Ubuntu Manpage: virt-install - provision new virtual machines

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 local ISO or CDROM media, or a distro install tree hosted remotely over
HTTP, FTP, or in a local directory. In the install tree 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. This can be done
manually, or more simply with the --unattended option.

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=?

Most options are not required. If a suitable --osinfo value is specified or detected, all defaults will
be filled in and reported in the terminal output. Otherwise, minimum required options are --memory, guest
storage (--disk or --filesystem), and an install method choice.

CONNECTING TO LIBVIRT

   --connect
       Syntax: --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
Syntax: -n, --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
Syntax: --memory OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --memorybacking OPTIONS

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

--events
Syntax: --events OPT=VAL,[...]

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
Syntax: --resource OPT=VAL,[...]

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
Syntax: --sysinfo OPT=VAL,[...]

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

--sysinfo host
Special type that exposes the host's SMBIOS info into the VM.

--sysinfo emulate
Special type where hypervisor will generate SMBIOS info into the VM.

--sysinfo bios.vendor=custom or --sysinfo smbios,bios.vendor=custom
The default type is smbios and allows users to specify SMBIOS info manually.

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
Syntax: --xml ARGS

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:

The --xml option has 4 sub options:

--xml xpath.set=XPATH[=VALUE]
The default behavior if no explicit suboption is set. Takes the form XPATH=VALUE unless paired
with xpath.value . See below for how value is interpreted.

--xml xpath.value=VALUE
xpath.set will be interpreted only as the XPath string, and xpath.value will be used as the value
to set. May help sidestep problems if the string you need to set contains a '=' equals sign.

If value is empty, it's treated as unsetting that particular node.

--xml xpath.create=XPATH
Create the node as an empty element. Needed for boolean elements like <readonly/>

--xml xpath.delete=XPATH
Delete the entire node specified by the xpath, and all its children

xpath subarguments
Similar to the --xml option, most top level options have xpath.* suboptions. For example, --disk
xpath1.set=./@foo=bar,xpath2.create=./newelement would generate XML alterations like

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

--qemu-commandline
Syntax: --qemu-commandline ARGS

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
Syntax: --vcpus OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --numatune OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --memtune OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --blkiotune OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --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.

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 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 numa.cell0.memory=1234,numa.cell0.cpus=0-3,numa.cell1.memory=5678,numa.cell1.cpus=4-7
Example of specifying two NUMA cells. This will generate XML like:

--cpu host-passthrough,cache.mode=passthrough
Example of passing through the host cpu's cache information.

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

--cputune
Syntax: --cputune OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --security, --seclabel type=TYPE[,label=LABEL][,relabel=yes|no],...

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
Syntax: --keywrap OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --iothreads OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --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 apic.eoi=on
Enable APIC PV EOI

--features hyperv.vapic.state=on,hyperv.spinlocks.state=off
Enable hyperv VAPIC, but disable spinlocks

--features kvm.hidden.state=on
Allow the KVM hypervisor signature to be hidden from the guest

--features pvspinlock=on
Notify the guest that the host supports paravirtual spinlocks for example by exposing the
pvticketlocks mechanism.

--features gic.version=2
This is relevant only for ARM architectures. Possible values are "host" or version number.

--features smm.state=on
This enables System Management Mode of hypervisor. Some UEFI firmwares may require this feature to
be present. (QEMU supports SMM only with q35 machine type.)

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

--clock
Syntax: --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
https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsTime

--pm
Syntax: --pm OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --launchSecurity TYPE[,OPTS]

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

INSTALLATION OPTIONS

-c, --cdrom
Syntax: --cdrom PATH

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
Syntax: -l, --location OPTIONS

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:

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

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

ISO Extract files directly from the ISO path

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.

Some distro specific url samples:

Fedora/Red Hat Based
https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/29/Server/x86_64/os

Debian https://debian.osuosl.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/

Ubuntu https://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/wily/main/installer-amd64/

Suse https://download.opensuse.org/pub/opensuse/distribution/leap/42.3/repo/oss/

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
Install from PXE. This just tells the VM to boot off the network for the first boot.

--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.

