Ubuntu Manpage: virt-sysprep - Reset, unconfigure or customize a virtual machine so clones can be made

Provided by: guestfs-tools_1.52.0-2ubuntu5_amd64

NAME

       virt-sysprep - Reset, unconfigure or customize a virtual machine so clones can be made

SYNOPSIS

        virt-sysprep [--options] -d domname

        virt-sysprep [--options] -a disk.img [-a disk.img ...]

WARNING

       Using "virt-sysprep" on live virtual machines, or concurrently with other disk editing
       tools, can be dangerous, potentially causing disk corruption.  The virtual machine must be
       shut down before you use this command, and disk images must not be edited concurrently.

DESCRIPTION

       Virt-sysprep can reset or unconfigure a virtual machine so that clones can be made from
       it.  Steps in this process include removing SSH host keys, removing persistent network MAC
       configuration, and removing user accounts.  Virt-sysprep can also customize a virtual
       machine, for instance by adding SSH keys, users or logos.  Each step can be enabled or
       disabled as required.

       Virt-sysprep modifies the guest or disk image in place.  The guest must be shut down.  If
       you want to preserve the existing contents of the guest, you must snapshot, copy or clone
       the disk first.  See "COPYING AND CLONING" below.

       You do not need to run virt-sysprep as root.  In fact we'd generally recommend that you
       don't.  The time you might want to run it as root is when you need root in order to access
       the disk image, but even in this case it would be better to change the permissions on the
       disk image to be writable as the non-root user running virt-sysprep.

       "Sysprep" stands for "system preparation" tool.  The name comes from the Microsoft program
       sysprep.exe which is used to unconfigure Windows machines in preparation for cloning them.
       Having said that, virt-sysprep does not currently work on Microsoft Windows guests.  We
       plan to support Windows sysprepping in a future version, and we already have code to do
       it.

OPTIONS

--help
Display brief help.

-a file
--add file
Add file which should be a disk image from a virtual machine.

The format of the disk image is auto-detected. To override this and force a
particular format use the --format option.

-a URI
--add URI
Add a remote disk. The URI format is compatible with guestfish. See "ADDING REMOTE
STORAGE" in guestfish(1).

--colors
--colours
Use ANSI colour sequences to colourize messages. This is the default when the output
is a tty. If the output of the program is redirected to a file, ANSI colour sequences
are disabled unless you use this option.

-c URI
--connect URI
If using libvirt, connect to the given URI. If omitted, then we connect to the
default libvirt hypervisor.

If you specify guest block devices directly (-a), then libvirt is not used at all.

-d guest
--domain guest
Add all the disks from the named libvirt guest. Domain UUIDs can be used instead of
names.

-n
--dry-run
Perform a read-only "dry run" on the guest. This runs the sysprep operation, but
throws away any changes to the disk at the end.

--enable operations
Choose which sysprep operations to perform. Give a comma-separated list of
operations, for example:

--enable ssh-hostkeys,udev-persistent-net

would enable ONLY "ssh-hostkeys" and "udev-persistent-net" operations.

If the --enable option is not given, then we default to trying most sysprep operations
(see --list-operations to show which are enabled).

Regardless of the --enable option, sysprep operations are skipped for some guest
types.

Use --list-operations to list operations supported by a particular version of virt-
sysprep.

See "OPERATIONS" below for a list and an explanation of each operation.

--operation operations
--operations operations
Choose which sysprep operations to perform. Give a comma-separated list of
operations, for example:

--operations ssh-hostkeys,udev-persistent-net

would enable ONLY "ssh-hostkeys" and "udev-persistent-net" operations.

--operations allows you to enable and disable any operation, including the default
ones (which would be tried when specifying neither --operations nor --enable) and all
the available ones; prepending a "-" in front of an operation name removes it from the
list of enabled operations, while the meta-names "defaults" and "all" represent
respectively the operations enabled by default and all the available ones. For
example:

--operations firewall-rules,defaults,-tmp-files

would enable the "firewall-rules" operation (regardless whether it is enabled by
default), all the default ones, and disable the "tmp-files" operation.

