1 \input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
3 @setfilename qemu-doc.info
7 @documentencoding UTF-8
9 @settitle QEMU version @value{VERSION} User Documentation
16 * QEMU: (qemu-doc). The QEMU Emulator User Documentation.
23 @center @titlefont{QEMU version @value{VERSION}}
25 @center @titlefont{User Documentation}
36 * QEMU PC System emulator::
37 * QEMU System emulator for non PC targets::
39 * QEMU User space emulator::
40 * Implementation notes::
41 * Deprecated features::
53 * intro_features:: Features
59 QEMU is a FAST! processor emulator using dynamic translation to
60 achieve good emulation speed.
62 @cindex operating modes
63 QEMU has two operating modes:
66 @cindex system emulation
67 @item Full system emulation. In this mode, QEMU emulates a full system (for
68 example a PC), including one or several processors and various
69 peripherals. It can be used to launch different Operating Systems
70 without rebooting the PC or to debug system code.
72 @cindex user mode emulation
73 @item User mode emulation. In this mode, QEMU can launch
74 processes compiled for one CPU on another CPU. It can be used to
75 launch the Wine Windows API emulator (@url{https://www.winehq.org}) or
76 to ease cross-compilation and cross-debugging.
80 QEMU has the following features:
83 @item QEMU can run without a host kernel driver and yet gives acceptable
84 performance. It uses dynamic translation to native code for reasonable speed,
85 with support for self-modifying code and precise exceptions.
87 @item It is portable to several operating systems (GNU/Linux, *BSD, Mac OS X,
88 Windows) and architectures.
90 @item It performs accurate software emulation of the FPU.
93 QEMU user mode emulation has the following features:
95 @item Generic Linux system call converter, including most ioctls.
97 @item clone() emulation using native CPU clone() to use Linux scheduler for threads.
99 @item Accurate signal handling by remapping host signals to target signals.
102 QEMU full system emulation has the following features:
105 QEMU uses a full software MMU for maximum portability.
108 QEMU can optionally use an in-kernel accelerator, like kvm. The accelerators
109 execute most of the guest code natively, while
110 continuing to emulate the rest of the machine.
113 Various hardware devices can be emulated and in some cases, host
114 devices (e.g. serial and parallel ports, USB, drives) can be used
115 transparently by the guest Operating System. Host device passthrough
116 can be used for talking to external physical peripherals (e.g. a
117 webcam, modem or tape drive).
120 Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) support. Currently, an in-kernel
121 accelerator is required to use more than one host CPU for emulation.
126 @node QEMU PC System emulator
127 @chapter QEMU PC System emulator
128 @cindex system emulation (PC)
131 * pcsys_introduction:: Introduction
132 * pcsys_quickstart:: Quick Start
133 * sec_invocation:: Invocation
134 * pcsys_keys:: Keys in the graphical frontends
135 * mux_keys:: Keys in the character backend multiplexer
136 * pcsys_monitor:: QEMU Monitor
137 * disk_images:: Disk Images
138 * pcsys_network:: Network emulation
139 * pcsys_other_devs:: Other Devices
140 * direct_linux_boot:: Direct Linux Boot
141 * pcsys_usb:: USB emulation
142 * vnc_security:: VNC security
143 * network_tls:: TLS setup for network services
144 * gdb_usage:: GDB usage
145 * pcsys_os_specific:: Target OS specific information
148 @node pcsys_introduction
149 @section Introduction
151 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
153 The QEMU PC System emulator simulates the
154 following peripherals:
158 i440FX host PCI bridge and PIIX3 PCI to ISA bridge
160 Cirrus CLGD 5446 PCI VGA card or dummy VGA card with Bochs VESA
161 extensions (hardware level, including all non standard modes).
163 PS/2 mouse and keyboard
165 2 PCI IDE interfaces with hard disk and CD-ROM support
169 PCI and ISA network adapters
173 IPMI BMC, either and internal or external one
175 Creative SoundBlaster 16 sound card
177 ENSONIQ AudioPCI ES1370 sound card
179 Intel 82801AA AC97 Audio compatible sound card
181 Intel HD Audio Controller and HDA codec
183 Adlib (OPL2) - Yamaha YM3812 compatible chip
185 Gravis Ultrasound GF1 sound card
187 CS4231A compatible sound card
189 PCI UHCI, OHCI, EHCI or XHCI USB controller and a virtual USB-1.1 hub.
192 SMP is supported with up to 255 CPUs.
194 QEMU uses the PC BIOS from the Seabios project and the Plex86/Bochs LGPL
197 QEMU uses YM3812 emulation by Tatsuyuki Satoh.
199 QEMU uses GUS emulation (GUSEMU32 @url{http://www.deinmeister.de/gusemu/})
200 by Tibor "TS" Schütz.
202 Note that, by default, GUS shares IRQ(7) with parallel ports and so
203 QEMU must be told to not have parallel ports to have working GUS.
206 qemu-system-i386 dos.img -soundhw gus -parallel none
211 qemu-system-i386 dos.img -device gus,irq=5
214 Or some other unclaimed IRQ.
216 CS4231A is the chip used in Windows Sound System and GUSMAX products
220 @node pcsys_quickstart
224 Download and uncompress the linux image (@file{linux.img}) and type:
227 qemu-system-i386 linux.img
230 Linux should boot and give you a prompt.
236 @c man begin SYNOPSIS
237 @command{qemu-system-i386} [@var{options}] [@var{disk_image}]
242 @var{disk_image} is a raw hard disk image for IDE hard disk 0. Some
243 targets do not need a disk image.
245 @include qemu-options.texi
249 @subsection Device URL Syntax
250 @c TODO merge this with section Disk Images
254 In addition to using normal file images for the emulated storage devices,
255 QEMU can also use networked resources such as iSCSI devices. These are
256 specified using a special URL syntax.
260 iSCSI support allows QEMU to access iSCSI resources directly and use as
261 images for the guest storage. Both disk and cdrom images are supported.
263 Syntax for specifying iSCSI LUNs is
264 ``iscsi://<target-ip>[:<port>]/<target-iqn>/<lun>''
266 By default qemu will use the iSCSI initiator-name
267 'iqn.2008-11.org.linux-kvm[:<name>]' but this can also be set from the command
268 line or a configuration file.
270 Since version Qemu 2.4 it is possible to specify a iSCSI request timeout to detect
271 stalled requests and force a reestablishment of the session. The timeout
272 is specified in seconds. The default is 0 which means no timeout. Libiscsi
273 1.15.0 or greater is required for this feature.
275 Example (without authentication):
277 qemu-system-i386 -iscsi initiator-name=iqn.2001-04.com.example:my-initiator \
278 -cdrom iscsi://192.0.2.1/iqn.2001-04.com.example/2 \
279 -drive file=iscsi://192.0.2.1/iqn.2001-04.com.example/1
282 Example (CHAP username/password via URL):
284 qemu-system-i386 -drive file=iscsi://user%password@@192.0.2.1/iqn.2001-04.com.example/1
287 Example (CHAP username/password via environment variables):
289 LIBISCSI_CHAP_USERNAME="user" \
290 LIBISCSI_CHAP_PASSWORD="password" \
291 qemu-system-i386 -drive file=iscsi://192.0.2.1/iqn.2001-04.com.example/1
295 QEMU supports NBD (Network Block Devices) both using TCP protocol as well
296 as Unix Domain Sockets.
298 Syntax for specifying a NBD device using TCP
299 ``nbd:<server-ip>:<port>[:exportname=<export>]''
301 Syntax for specifying a NBD device using Unix Domain Sockets
302 ``nbd:unix:<domain-socket>[:exportname=<export>]''
306 qemu-system-i386 --drive file=nbd:192.0.2.1:30000
309 Example for Unix Domain Sockets
311 qemu-system-i386 --drive file=nbd:unix:/tmp/nbd-socket
315 QEMU supports SSH (Secure Shell) access to remote disks.
319 qemu-system-i386 -drive file=ssh://user@@host/path/to/disk.img
320 qemu-system-i386 -drive file.driver=ssh,file.user=user,file.host=host,file.port=22,file.path=/path/to/disk.img
323 Currently authentication must be done using ssh-agent. Other
324 authentication methods may be supported in future.
327 Sheepdog is a distributed storage system for QEMU.
328 QEMU supports using either local sheepdog devices or remote networked
331 Syntax for specifying a sheepdog device
333 sheepdog[+tcp|+unix]://[host:port]/vdiname[?socket=path][#snapid|#tag]
338 qemu-system-i386 --drive file=sheepdog://192.0.2.1:30000/MyVirtualMachine
341 See also @url{https://sheepdog.github.io/sheepdog/}.
344 GlusterFS is a user space distributed file system.
345 QEMU supports the use of GlusterFS volumes for hosting VM disk images using
346 TCP, Unix Domain Sockets and RDMA transport protocols.
348 Syntax for specifying a VM disk image on GlusterFS volume is
352 gluster[+type]://[host[:port]]/volume/path[?socket=...][,debug=N][,logfile=...]
