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VIRT-INSTALL(1) Virtualization Support VIRT-INSTALL(1)

NAME
virt-install - provision new virtual machines

SYNOPSIS
virt-install [OPTION]...

DESCRIPTION
virt-install is a command line tool for creating new KVM, Xen, or Linux
container guests using the libvirt hypervisor management library. See
the EXAMPLES section at the end of this document to quickly get
started.

virt-install tool supports graphical installations using (for example)
VNC or SPICE, as well as text mode installs over serial console. The
guest can be configured to use one or more virtual disks, network in-
terfaces, audio devices, physical USB or PCI devices, among others.

The installation media can be local ISO or CDROM media, or a distro in-
stall tree hosted remotely over HTTP, FTP, or in a local directory. In
the install tree case virt-install will fetch the minimal files neces-
sary to kick off the installation process, allowing the guest to fetch
the rest of the OS distribution as needed. PXE booting, and importing
an existing disk image (thus skipping the install phase) are also sup-
ported.

Given suitable command line arguments, virt-install is capable of run-
ning completely unattended, with the guest 'kickstarting' itself too.
This allows for easy automation of guest installs. This can be done
manually, or more simply with the --unattended option.

Many arguments have sub options, specified like opt1=foo,opt2=bar, etc.
Try --option=? to see a complete list of sub options associated with
that argument, example: virt-install --disk=?

Most options are not required. If a suitable --osinfo value is speci-
fied or detected, all defaults will be filled in and reported in the
terminal output. Otherwise, minimum required options are --memory,
guest storage (--disk or --filesystem), and an install method choice.

CONNECTING TO LIBVIRT
--connect
Syntax: --connect URI

Connect to a non-default hypervisor. If this isn't specified, libvirt
will try and choose the most suitable default.

Some valid options here are:

qemu:///system
For creating KVM and QEMU guests to be run by the system lib-
virtd instance. This is the default mode that virt-manager
uses, and what most KVM users want.

qemu:///session
For creating KVM and QEMU guests for libvirtd running as the
regular user.

xen:///
For connecting to Xen.

lxc:///
For creating linux containers

GENERAL OPTIONS
General configuration parameters that apply to all types of guest in-
stalls.

-n, --name
Syntax: -n, --name NAME

Name of the new guest virtual machine instance. This must be unique
amongst all guests known to the hypervisor on the connection, including
those not currently active. To re-define an existing guest, use the
virsh(1) tool to shut it down ('virsh shutdown') & delete ('virsh unde-
fine') it prior to running virt-install.

--memory
Syntax: --memory OPTIONS

Memory to allocate for the guest, in MiB. This deprecates the -r/--ram
option. Sub options are available, like 'memory', 'currentMemory',
'maxMemory' and 'maxMemory.slots', which all map to the identically
named XML values.

Back compat values 'memory' maps to the <currentMemory> element, and
maxmemory maps to the <memory> element.

To configure memory modules which can be hotunplugged see --memdev de-
scription.

Use --memory=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#memory-allocation>

--memorybacking
Syntax: --memorybacking OPTIONS

This option will influence how virtual memory pages are backed by host
pages.

Use --memorybacking=? to see a list of all available sub options. Com-
plete details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#memory-back-
ing>

--arch
Syntax: --arch ARCH

Request a non-native CPU architecture for the guest virtual machine.
If omitted, the host CPU architecture will be used in the guest.

--machine
Syntax: --machine MACHINE

The machine type to emulate. This will typically not need to be speci-
fied for Xen or KVM, but is useful for choosing machine types of more
exotic architectures.

--metadata
Syntax: --metadata OPT=VAL,[...]

Specify metadata values for the guest. Possible options include name,
uuid, title, and description. This option deprecates -u/--uuid and
--description.

Use --metadata=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#general-metadata>

--events
Syntax: --events OPT=VAL,[...]

Specify events values for the guest. Possible options include
on_poweroff, on_reboot, and on_crash.

Use --events=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#events-configura-
tion>

--resource
Syntax: --resource OPT=VAL,[...]

Specify resource partitioning for the guest.

Use --resource=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#resource-partition-
ing>

--sysinfo
Syntax: --sysinfo OPT=VAL,[...]

Configure sysinfo/SMBIOS values exposed to the VM OS. Examples:

--sysinfo host
Special type that exposes the host's SMBIOS info into the VM.

--sysinfo emulate
Special type where hypervisor will generate SMBIOS info into the
VM.

--sysinfo bios.vendor=custom or --sysinfo smbios,bios.vendor=custom
The default type is smbios and allows users to specify SMBIOS
info manually.

Use --sysinfo=? to see a list of all available sub options.

Complete details at
<https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#operating-system-booting> and
<https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#smbios-system-information> for
smbios XML element.

--xml
Syntax: --xml ARGS

Make direct edits to the generated XML using XPath syntax. Take an ex-
ample like

virt-install --xml ./@foo=bar --xml ./newelement/subelement=1

This will alter the generated XML to contain:

The --xml option has 4 sub options:

--xml xpath.set=XPATH[=VALUE]
The default behavior if no explicit suboption is set. Takes the
form XPATH=VALUE unless paired with xpath.value . See below for
how value is interpreted.

--xml xpath.value=VALUE
xpath.set will be interpreted only as the XPath string, and
xpath.value will be used as the value to set. May help sidestep
problems if the string you need to set contains a '=' equals
sign.

If value is empty, it's treated as unsetting that particular
node.

--xml xpath.create=XPATH
Create the node as an empty element. Needed for boolean elements
like <readonly/>

--xml xpath.delete=XPATH
Delete the entire node specified by the xpath, and all its chil-
dren

xpath subarguments
Similar to the --xml option, most top level options have xpath.* sub-
options. For example, --disk xpath1.set=./@foo=bar,xpath2.cre-
ate=./newelement would generate XML alterations like

This is useful for setting XML options per device, when virt-install
does not support those options yet.

--qemu-commandline
Syntax: --qemu-commandline ARGS

Pass options directly to the qemu emulator. Only works for the libvirt
qemu driver. The option can take a string of arguments, for example:

--qemu-commandline="-display gtk,gl=on"

Environment variables are specified with 'env', for example:

--qemu-commandline=env=DISPLAY=:0.1

Complete details about the libvirt feature:
<https://libvirt.org/drvqemu.html#pass-through-of-arbitrary-qemu-com-
mands>

--vcpus
Syntax: --vcpus OPTIONS

Number of virtual cpus to configure for the guest. If 'maxvcpus' is
specified, the guest will be able to hotplug up to MAX vcpus while the
guest is running, but will startup with VCPUS.

CPU topology can additionally be specified with sockets, dies, cores,
and threads. If values are omitted, the rest will be autofilled pre-
ferring cores over sockets over threads. Cores are preferred because
this matches the characteristics of modern real world silicon and thus
a better fit for what guest OS will be expecting to deal with.

'cpuset' sets which physical cpus the guest can use. CPUSET is a comma
separated list of numbers, which can also be specified in ranges or
cpus to exclude. Example:

0,2,3,5 : Use processors 0,2,3 and 5
1-5,^3,8 : Use processors 1,2,4,5 and 8

If the value 'auto' is passed, virt-install attempts to automatically
determine an optimal cpu pinning using NUMA data, if available.