--operations can be specified multiple times; the first time the set of enabled
operations is empty, while any further --operations affects the operations enabled so
far.

If the --operations option is not given, then we default to trying most sysprep
operations (see --list-operations to show which are enabled).

Regardless of the --operations option, sysprep operations are skipped for some guest
types.

Use --list-operations to list operations supported by a particular version of virt-
sysprep.

See "OPERATIONS" below for a list and an explanation of each operation.

--echo-keys
When prompting for keys and passphrases, virt-sysprep normally turns echoing off so
you cannot see what you are typing. If you are not worried about Tempest attacks and
there is no one else in the room you can specify this flag to see what you are typing.

--format raw|qcow2|..
--format auto
The default for the -a option is to auto-detect the format of the disk image. Using
this forces the disk format for -a options which follow on the command line. Using
--format auto switches back to auto-detection for subsequent -a options.

For example:

virt-sysprep --format raw -a disk.img

forces raw format (no auto-detection) for disk.img.

virt-sysprep --format raw -a disk.img --format auto -a another.img

forces raw format (no auto-detection) for disk.img and reverts to auto-detection for
another.img.

If you have untrusted raw-format guest disk images, you should use this option to
specify the disk format. This avoids a possible security problem with malicious
guests (CVE-2010-3851).

--key SELECTOR
Specify a key for LUKS, to automatically open a LUKS device when using the inspection.

--key NAME:key:KEY_STRING
--key UUID:key:KEY_STRING
--key all:key:KEY_STRING
"NAME" is the libguestfs device name (eg. "/dev/sda1"). "UUID" is the device
UUID. "all" means try the key against any encrypted device.

Use the specified "KEY_STRING" as passphrase.

--key NAME:file:FILENAME
--key UUID:file:FILENAME
--key all:file:FILENAME
Read the passphrase from FILENAME.

--key NAME:clevis
--key UUID:clevis
--key all:clevis
Attempt passphrase-less unlocking for the device with Clevis, over the network.
Please refer to "ENCRYPTED DISKS" in guestfs(3) for more information on network-
bound disk encryption (NBDE).

Note that if any such option is present on the command line, QEMU user networking
will be automatically enabled for the libguestfs appliance.

--keys-from-stdin
Read key or passphrase parameters from stdin. The default is to try to read
passphrases from the user by opening /dev/tty.

If there are multiple encrypted devices then you may need to supply multiple keys on
stdin, one per line.

--list-operations
List the operations supported by the virt-sysprep program.

These are listed one per line, with one or more single-space-separated fields, eg:

$ virt-sysprep --list-operations
bash-history * Remove the bash history in the guest
cron-spool * Remove user at-jobs and cron-jobs
dhcp-client-state * Remove DHCP client leases
dhcp-server-state * Remove DHCP server leases
[etc]

The first field is the operation name, which can be supplied to --enable. The second
field is a "*" character if the operation is enabled by default or blank if not.
Subsequent fields on the same line are the description of the operation.

Before libguestfs 1.17.33 only the first (operation name) field was shown and all
operations were enabled by default.

--mount-options mp:opts[;mp:opts;...]
Set the mount options used when libguestfs opens the disk image. Note this has no
effect on the guest. It is used when opening certain guests such as ones using the
UFS (BSD) filesystem.

Use a semicolon-separated list of "mountpoint:options" pairs. You may need to quote
this list to protect it from the shell.

For example:

--mount-options "/:noatime"

will mount the root directory with "notime". This example:

--mount-options "/:noatime;/var:rw,nodiratime"

will do the same, plus mount /var with "rw,nodiratime".

-q
--quiet
Don’t print log messages.

To enable detailed logging of individual file operations, use -x.

--network
--no-network
Enable or disable network access from the guest during the installation.

In virt-sysprep, the network is disabled by default. You must use --network to enable
it, in order that options such as --install or --update will work.

virt-builder(1) has more information about the security advantages of disabling the
network.