355 'json:@{"driver":"qcow2","file":@{"driver":"gluster","volume":"testvol","path":"a.img","debug":N,"logfile":"...",
356 @ "server":[@{"type":"tcp","host":"...","port":"..."@},
357 @ @{"type":"unix","socket":"..."@}]@}@}'
364 qemu-system-x86_64 --drive file=gluster://192.0.2.1/testvol/a.img,
365 @ file.debug=9,file.logfile=/var/log/qemu-gluster.log
368 qemu-system-x86_64 'json:@{"driver":"qcow2",
369 @ "file":@{"driver":"gluster",
370 @ "volume":"testvol","path":"a.img",
371 @ "debug":9,"logfile":"/var/log/qemu-gluster.log",
372 @ "server":[@{"type":"tcp","host":"1.2.3.4","port":24007@},
373 @ @{"type":"unix","socket":"/var/run/glusterd.socket"@}]@}@}'
374 qemu-system-x86_64 -drive driver=qcow2,file.driver=gluster,file.volume=testvol,file.path=/path/a.img,
375 @ file.debug=9,file.logfile=/var/log/qemu-gluster.log,
376 @ file.server.0.type=tcp,file.server.0.host=1.2.3.4,file.server.0.port=24007,
377 @ file.server.1.type=unix,file.server.1.socket=/var/run/glusterd.socket
380 See also @url{http://www.gluster.org}.
382 @item HTTP/HTTPS/FTP/FTPS
383 QEMU supports read-only access to files accessed over http(s) and ftp(s).
385 Syntax using a single filename:
387 <protocol>://[<username>[:<password>]@@]<host>/<path>
393 'http', 'https', 'ftp', or 'ftps'.
396 Optional username for authentication to the remote server.
399 Optional password for authentication to the remote server.
402 Address of the remote server.
405 Path on the remote server, including any query string.
408 The following options are also supported:
411 The full URL when passing options to the driver explicitly.
414 The amount of data to read ahead with each range request to the remote server.
415 This value may optionally have the suffix 'T', 'G', 'M', 'K', 'k' or 'b'. If it
416 does not have a suffix, it will be assumed to be in bytes. The value must be a
417 multiple of 512 bytes. It defaults to 256k.
420 Whether to verify the remote server's certificate when connecting over SSL. It
421 can have the value 'on' or 'off'. It defaults to 'on'.
424 Send this cookie (it can also be a list of cookies separated by ';') with
425 each outgoing request. Only supported when using protocols such as HTTP
426 which support cookies, otherwise ignored.
429 Set the timeout in seconds of the CURL connection. This timeout is the time
430 that CURL waits for a response from the remote server to get the size of the
431 image to be downloaded. If not set, the default timeout of 5 seconds is used.
434 Note that when passing options to qemu explicitly, @option{driver} is the value
437 Example: boot from a remote Fedora 20 live ISO image
439 qemu-system-x86_64 --drive media=cdrom,file=http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Live/x86_64/Fedora-Live-Desktop-x86_64-20-1.iso,readonly
441 qemu-system-x86_64 --drive media=cdrom,file.driver=http,file.url=http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Live/x86_64/Fedora-Live-Desktop-x86_64-20-1.iso,readonly
444 Example: boot from a remote Fedora 20 cloud image using a local overlay for
445 writes, copy-on-read, and a readahead of 64k
447 qemu-img create -f qcow2 -o backing_file='json:@{"file.driver":"http",, "file.url":"https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Images/x86_64/Fedora-x86_64-20-20131211.1-sda.qcow2",, "file.readahead":"64k"@}' /tmp/Fedora-x86_64-20-20131211.1-sda.qcow2
449 qemu-system-x86_64 -drive file=/tmp/Fedora-x86_64-20-20131211.1-sda.qcow2,copy-on-read=on
452 Example: boot from an image stored on a VMware vSphere server with a self-signed
453 certificate using a local overlay for writes, a readahead of 64k and a timeout
456 qemu-img create -f qcow2 -o backing_file='json:@{"file.driver":"https",, "file.url":"https://user:password@@vsphere.example.com/folder/test/test-flat.vmdk?dcPath=Datacenter&dsName=datastore1",, "file.sslverify":"off",, "file.readahead":"64k",, "file.timeout":10@}' /tmp/test.qcow2
458 qemu-system-x86_64 -drive file=/tmp/test.qcow2
466 @section Keys in the graphical frontends
470 During the graphical emulation, you can use special key combinations to change
471 modes. The default key mappings are shown below, but if you use @code{-alt-grab}
472 then the modifier is Ctrl-Alt-Shift (instead of Ctrl-Alt) and if you use
473 @code{-ctrl-grab} then the modifier is the right Ctrl key (instead of Ctrl-Alt):
490 Restore the screen's un-scaled dimensions
494 Switch to virtual console 'n'. Standard console mappings are:
497 Target system display
506 Toggle mouse and keyboard grab.
512 @kindex Ctrl-PageDown
513 In the virtual consoles, you can use @key{Ctrl-Up}, @key{Ctrl-Down},
514 @key{Ctrl-PageUp} and @key{Ctrl-PageDown} to move in the back log.
519 @section Keys in the character backend multiplexer
523 During emulation, if you are using a character backend multiplexer
524 (which is the default if you are using @option{-nographic}) then
525 several commands are available via an escape sequence. These
526 key sequences all start with an escape character, which is @key{Ctrl-a}
527 by default, but can be changed with @option{-echr}. The list below assumes
528 you're using the default.
539 Save disk data back to file (if -snapshot)
542 Toggle console timestamps
545 Send break (magic sysrq in Linux)
548 Rotate between the frontends connected to the multiplexer (usually
549 this switches between the monitor and the console)
551 @kindex Ctrl-a Ctrl-a
552 Send the escape character to the frontend
559 The HTML documentation of QEMU for more precise information and Linux
560 user mode emulator invocation.
570 @section QEMU Monitor
573 The QEMU monitor is used to give complex commands to the QEMU
574 emulator. You can use it to:
579 Remove or insert removable media images
580 (such as CD-ROM or floppies).
583 Freeze/unfreeze the Virtual Machine (VM) and save or restore its state
586 @item Inspect the VM state without an external debugger.
592 The following commands are available:
594 @include qemu-monitor.texi
596 @include qemu-monitor-info.texi
598 @subsection Integer expressions
600 The monitor understands integers expressions for every integer
601 argument. You can use register names to get the value of specifics
602 CPU registers by prefixing them with @emph{$}.
607 QEMU supports many disk image formats, including growable disk images
608 (their size increase as non empty sectors are written), compressed and
609 encrypted disk images.
612 * disk_images_quickstart:: Quick start for disk image creation
613 * disk_images_snapshot_mode:: Snapshot mode
614 * vm_snapshots:: VM snapshots
615 * qemu_img_invocation:: qemu-img Invocation
616 * qemu_nbd_invocation:: qemu-nbd Invocation
617 * disk_images_formats:: Disk image file formats
618 * host_drives:: Using host drives
619 * disk_images_fat_images:: Virtual FAT disk images
620 * disk_images_nbd:: NBD access
621 * disk_images_sheepdog:: Sheepdog disk images
622 * disk_images_iscsi:: iSCSI LUNs
623 * disk_images_gluster:: GlusterFS disk images
624 * disk_images_ssh:: Secure Shell (ssh) disk images
625 * disk_images_nvme:: NVMe userspace driver
626 * disk_image_locking:: Disk image file locking
629 @node disk_images_quickstart
630 @subsection Quick start for disk image creation
632 You can create a disk image with the command:
634 qemu-img create myimage.img mysize
636 where @var{myimage.img} is the disk image filename and @var{mysize} is its
637 size in kilobytes. You can add an @code{M} suffix to give the size in
638 megabytes and a @code{G} suffix for gigabytes.
640 See @ref{qemu_img_invocation} for more information.
642 @node disk_images_snapshot_mode
643 @subsection Snapshot mode
645 If you use the option @option{-snapshot}, all disk images are
646 considered as read only. When sectors in written, they are written in
647 a temporary file created in @file{/tmp}. You can however force the
648 write back to the raw disk images by using the @code{commit} monitor
649 command (or @key{C-a s} in the serial console).
652 @subsection VM snapshots
654 VM snapshots are snapshots of the complete virtual machine including
655 CPU state, RAM, device state and the content of all the writable
656 disks. In order to use VM snapshots, you must have at least one non
657 removable and writable block device using the @code{qcow2} disk image
658 format. Normally this device is the first virtual hard drive.
660 Use the monitor command @code{savevm} to create a new VM snapshot or
661 replace an existing one. A human readable name can be assigned to each
662 snapshot in addition to its numerical ID.
664 Use @code{loadvm} to restore a VM snapshot and @code{delvm} to remove
665 a VM snapshot. @code{info snapshots} lists the available snapshots
666 with their associated information:
669 (qemu) info snapshots
670 Snapshot devices: hda
671 Snapshot list (from hda):
672 ID TAG VM SIZE DATE VM CLOCK
673 1 start 41M 2006-08-06 12:38:02 00:00:14.954
674 2 40M 2006-08-06 12:43:29 00:00:18.633
675 3 msys 40M 2006-08-06 12:44:04 00:00:23.514
678 A VM snapshot is made of a VM state info (its size is shown in
679 @code{info snapshots}) and a snapshot of every writable disk image.
680 The VM state info is stored in the first @code{qcow2} non removable
681 and writable block device. The disk image snapshots are stored in
682 every disk image. The size of a snapshot in a disk image is difficult
683 to evaluate and is not shown by @code{info snapshots} because the
684 associated disk sectors are shared among all the snapshots to save
685 disk space (otherwise each snapshot would need a full copy of all the
688 When using the (unrelated) @code{-snapshot} option
689 (@ref{disk_images_snapshot_mode}), you can always make VM snapshots,
690 but they are deleted as soon as you exit QEMU.
692 VM snapshots currently have the following known limitations:
695 They cannot cope with removable devices if they are removed or
696 inserted after a snapshot is done.
698 A few device drivers still have incomplete snapshot support so their
699 state is not saved or restored properly (in particular USB).
