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 interfaces, audio devices, physical USB or PCI devices, among others.

The installation media can be held locally or remotely on NFS, HTTP, FTP servers. In the latter case "virt-install" will fetch the minimal files necessary 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 supported.

Given suitable command line arguments, "virt-install" is capable of running completely unattended, with the guest 'kickstarting' itself too. This allows for easy automation of guest installs.

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=?

OPTIONS
Most options are not required. Minimum requirements are --name, --memory, guest storage (--disk, --filesystem or --nodisks), and an install option.

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

--version
    Show program's version number and exit

--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 libvirtd 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 installs.

-n NAME, --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 undefine') it prior to running "virt-install".

--memory=MEM[,OPT1=VAL][...]
    Memory to allocate for the guest, in megabytes. Sub options are available, like 'maxmemory' and 'hugepages'. This deprecates the -r/--ram option.

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

--memorybacking OPT1=yes|no[,OPT2=yes|no][...]
    This option will influence how virtual memory pages are backed by host pages.

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

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

--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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMetadata>

--vcpus=VCPUS[,maxvcpus=MAX][,sockets=#][,cores=#][,threads=#][,cpuset=CPUSET]
    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, cores, and threads. If values are omitted, the rest will be autofilled preferring sockets over cores over threads.

    '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 details at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPUAllocation>

--numatune=NODESET,[mode=MODE]
    Tune NUMA policy for the domain process. Example invocations

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

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

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

--memtune=SOFT_LIMIT,[hard_limit=HARD_LIMIT,swap_hard_limit=SW_HARD_LIMIT,min_guarantee=MIN_GUARANTEE]
    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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryTuning>

--blkiotune=WEIGHT,[device_path=DEVICE_PATH,device_weight=DEVICE_WEIGHT]
    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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsBlockTuning>

--cpu MODEL[,+feature][,-feature][,match=MATCH][,vendor=VENDOR]
    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 libvirt.

    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

    Some examples:

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

    --cpu host
        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 host-model-only
        Expose the nearest host CPU model configuration to the guest. It is the best CPU which can be used for a guest on any of the hosts.

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

--security type=TYPE[,label=LABEL][,relabel=yes|no]
    Configure domain security driver settings. Type can be either 'static' or 'dynamic'. 'static' configuration requires a security LABEL. Specifying LABEL without TYPE implies static configuration.

    To have libvirt automatically apply your static label, you must specify relabel=yes. Otherwise disk images must be manually labeled by the admin, including images that virt-install is asked to create.

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

--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 eoi=on
        Enable APIC PV EOI

    --features hyperv_vapic=on,hyperv_spinlocks=off
        Enable hypver VAPIC, but disable spinlocks

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

--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 details at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsTime>

--pm=PMOPTS
    Configure guest power management features. Example suboptions include suspend_to_ram=on|off and suspend_to_disk=on|off

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

  Installation Method options

--cdrom=CDROM
    File or device use as a virtual CD-ROM device for fully virtualized guests. It can be path to an ISO image, or to a CDROM device. It can also be a URL from which to fetch/access a minimal boot ISO image. The URLs take the same format as described for the "--location" argument. If a cdrom has been specified via the "--disk" option, and neither "--cdrom" nor any other install option is specified, the "--disk" cdrom is used as the install media.

-l LOCATION, --location=LOCATION
    Distribution tree installation source. virt-install can recognize certain distribution trees and fetches a bootable kernel/initrd pair to launch the install.

    With libvirt 0.9.4 or later, network URL installs work for remote connections. virt-install will download kernel/initrd to the local machine, and then upload the media to the remote host. This option requires the URL to be accessible by both the local and remote host.

    --location allows things like --extra-args for kernel arguments, and using --initrd-inject. If you want to use those options with CDROM media, you have a few options:

    * Run virt-install as root and do --location ISO

    * Mount the ISO at a local directory, and do --location DIRECTORY

    * Mount the ISO at a local directory, export that directory over local http, and do --location http://localhost/DIRECTORY

    The "LOCATION" can take one of the following forms:

    http://host/path
        An HTTP server location containing an installable distribution image.

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

    nfs:host:/path or nfs://host/path
        An NFS server location containing an installable distribution image. This requires running virt-install as root.

    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.

    ISO Mount the ISO and probe the directory. This requires running virt-install as root, and has the same VM access caveat as DIRECTORY.

