Quickemu
Quickemu

Quickly create and run optimised Windows, macOS and Linux desktop virtual machines.

Quickemu Screenshot

Made with 💝 for

# Introduction Quickly create and run highly optimised desktop virtual machines for Linux, macOS and Windows; with just two commands. You decide what operating system you want to run and Quickemu will figure out the best way to do it for you. For example: ```bash quickget ubuntu-mate impish quickemu --vm ubuntu-mate-impish.conf ``` The original objective of the project was to enable quick testing of Linux distributions where the virtual machine configurations can be stored anywhere, such as external USB storage or your home directory, and no elevated permissions are required to run the virtual machines. **Quickemu now also includes comprehensive support for macOS and Windows**. ## Features * **macOS** Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave & High Sierra * **Windows** 8.1, 10 and 11 including TPM 2.0 * [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/desktop) and all the **[official Ubuntu flavours](https://ubuntu.com/download/flavours)** * [Fedora](https://getfedora.org/) & openSUSE ([Leap](https://get.opensuse.org/leap/), [Tumbleweed](https://get.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/), [MicroOS](https://microos.opensuse.org/)) * [Linux Mint](https://linuxmint.com/) (Cinnamon, MATE, and XFCE), [elementary OS](https://elementary.io/), [Pop!_OS](https://pop.system76.com/) * [Arch Linux](https://www.archlinux.org/), [Kali](https://www.kali.org/),[Garuda](https://garudalinux.org/), [ZorinOS](https://zorin.com/os/) & [NixOS](https://nixos.org/) * [Regolith Linux](https://regolith-linux.org/) (Release 1.6 and latest 2.0.0 pre-release ) * [FreeBSD](https://www.freebsd.org/) & [OpenBSD](https://www.openbsd.org/) * Full SPICE support including host/guest clipboard sharing * VirtIO-webdavd file sharing for Linux and Windows guests * VirtIO-9p file sharing for Linux and macOS guests * [QEMU Guest Agent support](https://wiki.qemu.org/Features/GuestAgent); provides access to a system-level agent via standard QMP commands * Samba file sharing for Linux, macOS and Windows guests (*if `smbd` is installed on the host*) * VirGL acceleration * USB device pass-through * Smartcard pass-through * Automatic SSH port forwarding to guests * Network port forwarding * Full duplex audio * EFI (with or without SecureBoot) and Legacy BIOS boot * Graphical user interfaces available Quickemu is a wrapper for the excellent [QEMU](https://www.qemu.org/) that attempts to automatically *"do the right thing"*, rather than expose exhaustive configuration options. We have a Discord for this project: [![Discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/712850672223125565?color=0C306A&label=WimpysWorld%20Discord&logo=Discord&logoColor=ffffff&style=flat-square)](https://discord.gg/sNmz3uw) See this (old) video where I explain some of my motivations for creating Quickemu. [![Replace VirtualBox with Bash & QEMU](https://img.youtube.com/vi/AOTYWEgw0hI/0.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOTYWEgw0hI) ## Requirements * [QEMU](https://www.qemu.org/) (*6.0.0 or newer*) **with GTK, SDL, SPICE & VirtFS support** * [bash](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/) (*4.0 or newer*) * [Coreutils](https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/) * [EDK II](https://github.com/tianocore/edk2) * [grep](https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/) * [jq](https://stedolan.github.io/jq/) * [LSB](https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/lsb/start) * [procps](https://gitlab.com/procps-ng/procps) * [python3](https://www.python.org/) * [macrecovery](https://github.com/acidanthera/OpenCorePkg/tree/master/Utilities/macrecovery) * [mkisofs](http://cdrtools.sourceforge.net/private/cdrecord.html) * [usbutils](https://github.com/gregkh/usbutils) * [util-linux](https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux) * [sed](https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/) * [spicy](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/spice/spice-gtk) * [swtpm](https://github.com/stefanberger/swtpm) * [Wget](https://www.gnu.org/software/wget/) * [xdg-user-dirs](https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs/) * [xrandr](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xrandr) * [zsync](http://zsync.moria.org.uk/) # Install Quickemu ## Ubuntu Quickemu is available from a PPA for Ubuntu users. The Quickemu PPA also includes a back port of QEMU 6.0.0 for 20.04 (Focal) and 21.04 (Hirsute). To install Quickemu and all the dependencies run the following in a terminal: ```bash sudo apt-add-repository ppa:flexiondotorg/quickemu sudo apt update sudo apt install quickemu ``` ## Other Linux ```bash git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/wimpysworld/quickemu