Use --vcpus=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#cpu-allocation>

--numatune
Syntax: --numatune OPTIONS

Tune NUMA policy for the domain process. Example invocations

--numatune 1,2,3,4-7
--numatune 1-3,5,memory.mode=preferred

Specifies the numa nodes to allocate memory from. This has the same
syntax as --vcpus cpuset= option. mode can be one of 'interleave',
'preferred', or 'strict' (the default). See 'man 8 numactl' for infor-
mation about each mode.

Use --numatune=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#numa-node-tuning>

--memtune
Syntax: --memtune OPTIONS

Tune memory policy for the domain process. Example invocations

--memtune 1000
--memtune hard_limit=100,soft_limit=60,swap_hard_limit=150,min_guarantee=80

Use --memtune=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#memory-tuning>

--blkiotune
Syntax: --blkiotune OPTIONS

Tune blkio policy for the domain process. Example invocations

--blkiotune 100
--blkiotune weight=100,device.path=/dev/sdc,device.weight=200

Use --blkiotune=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#block-i-o-tuning>

--cpu
Syntax: --cpu MODEL[,+feature][,-feature][,match=MATCH][,vendor=VEN-
DOR],...

Configure the CPU model and CPU features exposed to the guest. The only
required value is MODEL, which is a valid CPU model as known to lib-
virt.

Libvirt's feature policy values force, require, optional, disable, or
forbid, or with the shorthand '+feature' and '-feature', which equal
'force=feature' and 'disable=feature' respectively.

If exact CPU model is specified virt-install will automatically copy
CPU features available on the host to mitigate recent CPU speculative
execution side channel and Microarchitectural Store Buffer Data secu-
rity vulnerabilities. This however will have some impact on perfor-
mance and will break migration to hosts without security patches. In
order to control this behavior there is a secure parameter. Possible
values are on and off, with on as the default. It is highly recommended
to leave this enabled and ensure all virtualization hosts have fully up
to date microcode, kernel & virtualization software installed.

Some examples:

--cpu core2duo,+x2apic,disable=vmx
Expose the core2duo CPU model, force enable x2apic, but do not
expose vmx

--cpu host-model
Expose the host CPUs configuration to the guest. This enables
the guest to take advantage of many of the host CPUs features
(better performance), but may cause issues if migrating the
guest to a host without an identical CPU.

--cpu numa.cell0.memory=1234,numa.cell0.cpus=0-3,numa.cell1.mem-
ory=5678,numa.cell1.cpus=4-7
Example of specifying two NUMA cells. This will generate XML
like:

--cpu host-passthrough,cache.mode=passthrough
Example of passing through the host cpu's cache information.

--cpu maximum
Expose the most feature-rich CPU possible. Useful when running a
foreign architecture guest, for example a riscv64 guest on an
x86_64 host. Not recommended when using KVM to run a same-archi-
tecture guest.

Use --cpu=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#cpu-model-and-topol-
ogy>

--cputune
Syntax: --cputune OPTIONS

Tune CPU parameters for the guest.

Configure which of the host's physical CPUs the domain VCPU will be
pinned to. Example invocation

--cputune vcpupin0.vcpu=0,vcpupin0.cpuset=0-3,vcpupin1.vcpu=1,vcpupin1.cpuset=4-7

Use --cputune=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#cpu-tuning>

--security, --seclabel
Syntax: --security, --seclabel type=TYPE[,label=LABEL][,rela-
bel=yes|no],...

Configure domain seclabel domain settings. Type can be either 'static'
or 'dynamic'. 'static' configuration requires a security LABEL. Speci-
fying LABEL without TYPE implies static configuration.

Use --security=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#security-label>

--keywrap
Syntax: --keywrap OPTIONS

Specify domain <keywrap> XML, used for S390 cryptographic key manage-
ment operations.

Use --keywrap=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#key-wrap>

--iothreads
Syntax: --iothreads OPTIONS

Specify domain <iothreads> and/or <iothreadids> XML. For example, to
configure <iothreads>4</iothreads>, use --iothreads 4

Use --iothreads=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#iothreads-alloca-
tion>

--features
Syntax: --features FEAT=on|off,...

Set elements in the guests <features> XML on or off. Examples include
acpi, apic, eoi, privnet, and hyperv features. Some examples:

--features apic.eoi=on
Enable APIC PV EOI

--features hyperv.vapic.state=on,hyperv.spinlocks.state=off
Enable hyperv VAPIC, but disable spinlocks

--features kvm.hidden.state=on
Allow the KVM hypervisor signature to be hidden from the guest

--features pvspinlock=on
Notify the guest that the host supports paravirtual spinlocks
for example by exposing the pvticketlocks mechanism.

--features gic.version=2
This is relevant only for ARM architectures. Possible values are
"host" or version number.

--features smm.state=on
This enables System Management Mode of hypervisor. Some UEFI
firmwares may require this feature to be present. (QEMU supports
SMM only with q35 machine type.)

Use --features=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#hypervisor-features>

--clock
Syntax: --clock offset=OFFSET,TIMER_OPT=VAL,...

Configure the guest's <clock> XML. Some supported options:

--clock offset=OFFSET
Set the clock offset, ex. 'utc' or 'localtime'

--clock TIMER_present=no
Disable a boolean timer. TIMER here might be hpet, kvmclock,
etc.

--clock TIMER_tickpolicy=VAL
Set a timer's tickpolicy value. TIMER here might be rtc, pit,
etc. VAL might be catchup, delay, etc. Refer to the libvirt docs
for all values.

Use --clock=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#time-keeping>

--pm
Syntax: --pm OPTIONS

Configure guest power management features. Example:

--pm suspend_to_memi.enabled=on,suspend_to_disk.enabled=off

Use --pm=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#power-management>

--launchSecurity
Syntax: --launchSecurity TYPE[,OPTS]

Enable launch security for the guest, e.g. AMD SEV. Example invoca-
tions:

# This will use a default policy 0x03
# No dhCert provided, so no data can be exchanged with the SEV firmware
--launchSecurity sev

# Explicit policy 0x01 - disables debugging, allows guest key sharing
--launchSecurity sev,policy=0x01

# Provide the session blob obtained from the SEV firmware
# Provide dhCert to open a secure communication channel with SEV firmware
--launchSecurity sev,session=BASE64SESSIONSTRING,dhCert=BASE64DHCERTSTRING

SEV has further implications on usage of virtio devices, so refer to
EXAMPLES section to see a full invocation of virt-install with
--launchSecurity.

Use --launchSecurity=? to see a list of all available sub options. Com-
plete details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#launch-secu-
rity>

INSTALLATION OPTIONS
-c, --cdrom
Syntax: --cdrom PATH

ISO file or CDROM device to use for VM install media. After install,
the virtual CDROM device will remain attached to the VM, but with the
ISO or host path media ejected.

-l, --location
Syntax: -l, --location OPTIONS

Distribution tree installation source. virt-install can recognize cer-
tain distribution trees and fetches a bootable kernel/initrd pair to
launch the install.