-v
--verbose
Enable verbose messages for debugging.

-V
--version
Display version number and exit.

--wrap
Wrap error, warning, and informative messages. This is the default when the output is
a tty. If the output of the program is redirected to a file, wrapping is disabled
unless you use this option.

-x Enable tracing of libguestfs API calls.

--append-line FILE:LINE (see "customize" below)
Append a single line of text to the "FILE". If the file does not already end with a
newline, then one is added before the appended line. Also a newline is added to the
end of the "LINE" string automatically.

For example (assuming ordinary shell quoting) this command:

--append-line '/etc/hosts:10.0.0.1 foo'

will add either "10.0.0.1 foo⏎" or "⏎10.0.0.1 foo⏎" to the file, the latter only if
the existing file does not already end with a newline.

"⏎" represents a newline character, which is guessed by looking at the existing
content of the file, so this command does the right thing for files using Unix or
Windows line endings. It also works for empty or non-existent files.

To insert several lines, use the same option several times:

--append-line '/etc/hosts:10.0.0.1 foo'
--append-line '/etc/hosts:10.0.0.2 bar'

To insert a blank line before the appended line, do:

--append-line '/etc/hosts:'
--append-line '/etc/hosts:10.0.0.1 foo'

--chmod PERMISSIONS:FILE (see "customize" below)
Change the permissions of "FILE" to "PERMISSIONS".

Note: "PERMISSIONS" by default would be decimal, unless you prefix it with 0 to get
octal, ie. use 0700 not 700.

--chown UID:GID:PATH (see "customize" below)
Change the owner user and group ID of a file or directory in the guest. Note:

• Only numeric UIDs and GIDs will work, and these may not be the same inside the
guest as on the host.

• This will not work with Windows guests.

For example:

virt-customize --chown '0:0:/var/log/audit.log'

OPERATIONS

If the --enable/--operations option is not given, then most sysprep operations are
enabled.

Use "virt-sysprep --list-operations" to list all operations for your virt-sysprep binary.
The ones which are enabled by default are marked with a "*" character. Regardless of the
--enable/--operations options, sysprep operations are skipped for some guest types.

Operations can be individually enabled using the --enable/--operations options. Use a
comma-separated list, for example:

virt-sysprep --operations ssh-hostkeys,udev-persistent-net [etc..]

Future versions of virt-sysprep may add more operations. If you are using virt-sysprep
and want predictable behaviour, specify only the operations that you want to have enabled.

"*" = enabled by default when no --enable/--operations option is given.

abrt-data *
Remove the crash data generated by ABRT.

Remove the automatically generated ABRT crash data in "/var/spool/abrt/".

backup-files *
Remove editor backup files from the guest.

The following files are removed from anywhere in the guest filesystem:

· *.bak

· *~

On Linux and Unix operating systems, only the following filesystems will be examined:

· /etc

· /root

· /srv

· /tmp

· /var

bash-history *
Remove the bash history in the guest.

Remove the bash history of user "root" and any other users who have a ".bash_history" file
in their home directory.

Notes on bash-history

Currently this only looks in "/root" and "/home/*" for home directories, so users with
home directories in other locations won't have the bash history removed.

blkid-tab *
Remove blkid tab in the guest.

ca-certificates
Remove CA certificates in the guest.

In case any certificate is removed, the system CA store is updated.

crash-data *
Remove the crash data generated by kexec-tools.

Remove the automatically generated kdump kernel crash data.

cron-spool *
Remove user at-jobs and cron-jobs.

customize *
Customize the guest.

Customize the guest by providing virt-customize(1) options for installing packages,
editing files and so on.

dhcp-client-state *
Remove DHCP client leases.

dhcp-server-state *
Remove DHCP server leases.

dovecot-data *
Remove Dovecot (mail server) data.

firewall-rules
Remove the firewall rules.

This removes custom firewall rules by removing "/etc/sysconfig/iptables" or custom
firewalld configuration in "/etc/firewalld/*/*".