cd quickemu ``` Now install all the **Requirements** documented above. # Usage ## Graphical User Interfaces While `quickemu` and `quickget` are designed for the terminal, a graphical user interfaces is also available: * [Quickgui](https://github.com/quickgui/quickgui) by [Mark Johnson](https://github.com/marxjohnson) and [Yannick Mauray](https://github.com/ymauray). ### Quickgui for Ubuntu ```bash sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannick-mauray/quickgui sudo apt update sudo apt install quickgui ``` ## Ubuntu Guest `quickget` will automatically download an Ubuntu release and create the virtual machine configuration. ```bash quickget ubuntu focal quickemu --vm ubuntu-focal.conf ``` * Complete the installation as normal. * Post-install: * Install the SPICE agent (`spice-vdagent`) to enable copy/paste and USB redirection * `sudo apt install spice-vdagent` * Install the SPICE WebDAV agent (`spice-webdavd`) to enable file sharing. * `sudo apt install spice-webdavd` ### Ubuntu devel (daily-live) images `quickget` can also download/refresh devel images via `zsync` for Ubuntu developers and testers. ```bash quickget ubuntu devel quickemu --vm ubuntu-devel.conf ``` You can run `quickget ubuntu devel` to refresh your daily development image as often as you like, it will even automatically switch to a new series. ### Ubuntu Flavours All the official Ubuntu flavours are supported, just replace `ubuntu` with your preferred flavour. * `kubuntu` * `lubuntu` * `ubuntu-budgie` * `ubuntu-kylin` * `ubuntu-mate` * `ubuntu-studio` * `xubuntu` ## Other Linux Guests `quickget` also supports: * `archlinux` * `elementary` * `fedora` * `garuda` * `kali` * `linuxmint-cinnamon` * `linuxmint-mate` * `linuxmint-xfce` * `opensuse` * `popos` * `regolith` * `nixos-gnome` * `nixos-plasma5` * `nixos-minimal` * `zorin` Or you can download a Linux image and manually create a VM configuration. * Download a .iso image of a Linux distribution * Create a VM configuration file; for example `debian-bullseye.conf` ```bash guest_os="linux" disk_img="debian-bullseye/disk.qcow2" iso="debian-bullseye/firmware-11.0.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso" ``` * Use `quickemu` to start the virtual machine: ```bash quickemu --vm debian-bullseye.conf ``` * Complete the installation as normal. * Post-install: * Install the SPICE agent (`spice-vdagent`) to enable copy/paste and USB redirection. * Install the SPICE WebDAV agent (`spice-webdavd`) to enable file sharing. ## macOS Guest `quickget` automatically downloads a macOS recovery image and creates a virtual machine configuration. ```bash quickget macos catalina quickemu --vm macos-catalina.conf ``` macOS `high-sierra`, `mojave`, `catalina`, `big-sur` and `monterey` are supported. * Use cursor keys and enter key to select the **macOS Base System** * From **macOS Utilities** * Click **Disk Utility** and **Continue** * On macOS Catalina, Big Sur & Monterey * Select `Apple Inc. VirtIO Block Media` from the list and click **Erase**. * On macOS Mojave and High Sierra * Select `QEMU HARDDISK Media` (~103.08GB) from the list and click **Erase**. * Enter a `Name:` for the disk and click **Erase**. * Click **Done**. * Close Disk Utility * From **macOS Utilities** * Click **Reinstall macOS** and **Continue** * Complete the installation as you normally would. * On the first reboot use cursor keys and enter key to select **macOS Installer** * On the subsequent reboots use cursor keys and enter key to select the disk you named The default macOS configuration looks like this: ```bash guest_os="macos" img="macos-catalina/RecoveryImage.img" disk_img="macos-catalina/disk.qcow2" macos_release="catalina" ``` * `guest_os="macos"` instructs Quickemu to optimise for macOS. * `macos_release="catalina"` instructs Quickemu to optimise for a particular macOS release. * For example VirtIO Network and Memory Ballooning are available in Big Sur and newer, but not previous releases. * And VirtIO Block Media (disks) are supported/stable in Catalina and newer. ### macOS compatibility There are some considerations when running macOS via Quickemu. * Supported macOS releases: * High Sierra * Mojave * Catalina **(Recommended)** * Big Sur * Monterey * `quickemu` will automatically download the required [OpenCore](https://github.com/acidanthera/OpenCorePkg) bootloader and OVMF firmware from [OSX-KVM](https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM). * Optimised by default, but no GPU acceleration is available. * Host CPU vendor is detected and guest CPU is optimised accordingly. * [VirtIO Block Media](https://www.kraxel.org/blog/2019/06/macos-qemu-guest/) is used for the system disk where supported. * [VirtIO `usb-tablet`](http://philjordan.eu/osx-virt/) is used for the mouse. * VirtIO Network (`virtio-net`) is supported and enabled on macOS Big Sur