-x, --extra-args
Syntax: -x, --extra-args KERNELARGS

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
Syntax: --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"

--install
This is a larger entry point for various types of install operations. The command has multiple
subarguments, similar to --disk and friends. This option is strictly for VM install operations,
essentially configuring the first boot.

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:

os= This is os install option described above. The explicit way to specify that would be --install
os=fedora29 . os= is the default option if none is specified

kernel=, initrd=
Specify a kernel and initrd pair to use as install media. They are copied into a temporary
location before booting the VM, so they can be combined with --initrd-inject and your source media
will not be altered. Media will be uploaded to a remote connection if required.

Example case using local filesystem paths: --install kernel=/path/to/kernel,initrd=/path/to/initrd

Example using network paths. Kernel/initrd will be downloaded locally first, then passed to the VM
as local filesystem paths: --install
kernel=https://127.0.0.1/tree/kernel,initrd=https://127.0.0.1/tree/initrd

Note, these are just for install time booting. If you want to set the kernel used for permanent VM
booting, use the --boot option.

kernel_args=, kernel_args_overwrite=yes|no
Specify install time kernel arguments (libvirt <cmdline> XML). These can be combine with ex:
kernel/initrd options, or --location media. By default, kernel_args is just like --extra-args, and
will _append_ to the arguments that virt-install will try to set by default for most --location
installs. If you want to override the virt-install default, additionally specify
kernel_args_overwrite=yes

bootdev=
Specify the install bootdev (hd, cdrom, floppy, network) to boot off of for the install phase.
This maps to libvirt <os><boot dev=X> XML.

If you want to install off a cdrom or network, it's probably simpler and more backwards compatible
to just use --cdrom or --pxe , but this options gives fine grained control over the install
process if needed.

no_install=yes|no
Tell virt-install that there isn't actually any install happening, and you just want to create the
VM. --import is just an alias for this, as is specifying --boot without any other install options.
The deprecated --live option is the same as '--cdrom $ISO --install no_install=yes'

--reinstall DOMAIN
Reinstall an existing VM. DOMAIN can be a VM name, UUID, or ID number. virt-install will fetch the
domain XML from libvirt, apply the specified install config changes, boot the VM for the install process,
and then revert to roughly the same starting XML.

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
Syntax: --unattended [OPTIONS]

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:

profile=
Choose which libosinfo unattended profile to use. Most distros have a 'desktop' and a 'jeos'
profile. virt-install will default to 'desktop' if this is unspecified.

admin-password-file=
A file used to set the VM OS admin/root password from. This option can be used either as
"admin-password-file=/path/to/password-file" or as "admin-password-file=/dev/fd/n", being n the
file descriptor of the password-file. Note that only the first line of the file will be
considered, including any whitespace characters and excluding new-line.

user-login=
The user login name to be used in th VM. virt-install will default to your current host username
if this is unspecified. Note that when running virt-install as "root", this option must be
specified.

user-password-file=
A file used to set the VM user password. This option can be used either as
"user-password-file=/path/to/password-file" or as "user-password-file=/dev/fd/n", being n the file
descriptor of the password-file. The username is either the user-login specified or your current
host username. Note that only the first line of the file will be considered, including any
whitespace characters and excluding new-line.

product-key=
Set a Windows product key

--cloud-init
Pass cloud-init metadata to the VM. A cloud-init NoCloud ISO file is generated, and attached to the VM as
a CDROM device. The device is only attached for the first boot. This option is particularly useful for
distro cloud images, which have locked login accounts by default; --cloud-init provides the means to
initialize those login accounts, like setting a root password.

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:

root-password-generate=on
Generate a new root password for the VM. When used, virt-install will print the generated password
to the console, and pause for 10 seconds to give the user a chance to notice it and copy it.

disable=on
Disable cloud-init in the VM for subsequent boots. Without this, cloud-init may reset auth on each
boot.

root-password-file=
A file used to set the VM root password from. This option can be used either as
"root-password-file=/path/to/password-file" or as "root-password-file=/dev/fd/n", being n the file
descriptor of the password-file. Note that only the first line of the file will be considered,
including any whitespace characters and excluding new-line.

meta-data=
Specify a cloud-init meta-data file to add directly to the iso. All other meta-data configuration
options on the --cloud-init command line are ignored.

user-data=
Specify a cloud-init user-data file to add directly to the iso. All other user-data configuration
options on the --cloud-init command line are ignored.

root-ssh-key=
Specify a public key to inject into the guest, providing ssh access to the root account. Example:
root-ssh-key=/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

clouduser-ssh-key
Specify a public key to inject into the guest, providing ssh access to the default cloud-init user
account. The account name is different per distro cloud image. Some common ones are documented
here: https://docs.openstack.org/image-guide/obtain-images.html

network-config=
Specify a cloud-init network-config file to add directly to the iso.