702 @node qemu_img_invocation
703 @subsection @code{qemu-img} Invocation
705 @include qemu-img.texi
707 @node qemu_nbd_invocation
708 @subsection @code{qemu-nbd} Invocation
710 @include qemu-nbd.texi
712 @include docs/qemu-block-drivers.texi
715 @section Network emulation
717 QEMU can simulate several network cards (PCI or ISA cards on the PC
718 target) and can connect them to an arbitrary number of Virtual Local
719 Area Networks (VLANs). Host TAP devices can be connected to any QEMU
720 VLAN. VLAN can be connected between separate instances of QEMU to
721 simulate large networks. For simpler usage, a non privileged user mode
722 network stack can replace the TAP device to have a basic network
727 QEMU simulates several VLANs. A VLAN can be symbolised as a virtual
728 connection between several network devices. These devices can be for
729 example QEMU virtual Ethernet cards or virtual Host ethernet devices
732 @subsection Using TAP network interfaces
734 This is the standard way to connect QEMU to a real network. QEMU adds
735 a virtual network device on your host (called @code{tapN}), and you
736 can then configure it as if it was a real ethernet card.
738 @subsubsection Linux host
740 As an example, you can download the @file{linux-test-xxx.tar.gz}
741 archive and copy the script @file{qemu-ifup} in @file{/etc} and
742 configure properly @code{sudo} so that the command @code{ifconfig}
743 contained in @file{qemu-ifup} can be executed as root. You must verify
744 that your host kernel supports the TAP network interfaces: the
745 device @file{/dev/net/tun} must be present.
747 See @ref{sec_invocation} to have examples of command lines using the
748 TAP network interfaces.
750 @subsubsection Windows host
752 There is a virtual ethernet driver for Windows 2000/XP systems, called
753 TAP-Win32. But it is not included in standard QEMU for Windows,
754 so you will need to get it separately. It is part of OpenVPN package,
755 so download OpenVPN from : @url{https://openvpn.net/}.
757 @subsection Using the user mode network stack
759 By using the option @option{-net user} (default configuration if no
760 @option{-net} option is specified), QEMU uses a completely user mode
761 network stack (you don't need root privilege to use the virtual
762 network). The virtual network configuration is the following:
766 QEMU VLAN <------> Firewall/DHCP server <-----> Internet
769 ----> DNS server (10.0.2.3)
771 ----> SMB server (10.0.2.4)
774 The QEMU VM behaves as if it was behind a firewall which blocks all
775 incoming connections. You can use a DHCP client to automatically
776 configure the network in the QEMU VM. The DHCP server assign addresses
777 to the hosts starting from 10.0.2.15.
779 In order to check that the user mode network is working, you can ping
780 the address 10.0.2.2 and verify that you got an address in the range
781 10.0.2.x from the QEMU virtual DHCP server.
783 Note that ICMP traffic in general does not work with user mode networking.
784 @code{ping}, aka. ICMP echo, to the local router (10.0.2.2) shall work,
785 however. If you're using QEMU on Linux >= 3.0, it can use unprivileged ICMP
786 ping sockets to allow @code{ping} to the Internet. The host admin has to set
787 the ping_group_range in order to grant access to those sockets. To allow ping
788 for GID 100 (usually users group):
791 echo 100 100 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ping_group_range
794 When using the built-in TFTP server, the router is also the TFTP
797 When using the @option{'-netdev user,hostfwd=...'} option, TCP or UDP
798 connections can be redirected from the host to the guest. It allows for
799 example to redirect X11, telnet or SSH connections.
801 @subsection Connecting VLANs between QEMU instances
803 Using the @option{-net socket} option, it is possible to make VLANs
804 that span several QEMU instances. See @ref{sec_invocation} to have a
807 @node pcsys_other_devs
808 @section Other Devices
810 @subsection Inter-VM Shared Memory device
812 On Linux hosts, a shared memory device is available. The basic syntax
816 qemu-system-x86_64 -device ivshmem-plain,memdev=@var{hostmem}
819 where @var{hostmem} names a host memory backend. For a POSIX shared
820 memory backend, use something like
823 -object memory-backend-file,size=1M,share,mem-path=/dev/shm/ivshmem,id=@var{hostmem}
826 If desired, interrupts can be sent between guest VMs accessing the same shared
827 memory region. Interrupt support requires using a shared memory server and
828 using a chardev socket to connect to it. The code for the shared memory server
829 is qemu.git/contrib/ivshmem-server. An example syntax when using the shared
833 # First start the ivshmem server once and for all
834 ivshmem-server -p @var{pidfile} -S @var{path} -m @var{shm-name} -l @var{shm-size} -n @var{vectors}
836 # Then start your qemu instances with matching arguments
837 qemu-system-x86_64 -device ivshmem-doorbell,vectors=@var{vectors},chardev=@var{id}
838 -chardev socket,path=@var{path},id=@var{id}
841 When using the server, the guest will be assigned a VM ID (>=0) that allows guests
842 using the same server to communicate via interrupts. Guests can read their
843 VM ID from a device register (see ivshmem-spec.txt).
845 @subsubsection Migration with ivshmem
847 With device property @option{master=on}, the guest will copy the shared
848 memory on migration to the destination host. With @option{master=off},
849 the guest will not be able to migrate with the device attached. In the
850 latter case, the device should be detached and then reattached after
851 migration using the PCI hotplug support.
853 At most one of the devices sharing the same memory can be master. The
854 master must complete migration before you plug back the other devices.
856 @subsubsection ivshmem and hugepages
858 Instead of specifying the <shm size> using POSIX shm, you may specify
859 a memory backend that has hugepage support:
862 qemu-system-x86_64 -object memory-backend-file,size=1G,mem-path=/dev/hugepages/my-shmem-file,share,id=mb1
863 -device ivshmem-plain,memdev=mb1
866 ivshmem-server also supports hugepages mount points with the
867 @option{-m} memory path argument.
869 @node direct_linux_boot
870 @section Direct Linux Boot
872 This section explains how to launch a Linux kernel inside QEMU without
873 having to make a full bootable image. It is very useful for fast Linux
878 qemu-system-i386 -kernel arch/i386/boot/bzImage -hda root-2.4.20.img -append "root=/dev/hda"
881 Use @option{-kernel} to provide the Linux kernel image and
882 @option{-append} to give the kernel command line arguments. The
883 @option{-initrd} option can be used to provide an INITRD image.
885 When using the direct Linux boot, a disk image for the first hard disk
886 @file{hda} is required because its boot sector is used to launch the
889 If you do not need graphical output, you can disable it and redirect
890 the virtual serial port and the QEMU monitor to the console with the
891 @option{-nographic} option. The typical command line is:
893 qemu-system-i386 -kernel arch/i386/boot/bzImage -hda root-2.4.20.img \
894 -append "root=/dev/hda console=ttyS0" -nographic
897 Use @key{Ctrl-a c} to switch between the serial console and the
898 monitor (@pxref{pcsys_keys}).
901 @section USB emulation
903 QEMU can emulate a PCI UHCI, OHCI, EHCI or XHCI USB controller. You can
904 plug virtual USB devices or real host USB devices (only works with certain
905 host operating systems). QEMU will automatically create and connect virtual
906 USB hubs as necessary to connect multiple USB devices.
913 @subsection Connecting USB devices
915 USB devices can be connected with the @option{-device usb-...} command line
916 option or the @code{device_add} monitor command. Available devices are:
920 Virtual Mouse. This will override the PS/2 mouse emulation when activated.
922 Pointer device that uses absolute coordinates (like a touchscreen).
923 This means QEMU is able to report the mouse position without having
924 to grab the mouse. Also overrides the PS/2 mouse emulation when activated.
925 @item usb-storage,drive=@var{drive_id}
926 Mass storage device backed by @var{drive_id} (@pxref{disk_images})
928 USB attached SCSI device, see
929 @url{https://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu.git;a=blob_plain;f=docs/usb-storage.txt,usb-storage.txt}
932 Bulk-only transport storage device, see
933 @url{https://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu.git;a=blob_plain;f=docs/usb-storage.txt,usb-storage.txt}
934 for details here, too
935 @item usb-mtp,x-root=@var{dir}
936 Media transfer protocol device, using @var{dir} as root of the file tree
937 that is presented to the guest.
938 @item usb-host,hostbus=@var{bus},hostaddr=@var{addr}
939 Pass through the host device identified by @var{bus} and @var{addr}
940 @item usb-host,vendorid=@var{vendor},productid=@var{product}
941 Pass through the host device identified by @var{vendor} and @var{product} ID
942 @item usb-wacom-tablet
943 Virtual Wacom PenPartner tablet. This device is similar to the @code{tablet}
944 above but it can be used with the tslib library because in addition to touch
945 coordinates it reports touch pressure.
947 Standard USB keyboard. Will override the PS/2 keyboard (if present).
948 @item usb-serial,chardev=@var{id}
949 Serial converter. This emulates an FTDI FT232BM chip connected to host character
951 @item usb-braille,chardev=@var{id}
952 Braille device. This will use BrlAPI to display the braille output on a real
953 or fake device referenced by @var{id}.
954 @item usb-net[,netdev=@var{id}]
955 Network adapter that supports CDC ethernet and RNDIS protocols. @var{id}
956 specifies a netdev defined with @code{-netdev @dots{},id=@var{id}}.
957 For instance, user-mode networking can be used with
959 qemu-system-i386 [...] -netdev user,id=net0 -device usb-net,netdev=net0
962 Smartcard reader device
966 Bluetooth dongle for the transport layer of HCI. It is connected to HCI
967 scatternet 0 by default (corresponds to @code{-bt hci,vlan=0}).
968 Note that the syntax for the @code{-device usb-bt-dongle} option is not as
969 useful yet as it was with the legacy @code{-usbdevice} option. So to
970 configure an USB bluetooth device, you might need to use
971 "@code{-usbdevice bt}[:@var{hci-type}]" instead. This configures a
972 bluetooth dongle whose type is specified in the same format as with
973 the @option{-bt hci} option, @pxref{bt-hcis,,allowed HCI types}. If
974 no type is given, the HCI logic corresponds to @code{-bt hci,vlan=0}.
