--connect

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:

-n, --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

Memory to allocate for the guest, in MiB. This deprecates the -r/--ram option. Sub options are available, like 'memory', 'currentMemory', 'maxMemory' and 'maxMemory.slots', which all map to the identically named XML values.

Back compat values 'memory' maps to the <currentMemory> element, and maxmemory maps to the <memory> element.

To configure memory modules which can be hotunplugged see --memdev description.

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

--memorybacking

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 https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryBacking

--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

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

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 https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMetadata

--events

Specify events values for the guest. Possible options include on_poweroff, on_reboot, and on_crash.

Use --events=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsEvents

--resource

Specify resource partitioning for the guest.

Use --resource=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#resPartition

--sysinfo

Configure sysinfo/SMBIOS values exposed to the VM OS. Examples:

Use --sysinfo=? to see a list of all available sub options.

Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSysinfo and https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsOSBIOS for smbios XML element.

--xml

Make direct edits to the generated XML using XPath syntax. Take an example like

virt-install --xml ./@foo=bar --xml ./newelement/subelement=1

This will alter the generated XML to contain:

<domain foo='bar' ...>
  ...
  <newelement>
    <subelement>1</subelement>
  </newelement>
</domain>

The --xml option has 4 sub options:

xpath subarguments

<disk foo="bar">
  <newelements/>
</disk>

This is useful for setting XML options per device, when virt-install does not support those options yet.

--qemu-commandline

Pass options directly to the qemu emulator. Only works for the libvirt qemu driver. The option can take a string of arguments, for example:

--qemu-commandline="-display gtk,gl=on"

Environment variables are specified with 'env', for example:

--qemu-commandline=env=DISPLAY=:0.1

Complete details about the libvirt feature: https://libvirt.org/drvqemu.html#qemucommand

--vcpus

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, dies, cores, and threads. If values are omitted, the rest will be autofilled preferring cores over sockets over threads. Cores are preferred because this matches the characteristics of modern real world silicon and thus a better fit for what guest OS will be expecting to deal with.

'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 https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPUAllocation

--numatune

Tune NUMA policy for the domain process. Example invocations

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

Specifies the numa nodes to allocate memory from. This has the same syntax as --vcpus 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 https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsNUMATuning

--memtune

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 https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryTuning

--blkiotune

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 https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsBlockTuning

--cpu

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.

If exact CPU model is specified virt-install will automatically copy CPU features available on the host to mitigate recent CPU speculative execution side channel and Microarchitectural Store Buffer Data security vulnerabilities. This however will have some impact on performance and will break migration to hosts without security patches. In order to control this behavior there is a secure parameter. Possible values are on and off, with on as the default. It is highly recommended to leave this enabled and ensure all virtualization hosts have fully up to date microcode, kernel & virtualization software installed.

Some examples:

<cpu>
  <numa>
    <cell cpus="0-3" memory="1234"/>
    <cell cpus="4-7" memory="5678"/>
  </numa>
</cpu>

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

--cputune

Tune CPU parameters for the guest.

Configure which of the host's physical CPUs the domain VCPU will be pinned to. Example invocation

--cputune vcpupin0.vcpu=0,vcpupin0.cpuset=0-3,vcpupin1.vcpu=1,vcpupin1.cpuset=4-7

Use --cputune=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPUTuning

--security, --seclabel

Configure domain seclabel domain settings. Type can be either 'static' or 'dynamic'. 'static' configuration requires a security LABEL. Specifying LABEL without TYPE implies static configuration.

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

--keywrap

Specify domain <keywrap> XML, used for S390 cryptographic key management operations.