and newer but previous releases use `vmxnet3`. * VirtIO Memory Ballooning is supported and enabled on macOS Big Sur and newer but disabled for other support macOS releases. * USB host and SPICE pass-through is: * UHCI (USB 2.0) on macOS Catalina and earlier. * XHCI (USB 3.0) on macOS Big Sur and newer. * Display resolution can only be changed via macOS System Preferences. * Full Duplex audio works on macOS High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina. * **macOS Big Sur and Monterey have no audio at all**. * File sharing between guest and host is available via [virtio-9p](https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/9psetup) and [SPICE webdavd](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/phodav/-/merge_requests/24). * Copy/paste via SPICE agent is **not available on macOS**. ## Windows 8.1, 10 & 11 Guests `quickget` can automatically download Windows 8.1, [Windows 10](https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10ISO) and [Windows 11](https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows11) along with the [VirtIO drivers for Windows](https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/) and creates a virtual machine configuration. ```bash quickget windows 11 quickemu --vm windows-11.conf ``` * Complete the installation as you normally would. * All relevant drivers and services should be installed automatically. ### Regional versions By default `quickget` will download the *"English International"* release, but you can optionally specify one of the supported languages: For example: ```bash quickget windows 11 "Chinese (Traditional)" ``` The default Windows 11 configuration looks like this: ```bash guest_os="windows" disk_img="windows-11/disk.qcow2" iso="windows-11/Win11_EnglishInternational_x64.iso" fixed_iso="windows-11/virtio-win.iso" tpm="on" ``` * `guest_os="windows"` instructs `quickemu` to optimise for Windows. * `fixed_iso=` specifies the ISO image that provides VirtIO drivers. * `tpm="on"` instructs `quickemu` to create a software emulated TPM device using `swtpm`. ## BSD Guests `quickemu` supports FreeBSD and OpenBSD. ```bash quickget freebsd 13_0 quickemu --vm freebsd-13_0.conf ``` # SPICE The following features are available while using the SPICE protocol: * Copy/paste between the guest and host * Host file sharing to the guest * USB device redirection To use SPICE add `--display spice` to the Quickemu invocation, this requires that the `spicy` client is installed, available from the `spice-client-gtk` package in Debian/Ubuntu. ```bash quickemu --vm ubuntu-focal.conf --display spice ``` ## Headless To start a VM with SPICE enabled, but no display attached use `--display none`. This requires that the `spicy` client is installed, available from the `spice-client-gtk` package in Debian/Ubuntu to connect to the running VM ```bash quickemu --vm ubuntu-focal.conf --display none ``` You can also use the `.ports` file in the VM directory to lookup what SSH and SPICE ports the VM is connected to. ```bash cat ubuntu-focal/ubuntu-focal.ports ``` # BIOS and EFI Since Quickemu 2.1.0 `efi` is the default boot option. If you want to override this behaviour then add the following line to you VM configuration to enable legacy BIOS. * `boot="legacy"` - Enable Legacy BIOS boot # Tuning CPU cores, RAM & disks By default, Quickemu will calculate the number of CPUs cores and RAM to allocate to a VM based on the specifications of your host computer. You can override this default behaviour and tune the VM configuration to your liking. Add additional lines to your virtual machine configuration: * `cpu_cores="4"` - Specify the number of CPU cores allocated to the VM * `ram="4G"` - Specify the amount of RAM to allocate to the VM * `disk_size="16G"` - Specify the size of the virtual disk allocated to the VM ## Disk preallocation Preallocation mode (allowed values: `off` (default), `metadata`, `falloc`, `full`). An image with preallocated metadata is initially larger but can improve performance when the image needs to grow. Specify what disk preallocation should be used, if any, when creating the system disk image by adding a line like this to your VM configuration. * `preallocation="metadata"` ## CD-ROM disks If you want to expose an ISO image from the host to guest add the following line to the VM configuration: * `fixed_iso="/path/to/image.iso"` ## Floppy disks If you're like [Alan Pope](https://popey.com) you'll probably want to mount a floppy disk image in the guest. To do so add the following line to the VM configuration: * `floppy="/path/to/floppy.img"` # File Sharing All File Sharing options will only expose `~/Public` (or localised variations) for the current user to the guest VMs. ## Samba 🐧 🍏 🪟 If `smbd` is available on the host, Quickemu will automatically enable the built-in QEMU support for exposing a Samba