--boot
Syntax: --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
Set the boot device priority as first cdrom, first floppy, first harddisk, network PXE boot.

--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.

--boot bootmenu.enable=on,bios.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.

--boot uefi
Configure the VM to boot from UEFI. In order for virt-install to know the correct UEFI parameters,
libvirt needs to be advertising known UEFI binaries via domcapabilities XML, so this will likely
only work if using properly configured distro packages.

--boot
loader=/.../OVMF_CODE.fd,loader.readonly=yes,loader.type=pflash,nvram.template=/.../OVMF_VARS.fd,loader_secure=no
Specify that the virtual machine use the custom OVMF binary as boot firmware, mapped as a virtual
flash chip. In addition, request that libvirt instantiate the VM-specific UEFI varstore from the
custom "/.../OVMF_VARS.fd" varstore template. This is the recommended UEFI setup, and should be
used if --boot uefi doesn't know about your UEFI binaries. If your UEFI firmware supports Secure
boot feature you can enable it via loader_secure.

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

--idmap
Syntax: --idmap OPTIONS

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

GUEST OS OPTIONS

--os-variant, --osinfo
Syntax: --osinfo [OSNAME|OPT1=VAL1,...]

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:

name=, short-id=
The OS name/short-id from libosinfo. Examples: fedora32, win10

id= The full URL style libosinfo ID. For example, name=win10 is the same as
id=http://microsoft.com/win/10

detect=on|off
Whether virt-install should attempt OS detection from the specified install media. Detection is
presently only attempted for URL and CDROM installs, and is not 100% reliable.

require=on|off
If on, virt-install errors if no OS value is set or detected.

Some interesting examples:

--osinfo detect=on,require=on
This tells virt-install to attempt detection from install media, but explicitly fail if that does
not succeed. This will ensure your virt-install invocations don't fallback to a poorly performing
config

--osinfo detect=on,name=OSNAME
Attempt OS detection from install media, but if that fails, use OSNAME as a fallback.

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.

STORAGE OPTIONS

--disk
Syntax: --disk OPTIONS

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.

If the hypervisor supports it, path can also be a network URL, like
https://example.com/some-disk.img . For network paths, they hypervisor will directly access the
storage, nothing is downloaded locally.

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'.

Options that apply to storage creation:

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

sparse whether to skip fully allocating newly created storage. Value is 'yes' or 'no'. Default is 'yes'
(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=no) 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.

format Disk image format. For file volumes, this can be 'raw', 'qcow2', 'vmdk', etc. See format types in
https://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.

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

backing_format
Disk image format of backing_store

Some example device configuration suboptions:

device Disk device type. Example values are be 'cdrom', 'disk', 'lun' or 'floppy'. The default is
'disk'.

boot.order
Guest installation with multiple disks will need this parameter to boot correctly after being
installed. A boot.order parameter will take values 1,2,3,... Devices with lower value has higher
priority. This option applies to other bootable device types as well.

target.bus** or *bus
Disk bus type. Example values are be 'ide', 'sata', 'scsi', 'usb', 'virtio' or 'xen'. The default
is hypervisor dependent since not all hypervisors support all bus types.

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

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

cache The cache mode to be used. The host pagecache provides cache memory. The cache value can be
'none', 'writethrough', 'directsync', 'unsafe' or 'writeback'. 'writethrough' provides read
caching. 'writeback' provides read and write caching. 'directsync' bypasses the host page cache.
'unsafe' may cache all content and ignore flush requests from the guest.

driver.discard
Whether discard (also known as "trim" or "unmap") requests are ignored or passed to the
filesystem. The value can be either "unmap" (allow the discard request to be passed) or "ignore"
(ignore the discard request). Since 1.0.6 (QEMU and KVM only)

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.