Note this is not enabled by default since it may expose guests to exploits. Use with
care.

flag-reconfiguration
Flag the system for reconfiguration.

For Linux guests, this touches "/.unconfigured", which causes the first boot to
interactively query the user for settings such as the root password and timezone.

fs-uuids
Change filesystem UUIDs.

On guests and filesystem types where this is supported, new random UUIDs are generated and
assigned to filesystems.

Notes on fs-uuids

The fs-uuids operation is disabled by default because it does not yet find and update all
the places in the guest that use the UUIDs. For example "/etc/fstab" or the bootloader.
Enabling this operation is more likely than not to make your guest unbootable.

See: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=991641

ipa-client *
Remove the IPA files.

Remove all the files related to an IPA (Identity, Policy, Audit) system. This effectively
unenrolls the guest from an IPA server without interacting with it.

This operation does not run "ipa-client".

kerberos-data
Remove Kerberos data in the guest.

kerberos-hostkeytab *
Remove the Kerberos host keytab file in the guest.

logfiles *
Remove many log files from the guest.

On Linux the following files are removed:

· /etc/Pegasus/*.cnf

· /etc/Pegasus/*.crt

· /etc/Pegasus/*.csr

· /etc/Pegasus/*.pem

· /etc/Pegasus/*.srl

· /root/anaconda-ks.cfg

· /root/anaconda-post.log

· /root/initial-setup-ks.cfg

· /root/install.log

· /root/install.log.syslog

· /root/original-ks.cfg

· /var/cache/fontconfig/*

· /var/cache/gdm/*

· /var/cache/man/*

· /var/lib/AccountService/users/*

· /var/lib/fprint/*

· /var/lib/logrotate.status

· /var/log/*.log*

· /var/log/BackupPC/LOG

· /var/log/ConsoleKit/*

· /var/log/anaconda.syslog

· /var/log/anaconda/*

· /var/log/apache2/*_log

· /var/log/apache2/*_log-*

· /var/log/apt/*

· /var/log/aptitude*

· /var/log/audit/*

· /var/log/btmp*

· /var/log/ceph/*.log

· /var/log/chrony/*.log

· /var/log/cron*

· /var/log/cups/*_log*

· /var/log/debug*

· /var/log/dmesg*

· /var/log/exim4/*

· /var/log/faillog*

· /var/log/firewalld*

· /var/log/gdm/*

· /var/log/glusterfs/*glusterd.vol.log

· /var/log/glusterfs/glusterfs.log

· /var/log/grubby*

· /var/log/httpd/*log

· /var/log/installer/*

· /var/log/jetty/jetty-console.log

· /var/log/journal/*

· /var/log/lastlog*

· /var/log/libvirt/libvirtd.log

· /var/log/libvirt/libxl/*.log

· /var/log/libvirt/lxc/*.log

· /var/log/libvirt/qemu/*.log

· /var/log/libvirt/uml/*.log

· /var/log/lightdm/*

· /var/log/mail/*

· /var/log/maillog*

· /var/log/messages*

· /var/log/ntp

· /var/log/ntpstats/*

· /var/log/ppp/connect-errors

· /var/log/rhsm/*

· /var/log/sa/*

· /var/log/secure*

· /var/log/setroubleshoot/*.log

· /var/log/spooler*

· /var/log/squid/*.log

· /var/log/syslog*

· /var/log/tallylog*

· /var/log/tuned/tuned.log

· /var/log/wtmp*

· /var/log/xferlog*

· /var/named/data/named.run

lvm-system-devices *
Remove LVM2 system.devices file.

On Linux guests, LVM2's scanning for physical volumes (PVs) may be restricted to those
block devices whose WWIDs are listed in "/etc/lvm/devices/system.devices". When cloning
VMs, WWIDs may change, breaking "lvm pvscan". Remove "/etc/lvm/devices/system.devices".

lvm-uuids *
Change LVM2 PV and VG UUIDs.