--location allows things like --extra-args for kernel arguments, and
using --initrd-inject. If you want to use those options with CDROM me-
dia, you can pass the ISO to --location as well which works for some,
but not all, CDROM media.

The LOCATION can take one of the following forms:

<https://host/path>
An HTTP server location containing an installable distribution
image.

<ftp://host/path>
An FTP server location containing an installable distribution
image.

ISO Extract files directly from the ISO path

DIRECTORY
Path to a local directory containing an installable distribution
image. Note that the directory will not be accessible by the
guest after initial boot, so the OS installer will need another
way to access the rest of the install media.

Some distro specific url samples:

Fedora/Red Hat Based
<https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/re-
leases/29/Server/x86_64/os>

Debian
<https://debian.osuosl.org/debian/dists/stable/main/in-
staller-amd64/>

Ubuntu
<https://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/wily/main/in-
staller-amd64/>

Suse
<https://download.opensuse.org/pub/opensuse/distribu-
tion/leap/42.3/repo/oss/>

Additionally, --location can take 'kernel' and 'initrd' sub options.
These paths relative to the specified location URL/ISO that allow se-
lecting specific files for kernel/initrd within the install tree. This
can be useful if virt-install/ libosinfo doesn't know where to find the
kernel in the specified --location.

For example, if you have an ISO that libosinfo doesn't know about
called my-unknown.iso, with a kernel at 'kernel/fookernel' and initrd
at 'kernel/fooinitrd', you can make this work with:

--location my-unknown.iso,kernel=kernel/fookernel,initrd=kernel/fooinitrd

--pxe
Install from PXE. This just tells the VM to boot off the network for
the first boot.

--import
Skip the OS installation process, and build a guest around an existing
disk image. The device used for booting is the first device specified
via --disk or --filesystem.

-x, --extra-args
Syntax: -x, --extra-args KERNELARGS

Additional kernel command line arguments to pass to the installer when
performing a guest install from --location. One common usage is speci-
fying an anaconda kickstart file for automated installs, such as --ex-
tra-args "ks=https://myserver/my.ks"

--initrd-inject
Syntax: --initrd-inject PATH

Add PATH to the root of the initrd fetched with --location. This can be
used to run an automated install without requiring a network hosted
kickstart file: --initrd-inject=/path/to/my.ks --extra-args
"ks=file:/my.ks"

--install
This is a larger entry point for various types of install operations.
The command has multiple subarguments, similar to --disk and friends.
This option is strictly for VM install operations, essentially config-
uring the first boot.

The simplest usage to ex: install fedora29 is:

--install fedora29

And virt-install will fetch a --location URL from libosinfo, and popu-
late defaults from there.

Available suboptions:

os= This is os install option described above. The explicit way to
specify that would be --install os=fedora29 . os= is the default
option if none is specified

kernel=, initrd=
Specify a kernel and initrd pair to use as install media. They
are copied into a temporary location before booting the VM, so
they can be combined with --initrd-inject and your source media
will not be altered. Media will be uploaded to a remote connec-
tion if required.

Example case using local filesystem paths: --install ker-
nel=/path/to/kernel,initrd=/path/to/initrd

Example using network paths. Kernel/initrd will be downloaded
locally first, then passed to the VM as local filesystem paths:
--install kernel=https://127.0.0.1/tree/kernel,ini-
trd=https://127.0.0.1/tree/initrd

Note, these are just for install time booting. If you want to
set the kernel used for permanent VM booting, use the --boot op-
tion.

kernel_args=, kernel_args_overwrite=yes|no
Specify install time kernel arguments (libvirt <cmdline> XML).
These can be combine with ex: kernel/initrd options, or --loca-
tion media. By default, kernel_args is just like --extra-args,
and will _append_ to the arguments that virt-install will try to
set by default for most --location installs. If you want to
override the virt-install default, additionally specify ker-
nel_args_overwrite=yes

bootdev=
Specify the install bootdev (hd, cdrom, floppy, network) to boot
off of for the install phase. This maps to libvirt <os><boot
dev=X> XML.

If you want to install off a cdrom or network, it's probably
simpler and more backwards compatible to just use --cdrom or
--pxe , but this options gives fine grained control over the in-
stall process if needed.

no_install=yes|no
Tell virt-install that there isn't actually any install happen-
ing, and you just want to create the VM. --import is just an
alias for this, as is specifying --boot without any other in-
stall options. The deprecated --live option is the same as
'--cdrom $ISO --install no_install=yes'

--reinstall DOMAIN
Reinstall an existing VM. DOMAIN can be a VM name, UUID, or ID number.
virt-install will fetch the domain XML from libvirt, apply the speci-
fied install config changes, boot the VM for the install process, and
then revert to roughly the same starting XML.

Only install related options are processed, all other VM configuration
options like --name, --disk, etc. are completely ignored.

If --reinstall is used with --cdrom, an existing CDROM attached to the
VM will be used if one is available, otherwise a permanent CDROM device
will be added.

--unattended
Syntax: --unattended [OPTIONS]

Perform an unattended install using libosinfo's install script support.
This is essentially a database of auto install scripts for various dis-
tros: Red Hat kickstarts, Debian installer scripting, Windows unat-
tended installs, and potentially others. The simplest invocation is to
combine it with --install like:

--install fedora29 --unattended

A Windows install will look like

--cdrom /path/to/my/windows.iso --unattended

Sub options are:

profile=
Choose which libosinfo unattended profile to use. Most distros
have a 'desktop' and a 'jeos' profile. virt-install will default
to 'desktop' if this is unspecified.

admin-password-file=
A file used to set the VM OS admin/root password from. This op-
tion can be used either as "admin-password-file=/path/to/pass-
word-file" or as "admin-password-file=/dev/fd/n", being n the
file descriptor of the password-file. Note that only the first
line of the file will be considered, including any whitespace
characters and excluding new-line.

user-login=
The user login name to be used in th VM. virt-install will de-
fault to your current host username if this is unspecified.
Note that when running virt-install as "root", this option must
be specified.

user-password-file=
A file used to set the VM user password. This option can be used
either as "user-password-file=/path/to/password-file" or as
"user-password-file=/dev/fd/n", being n the file descriptor of
the password-file. The username is either the user-login speci-
fied or your current host username. Note that only the first
line of the file will be considered, including any whitespace
characters and excluding new-line.

product-key=
Set a Windows product key

--cloud-init
Pass cloud-init metadata to the VM. A cloud-init NoCloud ISO file is
generated, and attached to the VM as a CDROM device. The device is only
attached for the first boot. This option is particularly useful for
distro cloud images, which have locked login accounts by default;
--cloud-init provides the means to initialize those login accounts,
like setting a root password.

The simplest invocation is just plain --cloud-init with no suboptions;
this maps to --cloud-init root-password-generate=on,disable=on. See
those suboptions for explanation of how they work.

Use --cloud-init=? to see a list of all available sub options.