975 This USB device implements the USB Transport Layer of HCI. Example
978 @command{qemu-system-i386} [...@var{OPTIONS}...] @option{-usbdevice} bt:hci,vlan=3 @option{-bt} device:keyboard,vlan=3
982 @node host_usb_devices
983 @subsection Using host USB devices on a Linux host
985 WARNING: this is an experimental feature. QEMU will slow down when
986 using it. USB devices requiring real time streaming (i.e. USB Video
987 Cameras) are not supported yet.
990 @item If you use an early Linux 2.4 kernel, verify that no Linux driver
991 is actually using the USB device. A simple way to do that is simply to
992 disable the corresponding kernel module by renaming it from @file{mydriver.o}
993 to @file{mydriver.o.disabled}.
995 @item Verify that @file{/proc/bus/usb} is working (most Linux distributions should enable it by default). You should see something like that:
1001 @item Since only root can access to the USB devices directly, you can either launch QEMU as root or change the permissions of the USB devices you want to use. For testing, the following suffices:
1003 chown -R myuid /proc/bus/usb
1006 @item Launch QEMU and do in the monitor:
1009 Device 1.2, speed 480 Mb/s
1010 Class 00: USB device 1234:5678, USB DISK
1012 You should see the list of the devices you can use (Never try to use
1013 hubs, it won't work).
1015 @item Add the device in QEMU by using:
1017 device_add usb-host,vendorid=0x1234,productid=0x5678
1020 Normally the guest OS should report that a new USB device is plugged.
1021 You can use the option @option{-device usb-host,...} to do the same.
1023 @item Now you can try to use the host USB device in QEMU.
1027 When relaunching QEMU, you may have to unplug and plug again the USB
1028 device to make it work again (this is a bug).
1031 @section VNC security
1033 The VNC server capability provides access to the graphical console
1034 of the guest VM across the network. This has a number of security
1035 considerations depending on the deployment scenarios.
1039 * vnc_sec_password::
1040 * vnc_sec_certificate::
1041 * vnc_sec_certificate_verify::
1042 * vnc_sec_certificate_pw::
1044 * vnc_sec_certificate_sasl::
1048 @subsection Without passwords
1050 The simplest VNC server setup does not include any form of authentication.
1051 For this setup it is recommended to restrict it to listen on a UNIX domain
1052 socket only. For example
1055 qemu-system-i386 [...OPTIONS...] -vnc unix:/home/joebloggs/.qemu-myvm-vnc
1058 This ensures that only users on local box with read/write access to that
1059 path can access the VNC server. To securely access the VNC server from a
1060 remote machine, a combination of netcat+ssh can be used to provide a secure
1063 @node vnc_sec_password
1064 @subsection With passwords
1066 The VNC protocol has limited support for password based authentication. Since
1067 the protocol limits passwords to 8 characters it should not be considered
1068 to provide high security. The password can be fairly easily brute-forced by
1069 a client making repeat connections. For this reason, a VNC server using password
1070 authentication should be restricted to only listen on the loopback interface
1071 or UNIX domain sockets. Password authentication is not supported when operating
1072 in FIPS 140-2 compliance mode as it requires the use of the DES cipher. Password
1073 authentication is requested with the @code{password} option, and then once QEMU
1074 is running the password is set with the monitor. Until the monitor is used to
1075 set the password all clients will be rejected.
1078 qemu-system-i386 [...OPTIONS...] -vnc :1,password -monitor stdio
1079 (qemu) change vnc password
1084 @node vnc_sec_certificate
1085 @subsection With x509 certificates
1087 The QEMU VNC server also implements the VeNCrypt extension allowing use of
1088 TLS for encryption of the session, and x509 certificates for authentication.
1089 The use of x509 certificates is strongly recommended, because TLS on its
1090 own is susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks. Basic x509 certificate
1091 support provides a secure session, but no authentication. This allows any
1092 client to connect, and provides an encrypted session.
1095 qemu-system-i386 [...OPTIONS...] -vnc :1,tls,x509=/etc/pki/qemu -monitor stdio
1098 In the above example @code{/etc/pki/qemu} should contain at least three files,
1099 @code{ca-cert.pem}, @code{server-cert.pem} and @code{server-key.pem}. Unprivileged
1100 users will want to use a private directory, for example @code{$HOME/.pki/qemu}.
1101 NB the @code{server-key.pem} file should be protected with file mode 0600 to
1102 only be readable by the user owning it.
1104 @node vnc_sec_certificate_verify
1105 @subsection With x509 certificates and client verification
1107 Certificates can also provide a means to authenticate the client connecting.
1108 The server will request that the client provide a certificate, which it will
1109 then validate against the CA certificate. This is a good choice if deploying
1110 in an environment with a private internal certificate authority.
1113 qemu-system-i386 [...OPTIONS...] -vnc :1,tls,x509verify=/etc/pki/qemu -monitor stdio
1117 @node vnc_sec_certificate_pw
1118 @subsection With x509 certificates, client verification and passwords
1120 Finally, the previous method can be combined with VNC password authentication
1121 to provide two layers of authentication for clients.
1124 qemu-system-i386 [...OPTIONS...] -vnc :1,password,tls,x509verify=/etc/pki/qemu -monitor stdio
1125 (qemu) change vnc password
1132 @subsection With SASL authentication
1134 The SASL authentication method is a VNC extension, that provides an
1135 easily extendable, pluggable authentication method. This allows for
1136 integration with a wide range of authentication mechanisms, such as
1137 PAM, GSSAPI/Kerberos, LDAP, SQL databases, one-time keys and more.
1138 The strength of the authentication depends on the exact mechanism
1139 configured. If the chosen mechanism also provides a SSF layer, then
1140 it will encrypt the datastream as well.
1142 Refer to the later docs on how to choose the exact SASL mechanism
1143 used for authentication, but assuming use of one supporting SSF,
1144 then QEMU can be launched with:
1147 qemu-system-i386 [...OPTIONS...] -vnc :1,sasl -monitor stdio
1150 @node vnc_sec_certificate_sasl
1151 @subsection With x509 certificates and SASL authentication
1153 If the desired SASL authentication mechanism does not supported
1154 SSF layers, then it is strongly advised to run it in combination
1155 with TLS and x509 certificates. This provides securely encrypted
1156 data stream, avoiding risk of compromising of the security
1157 credentials. This can be enabled, by combining the 'sasl' option
1158 with the aforementioned TLS + x509 options:
1161 qemu-system-i386 [...OPTIONS...] -vnc :1,tls,x509,sasl -monitor stdio
1164 @node vnc_setup_sasl
1166 @subsection Configuring SASL mechanisms
1168 The following documentation assumes use of the Cyrus SASL implementation on a
1169 Linux host, but the principles should apply to any other SASL implementation
1170 or host. When SASL is enabled, the mechanism configuration will be loaded from
1171 system default SASL service config /etc/sasl2/qemu.conf. If running QEMU as an
1172 unprivileged user, an environment variable SASL_CONF_PATH can be used to make
1173 it search alternate locations for the service config file.
1175 If the TLS option is enabled for VNC, then it will provide session encryption,
1176 otherwise the SASL mechanism will have to provide encryption. In the latter
1177 case the list of possible plugins that can be used is drastically reduced. In
1178 fact only the GSSAPI SASL mechanism provides an acceptable level of security
1179 by modern standards. Previous versions of QEMU referred to the DIGEST-MD5
1180 mechanism, however, it has multiple serious flaws described in detail in
1181 RFC 6331 and thus should never be used any more. The SCRAM-SHA-1 mechanism
1182 provides a simple username/password auth facility similar to DIGEST-MD5, but
1183 does not support session encryption, so can only be used in combination with
1186 When not using TLS the recommended configuration is
1190 keytab: /etc/qemu/krb5.tab
1193 This says to use the 'GSSAPI' mechanism with the Kerberos v5 protocol, with
1194 the server principal stored in /etc/qemu/krb5.tab. For this to work the
1195 administrator of your KDC must generate a Kerberos principal for the server,
1196 with a name of 'qemu/somehost.example.com@@EXAMPLE.COM' replacing
1197 'somehost.example.com' with the fully qualified host name of the machine
1198 running QEMU, and 'EXAMPLE.COM' with the Kerberos Realm.
1200 When using TLS, if username+password authentication is desired, then a
1201 reasonable configuration is
1204 mech_list: scram-sha-1
1205 sasldb_path: /etc/qemu/passwd.db
1208 The @code{saslpasswd2} program can be used to populate the @code{passwd.db}
1211 Other SASL configurations will be left as an exercise for the reader. Note that
1212 all mechanisms, except GSSAPI, should be combined with use of TLS to ensure a
1213 secure data channel.
1217 @section TLS setup for network services
1219 Almost all network services in QEMU have the ability to use TLS for
1220 session data encryption, along with x509 certificates for simple
1221 client authentication. What follows is a description of how to
1222 generate certificates suitable for usage with QEMU, and applies to
1223 the VNC server, character devices with the TCP backend, NBD server
1224 and client, and migration server and client.
1226 At a high level, QEMU requires certificates and private keys to be
1227 provided in PEM format. Aside from the core fields, the certificates
1228 should include various extension data sets, including v3 basic
1229 constraints data, key purpose, key usage and subject alt name.
1231 The GnuTLS package includes a command called @code{certtool} which can
1232 be used to easily generate certificates and keys in the required format
1233 with expected data present. Alternatively a certificate management
1234 service may be used.
