Virtualization

Run virtual machines at near-native speeds and manage them at ease

Virtualization Installing QEMU on Fedora Linux Fetching OVMF UEFI from the correct source Installing libvirt and virt-install on Fedora Linux Setting up Fedora Workstation VM on QEMU using BIOS Setting up Fedora Workstation VM on QEMU using UEFI Setting up intrinsic VNC server with VMs Setting viewport resolution using OVMF BIOS Setting up Fedora Workstation domain on libvirt Sharing a chunk of memory as video memory in QEMU Mapping a virtualized guest port to a host port Playing around with various VGA providers Offloading domain TTY output to console with custom kernel/initramfs images Offloading domain TTY output to console with original kernel/initramfs images
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Setting up Fedora Workstation VM on QEMU using UEFI

  1. Download the Fedora Workstation ISO file from website and store it in a reference directory cdromimg. 
    https://getfedora.org
  2. Source OVMF UEFI assets by following the Fetching OVMF UEFI from the correct source guide, if not done already.
  3. Create a virtual disk image of type 16GB and of format RAW in a reference directory datadrct by executing the following command. 
    $ qemu-img create -f raw datadrct/fedouefi.raw 16G
  4. Start a virtual machine for installing Fedora Workstation on the virtual disk image by executing the following command on the host. 
    $ qemu-system-x86_64 \
    -boot menu=on \
    -m 2048 \
    -cpu max \
    -smp 4 \
    -cdrom cdromimg/<Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-xx-y.z.iso> \
    -drive file=datadrct/fedouefi.raw,format=raw \
    -bios /usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_CODE.fd \
    -accel kvm

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  5. A greeting window would open up, providing with two options - Either to Try Fedora or Install to Hard Drive.
    Close the window for now.
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  6. In a new terminal session inside the virtualized guest, execute the following command to confirm UEFI boot. 
    $ ls -la /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/

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  7. Open up the installer application by clicking on the Install to Hard Drive icon from the GNOME drawer inside the virtualized guest.
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  8. Pick the language of choice to proceed with the installation on the installer application.
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  9. Configure the installation to liking and then click on Begin Installation on the installer application to start.
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    1. BTRFS partitioning is recommended and the partitioning scheme is configured to be considered as a default. Proceed with the automatic partitioning scheme as illustrated in the following screenshot to apply the recommended partitioning.
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    2. In case of a requirement of a custom partitioning scheme, toggle the Custom radio button under Storage Configuration and click on Done button to move to the page where custom partitioning scheme can be selected.
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      For the sake of simplicity, the partitions are configured in the following manner.

      Partition Desired Capacity File System Mount Point Device Type Reformat? Encrypt?
      /dev/sda1 1GiB EFI Standard Partition /boot/efi Standard Partition Yes No
      /dev/sda2 15GiB EXT4 / Standard Partition Yes No

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  10. Let the installation finish, click the Finish Installation button to exit the installer application and then power off the virtualized guest.
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  11. Start a virtual machine where Fedora Workstation was just installed by executing the following command on the host. 
    $ qemu-system-x86_64 \
    -boot menu=on \
    -m 2048 \
    -cpu max \
    -smp 4 \
    -drive file=datadrct/fedouefi.raw,format=raw \
    -bios /usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_CODE.fd \
    -accel kvm
  12. Set up the Fedora Workstation according to preferences.
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Authors: Akashdeep Dhar, Jarek Prokop, Nick Dirschel