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

driver.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

source.startupPolicy
It defines what to do with the disk if the source file is not accessible.

snapshot
Defines default behavior of the disk during disk snapshots.

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
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.

Some example suboptions:

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

accessmode or mode
The access mode for the source directory from the guest OS. Only used with QEMU and type=mount.
Valid modes are 'mapped' (the default), 'passthrough', 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
https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsFilesystems

NETWORKING OPTIONS

-w, --network
Syntax: -w, --network OPTIONS

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

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
(e.g. 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.

none Tell virt-install not to add any default network interface.

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:

model.type or 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.address or 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.filter
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', ...

virtualport.* options
Configure the device virtual port profile. This is used for 802.Qbg, 802.Qbh, midonet, and
openvswitch config.

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

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

GRAPHICS OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --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

Some supported TYPE values:

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. Guests will likely need to have a text
console configured on the first serial port in the guest (this can be done via the --extra-args
option). The command 'virsh console NAME' can be used to connect to the serial device.

Some supported suboptions:

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

tlsPort
Specify the spice tlsport.

websocket
Request a VNC WebSocket port for the guest console.

If -1 is specified, the WebSocket port is auto-allocated.

This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'

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.

Use 'none' to specify that the display server should not listen on any port. The display server
can be accessed only locally through libvirt unix socket (virt-viewer with --attach for instance).

Use 'socket' to have the VM listen on a libvirt generated unix socket path on the host filesystem.

This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'

password
Request a console 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'

gl.enable
Whether to use OpenGL accelerated rendering. Value is 'yes' or 'no'. This is used by 'spice'.

gl.rendernode
DRM render node path to use. This is used when 'gl' is enabled.

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
Syntax: --autoconsole OPTIONS

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.

--autoconsole graphical
Use the graphical virt-viewer(1) as the interactive console

--autoconsole text
Use the text mode virsh console as the interactive console.

--autoconsole none
This is the same as --noautoconsole

--noautoconsole
Don't automatically try to connect to the guest console. Same as --autoconsole none

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.

VIRTUALIZATION 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, or xen.  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

All devices have a set of address.* options for configuring the particulars of the device's address on
its parent controller or bus. See https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsAddress for details.

--controller
Syntax: --controller OPTIONS

Attach a controller device to the guest.

Some example invocations:

--controller usb2
Add a full USB2 controller setup

--controller usb3
Add a USB3 controller

--controller type=usb,model=none
Disable USB entirely

--controller type=scsi,model=virtio-scsi
Add a VirtIO SCSI controller

--controller num_pcie_root_ports=NUM
Control the number of default pcie-root-port controller devices we add to the new VM by default,
if the VM will use PCIe by default.

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

--input
Syntax: --input OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --hostdev, --host-device OPTIONS

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

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

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

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

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

--hostdev wlan0,type=net
Network device (in LXC container).

--hostdev /dev/net/tun,type=misc
Character device (in LXC container).

--hostdev /dev/sdf,type=storage
Block device (in LXC container).

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

--sound
Syntax: --sound MODEL

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
Configure host audio output for the guest's --sound hardware.

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

--watchdog
Syntax: --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:

--watchdog default
Use the recommended settings

--watchdog i6300esb,action=poweroff
Use the i6300esb with the 'poweroff' action

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

--serial
Syntax: --serial OPTIONS

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 tcp,host=HOST:PORT,source.mode=MODE,protocol.type=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,source.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,source.mode=bind,source.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=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at
https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharSerial

--parallel
Syntax: --parallel OPTIONS

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
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[,target.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[,target.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
https://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 https://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
https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharConsole

--video
Syntax: --video OPTIONS

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
Syntax: --smartcard MODE[,OPTIONS]

Configure a virtual smartcard device.

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

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

--redirdev
Syntax: --redirdev BUS[,OPTIONS]

Add a redirected device. Example suboptions:

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

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

Examples invocations:

--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
https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsRedir

--memballoon
Syntax: --memballoon MODEL[,OPTIONS]

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:

--memballoon virtio
Explicitly create a 'virtio' memballoon device

--memballoon none
Disable the memballoon device

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

--tpm
Syntax: --tpm TYPE[,OPTIONS]

Configure a virtual TPM device. Examples:

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

--tpm emulator
Request an emulated TPM device.