Use --keywrap=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#keywrap

--iothreads

Specify domain <iothreads> and/or <iothreadids> XML. For example, to configure <iothreads>4</iothreads>, use --iothreads 4

Use --iothreads=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsIOThreadsAllocation

--features

Set elements in the guests <features> XML on or off. Examples include acpi, apic, eoi, privnet, and hyperv features. Some examples:

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

--clock

Configure the guest's <clock> XML. Some supported options:

Use --clock=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsTime

--pm

Configure guest power management features. Example:

--pm suspend_to_memi.enabled=on,suspend_to_disk.enabled=off

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

--launchSecurity

Enable launch security for the guest, e.g. AMD SEV. Example invocations:

# This will use a default policy 0x03
# No dhCert provided, so no data can be exchanged with the SEV firmware
--launchSecurity sev
# Explicit policy 0x01 - disables debugging, allows guest key sharing
--launchSecurity sev,policy=0x01
# Provide the session blob obtained from the SEV firmware
# Provide dhCert to open a secure communication channel with SEV firmware
--launchSecurity sev,session=BASE64SESSIONSTRING,dhCert=BASE64DHCERTSTRING

SEV has further implications on usage of virtio devices, so refer to EXAMPLES section to see a full invocation of virt-install with --launchSecurity.

Use --launchSecurity=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#launchSecurity

-c, --cdrom

ISO file or CDROM device to use for VM install media. After install, the virtual CDROM device will remain attached to the VM, but with the ISO or host path media ejected.

-l, --location

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

--location allows things like --extra-args for kernel arguments, and using --initrd-inject. If you want to use those options with CDROM media, you can pass the ISO to --location as well which works for some, but not all, CDROM media.

The LOCATION can take one of the following forms:

Some distro specific url samples:

Additionally, --location can take 'kernel' and 'initrd' sub options. These paths relative to the specified location URL/ISO that allow selecting specific files for kernel/initrd within the install tree. This can be useful if virt-install/ libosinfo doesn't know where to find the kernel in the specified --location.

For example, if you have an ISO that libosinfo doesn't know about called my-unknown.iso, with a kernel at 'kernel/fookernel' and initrd at 'kernel/fooinitrd', you can make this work with:

--location my-unknown.iso,kernel=kernel/fookernel,initrd=kernel/fooinitrd

--pxe

--import

-x, --extra-args

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=https://myserver/my.ks"

--initrd-inject

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"

--install

The simplest usage to ex: install fedora29 is:

--install fedora29

And virt-install will fetch a --location URL from libosinfo, and populate defaults from there.

Available suboptions:

--reinstall DOMAIN

Only install related options are processed, all other VM configuration options like --name, --disk, etc. are completely ignored.

If --reinstall is used with --cdrom, an existing CDROM attached to the VM will be used if one is available, otherwise a permanent CDROM device will be added.

--unattended

Perform an unattended install using libosinfo's install script support. This is essentially a database of auto install scripts for various distros: Red Hat kickstarts, Debian installer scripting, Windows unattended installs, and potentially others. The simplest invocation is to combine it with --install like:

--install fedora29 --unattended

A Windows install will look like

--cdrom /path/to/my/windows.iso --unattended

Sub options are:

--cloud-init

The simplest invocation is just plain --cloud-init with no suboptions; this maps to --cloud-init root-password-generate=on,disable=on. See those suboptions for explanation of how they work.

Use --cloud-init=? to see a list of all available sub options.

Sub options are:

--boot

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:

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

--idmap

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 https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsOSContainer

--os-variant, --osinfo

Optimize the guest configuration for a specific operating system. For most cases, an OS must be specified or detected from the install media so performance critical features like virtio can be enabled.

The simplest usage is --os-variant OSNAME or --osinfo OSNAME, for example --osinfo fedora32. The supported suboptions are:

Some interesting examples:

If any manual --osinfo value is specified, the default is all other settings off or unset.

By default, virt-install will always attempt --osinfo detect=on for appropriate install media. If no OS is detected, we will fail in most common cases. This fatal error was added in 2022. You can work around this by using the fallback example above, or disabling the require option. If you just need to get back to the old non-fatal behavior ASAP, set the environment variable VIRTINSTALL_OSINFO_DISABLE_REQUIRE=1.