1236 At a minimum it is necessary to setup a certificate authority, and
1237 issue certificates to each server. If using x509 certificates for
1238 authentication, then each client will also need to be issued a
1241 Assuming that the QEMU network services will only ever be exposed to
1242 clients on a private intranet, there is no need to use a commercial
1243 certificate authority to create certificates. A self-signed CA is
1244 sufficient, and in fact likely to be more secure since it removes
1245 the ability of malicious 3rd parties to trick the CA into mis-issuing
1246 certs for impersonating your services. The only likely exception
1247 where a commercial CA might be desirable is if enabling the VNC
1248 websockets server and exposing it directly to remote browser clients.
1249 In such a case it might be useful to use a commercial CA to avoid
1250 needing to install custom CA certs in the web browsers.
1252 The recommendation is for the server to keep its certificates in either
1253 @code{/etc/pki/qemu} or for unprivileged users in @code{$HOME/.pki/qemu}.
1257 * tls_generate_server::
1258 * tls_generate_client::
1261 @node tls_generate_ca
1262 @subsection Setup the Certificate Authority
1264 This step only needs to be performed once per organization / organizational
1265 unit. First the CA needs a private key. This key must be kept VERY secret
1266 and secure. If this key is compromised the entire trust chain of the certificates
1267 issued with it is lost.
1270 # certtool --generate-privkey > ca-key.pem
1273 To generate a self-signed certificate requires one core piece of information,
1274 the name of the organization. A template file @code{ca.info} should be
1275 populated with the desired data to avoid having to deal with interactive
1276 prompts from certtool:
1278 # cat > ca.info <<EOF
1279 cn = Name of your organization
1283 # certtool --generate-self-signed \
1284 --load-privkey ca-key.pem
1285 --template ca.info \
1286 --outfile ca-cert.pem
1289 The @code{ca} keyword in the template sets the v3 basic constraints extension
1290 to indicate this certificate is for a CA, while @code{cert_signing_key} sets
1291 the key usage extension to indicate this will be used for signing other keys.
1292 The generated @code{ca-cert.pem} file should be copied to all servers and
1293 clients wishing to utilize TLS support in the VNC server. The @code{ca-key.pem}
1294 must not be disclosed/copied anywhere except the host responsible for issuing
1297 @node tls_generate_server
1298 @subsection Issuing server certificates
1300 Each server (or host) needs to be issued with a key and certificate. When connecting
1301 the certificate is sent to the client which validates it against the CA certificate.
1302 The core pieces of information for a server certificate are the hostnames and/or IP
1303 addresses that will be used by clients when connecting. The hostname / IP address
1304 that the client specifies when connecting will be validated against the hostname(s)
1305 and IP address(es) recorded in the server certificate, and if no match is found
1306 the client will close the connection.
1308 Thus it is recommended that the server certificate include both the fully qualified
1309 and unqualified hostnames. If the server will have permanently assigned IP address(es),
1310 and clients are likely to use them when connecting, they may also be included in the
1311 certificate. Both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are supported. Historically certificates
1312 only included 1 hostname in the @code{CN} field, however, usage of this field for
1313 validation is now deprecated. Instead modern TLS clients will validate against the
1314 Subject Alt Name extension data, which allows for multiple entries. In the future
1315 usage of the @code{CN} field may be discontinued entirely, so providing SAN
1316 extension data is strongly recommended.
1318 On the host holding the CA, create template files containing the information
1319 for each server, and use it to issue server certificates.
1322 # cat > server-hostNNN.info <<EOF
1323 organization = Name of your organization
1324 cn = hostNNN.foo.example.com
1326 dns_name = hostNNN.foo.example.com
1327 ip_address = 10.0.1.87
1328 ip_address = 192.8.0.92
1329 ip_address = 2620:0:cafe::87
1330 ip_address = 2001:24::92
1335 # certtool --generate-privkey > server-hostNNN-key.pem
1336 # certtool --generate-certificate \
1337 --load-ca-certificate ca-cert.pem \
1338 --load-ca-privkey ca-key.pem \
1339 --load-privkey server-hostNNN-key.pem \
1340 --template server-hostNNN.info \
1341 --outfile server-hostNNN-cert.pem
1344 The @code{dns_name} and @code{ip_address} fields in the template are setting
1345 the subject alt name extension data. The @code{tls_www_server} keyword is the
1346 key purpose extension to indicate this certificate is intended for usage in
1347 a web server. Although QEMU network services are not in fact HTTP servers
1348 (except for VNC websockets), setting this key purpose is still recommended.
1349 The @code{encryption_key} and @code{signing_key} keyword is the key usage
1350 extension to indicate this certificate is intended for usage in the data
1353 The @code{server-hostNNN-key.pem} and @code{server-hostNNN-cert.pem} files
1354 should now be securely copied to the server for which they were generated,
1355 and renamed to @code{server-key.pem} and @code{server-cert.pem} when added
1356 to the @code{/etc/pki/qemu} directory on the target host. The @code{server-key.pem}
1357 file is security sensitive and should be kept protected with file mode 0600
1358 to prevent disclosure.
1360 @node tls_generate_client
1361 @subsection Issuing client certificates
1363 The QEMU x509 TLS credential setup defaults to enabling client verification
1364 using certificates, providing a simple authentication mechanism. If this
1365 default is used, each client also needs to be issued a certificate. The client
1366 certificate contains enough metadata to uniquely identify the client with the
1367 scope of the certificate authority. The client certificate would typically
1368 include fields for organization, state, city, building, etc.
1370 Once again on the host holding the CA, create template files containing the
1371 information for each client, and use it to issue client certificates.
1375 # cat > client-hostNNN.info <<EOF
1378 locality = City Of London
1379 organization = Name of your organization
1380 cn = hostNNN.foo.example.com
1385 # certtool --generate-privkey > client-hostNNN-key.pem
1386 # certtool --generate-certificate \
1387 --load-ca-certificate ca-cert.pem \
1388 --load-ca-privkey ca-key.pem \
1389 --load-privkey client-hostNNN-key.pem \
1390 --template client-hostNNN.info \
1391 --outfile client-hostNNN-cert.pem
1394 The subject alt name extension data is not required for clients, so the
1395 the @code{dns_name} and @code{ip_address} fields are not included.
1396 The @code{tls_www_client} keyword is the key purpose extension to indicate
1397 this certificate is intended for usage in a web client. Although QEMU
1398 network clients are not in fact HTTP clients, setting this key purpose is
1399 still recommended. The @code{encryption_key} and @code{signing_key} keyword
1400 is the key usage extension to indicate this certificate is intended for
1401 usage in the data session.
1403 The @code{client-hostNNN-key.pem} and @code{client-hostNNN-cert.pem} files
1404 should now be securely copied to the client for which they were generated,
1405 and renamed to @code{client-key.pem} and @code{client-cert.pem} when added
1406 to the @code{/etc/pki/qemu} directory on the target host. The @code{client-key.pem}
1407 file is security sensitive and should be kept protected with file mode 0600
1408 to prevent disclosure.
1410 If a single host is going to be using TLS in both a client and server
1411 role, it is possible to create a single certificate to cover both roles.
1412 This would be quite common for the migration and NBD services, where a
1413 QEMU process will be started by accepting a TLS protected incoming migration,
1414 and later itself be migrated out to another host. To generate a single
1415 certificate, simply include the template data from both the client and server
1416 instructions in one.
1419 # cat > both-hostNNN.info <<EOF
1422 locality = City Of London
1423 organization = Name of your organization
1424 cn = hostNNN.foo.example.com
1426 dns_name = hostNNN.foo.example.com
1427 ip_address = 10.0.1.87
1428 ip_address = 192.8.0.92
1429 ip_address = 2620:0:cafe::87
1430 ip_address = 2001:24::92
1436 # certtool --generate-privkey > both-hostNNN-key.pem
1437 # certtool --generate-certificate \
1438 --load-ca-certificate ca-cert.pem \
1439 --load-ca-privkey ca-key.pem \
1440 --load-privkey both-hostNNN-key.pem \
1441 --template both-hostNNN.info \
1442 --outfile both-hostNNN-cert.pem
1445 When copying the PEM files to the target host, save them twice,
1446 once as @code{server-cert.pem} and @code{server-key.pem}, and
1447 again as @code{client-cert.pem} and @code{client-key.pem}.
1449 @node tls_creds_setup
1450 @subsection TLS x509 credential configuration
1452 QEMU has a standard mechanism for loading x509 credentials that will be
1453 used for network services and clients. It requires specifying the
1454 @code{tls-creds-x509} class name to the @code{--object} command line
1455 argument for the system emulators. Each set of credentials loaded should
1456 be given a unique string identifier via the @code{id} parameter. A single
1457 set of TLS credentials can be used for multiple network backends, so VNC,
1458 migration, NBD, character devices can all share the same credentials. Note,
1459 however, that credentials for use in a client endpoint must be loaded
1460 separately from those used in a server endpoint.
1462 When specifying the object, the @code{dir} parameters specifies which
1463 directory contains the credential files. This directory is expected to
1464 contain files with the names mentioned previously, @code{ca-cert.pem},
1465 @code{server-key.pem}, @code{server-cert.pem}, @code{client-key.pem}
1466 and @code{client-cert.pem} as appropriate. It is also possible to
1467 include a set of pre-generated Diffie-Hellman (DH) parameters in a file
1468 @code{dh-params.pem}, which can be created using the
1469 @code{certtool --generate-dh-params} command. If omitted, QEMU will
1470 dynamically generate DH parameters when loading the credentials.
