---
title: Qemu - Install Guide
tags: VM, qemu
---

# QEMU-KVM - How to install and create a VM

1. Download and build QEMU source code

    wget http://download.qemu-project.org/qemu-2.8.0.tar.xz
    tar xvJf qemu-2.8.0.tar.xz
    cd qemu-2.8.0
    ./configure --target-list=x86_64-softmmu \
    --python=/bin/python2.7 \
    --prefix=${TARGET_DIR}
    make -j 4
    make install

- `${TARGET_DIR}` is your absolute path you want to install your Qemu to, e.g. */home/demouser/qemu-bin*
2. Create the image format supported by QEMU

    mkdir project
    cd project
    ${TARGET_DIR}/bin/qemu-img  create -f raw ubuntu.img 15G

- ubuntu.img is the image file name
- 15G is the size of the image file
3. Install ubuntu-16.04 server on VM
1. Prepare to boot the kernel

        ${TARGET_DIR}/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 \
        --enable-kvm -drive format=raw,file=ubuntu.img,if=virtio \
        -m 2048 -net nic,model=virtio -net user \
        -rtc base=localtime,clock=host \
        -cdrom /home/share/ubuntu/ubuntu.iso -kernel /home/share/ubuntu/vmlinuz \
        -nographic -append console=ttyS0 \
        -initrd /home/share/ubuntu/initrd.gz

Command illustration:
- -m : memory size
- -net : network interface setting
- -cdrom : ubuntu-16.04 image
- -kernel vmlinuz : a compresses linux kernel from vmlinux
- -nographic -append console=ttyS0 : Redirect standard output to host machine
2. Install ubuntu 16.04
input "your studentID"-0

3. **Terminate QEMU**
1. Open a new session on terminal and login your account
2. **Kill QEMU**

            killall qemu-system-x86_64

4. Exexute the virtual machine:

    ${TARGET_DIR}/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 \
    --enable-kvm -drive format=raw,file=image_file,if=virtio \
    -m 2048 -net nic,model=virtio -net user \
    -rtc base=localtime,clock=host \
    -curses

- You will find out your VM is blocked in this step ...
- Two ways to solve this issue:
1. Switch to QEMU monitor console in the current terminal
- Press `alt` + `2` or `esc` + `2` to switch to QEMU console, type `sendkey ctrl-alt-f1`, and then press `enter`
- Press `alt` + `1` or `esc + 1` to switch back to screen
2. Access the QEMU monitor console via Telnet
- Add the telnet option (`-monitor telnet:127.0.0.1:5566,server,nowait`) when launching the VM:

            ${TARGET_DIR}/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 \
            --enable-kvm -drive format=raw,file=ubuntu.img,if=virtio \
            -m 2048 -net nic,model=virtio -net user \
            -rtc base=localtime,clock=host \
            -curses \
            -monitor telnet:127.0.0.1:5566,server,nowait

- Open a new session on terminal and type:
- $ `telnet 127.0.0.1 5566`
- Enter the QEMU monitor and input:
- (qemu) `sendkey ctrl-alt-f1`
- Switch to the original session and log in to your account