virt-qemu-run

Run QEMU VMs without libvirtd

TLDR

Run QEMU virtual machine

$ virt-qemu-run [path/to/guest.xml]

Run with state directory

$ virt-qemu-run -r [path/to/directory] [path/to/guest.xml]

Run with verbose output

$ virt-qemu-run -v [path/to/guest.xml]

Display help

$ virt-qemu-run -h

SYNOPSIS

virt-qemu-run [OPTIONS] GUEST.XML

virt-qemu-run is an experimental tool to run a QEMU guest virtual machine independent of the libvirtd daemon. It provides a way to run VMs using libvirt domain XML definitions without requiring the full libvirt infrastructure. The guest runs in the foreground and the command exits when the guest shuts down.This is useful for testing, embedded use cases, or running isolated VMs without daemon overhead. Exit status is 0 on successful shutdown and non-zero on failure.

PARAMETERS

-r DIR, --root DIR

Store VM state files in the specified directory. Must be removed manually after shutdown. When omitted, a temporary directory is created and cleaned up automatically when the VM exits.

-s SECRET-XML-FILE,SECRET-VALUE-FILE, --secret SECRET-XML-FILE,SECRET-VALUE-FILE

Load a secret into the secret driver. The XML file defines the secret (UUID must match one referenced in the domain XML); the value file contains the secret data. May be repeated.

-v, --verbose

Display verbose startup information.

-h, --help

Display help information.

INSTALL

sudo apt install libvirt-daemon-driver-qemu

sudo dnf install libvirt-daemon-driver-qemu

sudo apk add libvirt-client

sudo zypper install libvirt-daemon-driver-qemu

CAVEATS

Experimental tool; behavior may change between releases. Guest XML must be valid libvirt format. Some features dependent on libvirtd (such as the full device management API) may not work. Not recommended for production use.