    Some distro specific url samples:

    Fedora/Red Hat Based
        http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/18/Fedora/x86_64/os

    Debian/Ubuntu
        http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/

    Suse
        http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/repo/oss/

    Mandriva
        ftp://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu/linux/mandrake/official/2009.0/i586/

    Mageia
        ftp://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia/distrib/1

--pxe
    Use the PXE boot protocol to load the initial ramdisk and kernel for starting the guest installation process.

--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".

--livecd
    Specify that the installation media is a live CD and thus the guest needs to be configured to boot off the CDROM device permanently. It may be desirable to also use the "--nodisks" flag in combination.

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

--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"

--os-variant=OS_VARIANT
    Optimize the guest configuration for a specific operating system (ex. 'fedora18', 'rhel7', 'winxp'). While not requires, specifying this options is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, as it can greatly increase performance by specifying virtio among other guest tweaks.

    By default, virt-install will attempt to auto detect this value from the install media (currently only supported for URL installs). Autodetection can be disabled with the special value 'none'.

    If the special value 'list' is passed, virt-install will print the full list of variant values and exit. The printed format is not a stable interface, DO NOT PARSE IT.

    Use '--os-variant list' to see the full OS list

--boot=BOOTOPTS
    Optionally specify the post-install VM boot configuration. This option allows specifying a boot device order, permanently booting off kernel/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 latter case, behavior is similar to the --import install option: there is no 'install' phase, the guest is just created and launched as specified.

    Some examples:

    --boot cdrom,fd,hd,network,menu=on
        Set the boot device priority as first cdrom, first floppy, first harddisk, network PXE boot. Additionally enable BIOS boot menu prompt.

    --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. Only valid for fully virtualized guests.

    --boot menu=on,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.

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

--idmap=IDMAPOPTS
    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 details at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsOSContainer>

  Storage Configuration

--disk=DISKOPTS
    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 image location for the hypervisor. To specify media, the command can either 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.

    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'.

    Other available options:

    device
        Disk device type. Value can be 'cdrom', 'disk', or 'floppy'. Default is 'disk'. If a 'cdrom' is specified, and no install method is chosen, the cdrom is used as the install media.

    bus Disk bus type. Value can be 'ide', 'sata', 'scsi', 'usb', 'virtio' or 'xen'. The default is hypervisor dependent since not all hypervisors support all bus types.

    removable
        Sets the removable flag (/sys/block/$dev/removable on Linux). Only used with QEMU and bus=usb. Value can be 'on' or 'off'.

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

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

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

    sparse
        whether to skip fully allocating newly created storage. Value is 'true' or 'false'. Default is 'true' (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=false) will be usually balanced by faster install times inside 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.

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

    cache
        The cache mode to be used. The host pagecache provides cache memory. The cache value can be 'none', 'writethrough', or 'writeback'. 'writethrough' provides read caching. 'writeback' provides read and write caching.

    format
        Disk image format. For file volumes, this can be 'raw', 'qcow2', 'vmdk', etc. See format types in <http://libvirt.org/storage.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.

    driver_name
        Driver name the hypervisor should use when accessing the specified 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.

    io  Disk IO backend. Can be either "threads" or "native".

    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

    startup_policy
        It defines what to do with the disk if the source file is not accessible. See possible values in <http://www.libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsDisks>

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

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

--filesystem
    Specifies a directory on the host to export to the guest. The most simple 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.

    The following explicit options can be specified:

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

    mode
        The access mode for the source directory from the guest OS. Only used with QEMU and type=mount. Valid modes are 'passthrough' (the default), 'mapped', or 'squash'. See libvirt domain XML documentation 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. Complete details at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsFilesystems>

--nodisks
    Request a virtual machine without any local disk storage, typically used for running 'Live CD' images or installing to network storage (iSCSI or NFS root).

  Networking Configuration

-w NETWORK, --network=NETWORK,opt1=val1,opt2=val2,...
    Connect the guest to the host network. The value for "NETWORK" can take one of 4 formats:

    bridge=BRIDGE
        Connect to a bridge device in the host called "BRIDGE". Use this option if the host has static networking config & the guest requires 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 (eg NetworkManager), or using 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.

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

    Other available options are:

    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 Fixed MAC address for the guest; If this parameter is omitted, or the value "RANDOM" is specified a suitable address will be randomly 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
        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 nwfilter-list', e.g.: 'clean-traffic', 'no-mac-spoofing', ...

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

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

--nonetworks
    Request a virtual machine without any network interfaces.

  Graphics Configuration
If no graphics option is specified, "virt-install" will try to select the appropriate graphics if the DISPLAY environment variable is set, otherwise '--graphics none' is used.

--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 accessed. Typically the user does not need to specify this option, virt-install will try and choose a useful default, and launch a suitable connection.

