Provided by: virt-install_5.0.0-4_all 
NAME
virt-xml - Edit libvirt XML using command line options.
SYNOPSIS
virt-xml DOMAIN XML-ACTION XML-OPTION [OUTPUT-OPTION] [MISC-OPTIONS] ...
DESCRIPTION
virt-xml is a command line tool for editing libvirt XML using explicit command line options. See the
EXAMPLES section at the end of this document to jump right in.
Each virt-xml invocation requires 3 things: name of an existing domain to alter (or XML passed on stdin),
an action to on the XML, and an XML change to make. actions are one of:
• --add-device: Append a new device definition to the XML
• --remove-device: Remove an existing device definition
• --edit: Edit an existing XML block
• --build-xml: Just build the requested XML block and print it. No domain or input are required here, but
it's recommended to provide them, so virt-xml can fill in optimal defaults.
An XML change is one instance of any of the XML options provided by virt-xml, for example --disk or
--boot.
virt-xml only allows one action and XML pair per invocation. If you need to make multiple edits, invoke
the command multiple times.
OPTIONS
-c --connect URI
Connect to a non-default hypervisor. See virt-install(1) for details
domain domain is the name, UUID, or ID of the existing VM. This can be omitted if using --build-xml, or
if XML is passed on stdin.
When a domain is specified, the default output action is --define, even if the VM is running. To
update the running VM configuration, add the --update option (but not all options/devices support
updating the running VM configuration).
If XML is passed on stdin, the default output is --print-xml.
XML ACTIONS
--edit [EDIT-OPTIONS]
Edit the specified XML block. EDIT-OPTIONS tell virt-xml which block to edit. The type of XML that
we are editing is decided by XML option that is passed to virt-xml . So if --disk is passed,
EDIT-OPTIONS select which <disk> block to edit.
Certain XML options only ever map to a single XML block, like --cpu, --security, --boot, --clock,
and a few others. In those cases, virt-xml will not complain if a corresponding XML block does not
already exist, it will create it for you.
Most XML options support a special value 'clearxml=yes'. When combined with --edit, it will
completely blank out the XML block being edited before applying the requested changes. This allows
completely rebuilding an XML block. See EXAMPLES for some usage.
EDIT-OPTIONS examples:
•
--edit --edit without any options implies 'edit the first block'. So '--edit --disk
DISK-OPTIONS' means 'edit the first <disk>'.
For the single XML block options mentioned above, plain '--edit' without any options is
what you always want to use.
•
--edit #
Select the specified XML block number. So '--edit 2 --disk DISK-OPTS' means 'edit the
second <disk>'. This option only really applies for device XML.
•
--edit all
Modify every XML block of the XML option type. So '--edit all --disk DISK-OPTS' means
'edit ever <disk> block'. This option only really applies for device XML.
•
--edit DEVICE-OPTIONS
Modify every XML block that matches the passed device options. The device options are in
the same format as would be passed to the XML option.
So --edit path=/tmp/foo --disk DISK-OPTS means 'edit every <disk> with path /tmp/foo'. This option
only really applies for device XML.
--add-device
Append the specified XML options to the XML <devices> list. Example: '--add-device --disk
DISK-OPTIONS' will create a new <disk> block and add it to the XML.
This option will error if specified with a non-device XML option (see --edit section for a partial
list).
--remove-device
Remove the specified device from the XML. The device to remove is chosen by the XML option, which
takes arguments in the same format as --edit. Examples:
•
--remove-device --disk 2
Remove the second disk device
•
--remove-device --network all
Remove all network devices
•
--remove-device --sound pcspk
Remove all sound devices with model='pcspk'
This option will error if specified with a non-device XML option (see --edit isection for a
partial list).
--build-xml
Just build the specified XML, and print it to stdout. No input domain or input XML is required.
Example: '--build-xml --disk DISK-OPTIONS' will just print the new <disk> device.
However if the generated XML is targeted for a specific domain, it's recommended to pass it to
virt-xml, so the tool can set optimal defaults.