On Linux guests that have LVM2 physical volumes (PVs) or volume groups (VGs), new random
UUIDs are generated and assigned to those PVs and VGs.

machine-id *
Remove the local machine ID.

The machine ID is usually generated from a random source during system installation and
stays constant for all subsequent boots. Optionally, for stateless systems it is
generated during runtime at boot if it is found to be empty.

mail-spool *
Remove email from the local mail spool directory.

net-hostname *
Remove HOSTNAME and DHCP_HOSTNAME in network interface configuration.

For Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, this is removed from "ifcfg-*" files.

net-hwaddr *
Remove HWADDR (hard-coded MAC address) configuration.

For Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, this is removed from "ifcfg-*" files.

net-nmconn *
Remove system-local NetworkManager connection profiles (keyfiles).

On Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, remove the
"/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*.nmconnection" files.

pacct-log *
Remove the process accounting log files.

The system wide process accounting will store to the pacct log files if the process
accounting is on.

package-manager-cache *
Remove package manager cache.

pam-data *
Remove the PAM data in the guest.

passwd-backups *
Remove /etc/passwd- and similar backup files.

On Linux the following files are removed:

· /etc/group-

· /etc/gshadow-

· /etc/passwd-

· /etc/shadow-

· /etc/subgid-

· /etc/subuid-

puppet-data-log *
Remove the data and log files of puppet.

rh-subscription-manager *
Remove the RH subscription manager files.

rhn-systemid *
Remove the RHN system ID.

rpm-db *
Remove host-specific RPM database files.

Remove host-specific RPM database files and locks. RPM will recreate these files
automatically if needed.

samba-db-log *
Remove the database and log files of Samba.

script *
Run arbitrary scripts against the guest.

The "script" module lets you run arbitrary shell scripts or programs against the guest.

Note this feature requires FUSE support. You may have to enable this in your host, for
example by adding the current user to the "fuse" group, or by loading a kernel module.

Use one or more --script parameters to specify scripts or programs that will be run
against the guest.

The script or program is run with its current directory being the guest’s root directory,
so relative paths should be used. For example: "rm etc/resolv.conf" in the script would
remove a Linux guest’s DNS configuration file, but "rm /etc/resolv.conf" would (try to)
remove the host’s file.

Normally a temporary mount point for the guest is used, but you can choose a specific one
by using the --scriptdir parameter.

Note: This is different from --firstboot scripts (which run in the context of the guest
when it is booting first time). --script scripts run on the host, not in the guest.

smolt-uuid *
Remove the Smolt hardware UUID.

ssh-hostkeys *
Remove the SSH host keys in the guest.

The SSH host keys are regenerated (differently) next time the guest is booted.

If, after cloning, the guest gets the same IP address, ssh will give you a stark warning
about the host key changing:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!

ssh-userdir *
Remove ".ssh" directories in the guest.

Remove the ".ssh" directory of user "root" and any other users who have a ".ssh" directory
in their home directory.

Notes on ssh-userdir

Currently this only looks in "/root" and "/home/*" for home directories, so users with
home directories in other locations won't have the ssh files removed.

sssd-db-log *
Remove the database and log files of sssd.

tmp-files *
Remove temporary files.

This removes temporary files under "/tmp" and "/var/tmp".

udev-persistent-net *
Remove udev persistent net rules.

Remove udev persistent net rules which map the guest’s existing MAC address to a fixed
ethernet device (eg. eth0).

After a guest is cloned, the MAC address usually changes. Since the old MAC address
occupies the old name (eg. eth0), this means the fresh MAC address is assigned to a new
name (eg. eth1) and this is usually undesirable. Erasing the udev persistent net rules
avoids this.

user-account
Remove the user accounts in the guest.

By default remove all the user accounts and their home directories. The "root" account is
not removed.

See the --remove-user-accounts parameter for a way to specify how to remove only some
users, or to not remove some others.

utmp *
Remove the utmp file.