    General format of a graphical string is

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

    For example:

        --graphics vnc,password=foobar

    The supported options are:

    type
        The display type. This is one of:

        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 allows 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. Fully virtualized guests (Xen FV or QEmu/KVM) will need to have a text console configured on the first serial port in the guest (this can be done via the --extra-args option). Xen PV will set this up automatically. The command 'virsh console NAME' can be used to connect to the serial device.

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

    tlsport
        Specify the spice tlsport.

    listen
        Address to listen on for VNC/Spice connections. Default is typically 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 access from other machines. This is use by 'vnc' and 'spice'

    keymap
        Request that the virtual VNC console be configured to run with a specific keyboard layout. If the special value 'local' is specified, virt-install will attempt to configure to use the same keymap as the local system. A value of 'none' specifically defers to the hypervisor. Default behavior is hypervisor specific, but typically is the same as 'local'. This is used by 'vnc'

    password
        Request a VNC 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'

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

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

--noautoconsole
    Don't automatically try to connect to the guest console. The default behaviour is to launch virt-viewer(1) to display the graphical console, or to run the "virsh" "console" command to display the text console. Use of this parameter will disable this behaviour.

  Virtualization Type options
Options to override the default virtualization type choices.

-v, --hvm
    Request the use of full virtualization, if both para & full virtualization are available on the host. This parameter may not be available if connecting to a Xen hypervisor on a machine without hardware virtualization 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 required if the hypervisor supports other guest types as well (so for example 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, xen, or kqemu. Available options are listed via 'virsh capabilities' in the <domain> tags.

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

  Device Options

--controller=TYPE[,OPTS]
    Attach a controller device to the guest. TYPE is one of: ide, fdc, scsi, sata, virtio-serial, or usb.

    Controller also supports the special values usb2 and usb3.

    model
        Controller model. These may vary according to the hypervisor and its version. Most commonly used models are e.g. auto, virtio-scsi for the scsi controller, ehci or none for the usb controller. For full list and further details on controllers/models, see "http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsControllers".

    address
        Controller address, current PCI of form 'bus:domain:slot.function'.

    index
        A decimal integer describing in which order the bus controller is encountered, and to reference the controller bus.

    master
        Applicable to USB companion controllers, to define the master bus startport.

    Examples:

    --controller usb,model=ich9-ehci1,address=0:0:4.0,index=0
        Adds a ICH9 EHCI1 USB controller on PCI address 0:0:4.0

    --controller usb,model=ich9-uhci2,address=0:0:4.7,index=0,master=2
        Adds a ICH9 UHCI2 USB companion controller for the previous master controller, ports start from port number 2.

        The parameter multifunction='on' will be added automatically to the proper device (if needed). This applies to all PCI devices.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--sound MODEL
    Attach a virtual audio device to the guest. MODEL specifies the emulated sound card model. Possible values are ich6, 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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSound>

--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:

    Use the recommended settings:

    --watchdog default

    Use the i6300esb with the 'poweroff' action

    --watchdog i6300esb,action=poweroff

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

--parallel=CHAROPTS
--serial=CHAROPTS
    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 otherwise 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 pipe,path=PIPEPATH
        Named pipe (see pipe(7))

    --serial tcp,host=HOST:PORT,mode=MODE,protocol=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. PROTOCOL can be either 'raw' or 'telnet' (default 'raw'). If 'telnet', the port acts like a telnet server or client. Some examples:

        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,mode=connect

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

        --serial tcp,host=:2222,mode=bind,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/rsyslog.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=? or --parallel=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharSerial> and <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharParallel>

--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' options 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[,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[,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.redhat.spice.0 that specifies how the guest will see the channel.

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

--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 http://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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharConsole>

--video=VIDEO
    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, or vmvga (vmware).

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

--smartcard=MODE[,OPTS]
    Configure a virtual smartcard device.

    Mode is one of host, host-certificates, or passthrough. Additional options are:

    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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSmartcard>

--redirdev=BUS[,OPTS]
    Add a redirected device.

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

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

    Examples of invocation:

    --redirdev usb,type=tcp,server=localhost:4000
        Add a USB redirected device provided by the TCP server on 'localhost' 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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsRedir>

--memballoon MODEL
    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 'virtio', 'xen' or 'none'. Some examples:

    Use the recommended settings:

    --memballoon virtio

    Do not use memballoon device:

    --memballoon none

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

--tpm=TYPE[,OPTS]
    Configure a virtual TPM device.

    Type must be passthrough. Additional options are:

    model
        The device model to present to the guest operating system. Model must be tpm-tis.