Sub options are:

root-password-generate=on
Generate a new root password for the VM. When used, virt-install
will print the generated password to the console, and pause for
10 seconds to give the user a chance to notice it and copy it.

disable=on
Disable cloud-init in the VM for subsequent boots. Without this,
cloud-init may reset auth on each boot.

root-password-file=
A file used to set the VM root password from. This option can be
used either as "root-password-file=/path/to/password-file" or as
"root-password-file=/dev/fd/n", being n the file descriptor of
the password-file. Note that only the first line of the file
will be considered, including any whitespace characters and ex-
cluding new-line.

meta-data=
Specify a cloud-init meta-data file to add directly to the iso.
All other meta-data configuration options on the --cloud-init
command line are ignored. Can be path to local file or URL.

user-data=
Specify a cloud-init user-data file to add directly to the iso.
All other user-data configuration options on the --cloud-init
command line are ignored. Can be path to local file or URL.

root-ssh-key=
Specify a public key to inject into the guest, providing ssh ac-
cess to the root account. Example:
root-ssh-key=/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

clouduser-ssh-key
Specify a public key to inject into the guest, providing ssh ac-
cess to the default cloud-init user account. The account name is
different per distro cloud image. Some common ones are docu-
mented here:
<https://docs.openstack.org/image-guide/obtain-images.html>

network-config=
Specify a cloud-init network-config file to add directly to the
iso. Can be path to local file or URL.

--boot
Syntax: --boot BOOTOPTS

Optionally specify the post-install VM boot configuration. This option
allows specifying a boot device order, permanently booting off ker-
nel/initrd with option kernel arguments, and enabling a BIOS boot menu
(requires libvirt 0.8.3 or later)

--boot can be specified in addition to other install options (such as
--location, --cdrom, etc.) or can be specified on its own. In the lat-
ter case, behavior is similar to the --import install option: there is
no 'install' phase, the guest is just created and launched as speci-
fied.

Some examples:

--boot cdrom,fd,hd,network
Set the boot device priority as first cdrom, first floppy, first
harddisk, network PXE boot. Note: s390x guests only support one
boot device, so everything except the first device type will be
ignored.

--boot kernel=KERNEL,initrd=INITRD,kernel_args="console=/dev/ttyS0"
Have guest permanently boot off a local kernel/initrd pair, with
the specified kernel options.

--boot kernel=KERNEL,initrd=INITRD,dtb=DTB
Have guest permanently boot off a local kernel/initrd pair with
an external device tree binary. DTB can be required for some
non-x86 configurations like ARM or PPC

--boot loader=BIOSPATH
Use BIOSPATH as the virtual machine BIOS.

--boot bootmenu.enable=on,bios.useserial=on
Enable the bios boot menu, and enable sending bios text output
over serial console.

--boot init=INITPATH
Path to a binary that the container guest will init. If a root
--filesystem has been specified, virt-install will default to
/sbin/init, otherwise will default to /bin/sh.

--boot uefi, --boot uefi=on
Configure the VM to boot from UEFI. In order for virt-install to
know the correct UEFI parameters, libvirt needs to be advertis-
ing known UEFI binaries via domcapabilities XML, so this will
likely only work if using properly configured distro packages.
This is the recommended UEFI setup.

--boot uefi=off
Do not use UEFI if the VM would normally default to it.

--boot uefi,firmware.feature0.name=secure-boot,firmware.feature0.en-
abled=yes,firmware.feature1.name=enrolled-keys,firmware.feature1.en-
abled=yes
Configure the VM to boot from UEFI with Secure Boot support en-
abled. Only signed operating systems will be able to boot with
this configuration.

--boot uefi,firmware.feature0.name=secure-boot,firmware.feature0.en-
abled=no
Configure the VM to boot from UEFI with Secure Boot support dis-
abled. This configuration allows both signed and unsigned oper-
ating systems to run.

Additional information about the secure-boot and enrolled-keys
firmware features and how they can be used to influence firmware
selection is available at
<https://libvirt.org/kbase/secureboot.html>

--boot loader=/.../OVMF_CODE.fd,loader.read-
only=yes,loader.type=pflash,nvram.template=/.../OVMF_VARS.fd,loader_se-
cure=no
Specify that the virtual machine use the custom OVMF binary as
boot firmware, mapped as a virtual flash chip. In addition, re-
quest that libvirt instantiate the VM-specific UEFI varstore
from the custom "/.../OVMF_VARS.fd" varstore template. This
setup is not recommended, and should only be used if --boot uefi
doesn't know about your UEFI binaries.

Use --boot=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at
<https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#operating-system-booting>

--idmap
Syntax: --idmap OPTIONS

If the guest configuration declares a UID or GID mapping, the 'user'
namespace will be enabled to apply these. A suitably configured
UID/GID mapping is a pre-requisite to make containers secure, in the
absence of sVirt confinement.

--idmap can be specified to enable user namespace for LXC containers.
Example:

--idmap uid.start=0,uid.target=1000,uid.count=10,gid.start=0,gid.target=1000,gid.count=10

Use --idmap=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#container-boot>

GUEST OS OPTIONS
--osinfo, --os-variant
Syntax: --osinfo [OSNAME|OPT1=VAL1,...]

Optimize the guest configuration for a specific operating system. For
most cases, an OS must be specified or detected from the install media
so performance critical features like virtio can be enabled.

The simplest usage is --osinfo OSNAME or --os-variant OSNAME, for exam-
ple --osinfo fedora32. The supported suboptions are:

name=, short-id=
The OS name/short-id from libosinfo. Examples: fedora32, win10

id= The full URL style libosinfo ID. For example, name=win10 is the
same as id=http://microsoft.com/win/10

detect=on|off
Whether virt-install should attempt OS detection from the speci-
fied install media. Detection is presently only attempted for
URL and CDROM installs, and is not 100% reliable.

require=on|off
If on, virt-install errors if no OS value is set or detected.

Some interesting examples:

--osinfo detect=on,require=on
This tells virt-install to attempt detection from install media,
but explicitly fail if that does not succeed. This will ensure
your virt-install invocations don't fallback to a poorly per-
forming config

--osinfo detect=on,name=OSNAME
Attempt OS detection from install media, but if that fails, use
OSNAME as a fallback.

If any manual --osinfo value is specified, the default is all other
settings off or unset.

By default, virt-install will always attempt --osinfo detect=on for ap-
propriate install media. If no OS is detected, we will fail in most
common cases. This fatal error was added in 2022. You can work around
this by using the fallback example above, or disabling the require op-
tion. If you just need to get back to the old non-fatal behavior ASAP,
set the environment variable VIRTINSTALL_OSINFO_DISABLE_REQUIRE=1.

Use the command virt-install --osinfo list to get the list of the ac-
cepted OS variants. See osinfo-query os for even more output.

Note: --osinfo and --os-variant are aliases for one another. --osinfo
is the preferred new style naming.

STORAGE OPTIONS
--disk
Syntax: --disk OPTIONS

Specifies media to use as storage for the guest, with various options.
The general format of a disk string is

--disk opt1=val1,opt2=val2,...

The simplest invocation to create a new 10G disk image and associated
disk device:

--disk size=10

virt-install will generate a path name, and place it in the default im-
age location for the hypervisor. To specify media, the command can ei-
ther be:

--disk /some/storage/path[,opt1=val1]...

or explicitly specify one of the following arguments:

path A path to some storage media to use, existing or not. Existing
media can be a file or block device.

