qemu cheatsheet - plembo/onemoretech GitHub Wiki

created: 2011/08/30 15:28:59

This is based on the howto appearing in the Fedora Project wiki.

Create a new qemu image:

$ qemu-img create -f vmdk test1.img 10G

(notice this command line creates an image in vmdk, VMware, format, for compatibility -- qcow2 is the native format)

Install an O/S from CD (or DVD):

$ qemu -cdrom /dev/cdrom -hda test1.img -boot d -m 512

Start up an installed O/S:

$ qemu test1.img -boot c -m 1024

If no network options are specified qemu will emulate an Intel e1000 PCI network card in user mode that bridges to the host's network interface. User mode will allow outgoing connections from the guest, but blocks incoming ones from outside. There's a nice article on QEMU Networking that shows how to go beyond the defaults, like using TAP interfaces to permit outside access to the guest.