share from the host to the guest. You can install the minimal Samba components on Ubuntu using: ```bash sudo apt install --no-install-recommends samba ``` ## SPICE WebDAV 🐧 🪟 * TBD ## VirtIO-9P 🐧 🍏 * TBD # Network port forwarding Add an additional line to your virtual machine configuration. For example: * `port_forwards=("8123:8123" "8888:80")` In the example above: * Port 8123 on the host is forwarded to port 8123 on the guest. * Port 8888 on the host is forwarded to port 80 on the guest. # Bridged networking Connect your virtual machine to a preconfigured network bridge. Add an additional line to your virtual machine configuration * `bridge="br0"` # USB redirection Quickemu supports USB redirection via SPICE pass-through and host pass-through. ## SPICE redirection (recommended) Using SPICE for USB pass-through is easiest as it doesn't require any elevated permission, start Quickemu with `--display spice` and then select `Input` -> `Select USB Device for redirection` from the menu to choose which device(s) you want to attach to the guest. ## Host redirection **USB host redirection is not recommended**, it is provided purely for backwards compatibility to older versions of Quickemu. Using SPICE is preferred, see above. Add an additional line to your virtual machine configuration. For example: * `usb_devices=("046d:082d" "046d:085e")` In the example above: * The USB device with vendor_id 046d and product_id 082d will be exposed to the guest. * The USB device with vendor_id 046d and product_id 085e will be exposed to the guest. If the USB devices are not writable, `quickemu` will display the appropriate commands to modify the USB device(s) access permissions, like this: ``` - USB: Host pass-through requested: - Sennheiser Communications EPOS GTW 270 on bus 001 device 005 needs permission changes: sudo chown -v root:user /dev/bus/usb/001/005 ERROR! USB permission changes are required 👆 ``` # TPM Since Quickemu 2.2.0 a software emulated TPM device can be added to guest virtual machines. Just add `tpm="on"` to your VM configuration. `quickget` will automatically add this line to Windows 11 virtual machines. # All the options Here are the usage instructions: ``` Usage quickemu --vm ubuntu.conf You can also pass optional parameters --delete : Delete the disk image. --display : Select display backend. 'sdl' (default), 'gtk', 'none' or 'spice' --fullscreen : Starts VM in full screen mode (Ctl+Alt+f to exit) --ignore-msrs-always : Configure KVM to always ignore unhandled machine-specific registers --screen : Use specified screen to determine the window size. --shortcut : Create a desktop shortcut --snapshot apply : Apply/restore a snapshot. --snapshot create : Create a snapshot. --snapshot delete : Delete a snapshot. --snapshot info : Show disk/snapshot info. --status-quo : Do not commit any changes to disk/snapshot. --version : Print version ``` ## Desktop shortcuts Desktop shortcuts can be created for a VM, the shortcuts are saved in `~/.local/share/applications`. Here is an example of how to create a shortcut. ```bash quickemu --vm ubuntu-focal-desktop.conf --shortcut ``` ## Screen and window size (Linux guests only) `qemu` will always default to the primary monitor to display the VM's window. Without the `--screen` option, `quickemu` will look for the size of the smallest monitor, and use a size that fits on said monitor. The `--screen` option forces `quickemu` to use the size of the given monitor to compute the size of the window. **It won't use that monitor to display the VM's window if it's not the primary monitor**. This is useful if the primary monitor if not the smallest one, and if the VM's window doesn't need to be moved around. The `--screen` option is also useful with the `--fullscreen` option, again because `qemu` will always use the primary monitor. In order for the fullscreen mode to work properly, the resolution of the VM's window must match the resolution of the screen. To know which screen to use, type: ```bash xrandr --listmonitors | grep -v Monitors ``` The command will output something like this: ``` 0: +*HDMI-0 2560/597x1440/336+1920+0 HDMI-0 1: +DVI-D-0 1920/527x1080/296+0+0 DVI-D-0 ``` The first number is what needs to be passed to the `--screen` option. For example: ```bash quickemu --vm vm.conf --screen 0 ``` The above uses the 2560x1440 screen to compute the size of the window, which Quickemu sizes to 2048x1152. Without the `--screen` option, Quickemu would have used the 1920x1080 monitor which results in a window size of 1664x936. # References Useful reference that assisted the development of Quickemu. * General * [QEMU’s documentation!](https://qemu.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) * * * macOS * * * * * * * * * * [OpenCore Configurator](https://mackie100projects.altervista.org) * Windows * * * * * * * TPM * * * 9p & virtiofs * * * * *