1472 The @code{endpoint} parameter indicates whether the credentials will
1473 be used for a network client or server, and determines which PEM
1476 The @code{verify} parameter determines whether x509 certificate
1477 validation should be performed. This defaults to enabled, meaning
1478 clients will always validate the server hostname against the
1479 certificate subject alt name fields and/or CN field. It also
1480 means that servers will request that clients provide a certificate
1481 and validate them. Verification should never be turned off for
1482 client endpoints, however, it may be turned off for server endpoints
1483 if an alternative mechanism is used to authenticate clients. For
1484 example, the VNC server can use SASL to authenticate clients
1487 To load server credentials with client certificate validation
1491 $QEMU -object tls-creds-x509,id=tls0,dir=/etc/pki/qemu,endpoint=server
1494 while to load client credentials use
1497 $QEMU -object tls-creds-x509,id=tls0,dir=/etc/pki/qemu,endpoint=client
1500 Network services which support TLS will all have a @code{tls-creds}
1501 parameter which expects the ID of the TLS credentials object. For
1505 $QEMU -vnc 0.0.0.0:0,tls-creds=tls0
1511 QEMU has a primitive support to work with gdb, so that you can do
1512 'Ctrl-C' while the virtual machine is running and inspect its state.
1514 In order to use gdb, launch QEMU with the '-s' option. It will wait for a
1517 qemu-system-i386 -s -kernel arch/i386/boot/bzImage -hda root-2.4.20.img \
1518 -append "root=/dev/hda"
1519 Connected to host network interface: tun0
1520 Waiting gdb connection on port 1234
1523 Then launch gdb on the 'vmlinux' executable:
1528 In gdb, connect to QEMU:
1530 (gdb) target remote localhost:1234
1533 Then you can use gdb normally. For example, type 'c' to launch the kernel:
1538 Here are some useful tips in order to use gdb on system code:
1542 Use @code{info reg} to display all the CPU registers.
1544 Use @code{x/10i $eip} to display the code at the PC position.
1546 Use @code{set architecture i8086} to dump 16 bit code. Then use
1547 @code{x/10i $cs*16+$eip} to dump the code at the PC position.
1550 Advanced debugging options:
1552 The default single stepping behavior is step with the IRQs and timer service routines off. It is set this way because when gdb executes a single step it expects to advance beyond the current instruction. With the IRQs and timer service routines on, a single step might jump into the one of the interrupt or exception vectors instead of executing the current instruction. This means you may hit the same breakpoint a number of times before executing the instruction gdb wants to have executed. Because there are rare circumstances where you want to single step into an interrupt vector the behavior can be controlled from GDB. There are three commands you can query and set the single step behavior:
1554 @item maintenance packet qqemu.sstepbits
1556 This will display the MASK bits used to control the single stepping IE:
1558 (gdb) maintenance packet qqemu.sstepbits
1559 sending: "qqemu.sstepbits"
1560 received: "ENABLE=1,NOIRQ=2,NOTIMER=4"
1562 @item maintenance packet qqemu.sstep
1564 This will display the current value of the mask used when single stepping IE:
1566 (gdb) maintenance packet qqemu.sstep
1567 sending: "qqemu.sstep"
1570 @item maintenance packet Qqemu.sstep=HEX_VALUE
1572 This will change the single step mask, so if wanted to enable IRQs on the single step, but not timers, you would use:
1574 (gdb) maintenance packet Qqemu.sstep=0x5
1575 sending: "qemu.sstep=0x5"
1580 @node pcsys_os_specific
1581 @section Target OS specific information
1585 To have access to SVGA graphic modes under X11, use the @code{vesa} or
1586 the @code{cirrus} X11 driver. For optimal performances, use 16 bit
1587 color depth in the guest and the host OS.
1589 When using a 2.6 guest Linux kernel, you should add the option
1590 @code{clock=pit} on the kernel command line because the 2.6 Linux
1591 kernels make very strict real time clock checks by default that QEMU
1592 cannot simulate exactly.
1594 When using a 2.6 guest Linux kernel, verify that the 4G/4G patch is
1595 not activated because QEMU is slower with this patch. The QEMU
1596 Accelerator Module is also much slower in this case. Earlier Fedora
1597 Core 3 Linux kernel (< 2.6.9-1.724_FC3) were known to incorporate this
1598 patch by default. Newer kernels don't have it.
1602 If you have a slow host, using Windows 95 is better as it gives the
1603 best speed. Windows 2000 is also a good choice.
1605 @subsubsection SVGA graphic modes support
1607 QEMU emulates a Cirrus Logic GD5446 Video
1608 card. All Windows versions starting from Windows 95 should recognize
1609 and use this graphic card. For optimal performances, use 16 bit color
1610 depth in the guest and the host OS.
1612 If you are using Windows XP as guest OS and if you want to use high
1613 resolution modes which the Cirrus Logic BIOS does not support (i.e. >=
1614 1280x1024x16), then you should use the VESA VBE virtual graphic card
1615 (option @option{-std-vga}).
1617 @subsubsection CPU usage reduction
1619 Windows 9x does not correctly use the CPU HLT
1620 instruction. The result is that it takes host CPU cycles even when
1621 idle. You can install the utility from
1622 @url{https://web.archive.org/web/20060212132151/http://www.user.cityline.ru/~maxamn/amnhltm.zip}
1623 to solve this problem. Note that no such tool is needed for NT, 2000 or XP.
1625 @subsubsection Windows 2000 disk full problem
1627 Windows 2000 has a bug which gives a disk full problem during its
1628 installation. When installing it, use the @option{-win2k-hack} QEMU
1629 option to enable a specific workaround. After Windows 2000 is
1630 installed, you no longer need this option (this option slows down the
1633 @subsubsection Windows 2000 shutdown
1635 Windows 2000 cannot automatically shutdown in QEMU although Windows 98
1636 can. It comes from the fact that Windows 2000 does not automatically
1637 use the APM driver provided by the BIOS.
1639 In order to correct that, do the following (thanks to Struan
1640 Bartlett): go to the Control Panel => Add/Remove Hardware & Next =>
1641 Add/Troubleshoot a device => Add a new device & Next => No, select the
1642 hardware from a list & Next => NT Apm/Legacy Support & Next => Next
1643 (again) a few times. Now the driver is installed and Windows 2000 now
1644 correctly instructs QEMU to shutdown at the appropriate moment.
1646 @subsubsection Share a directory between Unix and Windows
1648 See @ref{sec_invocation} about the help of the option
1649 @option{'-netdev user,smb=...'}.
1651 @subsubsection Windows XP security problem
1653 Some releases of Windows XP install correctly but give a security
1656 A problem is preventing Windows from accurately checking the
1657 license for this computer. Error code: 0x800703e6.
1660 The workaround is to install a service pack for XP after a boot in safe
1661 mode. Then reboot, and the problem should go away. Since there is no
1662 network while in safe mode, its recommended to download the full
1663 installation of SP1 or SP2 and transfer that via an ISO or using the
1664 vvfat block device ("-hdb fat:directory_which_holds_the_SP").
1666 @subsection MS-DOS and FreeDOS
1668 @subsubsection CPU usage reduction
1670 DOS does not correctly use the CPU HLT instruction. The result is that
1671 it takes host CPU cycles even when idle. You can install the utility from
1672 @url{https://web.archive.org/web/20051222085335/http://www.vmware.com/software/dosidle210.zip}
1673 to solve this problem.
1675 @node QEMU System emulator for non PC targets
1676 @chapter QEMU System emulator for non PC targets
1678 QEMU is a generic emulator and it emulates many non PC
1679 machines. Most of the options are similar to the PC emulator. The
1680 differences are mentioned in the following sections.
1683 * PowerPC System emulator::
1684 * Sparc32 System emulator::
1685 * Sparc64 System emulator::
1686 * MIPS System emulator::
1687 * ARM System emulator::
1688 * ColdFire System emulator::
1689 * Cris System emulator::
1690 * Microblaze System emulator::
1691 * SH4 System emulator::
1692 * Xtensa System emulator::
1695 @node PowerPC System emulator
1696 @section PowerPC System emulator
1697 @cindex system emulation (PowerPC)
1699 Use the executable @file{qemu-system-ppc} to simulate a complete PREP
1700 or PowerMac PowerPC system.
1702 QEMU emulates the following PowerMac peripherals:
1706 UniNorth or Grackle PCI Bridge
1708 PCI VGA compatible card with VESA Bochs Extensions
1710 2 PMAC IDE interfaces with hard disk and CD-ROM support
1716 VIA-CUDA with ADB keyboard and mouse.
1719 QEMU emulates the following PREP peripherals:
1725 PCI VGA compatible card with VESA Bochs Extensions
1727 2 IDE interfaces with hard disk and CD-ROM support
1731 NE2000 network adapters
1735 PREP Non Volatile RAM
1737 PC compatible keyboard and mouse.
1740 QEMU uses the Open Hack'Ware Open Firmware Compatible BIOS available at
1741 @url{http://perso.magic.fr/l_indien/OpenHackWare/index.htm}.
1743 Since version 0.9.1, QEMU uses OpenBIOS @url{https://www.openbios.org/}
1744 for the g3beige and mac99 PowerMac machines. OpenBIOS is a free (GPL
1745 v2) portable firmware implementation. The goal is to implement a 100%
1746 IEEE 1275-1994 (referred to as Open Firmware) compliant firmware.
1748 @c man begin OPTIONS
1750 The following options are specific to the PowerPC emulation:
1754 @item -g @var{W}x@var{H}[x@var{DEPTH}]
1756 Set the initial VGA graphic mode. The default is 800x600x32.
1758 @item -prom-env @var{string}
1760 Set OpenBIOS variables in NVRAM, for example:
1763 qemu-system-ppc -prom-env 'auto-boot?=false' \
1764 -prom-env 'boot-device=hd:2,\yaboot' \
1765 -prom-env 'boot-args=conf=hd:2,\yaboot.conf'
1768 These variables are not used by Open Hack'Ware.
1775 More information is available at
1776 @url{http://perso.magic.fr/l_indien/qemu-ppc/}.