Specifying a non-existent path implies attempting to create the
new storage, and will require specifying a 'size' value. Even
for remote hosts, virt-install will try to use libvirt storage
APIs to automatically create the given path.

If the hypervisor supports it, path can also be a network URL,
like
<https://example.com/some-disk.img> . For network paths, they
hypervisor will directly access the storage, nothing is down-
loaded locally.

pool An existing libvirt storage pool name to create new storage on.
Requires specifying a 'size' value.

vol An existing libvirt storage volume to use. This is specified as
'poolname/volname'.

Options that apply to storage creation:

size size (in GiB) to use if creating new storage

sparse whether to skip fully allocating newly created storage. Value is
'yes' or 'no'. Default is 'yes' (do not fully allocate) unless
it isn't supported by the underlying storage type.

The initial time taken to fully-allocate the guest virtual disk
(sparse=no) will be usually balanced by faster install times in-
side the guest. Thus use of this option is recommended to ensure
consistently high performance and to avoid I/O errors in the
guest should the host filesystem fill up.

format Disk image format. For file volumes, this can be 'raw', 'qcow2',
'vmdk', etc. See format types in <https://libvirt.org/stor-
age.html> for possible values. This is often mapped to the
driver_type value as well.

If not specified when creating file images, this will default to
'qcow2'.

If creating storage, this will be the format of the new image.
If using an existing image, this overrides libvirt's format
auto-detection.

backing_store
Path to a disk to use as the backing store for the newly created
image.

backing_format
Disk image format of backing_store

Some example device configuration suboptions:

device Disk device type. Example values are be 'cdrom', 'disk', 'lun'
or 'floppy'. The default is 'disk'.

boot.order
Guest installation with multiple disks will need this parameter
to boot correctly after being installed. A boot.order parameter
will take values 1,2,3,... Devices with lower value has higher
priority. This option applies to other bootable device types as
well.

target.bus** or *bus
Disk bus type. Example values are be 'ide', 'sata', 'scsi',
'usb', 'virtio' or 'xen'. The default is hypervisor dependent
since not all hypervisors support all bus types.

readonly
Set drive as readonly (takes 'on' or 'off')

shareable
Set drive as shareable (takes 'on' or 'off')

cache The cache mode to be used. The host pagecache provides cache
memory. The cache value can be 'none', 'writethrough', 'direct-
sync', 'unsafe' or 'writeback'. 'writethrough' provides read
caching. 'writeback' provides read and write caching. 'direct-
sync' bypasses the host page cache. 'unsafe' may cache all con-
tent and ignore flush requests from the guest.

driver.discard
Whether discard (also known as "trim" or "unmap") requests are
ignored or passed to the filesystem. The value can be either
"unmap" (allow the discard request to be passed) or "ignore"
(ignore the discard request). Since 1.0.6 (QEMU and KVM only)

driver.name
Driver name the hypervisor should use when accessing the speci-
fied storage. Typically does not need to be set by the user.

driver.type
Driver format/type the hypervisor should use when accessing the
specified storage. Typically does not need to be set by the
user.

driver.io
Disk IO backend. Can be either "threads", "native" or "io_ur-
ing".

driver.error_policy
How guest should react if a write error is encountered. Can be
one of "stop", "ignore", or "enospace"

serial Serial number of the emulated disk device. This is used in linux
guests to set /dev/disk/by-id symlinks. An example serial number
might be: WD-WMAP9A966149

source.startupPolicy
It defines what to do with the disk if the source file is not
accessible.

snapshot
Defines default behavior of the disk during disk snapshots.

See the examples section for some uses. This option deprecates
-f/--file, -s/--file-size, --nonsparse, and --nodisks.

Use --disk=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at
<https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#hard-dri-
ves-floppy-disks-cdroms>

--filesystem
Specifies a directory on the host to export to the guest. The most sim-
ple invocation is:

--filesystem /source/on/host,/target/point/in/guest

Which will work for recent QEMU and linux guest OS or LXC containers.
For QEMU, the target point is just a mounting hint in sysfs, so will
not be automatically mounted.

Some example suboptions:

type The type or the source directory. Valid values are 'mount' (the
default) or 'template' for OpenVZ templates.

accessmode or mode
The access mode for the source directory from the guest OS. Only
used with QEMU and type=mount. Valid modes are 'mapped' (the de-
fault), 'passthrough', or 'squash'. See libvirt domain XML docu-
mentation for more info.

source The directory on the host to share.

target The mount location to use in the guest.

Use --filesystem=? to see a list of all available sub options. Com-
plete details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#filesystems>

NETWORKING OPTIONS
-w, --network
Syntax: -w, --network OPTIONS

Connect the guest to the host network. Examples for specifying the net-
work type:

bridge=BRIDGE
Connect to a bridge device in the host called BRIDGE. Use this
option if the host has static networking config & the guest re-
quires full outbound and inbound connectivity to/from the LAN.
Also use this if live migration will be used with this guest.

network=NAME
Connect to a virtual network in the host called NAME. Virtual
networks can be listed, created, deleted using the virsh command
line tool. In an unmodified install of libvirt there is usually
a virtual network with a name of default. Use a virtual network
if the host has dynamic networking (e.g. NetworkManager), or us-
ing wireless. The guest will be NATed to the LAN by whichever
connection is active.

type=direct,source=IFACE[,source.mode=MODE]
Direct connect to host interface IFACE using macvtap.

user Connect to the LAN using SLIRP. Only use this if running a QEMU
guest as an unprivileged user. This provides a very limited form
of NAT.

none Tell virt-install not to add any default network interface.

If --network is omitted a single NIC will be created in the guest. If
there is a bridge device in the host with a physical interface at-
tached, that will be used for connectivity. Failing that, the virtual
network called default will be used. This option can be specified mul-
tiple times to setup more than one NIC.

Some example suboptions:

model.type or model
Network device model as seen by the guest. Value can be any nic
model supported by the hypervisor, e.g.: 'e1000', 'rtl8139',
'virtio', ...

mac.address or mac
Fixed MAC address for the guest; If this parameter is omitted,
or the value RANDOM is specified a suitable address will be ran-
domly generated. For Xen virtual machines it is required that
the first 3 pairs in the MAC address be the sequence '00:16:3e',
while for QEMU or KVM virtual machines it must be '52:54:00'.

filterref.filter
Controlling firewall and network filtering in libvirt. Value can
be any nwfilter defined by the virsh 'nwfilter' subcommands.
Available filters can be listed by running 'virsh nwfil-
ter-list', e.g.: 'clean-traffic', 'no-mac-spoofing', ...

virtualport.* options
Configure the device virtual port profile. This is used for
802.Qbg, 802.Qbh, midonet, and openvswitch config.

Use --network=? to see a list of all available sub options.
Complete details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#net-
work-interfaces>

This option deprecates -m/--mac, -b/--bridge, and --nonetworks

hostdev=HOSTDEV
Use the referenced nodedev device as the source for type=hostdev
as described here: <https://libvirt.org/formatdo-
main.html#pci-passthrough>

For HOSTDEV format, see --hostdev documentation

portForward=[ADDRESS:]HOSTPORT[:GUESTPORT][/PROTO]
Simpler option for specifying port forwarding with --network
passt networks. Roughly matches podman run -p syntax. HOSTPORT
can be a represented as a range like 7000-8000, but GUESTPORT
can only be a single port. If GUESTPORT is not provided, host
and guest ports are assumed to match.