--tpm default
Request virt-install to fill in a modern recommended default

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

--rng
Syntax: --rng TYPE[,OPTIONS]

Configure a virtual RNG device.

Example TYPE values include random, egd or builtin.

Example invocations:

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

--rng builtin
Use the builtin rng device to get entropy data.

--rng egd,backend.source.host=localhost,backend.source.service=8000,backend.type=tcp
Connect to localhost to the TCP port 8000 to get entropy data.

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

--panic
Syntax: --panic MODEL[,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
https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsPanic

--shmem
Syntax: --shmem NAME[,OPTS]

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
Syntax: --memdev OPTS

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
Syntax: --vsock OPTS

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
Syntax: --iommu MODEL[,OPTS]

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.

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS

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

--version
Show program's version number and exit

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

--transient
Use --import or --boot and --transient if you want a transient libvirt VM. These VMs exist only until
the domain is shut down or the host server is restarted. Libvirt forgets the XML configuration of the VM
after either of these events. Note that the VM's disks will not be deleted. See:
https://wiki.libvirt.org/page/VM_lifecycle#Transient_guest_domains_vs_Persistent_guest_domains

--destroy-on-exit
When the VM console window is exited, destroy (force poweroff) the VM. If you combine this with
--transient, this makes the virt-install command work similar to qemu, where the VM is shutdown when the
console window is closed by the user.

--print-xml
Syntax: --print-xml [STEP]

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

--wait
Syntax: --wait 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
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.

--check
Enable or disable some validation checks. Some examples are warning about using a disk that's already
assigned to another VM (--check path_in_use=on|off), or warning about potentially running out of space
during disk allocation (--check disk_size=on|off). Most checks are performed by default.

-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

       The simplest invocation  to  interactively  install  a  Fedora  29  KVM  VM  with  recommended  defaults.
       virt-viewer(1) will be launched to graphically interact with the VM install

          # sudo virt-install --install fedora29

       Similar,  but  use  libosinfo's  unattended  install  support,  which  will  perform the fedora29 install
       automatically without user intervention:

          # sudo virt-install --install fedora29 --unattended

       Install a Windows 10 VM, using 40GiB storage in the default location and 4096MiB of ram,  and  ensure  we
       are connecting to the system libvirtd instance:

          # virt-install \
             --connect qemu:///system \
             --name my-win10-vm \
             --memory 4096 \
             --disk size=40 \
             --osinfo win10 \
             --cdrom /path/to/my/win10.iso

       Install  a  CentOS  7  KVM from a URL, with recommended device defaults and default required storage, but
       specifically request VNC graphics instead of the default SPICE, and request 8 virtual CPUs and  8192  MiB
       of memory:

          # virt-install \
              --connect qemu:///system \
              --memory 8192 \
              --vcpus 8 \
              --graphics vnc \
              --osinfo centos7.0 \
              --location http://mirror.centos.org/centos-7/7/os/x86_64/

       Create a VM around an existing debian9 disk image:

          # virt-install \
              --import \
              --memory 512 \
              --disk /home/user/VMs/my-debian9.img \
              --osinfo debian9

       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" \
              --graphics none

       Start an SEV launch security VM with 4GB RAM, 4GB+256MiB of hard_limit, with a couple of virtio devices:

       Note:  The  IOMMU  flag needs to be turned on with driver.iommu for virtio devices. Usage of --memtune is
       currently required because of SEV limitations, refer to libvirt docs for a detailed explanation.

          # virt-install \
              --name foo \
              --memory 4096 \
              --boot uefi \
              --machine q35 \
              --memtune hard_limit=4563402 \
              --disk size=15,target.bus=scsi \
              --import \
              --controller type=scsi,model=virtio-scsi,driver.iommu=on \
              --controller type=virtio-serial,driver.iommu=on \
              --network network=default,model=virtio,driver.iommu=on \
              --rng /dev/random,driver.iommu=on \
              --memballoon driver.iommu=on \
              --launchSecurity sev

BUGS

       Please see https://virt-manager.org/bugs

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 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html. There is
       NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.