1778 @node Sparc32 System emulator
1779 @section Sparc32 System emulator
1780 @cindex system emulation (Sparc32)
1782 Use the executable @file{qemu-system-sparc} to simulate the following
1783 Sun4m architecture machines:
1798 SPARCstation Voyager
1805 The emulation is somewhat complete. SMP up to 16 CPUs is supported,
1806 but Linux limits the number of usable CPUs to 4.
1808 QEMU emulates the following sun4m peripherals:
1814 TCX or cgthree Frame buffer
1816 Lance (Am7990) Ethernet
1818 Non Volatile RAM M48T02/M48T08
1820 Slave I/O: timers, interrupt controllers, Zilog serial ports, keyboard
1821 and power/reset logic
1823 ESP SCSI controller with hard disk and CD-ROM support
1825 Floppy drive (not on SS-600MP)
1827 CS4231 sound device (only on SS-5, not working yet)
1830 The number of peripherals is fixed in the architecture. Maximum
1831 memory size depends on the machine type, for SS-5 it is 256MB and for
1834 Since version 0.8.2, QEMU uses OpenBIOS
1835 @url{https://www.openbios.org/}. OpenBIOS is a free (GPL v2) portable
1836 firmware implementation. The goal is to implement a 100% IEEE
1837 1275-1994 (referred to as Open Firmware) compliant firmware.
1839 A sample Linux 2.6 series kernel and ram disk image are available on
1840 the QEMU web site. There are still issues with NetBSD and OpenBSD, but
1841 most kernel versions work. Please note that currently older Solaris kernels
1842 don't work probably due to interface issues between OpenBIOS and
1845 @c man begin OPTIONS
1847 The following options are specific to the Sparc32 emulation:
1851 @item -g @var{W}x@var{H}x[x@var{DEPTH}]
1853 Set the initial graphics mode. For TCX, the default is 1024x768x8 with the
1854 option of 1024x768x24. For cgthree, the default is 1024x768x8 with the option
1855 of 1152x900x8 for people who wish to use OBP.
1857 @item -prom-env @var{string}
1859 Set OpenBIOS variables in NVRAM, for example:
1862 qemu-system-sparc -prom-env 'auto-boot?=false' \
1863 -prom-env 'boot-device=sd(0,2,0):d' -prom-env 'boot-args=linux single'
1866 @item -M [SS-4|SS-5|SS-10|SS-20|SS-600MP|LX|Voyager|SPARCClassic] [|SPARCbook]
1868 Set the emulated machine type. Default is SS-5.
1874 @node Sparc64 System emulator
1875 @section Sparc64 System emulator
1876 @cindex system emulation (Sparc64)
1878 Use the executable @file{qemu-system-sparc64} to simulate a Sun4u
1879 (UltraSPARC PC-like machine), Sun4v (T1 PC-like machine), or generic
1880 Niagara (T1) machine. The Sun4u emulator is mostly complete, being
1881 able to run Linux, NetBSD and OpenBSD in headless (-nographic) mode. The
1882 Sun4v emulator is still a work in progress.
1884 The Niagara T1 emulator makes use of firmware and OS binaries supplied in the S10image/ directory
1885 of the OpenSPARC T1 project @url{http://download.oracle.com/technetwork/systems/opensparc/OpenSPARCT1_Arch.1.5.tar.bz2}
1886 and is able to boot the disk.s10hw2 Solaris image.
1888 qemu-system-sparc64 -M niagara -L /path-to/S10image/ \
1890 -drive if=pflash,readonly=on,file=/S10image/disk.s10hw2
1894 QEMU emulates the following peripherals:
1898 UltraSparc IIi APB PCI Bridge
1900 PCI VGA compatible card with VESA Bochs Extensions
1902 PS/2 mouse and keyboard
1904 Non Volatile RAM M48T59
1906 PC-compatible serial ports
1908 2 PCI IDE interfaces with hard disk and CD-ROM support
1913 @c man begin OPTIONS
1915 The following options are specific to the Sparc64 emulation:
1919 @item -prom-env @var{string}
1921 Set OpenBIOS variables in NVRAM, for example:
1924 qemu-system-sparc64 -prom-env 'auto-boot?=false'
1927 @item -M [sun4u|sun4v|niagara]
1929 Set the emulated machine type. The default is sun4u.
1935 @node MIPS System emulator
1936 @section MIPS System emulator
1937 @cindex system emulation (MIPS)
1939 Four executables cover simulation of 32 and 64-bit MIPS systems in
1940 both endian options, @file{qemu-system-mips}, @file{qemu-system-mipsel}
1941 @file{qemu-system-mips64} and @file{qemu-system-mips64el}.
1942 Five different machine types are emulated:
1946 A generic ISA PC-like machine "mips"
1948 The MIPS Malta prototype board "malta"
1950 An ACER Pica "pica61". This machine needs the 64-bit emulator.
1952 MIPS emulator pseudo board "mipssim"
1954 A MIPS Magnum R4000 machine "magnum". This machine needs the 64-bit emulator.
1957 The generic emulation is supported by Debian 'Etch' and is able to
1958 install Debian into a virtual disk image. The following devices are
1963 A range of MIPS CPUs, default is the 24Kf
1965 PC style serial port
1972 The Malta emulation supports the following devices:
1976 Core board with MIPS 24Kf CPU and Galileo system controller
1978 PIIX4 PCI/USB/SMbus controller
1980 The Multi-I/O chip's serial device
1982 PCI network cards (PCnet32 and others)
1984 Malta FPGA serial device
1986 Cirrus (default) or any other PCI VGA graphics card
1989 The ACER Pica emulation supports:
1995 PC-style IRQ and DMA controllers
2002 The mipssim pseudo board emulation provides an environment similar
2003 to what the proprietary MIPS emulator uses for running Linux.
2008 A range of MIPS CPUs, default is the 24Kf
2010 PC style serial port
2012 MIPSnet network emulation
2015 The MIPS Magnum R4000 emulation supports:
2021 PC-style IRQ controller
2031 @node ARM System emulator
2032 @section ARM System emulator
2033 @cindex system emulation (ARM)
2035 Use the executable @file{qemu-system-arm} to simulate a ARM
2036 machine. The ARM Integrator/CP board is emulated with the following
2041 ARM926E, ARM1026E, ARM946E, ARM1136 or Cortex-A8 CPU
2045 SMC 91c111 Ethernet adapter
2047 PL110 LCD controller
2049 PL050 KMI with PS/2 keyboard and mouse.
2051 PL181 MultiMedia Card Interface with SD card.
2054 The ARM Versatile baseboard is emulated with the following devices:
2058 ARM926E, ARM1136 or Cortex-A8 CPU
2060 PL190 Vectored Interrupt Controller
2064 SMC 91c111 Ethernet adapter
2066 PL110 LCD controller
2068 PL050 KMI with PS/2 keyboard and mouse.
2070 PCI host bridge. Note the emulated PCI bridge only provides access to
2071 PCI memory space. It does not provide access to PCI IO space.
2072 This means some devices (eg. ne2k_pci NIC) are not usable, and others
2073 (eg. rtl8139 NIC) are only usable when the guest drivers use the memory
2074 mapped control registers.
2076 PCI OHCI USB controller.
2078 LSI53C895A PCI SCSI Host Bus Adapter with hard disk and CD-ROM devices.
2080 PL181 MultiMedia Card Interface with SD card.
2083 Several variants of the ARM RealView baseboard are emulated,
2084 including the EB, PB-A8 and PBX-A9. Due to interactions with the
2085 bootloader, only certain Linux kernel configurations work out
2086 of the box on these boards.
2088 Kernels for the PB-A8 board should have CONFIG_REALVIEW_HIGH_PHYS_OFFSET
2089 enabled in the kernel, and expect 512M RAM. Kernels for The PBX-A9 board
2090 should have CONFIG_SPARSEMEM enabled, CONFIG_REALVIEW_HIGH_PHYS_OFFSET
2091 disabled and expect 1024M RAM.
