Arch Wiki

Appearance

QEMU Guide with Virt-Manager ​

INFO

Simple and easy setup for Qemu with Virt-Manager on Arch Linux.

Installation ​

  1. Install required packages:

    shell
    sudo pacman -S --needed qemu-full virt-manager virt-viewer libguestfs edk2-ovmf dmidecode dnsmasq vde2 bridge-utils openbsd-netcat ebtables iptables-nft

Package Info:

  • qemu-full → Full QEMU package with all features.
  • virt-manager → GUI for managing virtual machines.
  • virt-viewer → Lightweight viewer for virtual machines.
  • libguestfs → Tools for managing virtual disk images.
  • edk2-ovmf → UEFI firmware for virtual machines.
  • dmidecode → Reads hardware information for VM configuration.
  • dnsmasq → DHCP and DNS support for VM networking.
  • vde2 → Virtual network switch for advanced networking.
  • bridge-utils → Tools for bridging network interfaces.
  • openbsd-netcat → Netcat implementation for networking tasks.
  • ebtables → Controls Ethernet bridge firewall rules.
  • iptables-nft → Packet filtering framework for networking.
  1. Enable and start the libvirt service:
    shell
    sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd
  2. Add your user to the libvirt group:
    shell
    sudo usermod -aG libvirt $(whoami)
  3. Restart the libvirt service:
    shell
    sudo systemctl restart libvirtd
  4. Enable autostart for the default network:
    shell
    sudo virsh net-autostart default
  5. Reboot your system:
    shell
    sudo reboot now

Useful Commands ​

  • List all networks:
    shell
    sudo virsh net-list --all
  • Enable autostart for the default network:
    shell
    sudo virsh net-autostart default
  • Start the default network manually:
    shell
    sudo virsh net-start default

TIP

If networking issues occur, check if the default network is started.

shell
sudo virsh net-list --all