
1317 model
1319 The device model to present to the guest operating system.
1320 Model must be tpm-tis.
1321 An example invocation:
1323 --tpm passthrough,model=tpm-tis
1325 Make the host's TPM accessible to a single guest.
1326 --tpm /dev/tpm
1328 Convenience option for passing through the hosts TPM.
1329 Use --tpm=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
1331 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsTpm>
1332 --rng TYPE[,OPTIONS]
1334 Configure a virtual RNG device.
1335 Type can be random or egd.
1337 If the specified type is random then these values must be
1339 specified:
1340 backend_device
1342 The device to use as a source of entropy.
1343 Whereas, when the type is egd, these values must be provided:
1345 backend_host
1347 Specify the host of the Entropy Gathering Daemon to connect to.
1348 backend_service
1350 Specify the port of the Entropy Gathering Daemon to connect to.
1351 backend_type
1353 Specify the type of the connection: tcp or udp.
1354 backend_mode
1356 Specify the mode of the connection. It is either 'bind' (wait
1357 for connections on HOST:PORT) or 'connect' (send output to
1358 HOST:PORT).
1359 backend_connect_host
1361 Specify the remote host to connect to when the specified
1362 backend_type is udp and backend_mode is bind.
1363 backend_connect_service
1365 Specify the remote service to connect to when the specified
1366 backend_type is udp and backend_mode is bind.
1367 An example invocation:
1369 --rng
1371 egd,backend_host=localhost,backend_service=8000,backend_type=tcp
1372 Connect to localhost to the TCP port 8000 to get entropy data.
1373 --rng /dev/random
1375 Use the /dev/random device to get entropy data, this form
1376 implicitly uses the "random" model.
1377 Use --rng=? to see a list of all available sub options.
1379 Complete details at
1380 <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsRng>
1381 --panic MODEL[,OPTS]
1383 Attach a panic notifier device to the guest. For the recommended
1384 settings, use:
1385 --panic default
1387 Use --panic=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
1389 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsPanic>
1390 --memdev OPTS
1392 Add a memory module to a guest which can be hotunplugged. To add a
1393 memdev you need to configure hotplugmemory and NUMA for a guest.
1394 Use --memdev=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
1396 details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemory>.
1397
1399 -h
1400 --help
1401 Show the help message and exit
1402 --version
1404 Show program's version number and exit
1405 --autostart
1407 Set the autostart flag for a domain. This causes the domain to be
1408 started on host boot up.
1409 --transient
1411 Use --import or --boot and --transient if you want a transient
1412 libvirt VM. These VMs exist only until the domain is shut down or
1413 the host server is restarted. Libvirt forgets the XML
1414 configuration of the VM after either of these events. Note that
1415 the VM's disks will not be deleted. See:
1416 <https://wiki.libvirt.org/page/VM_lifecycle#Transient_guest_domains_vs_Persistent_guest_domains>
1417 --destroy-on-exit
1419 When the VM console window is exited, destroy (force poweroff) the
1420 VM. If you combine this with --transient, this makes the virt-
1421 install command work similar to qemu, where the VM is shutdown when
1422 the console window is closed by the user.
1423 --print-xml [STEP]
1425 Print the generated XML of the guest, instead of defining it. By
1426 default this WILL do storage creation (can be disabled with
1427 --dry-run). This option implies --quiet.
1428 If the VM install has multiple phases, by default this will print
1430 all generated XML. If you want to print a particular step, use
1431 --print-xml 2 (for the second phase XML).
1432 --noreboot
1434 Prevent the domain from automatically rebooting after the install
1435 has completed.
1436 --wait WAIT
1438 Amount of time to wait (in minutes) for a VM to complete its
1439 install. Without this option, virt-install will wait for the
1440 console to close (not necessarily indicating the guest has
1441 shutdown), or in the case of --noautoconsole, simply kick off the
1442 install and exit. Any negative value will make virt-install wait
1443 indefinitely, a value of 0 triggers the same results as
1444 noautoconsole. If the time limit is exceeded, virt-install simply
1445 exits, leaving the virtual machine in its current state.
1446 --dry-run
1448 Proceed through the guest creation process, but do NOT create
1449 storage devices, change host device configuration, or actually
1450 teach libvirt about the guest. virt-install may still fetch
1451 install media, since this is required to properly detect the OS to
1452 install.