This option will error if specified with an XML option that does not map cleanly to a specific XML
block, like --vcpus or --memory.
OUTPUT OPTIONS
These options decide what action to take after altering the XML. In the common case these do not need to
be specified, as 'XML actions' will imply a default output action, described in detail above. These are
only needed if you want to modify the default output.
--update
If the specified domain is running, attempt to alter the running VM configuration. If combined
with --edit, this is an update operation. If combined with --add-device, this is a device hotplug.
If combined with --remove-device, this is a device hotunplug.
Keep in mind, most XML properties and devices do not support live update operations, so don't
expect it to succeed in all cases.
By default this also implies --define.
--define
Define the requested XML change. This is typically the default if no output option is specified,
but if a --print option is specified, --define is required to force the change.
--no-define
Explicitly do not define the XML. For example if you only want to alter the runtime state of a VM,
combine this with --update.
--start
Start the VM after performing the requested changes. If combined with --no-define, this will
create transient VM boot with the requested changes.
--print-diff
Print the generated XML change in unified diff format. If only this output option is specified,
all other output options are disabled and no persistent change is made.
--print-xml
Print the generated XML in its entirety. If only this output option is specified, all other output
options are disabled and no persistent change is made.
--confirm
Before defining or updating the domain, show the generated XML diff and interactively request
confirmation.
GUEST OS OPTIONS
--os-variant, --osinfo OS_VARIANT
Optimize the guest configuration for a specific operating system (ex. 'fedora29', 'rhel7',
'win10'). While not required, specifying this options is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, as it can greatly
increase performance by specifying virtio among other guest tweaks.
If the guest has been installed using virt-manager version 2.0.0 or newer, providing this
information should not be necessary, as the OS variant will have been stored in the guest
configuration during installation and virt-xml will retrieve it from there automatically.
Use the command virt-xml --osinfo list to get the list of the accepted OS variants. See
osinfo-query os for even more output.
See virt-install(1) documentation for more details about --os-variant/--osinfo
CONVERSION OPTIONS
--convert-to-q35
Syntax: --convert-to-q35 [OPTIONS]
Convert an existing VM config from PC/i440FX to Q35 machine type. This largely consists of:
• Convert device topology from PCI to PCIe
• Convert any IDE storage to SATA
You may need to make config changes inside the VM to handle this as well. For example, Windows 10 may
not find the boot device after IDE to SATA conversion. But booting into safe mode once may fix it.
Sub options are:
num_pcie_root_ports=NUM
Control the number of default pcie-root-port controller devices we add to the VM by default.
--convert-to-vnc
Syntax: --convert-to-vnc [OPTIONS]
Convert an existing VM to exclusively use a single VNC graphics device.
It will attempt to remove all references to any non-VNC graphics config, like Spice. For example:
• qxl devices will be replaced
• all spicevmc and spiceport devices will be removed
• spice GL will be converted to egl-headless
Sub options are:
qemu-vdagent=on|off
Add a qemu-vdagent device if one is not already configured. This replaces some functionality of
the spice vdagent. This defaults to off but that could change in the future.
XML OPTIONS
• --disk
• --network
• --graphics
• --metadata
• --memory
• --vcpus
• --cpu
• --iothreads
• --seclabel
• --keywrap
• --cputune
• --numatune
• --memtune
• --blkiotune
• --memorybacking
• --features
• --clock
• --pm
• --events
• --resources
• --sysinfo
• --xml
• --qemu-commandline
• --launchSecurity
• --boot
• --idmap
• --controller
• --input
• --serial
• --parallel
• --channel
• --console
• --hostdev
• --filesystem
• --sound
• --audio
• --watchdog
• --video
• --smartcard
• --redirdev
• --memballoon
• --tpm
• --rng
• --panic
• --shmem
• --memdev
These options alter the XML for a single class of XML elements. More complete documentation is found in
virt-install(1).