Use the command virt-install --osinfo list to get the list of the accepted OS variants. See osinfo-query os for even more output.

Note: --os-variant and --osinfo are aliases for one another. --osinfo is the preferred new style naming.

--disk

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:

Options that apply to storage creation:

Some example device configuration suboptions:

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

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

--filesystem

--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.

Some example suboptions:

Use --filesystem=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsFilesystems

-w, --network

Connect the guest to the host network. Examples for specifying the network type:

If --network is omitted a single NIC will be created in the guest. If there is a bridge device in the host with a physical interface attached, 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.

Some example suboptions:

--graphics

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

Some supported TYPE values:

--video qxl --channel spicevmc

Some supported suboptions:

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

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

--autoconsole

Configure what interactive console virt-install will launch for the VM. This option is not required; the default behavior is adaptive and dependent on how the VM is configured. But you can use this option to override the default choice.

Note, virt-install exits quickly when this option is specified. If your command requested a multistep install, like --cdrom or --location, after the install phase is complete the VM will be shutoff, regardless of whether a reboot was requested in the VM. If you want the VM to be rebooted, virt-install must remain running. You can use '--wait' to keep virt-install alive even if --noautoconsole is specified.

-v, --hvm

-p, --paravirt

--container

--virt-type

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

--controller

Attach a controller device to the guest.

Some example invocations:

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

--input

Attach an input device to the guest. Example input device types are mouse, tablet, or keyboard.

Use --input=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsInput

--hostdev, --host-device

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

Use --hostdev=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsHostDev

--sound

Attach a virtual audio device to the guest. MODEL specifies the emulated sound card model. Possible values are ich6, ich9, 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 https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSound

--audio

Use --audio=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#audio-backends

--watchdog

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

MODEL is the emulated device model: either i6300esb (the default) or ib700. Some examples:

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

--serial

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:

Use --serial=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharSerial

--parallel

Specify a parallel device. The format and options are largely identical to serial

Use --parallel=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharParallel

--channel

Some of the types of character device redirection are:

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

--console

Example:

Use --console=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharConsole

--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, virtio, or vmvga (vmware). Use --video=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsVideo

--smartcard

Configure a virtual smartcard device.

Example MODE values are host, host-certificates, or passthrough. Example suboptions include:

An example invocation:

Use --smartcard=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSmartcard

--redirdev

Add a redirected device. Example suboptions:

Examples invocations:

Use --redirdev=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsRedir

--memballoon

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

--tpm

Configure a virtual TPM device. Examples:

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

--rng

Configure a virtual RNG device.

Example TYPE values include random, egd or builtin.

Example invocations:

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

--panic

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 https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsPanic

--shmem

Attach a shared memory device to the guest. The name must not contain / and must not be directory-specific to . or ..

Use --shmem=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#shared-memory-device

--memdev

Add a memory module to a guest which can be hotunplugged. To add a memdev you need to configure hotplugmemory and NUMA for a guest.

Use --memdev=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemory.

--vsock

Configure a vsock host/guest interface. A typical configuration would be

--vsock cid.auto=yes

Use --vsock=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#vsock.

--iommu

Add an IOMMU device to the guest.

Use --iommu=? to see a list of all available options. Complete details at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsIommu.

-h, --help

--version

--autostart

--transient

--destroy-on-exit

--print-xml

Print the generated XML of the guest, instead of defining it. By default this WILL do storage creation (can be disabled with --dry-run). This option implies --quiet.

If the VM install has multiple phases, by default this will print all generated XML. If you want to print a particular step, use --print-xml 2 (for the second phase XML).

--noreboot

--wait

Configure how virt-install will wait for the install to complete. 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.

Bare '--wait' or any negative value will make virt-install wait indefinitely. Any positive number is the number of minutes virt-install will wait. If the time limit is exceeded, virt-install simply exits, leaving the virtual machine in its current state.

--dry-run

--check

-q, --quiet

-d, --debug