    An example invocation:

    --tpm passthrough,model=tpm-tis
        Make the host's TPM accessible to a single guest.

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

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

--rng=TYPE[,OPTS]
    Configure a virtual RNG device.

    Type can be random or egd.

    If the specified type is random then these values must be specified:

    backend_device
        The device to use as a source of entropy.

    Whereas, when the type is egd, these values must be provided:

    backend_host
        Specify the host of the Entropy Gathering Daemon to connect to.

    backend_service
        Specify the port of the Entropy Gathering Daemon to connect to.

    backend_type
        Specify the type of the connection: tcp or udp.

    backend_mode
        Specify the mode of the connection. It is either 'bind' (wait for connections on HOST:PORT) or 'connect' (send output to HOST:PORT).

    backend_connect_host
        Specify the remote host to connect to when the specified backend_type is udp and backend_mode is bind.

    backend_connect_service
        Specify the remote service to connect to when the specified backend_type is udp and backend_mode is bind.

    An example invocation:

    --rng egd,backend_host=localhost,backend_service=8000,backend_type=tcp
        Connect to localhost to the TCP port 8000 to get entropy data.

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

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

--panic OPTS
    Attach a panic notifier device to the guest. For the recommended settings, use:

    --panic default

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

  Miscellaneous Options

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

--print-xml
    If the requested guest has no install phase (--import, --boot), print the generated XML instead of defining the guest. By default this WILL do storage creation (can be disabled with --dry-run).

    If the guest has an install phase, you will need to use --print-step to specify exactly what XML output you want. This option implies --quiet.

--print-step
    Acts similarly to --print-xml, except requires specifying which install step to print XML for. Possible values are 1, 2, 3, or all. Stage 1 is typically booting from the install media, and stage 2 is typically the final guest config booting off harddisk. Stage 3 is only relevant for windows installs, which by default have a second install stage. This option implies --quiet.

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

--wait=WAIT
    Amount of time to wait (in minutes) for a VM to complete its install. 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. Any negative value will make virt-install wait indefinitely, a value of 0 triggers the same results as noautoconsole. 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.

-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 omitted.

EXAMPLES
Install a Fedora 20 KVM guest with virtio accelerated disk/network, creating a new 10GB qcow2 file, installing from media in the hosts CDROM drive. This will use Spice graphics by default, and launch autolaunch a graphical client.

  # virt-install \
       --connect qemu:///system \
       --virt-type kvm \
       --name demo \
       --memory 500 \
       --disk size=10 \
       --cdrom /dev/cdrom \
       --os-variant fedora13

Install a Fedora 9 plain QEMU guest, using LVM partition, virtual networking, booting from PXE, using VNC server/viewer

  # virt-install \
       --connect qemu:///system \
       --name demo \
       --memory 500 \
       --disk path=/dev/HostVG/DemoVM \
       --network network=default \
       --virt-type qemu
       --graphics vnc \
       --os-variant fedora9

Run a Live CD image under Xen fullyvirt, in diskless environment

  # virt-install \
       --hvm \
       --name demo \
       --memory 500 \
       --nodisks \
       --livecd \
       --graphics vnc \
       --cdrom /root/fedora7live.iso

Run /usr/bin/httpd in a linux container guest (LXC). Resource usage is capped at 512 MB of ram and 2 host cpus:

  # virt-install \
        --connect lxc:/// \
        --name httpd_guest \
        --memory 512 \
        --vcpus 2 \
        --init /usr/bin/httpd

Start a linux container guest(LXC) with a private root filesystem, using /bin/sh as init. Container's root will be under host dir /home/LXC. The host dir "/home/test" will be mounted at "/mnt" dir inside container:

  # virt-install \
        --connect lxc:/// \
        --name container \
        --memory 128 \
        --filesystem /home/LXC,/ \
        --filesystem /home/test,/mnt \
        --init /bin/sh

Install a paravirtualized Xen guest, 500 MB of RAM, a 5 GB of disk, and Fedora Core 6 from a web server, in text-only mode, with old style --file options:

  # virt-install \
       --paravirt \
       --name demo \
       --memory 500 \
       --file /var/lib/xen/images/demo.img \
       --file-size 6 \
       --graphics none \
       --location http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/6/x86_64/os/

Create a guest from an existing disk image 'mydisk.img' using defaults for the rest of the options.

  # virt-install \
       --name demo \
       --memory 512 \
       --disk /home/user/VMs/mydisk.img \
       --import

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" \
       --nographics

BUGS
Please see http://virt-manager.org/page/BugReporting

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 "http://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 "http://virt-manager.org"