Examples:

--network passt,portForward=8080:80 \
--network passt,portForward0=7000-8000/udp,portForward1=127.0.0.1:2222:22 \

GRAPHICS OPTIONS
If no graphics option is specified, virt-install will try to select the
appropriate graphics if the DISPLAY environment variable is set, other-
wise '--graphics none' is used.

--graphics
Syntax: --graphics TYPE,opt1=arg1,opt2=arg2,...

Specifies the graphical display configuration. This does not configure
any virtual hardware, just how the guest's graphical display can be ac-
cessed. Typically the user does not need to specify this option,
virt-install will try and choose a useful default, and launch a suit-
able connection.

General format of a graphical string is

--graphics TYPE,opt1=arg1,opt2=arg2,...

For example:

--graphics vnc,password=foobar

Some supported TYPE values:

vnc Setup a virtual console in the guest and export it as a VNC
server in the host. Unless the port parameter is also provided,
the VNC server will run on the first free port number at 5900 or
above. The actual VNC display allocated can be obtained using
the vncdisplay command to virsh (or virt-viewer(1) can be used
which handles this detail for the use).

spice Export the guest's console using the Spice protocol. Spice al-
lows advanced features like audio and USB device streaming, as
well as improved graphical performance.

Using spice graphic type will work as if those arguments were
given:

--video qxl --channel spicevmc

none No graphical console will be allocated for the guest. Guests
will likely need to have a text console configured on the first
serial port in the guest (this can be done via the --extra-args
option). The command 'virsh console NAME' can be used to connect
to the serial device.

Some supported suboptions:

port Request a permanent, statically assigned port number for the
guest console. This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'

tlsPort
Specify the spice tlsport.

websocket
Request a VNC WebSocket port for the guest console.

If -1 is specified, the WebSocket port is auto-allocated.

This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'

listen Address to listen on for VNC/Spice connections. Default is typi-
cally 127.0.0.1 (localhost only), but some hypervisors allow
changing this globally (for example, the qemu driver default can
be changed in /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf). Use 0.0.0.0 to allow ac-
cess from other machines.

Use 'none' to specify that the display server should not listen
on any port. The display server can be accessed only locally
through libvirt unix socket (virt-viewer with --attach for in-
stance).

Use 'socket' to have the VM listen on a libvirt generated unix
socket path on the host filesystem.

This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'

password
Request a console password, required at connection time. Beware,
this info may end up in virt-install log files, so don't use an
important password. This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'

gl.enable
Whether to use OpenGL accelerated rendering. Value is 'yes' or
'no'. This is used by 'spice'.

gl.rendernode
DRM render node path to use. This is used when 'gl' is enabled.

Use --graphics=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#graphical-frame-
buffers>

This deprecates the following options: --vnc, --vncport, --vnclisten,
-k/--keymap, --sdl, --nographics

--autoconsole
Syntax: --autoconsole OPTIONS

Configure what interactive console virt-install will launch for the VM.
This option is not required; the default behavior is adaptive and de-
pendent on how the VM is configured. But you can use this option to
override the default choice.

--autoconsole graphical
Use the graphical virt-viewer(1) as the interactive console

--autoconsole text
Use the text mode virsh console as the interactive console.

--autoconsole none
This is the same as --noautoconsole

--noautoconsole
Don't automatically try to connect to the guest console. Same as
--autoconsole none

Note, virt-install exits quickly when this option is specified. If your
command requested a multistep install, like --cdrom or --location, af-
ter the install phase is complete the VM will be shutoff, regardless of
whether a reboot was requested in the VM. If you want the VM to be re-
booted, virt-install must remain running. You can use '--wait' to keep
virt-install alive even if --noautoconsole is specified.

VIRTUALIZATION OPTIONS
Options to override the default virtualization type choices.

-v, --hvm
Request the use of full virtualization, if both para & full virtualiza-
tion are available on the host. This parameter may not be available if
connecting to a Xen hypervisor on a machine without hardware virtual-
ization support. This parameter is implied if connecting to a QEMU
based hypervisor.

-p, --paravirt
This guest should be a paravirtualized guest. If the host supports both
para & full virtualization, and neither this parameter nor the --hvm
are specified, this will be assumed.

--container
This guest should be a container type guest. This option is only re-
quired if the hypervisor supports other guest types as well (so for ex-
ample this option is the default behavior for LXC and OpenVZ, but is
provided for completeness).

--virt-type
The hypervisor to install on. Example choices are kvm, qemu, or xen.
Available options are listed via 'virsh capabilities' in the <domain>
tags.

This deprecates the --accelerate option, which is now the default be-
havior. To install a plain QEMU guest, use '--virt-type qemu'

DEVICE OPTIONS
All devices have a set of address.* options for configuring the partic-
ulars of the device's address on its parent controller or bus. See
https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#device-addresses for details.

--controller
Syntax: --controller OPTIONS

Attach a controller device to the guest.

Some example invocations:

--controller usb2
Add a full USB2 controller setup

--controller usb3
Add a USB3 controller

--controller type=usb,model=none
Disable USB entirely

--controller type=scsi,model=virtio-scsi
Add a VirtIO SCSI controller

--controller num_pcie_root_ports=NUM
Control the number of default pcie-root-port controller devices
we add to the new VM by default, if the VM will use PCIe by de-
fault.

Use --controller=? to see a list of all available sub options. Com-
plete details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#controllers>

--input
Syntax: --input OPTIONS

Attach an input device to the guest. Example input device types are
mouse, tablet, or keyboard.

Use --input=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#input-devices>

--hostdev, --host-device
Syntax: --hostdev, --host-device OPTIONS

Attach a physical host device to the guest. Some example values for
HOSTDEV:

--hostdev pci_0000_00_1b_0
A node device name via libvirt, as shown by 'virsh nodedev-list'

--hostdev 001.003
USB by bus, device (via lsusb).

--hostdev 0x1234:0x5678
USB by vendor, product (via lsusb).

--hostdev 1f.01.02
PCI device (via lspci).

--hostdev wlan0,type=net
Network device (in LXC container).

--hostdev /dev/net/tun,type=misc
Character device (in LXC container).

--hostdev /dev/sdf,type=storage
Block device (in LXC container).

Use --hostdev=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#host-device-assign-
ment>

--sound
Syntax: --sound MODEL

Attach a virtual audio device to the guest. MODEL specifies the emu-
lated sound card model. Possible values are ich6, ich9, ac97, es1370,
sb16, pcspk, or default. 'default' will try to pick the best model that
the specified OS supports.

This deprecates the old --soundhw option. Use --sound=? to see a list
of all available sub options. Complete details at <https://lib-
virt.org/formatdomain.html#sound-devices>

--audio
Configure host audio output for the guest's --sound hardware.

