Virt-manager: Difference between revisions
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The [https://virt-manager.org/ virt-manager] ([[wikipedia:en:{{PAGENAME}}]]) application is a GUI for managing local and remote virtual machines through [[libvirt]]. It primarily targets KVM VMs, but also manages Xen and LXC (linux containers). | |||
== Requisites == | == Requisites == | ||
| Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
=== Networking === | === Networking === | ||
The default network starts off as being inactive, you must enable it before it is accessible. | The default network starts off as being inactive, you must enable it before it is accessible. | ||
This can be done by running the following command: | This can be done by running the following command (may require sudo): | ||
<code>virsh net-start default</code> | <code>virsh net-start default</code> | ||
| Line 37: | Line 37: | ||
By default this will enable the <code>virbr0</code> virtual network bridge. | By default this will enable the <code>virbr0</code> virtual network bridge. | ||
===Display=== | === Display === | ||
The default Video may not allow different resolutions, `Virtio` will allow for more. | The default Video may not allow different resolutions, `Virtio` will allow for more. | ||
=== Shared folders === | |||
To be able to share a folder with a guest, you will need 'virtiofsd'. The recommended way to solve this problem is now to add <code>pkgs.virtiofsd</code> to <code>virtualisation.libvirtd.qemu.vhostUserPackages</code>: | |||
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix"> | |||
virtualisation.libvirtd = { | |||
enable = true; | |||
qemu.vhostUserPackages = with pkgs; [ virtiofsd ]; | |||
}; | |||
</syntaxhighlight> | |||
===Windows Guest=== | ===Windows Guest=== | ||
| Line 49: | Line 59: | ||
{ | { | ||
services.qemuGuest.enable = true; | services.qemuGuest.enable = true; | ||
services.spice-vdagentd.enable = true; # enable copy and paste between host and guest | |||
} | } | ||
</syntaxhighlight> | </syntaxhighlight> | ||
Latest revision as of 14:02, 6 July 2025
The virt-manager (wikipedia:en:Virt-manager) application is a GUI for managing local and remote virtual machines through libvirt. It primarily targets KVM VMs, but also manages Xen and LXC (linux containers).
Requisites
Even though Virt-manager (using the KVM hypervisor) is able to take advantage of virtualisation capabilities without any UEFI/BIOS configuration, best performances demand that host have Vt-x and Vt-d (Intel) or AMD-V and AMD-Vi (AMD) enabled. These settings can usually be found under the UEFI/BIOS settings.
Installation
NixOS
virtualisation.libvirtd.enable = true;
programs.virt-manager.enable = true;
You may get the following error:
authentication unavailable: no polkit agent available to authenticate action 'org.libvirt.unix.manage'
To resolve, add the user to the libvirtd group:
{
users.users.<myuser>.extraGroups = [ "libvirtd" ];
}
Networking
The default network starts off as being inactive, you must enable it before it is accessible. This can be done by running the following command (may require sudo):
virsh net-start default
Or autostart:
virsh net-autostart default
By default this will enable the virbr0 virtual network bridge.
Display
The default Video may not allow different resolutions, `Virtio` will allow for more.
To be able to share a folder with a guest, you will need 'virtiofsd'. The recommended way to solve this problem is now to add pkgs.virtiofsd to virtualisation.libvirtd.qemu.vhostUserPackages:
virtualisation.libvirtd = {
enable = true;
qemu.vhostUserPackages = with pkgs; [ virtiofsd ];
};
Windows Guest
See Virtio-win guest tools for additional drivers for both paravirtual and emulated hardware
Guest Agent
When running NixOS as a guest, enable the QEMU guest agent with:
{
services.qemuGuest.enable = true;
services.spice-vdagentd.enable = true; # enable copy and paste between host and guest
}
The host must provide the needed virtio serial port under the special name org.qemu.guest_agent.0.
Wayland
In order to run on Wayland, virt-manager must be ran under XWayland with `$ GDK_BACKEND=x11 virt-manager` or a gdk cursor must be set. An example of setting a gdk cursor with home-manager is as follows:
home.pointerCursor = {
gtk.enable = true;
package = pkgs.vanilla-dmz;
name = "Vanilla-DMZ";
};