Virt-install

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virt-install is part of virtinst package.

• https://linux.die.net/man/1/virt-install

virt-install --import

virt-install --import Skip the OS installation process

sudo virt-install 
  --name VM_NAME 
  --import
  --ram 2048
  --vcpus=4
  --os-type=linux
  --os-variant=ubuntu18.04
  --nographics
  --disk /path/to/your/image/IMAGE_NAME.img 

With no OS option: sudo virt-install --name VM_NAME --import --ram 2048 --disk /path/to/your/image/IMAGE_NAME.img

WARNING  No operating system detected, VM performance may suffer. Specify an OS with --os-variant for optimal results.
WARNING  Graphics requested but DISPLAY is not set. Not running virt-viewer.
WARNING  No console to launch for the guest, defaulting to --wait -1
Starting install...
Domain installation still in progress. Waiting for installation to complete.

Other options:

--noautoconsole
--network type=direct,source=ETH_INTERFACE,source_mode=bridge,model=virtio

(--extra-args only work if specified with --location)
--extra-args "hostname=YOUR_HOSTNAME console=ttyS0 ip=10.10.10.10 dns=8.8.8.8 gateway=10.10.10.1 netmask=255.255.255.0 ks=file:/ks.cfg"
    (ks=file:/ks.cfg Kickstarter file)

Virt-install Windows

virt-install --connect=qemu:///system --name=mywin --os-type=windows  -r 1024 --cpus=1 --os-variant=win2k3 --hvm --cdrom=/path/to/en_windows_2k3.iso --disk path=/path/to/win2k3.img --accelerate --network=bridge:br0 --vnc

WARNING  Graphics requested but DISPLAY is not set. Not running virt-viewer.
WARNING  No console to launch for the guest, defaulting to --wait -1

WARNING  Graphics requested but DISPLAY is not set. Not running virt-viewer.
WARNING  No console to launch for the guest, defaulting to --wait -1
Starting install...
ERROR    Cannot get interface MTU on 'br0': No such device
Domain installation does not appear to have been successful.
If it was, you can restart your domain by running:
 virsh --connect qemu:///system start mywin
otherwise, please restart your installation.

ERROR    Cannot read CA certificate '/etc/pki/CA/cacert.pem': No such file or directory

WARNING  Graphics requested but DISPLAY is not set. Not running virt-viewer.
WARNING  No console to launch for the guest, defaulting to --wait -1

Starting install...
ERROR    internal error: process exited while connecting to monitor: 2020-02-05T10:13:42.360993Z 
qemu-system-x86_64: -device ide-cd,bus=ide.0,unit=1,drive=drive-ide0-0-1,id=ide0-0-1,bootindex=1: Failed to get shared "write" lock
Is another process using the image?
Domain installation does not appear to have been successful.
If it was, you can restart your domain by running:
 virsh --connect qemu:///system start MY_DOMAIN
otherwise, please restart your installation.

Related commands

• virt-builder
• qemu-img
• virt-rescue Run a rescue shell on a virtual machine
• virsh pool-define-as

Activities

• Create a virtual machine using virt-install
• Clone a machine using: virt-clone
• Install KVM in an Ubuntu Server

See also

• KVM, Installation, QEMU, virsh, virtinst, libguestfs-tools, libvirt, qemu, Red Hat Virtualization (RHV), MacVTap, Virtio, oVirt, KVM services, KVM networking, KVM graphics, CPU, KVM on ARM
• virtinst (package): virt-install, virt-clone, virt-convert and virt-xml

http://www.admin-magazine.com/Articles/Generate-VM-Images-with-virt-builder