This file records who is currently logged in on a machine. In modern Linux distros it is
stored in a ramdisk and hence not part of the virtual machine’s disk, but it was stored on
disk in older distros.

yum-uuid *
Remove the yum UUID.

Yum creates a fresh UUID the next time it runs when it notices that the original UUID has
been erased.

COPYING AND CLONING

Virt-sysprep can be used as part of a process of cloning guests, or to prepare a template
from which guests can be cloned. There are many different ways to achieve this using the
virt tools, and this section is just an introduction.

A virtual machine (when switched off) consists of two parts:

configuration
The configuration or description of the guest. eg. The libvirt XML (see "virsh
dumpxml"), the running configuration of the guest, or another external format like
OVF.

Some configuration items that might need to be changed:

• name

• UUID

• path to block device(s)

• network card MAC address

block device(s)
One or more hard disk images, themselves containing files, directories, applications,
kernels, configuration, etc.

Some things inside the block devices that might need to be changed:

• hostname and other net configuration

• UUID

• SSH host keys

• Windows unique security ID (SID)

• Puppet registration

COPYING THE BLOCK DEVICE
Starting with an original guest, you probably wish to copy the guest block device and its
configuration to make a template. Then once you are happy with the template, you will
want to make many clones from it.

virt-sysprep
|
v
original guest --------> template ---------->
\------> cloned
\-----> guests
\---->

You can, of course, just copy the block device on the host using cp(1) or dd(1).

dd dd
original guest --------> template ---------->
\------> cloned
\-----> guests
\---->

There are some smarter (and faster) ways too:

snapshot
template ---------->
\------> cloned
\-----> guests
\---->

You may want to run virt-sysprep twice, once to reset the guest (to make a template) and a
second time to customize the guest for a specific user:

virt-sysprep virt-sysprep
(reset) (add user, keys, logos)
| |
dd v dd v
original guest ----> template ---------> copied ------> custom
template guest

• Create a snapshot using qemu-img:

qemu-img create -f qcow2 -o backing_file=original snapshot.qcow

The advantage is that you don’t need to copy the original (very fast) and only changes
are stored (less storage required).

Note that writing to the backing file once you have created guests on top of it is not
possible: you will corrupt the guests.

• Create a snapshot using "lvcreate --snapshot".

• Other ways to create snapshots include using filesystems-level tools (for filesystems
such as btrfs).

Most Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices can also create cheap snapshots from files
or LUNs.

• Get your NAS to duplicate the LUN. Most NAS devices can also duplicate LUNs very
cheaply (they copy them on-demand in the background).

• Prepare your template using virt-sparsify(1). See below.

VIRT-CLONE
A separate tool, virt-clone(1), can be used to duplicate the block device and/or modify
the external libvirt configuration of a guest. It will reset the name, UUID and MAC
address of the guest in the libvirt XML.

virt-clone(1) does not use libguestfs and cannot look inside the disk image. This was the
original motivation to write virt-sysprep.

SPARSIFY
virt-sparsify
original guest --------> template

virt-sparsify(1) can be used to make the cloning template smaller, making it easier to
compress and/or faster to copy.

Notice that since virt-sparsify also copies the image, you can use it to make the initial
copy (instead of "dd").

RESIZE
virt-resize
template ---------->
\------> cloned
\-----> guests
\---->

If you want to give people cloned guests, but let them pick the size of the guest
themselves (eg. depending on how much they are prepared to pay for disk space), then
instead of copying the template, you can run virt-resize(1). Virt-resize performs a copy
and resize, and thus is ideal for cloning guests from a template.

FIRSTBOOT VS SCRIPT

       The two options --firstboot and --script both supply shell scripts that are run against
       the guest.  However these two options are significantly different.

       --firstboot script uploads the file "script" into the guest and arranges that it will run,
       in the guest, when the guest is next booted.  (The script will only run once, at the
       "first boot").

       --script script runs the shell "script" on the host, with its current directory inside the
       guest filesystem.

