virt-clone

Clone libvirt virtual machines

TLDR

Clone a VM with automatically generated name, storage, and MAC

$ virt-clone --original [vm_name] --auto-clone

Clone a VM with a specific new name and storage path

$ virt-clone --original [vm_name] --name [new_vm_name] --file [path/to/new_disk.qcow2]

Clone a VM with a random MAC address

$ virt-clone --original [vm_name] --name [new_vm_name] --auto-clone --mac RANDOM

Clone and replace an existing VM with the same name

$ virt-clone --original [vm_name] --name [new_vm_name] --auto-clone --replace

Clone without copying storage (reference existing disks)

$ virt-clone --original [vm_name] --name [new_vm_name] --preserve-data

Print the generated clone XML without performing the clone

$ virt-clone --original [vm_name] --auto-clone --print-xml

virt-clone creates a copy of an existing libvirt virtual machine. It clones the VM configuration and can duplicate or create new disk images, generating unique identifiers for the clone.The tool handles creating new UUIDs, MAC addresses, and storage paths to avoid conflicts with the original VM. It is commonly used for creating test environments or deploying multiple similar VMs. Disks marked as readonly or shareable are skipped by default unless --force-copy is used.

PARAMETERS

-o, --original name

Name of the original VM to clone (must be shut off).

--original-xml file

Libvirt guest XML file to use as the original guest.

-n, --name name

Name for the new cloned VM.

--auto-clone

Automatically generate new name, storage, and MAC.

-f, --file path

Path for the new disk image. Repeat for multi-disk guests.

-m, --mac address

MAC address for the new VM (or RANDOM).

-u, --uuid uuid

UUID for the new guest (default: randomly generated).

--preserve-data

Do not clone storage; preserve disk images and reference them.

--reflink

Use copy-on-write reflinks if the filesystem supports it.

--nonsparse

Fully allocate new storage instead of creating sparse files.

--force-copy target

Force cloning of the specified disk target (e.g. 'hdc', 'sda').

--replace

Shut down and remove any existing guest with the target name.

--print-xml

Print generated clone XML and exit without cloning.

-c, --connect uri

Connect to specified hypervisor URI.

-d, --debug

Print debugging information.

CAVEATS

Requires libvirt and an appropriate virtualization backend (KVM, QEMU, etc.). The original VM must be shut off for a consistent clone. Cloning large disk images can take significant time and requires sufficient storage space. Use --nonsparse for full allocation if the filesystem does not support sparse files well.

virt-clone

Clone libvirt virtual machines

TLDR

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

PARAMETERS

CAVEATS

SEE ALSO