virt-clone

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

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

$ virt-clone -o [vm_name] -n [new_vm_name] -f [path/to/new_storage] -m [ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff|RANDOM]

virt-clone [options]

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's commonly used for creating test environments or deploying multiple similar VMs.

-o, --original _name_

Name of the original VM to clone

Name for the new cloned VM

Automatically generate new name, storage, and MAC

Path for the new disk image

MAC address for the new VM (or RANDOM)

Don't clone disk images, just update paths

Use copy-on-write reflinks if supported

Connect to specified hypervisor URI

Requires libvirt and appropriate virtualization backend (KVM, QEMU, etc.). Cloning large disk images can take significant time. The original VM should be shut down for consistent clones. Storage paths must have sufficient space.

virt-install(1), virsh(1), virt-manager(1)