       If you needed, for example, to "yum install" new packages, then you must not use --script
       for this, since that would (a) run the "yum" command on the host and (b) wouldn't have
       access to the same resources (repositories, keys, etc.) as the guest.  Any command that
       needs to run on the guest must be run via --firstboot.

       On the other hand if you need to make adjustments to the guest filesystem (eg. copying in
       files), then --script is ideal since (a) it has access to the host filesystem and (b) you
       will get immediate feedback on errors.

       Either or both options can be used multiple times on the command line.

SECURITY

Virtual machines that employ full disk encryption internally to the guest should not be
considered for cloning and distribution, as it provides multiple parties with the same
internal volume key, enabling any one such party to decrypt all the other clones. Refer
to the LUKS FAQ for details.

Although virt-sysprep removes some sensitive information from the guest, it does not
pretend to remove all of it. You should examine the "OPERATIONS" above and the guest
afterwards.

Sensitive files are simply removed. The data they contained may still exist on the disk,
easily recovered with a hex editor or undelete tool. The --scrub option can be used to
scrub files instead of just deleting them. virt-sparsify(1) is another way to remove this
content. See also the scrub(1) command to get rid of deleted content in directory entries
and inodes.

RANDOM SEED
(This section applies to Linux guests only)

For supported guests, virt-sysprep writes a few bytes of randomness from the host into the
guest’s random seed file.

If this is just done once and the guest is cloned from the same template, then each guest
will start with the same entropy, and things like SSH host keys and TCP sequence numbers
may be predictable.

Therefore you should arrange to add more randomness after cloning from a template too,
which can be done by enabling just the customize module:

cp template.img newguest.img
virt-sysprep --enable customize -a newguest.img

SELINUX

       For guests which make use of SELinux, special handling for them might be needed when using
       operations which create new files or alter existing ones.

       For further details, see "SELINUX" in virt-builder(1).

WINDOWS 8

       Windows 8 "fast startup" can prevent virt-sysprep from working.  See "WINDOWS HIBERNATION
       AND WINDOWS 8 FAST STARTUP" in guestfs(3).

EXIT STATUS

       This program returns 0 on success, or 1 if there was an error.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       "VIRT_TOOLS_DATA_DIR"
           This can point to the directory containing data files used for Windows firstboot
           installation.

           Normally you do not need to set this.  If not set, a compiled-in default will be used
           (something like /usr/share/virt-tools).

           This directory may contain the following files:

           rhsrvany.exe
               This is the RHSrvAny Windows binary, used to install a "firstboot" script in
               Windows guests.  It is required if you intend to use the --firstboot or
               --firstboot-command options with Windows guests.

               See also: "https://github.com/rwmjones/rhsrvany"

           pvvxsvc.exe
               This is a Windows binary shipped with SUSE VMDP, used to install a "firstboot"
               script in Windows guests.  It is required if you intend to use the --firstboot or
               --firstboot-command options with Windows guests.

       For other environment variables, see "ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES" in guestfs(3).

AUTHORS

       Richard W.M. Jones http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/

       Wanlong Gao, Fujitsu Ltd.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2011-2023 Red Hat Inc.

       Copyright (C) 2012 Fujitsu Ltd.

LICENSE

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of
       the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
       version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
       without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
       See the GNU General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program;
       if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
       Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

BUGS

       To get a list of bugs against libguestfs, use this link:
       https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

       To report a new bug against libguestfs, use this link:
       https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

       When reporting a bug, please supply:

       •   The version of libguestfs.

       •   Where you got libguestfs (eg. which Linux distro, compiled from source, etc)

       •   Describe the bug accurately and give a way to reproduce it.

       •   Run libguestfs-test-tool(1) and paste the complete, unedited output into the bug
           report.

NAME

SYNOPSIS

WARNING

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

OPERATIONS

COPYING AND CLONING

FIRSTBOOT VS SCRIPT

SECURITY

SELINUX

WINDOWS 8

EXIT STATUS

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

SEE ALSO

AUTHORS

COPYRIGHT

LICENSE

BUGS