Use --audio=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#audio-backends>

--watchdog
Syntax: --watchdog MODEL[,action=ACTION]

Attach a virtual hardware watchdog device to the guest. This requires a
daemon and device driver in the guest. The watchdog fires a signal when
the virtual machine appears to hung. ACTION specifies what libvirt will
do when the watchdog fires. Values are

reset Forcefully reset the guest (the default)

poweroff
Forcefully power off the guest

pause Pause the guest

none Do nothing

shutdown
Gracefully shutdown the guest (not recommended, since a hung
guest probably won't respond to a graceful shutdown)

MODEL is the emulated device model: either i6300esb (the default) or
ib700. Some examples:

--watchdog default
Use the recommended settings

--watchdog i6300esb,action=poweroff
Use the i6300esb with the 'poweroff' action

Use --watchdog=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#watchdog-devices>

--serial
Syntax: --serial OPTIONS

Specifies a serial device to attach to the guest, with various options.
The general format of a serial string is

--serial type,opt1=val1,opt2=val2,...

--serial and --parallel devices share all the same options, unless oth-
erwise noted. Some of the types of character device redirection are:

--serial pty
Pseudo TTY. The allocated pty will be listed in the running
guests XML description.

--serial dev,path=HOSTPATH
Host device. For serial devices, this could be /dev/ttyS0. For
parallel devices, this could be /dev/parport0.

--serial file,path=FILENAME
Write output to FILENAME.

--serial tcp,host=HOST:PORT,source.mode=MODE,protocol.type=PROTOCOL
TCP net console. MODE is either 'bind' (wait for connections on
HOST:PORT) or 'connect' (send output to HOST:PORT), default is
'bind'. HOST defaults to '127.0.0.1', but PORT is required. PRO-
TOCOL can be either 'raw' or 'telnet' (default 'raw'). If 'tel-
net', the port acts like a telnet server or client. Some exam-
ples:

Wait for connections on any address, port 4567:

--serial tcp,host=0.0.0.0:4567

Connect to localhost, port 1234:

--serial tcp,host=:1234,source.mode=connect

Wait for telnet connection on localhost, port 2222. The user
could then connect interactively to this console via 'telnet lo-
calhost 2222':

--serial tcp,host=:2222,source.mode=bind,source.protocol=telnet

--serial udp,host=CONNECT_HOST:PORT,bind_host=BIND_HOST:BIND_PORT
UDP net console. HOST:PORT is the destination to send output to
(default HOST is '127.0.0.1', PORT is required).
BIND_HOST:BIND_PORT is the optional local address to bind to
(default BIND_HOST is 127.0.0.1, but is only set if BIND_PORT is
specified). Some examples:

Send output to default syslog port (may need to edit /etc/rsys-
log.conf accordingly):

--serial udp,host=:514

Send output to remote host 192.168.10.20, port 4444 (this output
can be read on the remote host using 'nc -u -l 4444'):

--serial udp,host=192.168.10.20:4444

--serial unix,path=UNIXPATH,mode=MODE
Unix socket, see unix(7). MODE has similar behavior and defaults
as --serial tcp,mode=MODE

Use --serial=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at
<https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#consoles-serial-parallel-chan-
nel-devices>

--parallel
Syntax: --parallel OPTIONS

Specify a parallel device. The format and options are largely identical
to serial

Use --parallel=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#parallel-port>

--channel
Specifies a communication channel device to connect the guest and host
machine. This option uses the same options as --serial and --parallel
for specifying the host/source end of the channel. Extra 'target' op-
tions are used to specify how the guest machine sees the channel.

Some of the types of character device redirection are:

--channel SOURCE,target.type=guestfwd,target.address=HOST:PORT
Communication channel using QEMU usermode networking stack. The
guest can connect to the channel using the specified HOST:PORT
combination.

--channel SOURCE,target.type=virtio[,target.name=NAME]
Communication channel using virtio serial (requires 2.6.34 or
later host and guest). Each instance of a virtio --channel line
is exposed in the guest as /dev/vport0p1, /dev/vport0p2, etc.
NAME is optional metadata, and can be any string, such as
org.linux-kvm.virtioport1. If specified, this will be exposed
in the guest at /sys/class/virtio-ports/vport0p1/NAME

--channel spicevmc,target.type=virtio[,target.name=NAME]
Communication channel for QEMU spice agent, using virtio serial
(requires 2.6.34 or later host and guest). NAME is optional
metadata, and can be any string, such as the default com.red-
hat.spice.0 that specifies how the guest will see the channel.

--channel qemu-vdagent,target.type=virtio[,target.name=NAME]
Communication channel for QEMU vd agent, using virtio serial
(requires 2.6.34 or later host and guest). This allows
copy/paste functionality with VNC guests. Note that the guest
clipboard integration is implemented via spice-vdagent, which
must be running even when the guest does not use spice graphics.
NAME is optional metadata that specifies how the guest will see
the channel, and should be left as the default com.red-
hat.spice.0 unless you know what you are doing.

Use --channel=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#channel>

--console
Connect a text console between the guest and host. Certain guest and
hypervisor combinations can automatically set up a getty in the guest,
so an out of the box text login can be provided (target_type=xen for
xen paravirt guests, and possibly target_type=virtio in the future).

Example:

--console pty,target.type=virtio
Connect a virtio console to the guest, redirected to a PTY on
the host. For supported guests, this exposes /dev/hvc0 in the
guest. See
<https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/VirtioSerial> for
more info. virtio console requires libvirt 0.8.3 or later.

Use --console=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#console>

--video
Syntax: --video OPTIONS

Specify what video device model will be attached to the guest. Valid
values for VIDEO are hypervisor specific, but some options for recent
kvm are cirrus, vga, qxl, virtio, or vmvga (vmware). Use --video=? to
see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at
<https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#video-devices>

--smartcard
Syntax: --smartcard MODE[,OPTIONS]

Configure a virtual smartcard device.

Example MODE values are host, host-certificates, or passthrough. Exam-
ple suboptions include:

type Character device type to connect to on the host. This is only
applicable for passthrough mode.

An example invocation:

--smartcard passthrough,type=spicevmc
Use the smartcard channel of a SPICE graphics device to pass
smartcard info to the guest

Use --smartcard=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#smartcard-devices>

--redirdev
Syntax: --redirdev BUS[,OPTIONS]

Add a redirected device. Example suboptions:

type The redirection type, currently supported is tcp or spicevmc .

server The TCP server connection details, of the form 'server:port'.

Examples invocations:

--redirdev usb,type=tcp,server=localhost:4000
Add a USB redirected device provided by the TCP server on 'lo-
calhost' port 4000.

--redirdev usb,type=spicevmc
Add a USB device redirected via a dedicated Spice channel.

Use --redirdev=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#redirected-devices>

--memballoon
Syntax: --memballoon MODEL[,OPTIONS]

Attach a virtual memory balloon device to the guest. If the memballoon
device needs to be explicitly disabled, MODEL='none' is used.

MODEL is the type of memballoon device provided. The value can be 'vir-
tio', 'xen' or 'none'. Some examples:

--memballoon virtio
Explicitly create a 'virtio' memballoon device

--memballoon none
Disable the memballoon device

Use --memballoon=? to see a list of all available sub options. Com-
plete details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#memory-bal-
loon-device>

--tpm
Syntax: --tpm TYPE[,OPTIONS]

Configure a virtual TPM device. Examples:

--tpm /dev/tpm
Convenience option for passing through the hosts TPM.