1453 --check
1455 Enable or disable some validation checks. Some examples are warning
1456 about using a disk that's already assigned to another VM (--check
1457 path_in_use=on|off), or warning about potentially running out of
1458 space during disk allocation (--check disk_size=on|off). Most
1459 checks are performed by default.
1460 -q
1462 --quiet
1463 Only print fatal error messages.
1464 -d
1466 --debug
1467 Print debugging information to the terminal when running the
1468 install process. The debugging information is also stored in
1469 "~/.cache/virt-manager/virt-install.log" even if this parameter is
1470 omitted.
1471
1473 Install a Fedora 29 KVM guest with virtio accelerated disk/network,
1474 creating a new 10GiB qcow2 file, installing from media in the hosts
1475 CDROM drive. This will use Spice graphics by default, and launch
1476 autolaunch a graphical client.
1477 # virt-install \
1479 --connect qemu:///system \
1480 --virt-type kvm \
1481 --name demo \
1482 --memory 500 \
1483 --disk size=10 \
1484 --cdrom /dev/cdrom \
1485 --os-variant fedora29
1486 Install a Fedora 9 plain QEMU guest, using LVM partition, virtual
1488 networking, booting from PXE, using VNC server/viewer, with virtio-scsi
1489 disk
1490 # virt-install \
1492 --connect qemu:///system \
1493 --name demo \
1494 --memory 500 \
1495 --disk path=/dev/HostVG/DemoVM,bus=scsi \
1496 --controller virtio-scsi \
1497 --network network=default \
1498 --virt-type qemu \
1499 --graphics vnc \
1500 --os-variant fedora9
1501 Run a Live CD image under Xen fullyvirt, in diskless environment
1503 # virt-install \
1505 --hvm \
1506 --name demo \
1507 --memory 500 \
1508 --disk none \
1509 --livecd \
1510 --graphics vnc \
1511 --cdrom /root/fedora7live.iso
1512 Run /usr/bin/httpd in a linux container guest (LXC). Resource usage is
1514 capped at 512 MiB of ram and 2 host cpus:
1515 # virt-install \
1517 --connect lxc:/// \
1518 --name httpd_guest \
1519 --memory 512 \
1520 --vcpus 2 \
1521 --init /usr/bin/httpd
1522 Start a linux container guest(LXC) with a private root filesystem,
1524 using /bin/sh as init. Container's root will be under host dir
1525 /home/LXC. The host dir "/home/test" will be mounted at "/mnt" dir
1526 inside container:
1527 # virt-install \
1529 --connect lxc:/// \
1530 --name container \
1531 --memory 128 \
1532 --filesystem /home/LXC,/ \
1533 --filesystem /home/test,/mnt \
1534 --init /bin/sh
1535 Install a paravirtualized Xen guest, 500 MiB of RAM, a 5 GiB of disk,
1537 and Fedora Core 6 from a web server, in text-only mode, with old style
1538 --file options:
1539 # virt-install \
1541 --paravirt \
1542 --name demo \
1543 --memory 500 \
1544 --disk /var/lib/xen/images/demo.img,size=6 \
1545 --graphics none \
1546 --location https://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/6/x86_64/os/
1547 Create a guest from an existing disk image 'mydisk.img' using defaults
1549 for the rest of the options.
1550 # virt-install \
1552 --name demo \
1553 --memory 512 \
1554 --disk /home/user/VMs/mydisk.img \
1555 --import
1556 Start serial QEMU ARM VM, which requires specifying a manual kernel.
1558 # virt-install \
1560 --name armtest \
1561 --memory 1024 \
1562 --arch armv7l --machine vexpress-a9 \
1563 --disk /home/user/VMs/myarmdisk.img \
1564 --boot kernel=/tmp/my-arm-kernel,initrd=/tmp/my-arm-initrd,dtb=/tmp/my-arm-dtb,kernel_args="console=ttyAMA0 rw root=/dev/mmcblk0p3" \
1565 --graphics none
1566
1568 Please see https://virt-manager.org/page/BugReporting
1569
1571 Copyright (C) Red Hat, Inc, and various contributors. This is free
1572 software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU
1573 General Public License "https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html". There
1574 is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
1575
1577 virsh(1), "virt-clone(1)", "virt-manager(1)", the project website
1578 "https://virt-manager.org"
15792.1.0 2019-04-04 VIRT-INSTALL(1)