Generally these options map pretty straightforwardly to the libvirt XML, documented at
<https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html>
Option strings are in the format of: --option opt=val,opt2=val2,... example: --disk
path=/tmp/foo,shareable=on. Properties can be used with '--option opt=,', so to clear a disks cache
setting you could use '--disk cache=,'
For any option, use --option=? to see a list of all available sub options, example: --disk=? or
--boot=?
--help output also lists a few general examples. See the EXAMPLES section below for some common examples.
virt-xml specifically has some operations that don't really apply to virt-install Examples:
--boot refresh-machine-type=yes
Refresh the XML <os><type machine=X></os> value to the latest one that qemu provides. For example,
if your VM has a machine type value pc-q35-4.0, this will reset the value to q35, and works
similarly with other versioned machine types. Occasionally this is necessary to get enable qemu
bug fixes, or when qemu deprecates and removes old machine type values.
MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS
-h, --help
Show the help message and exit
--version
Show program's version number and exit
-q, --quiet
Avoid verbose output.
-d, --debug
Print debugging information
EXAMPLES
See a list of all suboptions that --disk and --network take
# virt-xml --disk=? --network=?
Change the <description> of domain 'EXAMPLE':
# virt-xml EXAMPLE --edit --metadata description="my new description"
# Enable the boot device menu for domain 'EXAMPLE':
# virt-xml EXAMPLE --edit --boot menu=on
Clear the previous <cpu> definition of domain 'winxp', change it to 'host-model', but interactively
confirm the diff before saving:
# virt-xml winxp --edit --cpu host-model,clearxml=yes --confirm
Change the second sound card to model=ich6 on 'fedora19', but only output the diff:
# virt-xml fedora19 --edit 2 --sound model=ich6 --print-diff
Update the every graphics device password to 'foo' of the running VM 'rhel6':
# virt-xml rhel6 --edit all --graphics password=foo --update
Remove the disk path from disk device hdc:
# virt-xml rhel6 --edit target=hdc --disk path=
Change all disk devices of type 'disk' to use cache=none, using XML from stdin, printing the new XML to
stdout.
# cat <xmlfile> | virt-xml --edit device=disk --disk cache=none
Change disk 'hda' IO to native and use startup policy as 'optional'.
# virt-xml fedora20 --edit target=hda \
--disk io=native,startup_policy=optional
Change all host devices to use driver_name=vfio for VM 'fedora20' on the remote connection
# virt-xml --connect qemu+ssh://remotehost/system \
fedora20 --edit all --hostdev driver_name=vfio
Hotplug host USB device 001.003 to running domain 'fedora19':
# virt-xml fedora19 --update --add-device --hostdev 001.003
Add a spicevmc channel to the domain 'winxp', that will be available after the next VM shutdown.
# virt-xml winxp --add-device --channel spicevmc
Create a 10G qcow2 disk image and attach it to 'fedora18' for the next VM startup:
# virt-xml fedora18 --add-device \
--disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/newimage.qcow2,format=qcow2,size=10
Same as above, but ensure the disk is attached to the most appropriate bus for the guest OS by providing
information about it on the command line:
# virt-xml fedora18 --osinfo fedora18 --add-device \
--disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/newimage.qcow2,format=qcow2,size=10
Hotunplug the disk vdb from the running domain 'rhel7':
# virt-xml rhel7 --update --remove-device --disk target=vdb
Remove all graphics devices from the VM 'rhel7' after the next shutdown:
# virt-xml rhel7 --remove-device --graphics all
Generate XML for a virtio console device and print it to stdout:
# virt-xml --build-xml --console pty,target_type=virtio
Add qemu command line passthrough:
# virt-xml f25 --edit --confirm --qemu-commandline="-device FOO"
Use boot device 'network' for a single transient boot:
# virt-xml myvm --no-define --start --edit --boot network
CAVEATS
Virtualization hosts supported by libvirt may not permit all changes that might seem possible. Some edits
made to a VM's definition may be ignored. For instance, QEMU does not allow the removal of certain
devices once they've been defined.
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.
SEE ALSO
virt-install(1), the project website <https://virt-manager.org> VIRT-XML(1)