--tpm emulator
Request an emulated TPM device.

--tpm default
Request virt-install to fill in a modern recommended default.

--tpm none
Request virt-install to disable TPM device.

Use --tpm=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#tpm-device>

--rng
Syntax: --rng TYPE[,OPTIONS]

Configure a virtual RNG device.

Example TYPE values include random, egd or builtin.

Example invocations:

--rng /dev/urandom
Use the /dev/urandom device to get entropy data, this form im-
plicitly uses the "random" model.

--rng builtin
Use the builtin rng device to get entropy data.

--rng egd,backend.source.host=localhost,backend.source.ser-
vice=8000,backend.type=tcp
Connect to localhost to the TCP port 8000 to get entropy data.

Use --rng=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at
<https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#random-number-generator-device>

--panic
Syntax: --panic MODEL[,OPTS]

Attach a panic notifier device to the guest. For the recommended set-
tings, use: --panic default

Use --panic=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#panic-device>

--shmem
Syntax: --shmem NAME[,OPTS]

Attach a shared memory device to the guest. The name must not contain /
and must not be directory-specific to . or ..

Use --shmem=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#shared-memory-device>

--memdev
Syntax: --memdev OPTS

Add a memory module to a guest which can be hotunplugged. To add a
memdev you need to configure hotplugmemory and NUMA for a guest.

Use --memdev=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#memory-devices>

--vsock
Syntax: --vsock OPTS

Configure a vsock host/guest interface. A typical configuration would
be

--vsock cid.auto=yes

Use --vsock=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#vsock>

--iommu
Syntax: --iommu MODEL[,OPTS]

Add an IOMMU device to the guest.

Use --iommu=? to see a list of all available options. Complete details
at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#iommu-devices>

--pstore
Syntax: --pstore OPT=VAL,[...]

Add a pstore device to a guest for storing oops/panic logs before it
crashes.

Use --pstore=? to see a list of all available options. Complete de-
tails at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#pstore>

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS
-h, --help
Show the help message and exit

--version
Show program's version number and exit

--autostart
Set the autostart flag for a domain. This causes the domain to be
started on host boot up.

--transient
Use --import or --boot and --transient if you want a transient libvirt
VM. These VMs exist only until the domain is shut down or the host
server is restarted. Libvirt forgets the XML configuration of the VM
after either of these events. Note that the VM's disks will not be
deleted. See:
<https://wiki.libvirt.org/page/VM_lifecycle#Transient_guest_do-
mains_vs_Persistent_guest_domains>

--destroy-on-exit
When the VM console window is exited, destroy (force poweroff) the VM.
If you combine this with --transient, this makes the virt-install com-
mand work similar to qemu, where the VM is shutdown when the console
window is closed by the user.

--print-xml
Syntax: --print-xml [STEP]

Print the generated XML of the guest, instead of defining it. By de-
fault this WILL do storage creation (can be disabled with --dry-run).
This option implies --quiet.

If the VM install has multiple phases, by default this will print all
generated XML. If you want to print a particular step, use --print-xml
2 (for the second phase XML).

--noreboot
Prevent the domain from automatically rebooting after the install has
completed.

--wait
Syntax: --wait WAIT

Configure how virt-install will wait for the install to complete.
Without this option, virt-install will wait for the console to close
(not necessarily indicating the guest has shutdown), or in the case of
--noautoconsole, simply kick off the install and exit.

Bare '--wait' or any negative value will make virt-install wait indefi-
nitely. Any positive number is the number of minutes virt-install will
wait. If the time limit is exceeded, virt-install simply exits, leaving
the virtual machine in its current state.

--dry-run
Proceed through the guest creation process, but do NOT create storage
devices, change host device configuration, or actually teach libvirt
about the guest. virt-install may still fetch install media, since
this is required to properly detect the OS to install.

--check
Enable or disable some validation checks. Some examples are warning
about using a disk that's already assigned to another VM (--check
path_in_use=on|off), or warning about potentially running out of space
during disk allocation (--check disk_size=on|off). Most checks are per-
formed by default.

-q, --quiet
Only print fatal error messages.

-d, --debug
Print debugging information to the terminal when running the install
process. The debugging information is also stored in
~/.cache/virt-manager/virt-install.log even if this parameter is omit-
ted.

EXAMPLES
The simplest invocation to interactively install a Fedora 29 KVM VM
with recommended defaults. virt-viewer(1) will be launched to graphi-
cally interact with the VM install

# sudo virt-install --install fedora29

Similar, but use libosinfo's unattended install support, which will
perform the fedora29 install automatically without user intervention:

# sudo virt-install --install fedora29 --unattended

Install a Windows 10 VM, using 40GiB storage in the default location
and 4096MiB of ram, and ensure we are connecting to the system libvirtd
instance:

# virt-install \
--connect qemu:///system \
--name my-win10-vm \
--memory 4096 \
--disk size=40 \
--osinfo win10 \
--cdrom /path/to/my/win10.iso

Install a CentOS 7 KVM from a URL, with recommended device defaults and
default required storage, but specifically request VNC graphics instead
of the default SPICE, and request 8 virtual CPUs and 8192 MiB of mem-
ory:

# virt-install \
--connect qemu:///system \
--memory 8192 \
--vcpus 8 \
--graphics vnc \
--osinfo centos7.0 \
--location http://mirror.centos.org/centos-7/7/os/x86_64/

Create a VM around an existing debian9 disk image:

# virt-install \
--import \
--memory 512 \
--disk /home/user/VMs/my-debian9.img \
--osinfo debian9

Start serial QEMU ARM VM, which requires specifying a manual kernel.

# virt-install \
--name armtest \
--memory 1024 \
--arch armv7l --machine vexpress-a9 \
--disk /home/user/VMs/myarmdisk.img \
--boot kernel=/tmp/my-arm-kernel,initrd=/tmp/my-arm-initrd,dtb=/tmp/my-arm-dtb,kernel_args="console=ttyAMA0 rw root=/dev/mmcblk0p3" \
--graphics none

Start an SEV launch security VM with 4GB RAM, 4GB+256MiB of hard_limit,
with a couple of virtio devices:

Note: The IOMMU flag needs to be turned on with driver.iommu for virtio
devices. Usage of --memtune is currently required because of SEV limi-
tations, refer to libvirt docs for a detailed explanation.

# virt-install \
--name foo \
--memory 4096 \
--boot uefi \
--machine q35 \
--memtune hard_limit=4563402 \
--disk size=15,target.bus=scsi \
--import \
--controller type=scsi,model=virtio-scsi,driver.iommu=on \
--controller type=virtio-serial,driver.iommu=on \
--network network=default,model=virtio,driver.iommu=on \
--rng /dev/random,driver.iommu=on \
--memballoon driver.iommu=on \
--launchSecurity sev

BUGS
Please see <https://virt-manager.org/bugs>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) Red Hat, Inc, and various contributors. This is free
software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU
General Public License <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html> . There
is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
virsh(1), virt-clone(1), virt-manager(1), the project website
<https://virt-manager.org>

VIRT-INSTALL(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=virt-install&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.0>

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