2093 The following devices are emulated:
2097 ARM926E, ARM1136, ARM11MPCore, Cortex-A8 or Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU
2099 ARM AMBA Generic/Distributed Interrupt Controller
2103 SMC 91c111 or SMSC LAN9118 Ethernet adapter
2105 PL110 LCD controller
2107 PL050 KMI with PS/2 keyboard and mouse
2111 PCI OHCI USB controller
2113 LSI53C895A PCI SCSI Host Bus Adapter with hard disk and CD-ROM devices
2115 PL181 MultiMedia Card Interface with SD card.
2118 The XScale-based clamshell PDA models ("Spitz", "Akita", "Borzoi"
2119 and "Terrier") emulation includes the following peripherals:
2123 Intel PXA270 System-on-chip (ARM V5TE core)
2127 IBM/Hitachi DSCM microdrive in a PXA PCMCIA slot - not in "Akita"
2129 On-chip OHCI USB controller
2131 On-chip LCD controller
2133 On-chip Real Time Clock
2135 TI ADS7846 touchscreen controller on SSP bus
2137 Maxim MAX1111 analog-digital converter on I@math{^2}C bus
2139 GPIO-connected keyboard controller and LEDs
2141 Secure Digital card connected to PXA MMC/SD host
2145 WM8750 audio CODEC on I@math{^2}C and I@math{^2}S busses
2148 The Palm Tungsten|E PDA (codename "Cheetah") emulation includes the
2153 Texas Instruments OMAP310 System-on-chip (ARM 925T core)
2155 ROM and RAM memories (ROM firmware image can be loaded with -option-rom)
2157 On-chip LCD controller
2159 On-chip Real Time Clock
2161 TI TSC2102i touchscreen controller / analog-digital converter / Audio
2162 CODEC, connected through MicroWire and I@math{^2}S busses
2164 GPIO-connected matrix keypad
2166 Secure Digital card connected to OMAP MMC/SD host
2171 Nokia N800 and N810 internet tablets (known also as RX-34 and RX-44 / 48)
2172 emulation supports the following elements:
2176 Texas Instruments OMAP2420 System-on-chip (ARM 1136 core)
2178 RAM and non-volatile OneNAND Flash memories
2180 Display connected to EPSON remote framebuffer chip and OMAP on-chip
2181 display controller and a LS041y3 MIPI DBI-C controller
2183 TI TSC2301 (in N800) and TI TSC2005 (in N810) touchscreen controllers
2184 driven through SPI bus
2186 National Semiconductor LM8323-controlled qwerty keyboard driven
2187 through I@math{^2}C bus
2189 Secure Digital card connected to OMAP MMC/SD host
2191 Three OMAP on-chip UARTs and on-chip STI debugging console
2193 A Bluetooth(R) transceiver and HCI connected to an UART
2195 Mentor Graphics "Inventra" dual-role USB controller embedded in a TI
2196 TUSB6010 chip - only USB host mode is supported
2198 TI TMP105 temperature sensor driven through I@math{^2}C bus
2200 TI TWL92230C power management companion with an RTC on I@math{^2}C bus
2202 Nokia RETU and TAHVO multi-purpose chips with an RTC, connected
2206 The Luminary Micro Stellaris LM3S811EVB emulation includes the following
2213 64k Flash and 8k SRAM.
2215 Timers, UARTs, ADC and I@math{^2}C interface.
2217 OSRAM Pictiva 96x16 OLED with SSD0303 controller on I@math{^2}C bus.
2220 The Luminary Micro Stellaris LM3S6965EVB emulation includes the following
2227 256k Flash and 64k SRAM.
2229 Timers, UARTs, ADC, I@math{^2}C and SSI interfaces.
2231 OSRAM Pictiva 128x64 OLED with SSD0323 controller connected via SSI.
2234 The Freecom MusicPal internet radio emulation includes the following
2239 Marvell MV88W8618 ARM core.
2241 32 MB RAM, 256 KB SRAM, 8 MB flash.
2245 MV88W8xx8 Ethernet controller
2247 MV88W8618 audio controller, WM8750 CODEC and mixer
2249 128×64 display with brightness control
2251 2 buttons, 2 navigation wheels with button function
2254 The Siemens SX1 models v1 and v2 (default) basic emulation.
2255 The emulation includes the following elements:
2259 Texas Instruments OMAP310 System-on-chip (ARM 925T core)
2261 ROM and RAM memories (ROM firmware image can be loaded with -pflash)
2263 1 Flash of 16MB and 1 Flash of 8MB
2267 On-chip LCD controller
2269 On-chip Real Time Clock
2271 Secure Digital card connected to OMAP MMC/SD host
2276 A Linux 2.6 test image is available on the QEMU web site. More
2277 information is available in the QEMU mailing-list archive.
2279 @c man begin OPTIONS
2281 The following options are specific to the ARM emulation:
2286 Enable semihosting syscall emulation.
2288 On ARM this implements the "Angel" interface.
2290 Note that this allows guest direct access to the host filesystem,
2291 so should only be used with trusted guest OS.
2297 @node ColdFire System emulator
2298 @section ColdFire System emulator
2299 @cindex system emulation (ColdFire)
2300 @cindex system emulation (M68K)
2302 Use the executable @file{qemu-system-m68k} to simulate a ColdFire machine.
2303 The emulator is able to boot a uClinux kernel.
2305 The M5208EVB emulation includes the following devices:
2309 MCF5208 ColdFire V2 Microprocessor (ISA A+ with EMAC).
2311 Three Two on-chip UARTs.
2313 Fast Ethernet Controller (FEC)
2316 The AN5206 emulation includes the following devices:
2320 MCF5206 ColdFire V2 Microprocessor.
2325 @c man begin OPTIONS
2327 The following options are specific to the ColdFire emulation:
2332 Enable semihosting syscall emulation.
2334 On M68K this implements the "ColdFire GDB" interface used by libgloss.
2336 Note that this allows guest direct access to the host filesystem,
2337 so should only be used with trusted guest OS.
2343 @node Cris System emulator
2344 @section Cris System emulator
2345 @cindex system emulation (Cris)
2349 @node Microblaze System emulator
2350 @section Microblaze System emulator
2351 @cindex system emulation (Microblaze)
2355 @node SH4 System emulator
2356 @section SH4 System emulator
2357 @cindex system emulation (SH4)
2361 @node Xtensa System emulator
2362 @section Xtensa System emulator
2363 @cindex system emulation (Xtensa)
2365 Two executables cover simulation of both Xtensa endian options,
2366 @file{qemu-system-xtensa} and @file{qemu-system-xtensaeb}.
2367 Two different machine types are emulated:
2371 Xtensa emulator pseudo board "sim"
2373 Avnet LX60/LX110/LX200 board
2376 The sim pseudo board emulation provides an environment similar
2377 to one provided by the proprietary Tensilica ISS.
2382 A range of Xtensa CPUs, default is the DC232B
2384 Console and filesystem access via semihosting calls
2387 The Avnet LX60/LX110/LX200 emulation supports:
2391 A range of Xtensa CPUs, default is the DC232B
2395 OpenCores 10/100 Mbps Ethernet MAC
2398 @c man begin OPTIONS
2400 The following options are specific to the Xtensa emulation:
2405 Enable semihosting syscall emulation.
2407 Xtensa semihosting provides basic file IO calls, such as open/read/write/seek/select.
2408 Tensilica baremetal libc for ISS and linux platform "sim" use this interface.
2410 Note that this allows guest direct access to the host filesystem,
2411 so should only be used with trusted guest OS.
2417 @node QEMU Guest Agent
2418 @chapter QEMU Guest Agent invocation
2420 @include qemu-ga.texi
2422 @node QEMU User space emulator
2423 @chapter QEMU User space emulator
2426 * Supported Operating Systems ::
2428 * Linux User space emulator::
2429 * BSD User space emulator ::
2432 @node Supported Operating Systems
2433 @section Supported Operating Systems
2435 The following OS are supported in user space emulation:
2439 Linux (referred as qemu-linux-user)
2441 BSD (referred as qemu-bsd-user)
2447 QEMU user space emulation has the following notable features:
2450 @item System call translation:
2451 QEMU includes a generic system call translator. This means that
2452 the parameters of the system calls can be converted to fix
2453 endianness and 32/64-bit mismatches between hosts and targets.
2454 IOCTLs can be converted too.
2456 @item POSIX signal handling:
2457 QEMU can redirect to the running program all signals coming from
2458 the host (such as @code{SIGALRM}), as well as synthesize signals from
2459 virtual CPU exceptions (for example @code{SIGFPE} when the program
2460 executes a division by zero).
2462 QEMU relies on the host kernel to emulate most signal system
2463 calls, for example to emulate the signal mask. On Linux, QEMU
2464 supports both normal and real-time signals.
2467 On Linux, QEMU can emulate the @code{clone} syscall and create a real
2468 host thread (with a separate virtual CPU) for each emulated thread.
2469 Note that not all targets currently emulate atomic operations correctly.
2470 x86 and ARM use a global lock in order to preserve their semantics.
2473 QEMU was conceived so that ultimately it can emulate itself. Although
2474 it is not very useful, it is an important test to show the power of the
2477 @node Linux User space emulator
2478 @section Linux User space emulator
2483 * Command line options::
2488 @subsection Quick Start
2490 In order to launch a Linux process, QEMU needs the process executable
2491 itself and all the target (x86) dynamic libraries used by it.
2495 @item On x86, you can just try to launch any process by using the native
2499 qemu-i386 -L / /bin/ls
2502 @code{-L /} tells that the x86 dynamic linker must be searched with a
2505 @item Since QEMU is also a linux process, you can launch QEMU with
2506 QEMU (NOTE: you can only do that if you compiled QEMU from the sources):
2509 qemu-i386 -L / qemu-i386 -L / /bin/ls
2512 @item On non x86 CPUs, you need first to download at least an x86 glibc
2513 (@file{qemu-runtime-i386-XXX-.tar.gz} on the QEMU web page). Ensure that
2514 @code{LD_LIBRARY_PATH} is not set:
2517 unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH
2520 Then you can launch the precompiled @file{ls} x86 executable:
2523 qemu-i386 tests/i386/ls
2525 You can look at @file{scripts/qemu-binfmt-conf.sh} so that
2526 QEMU is automatically launched by the Linux kernel when you try to
2527 launch x86 executables. It requires the @code{binfmt_misc} module in the
2530 @item The x86 version of QEMU is also included. You can try weird things such as:
2532 qemu-i386 /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/qemu-i386 \
2533 /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/ls-i386
2539 @subsection Wine launch
2543 @item Ensure that you have a working QEMU with the x86 glibc
2544 distribution (see previous section). In order to verify it, you must be
2548 qemu-i386 /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/ls-i386
2551 @item Download the binary x86 Wine install
2552 (@file{qemu-XXX-i386-wine.tar.gz} on the QEMU web page).
2554 @item Configure Wine on your account. Look at the provided script
2555 @file{/usr/local/qemu-i386/@/bin/wine-conf.sh}. Your previous
2556 @code{$@{HOME@}/.wine} directory is saved to @code{$@{HOME@}/.wine.org}.
2558 @item Then you can try the example @file{putty.exe}:
2561 qemu-i386 /usr/local/qemu-i386/wine/bin/wine \
2562 /usr/local/qemu-i386/wine/c/Program\ Files/putty.exe
2567 @node Command line options
2568 @subsection Command line options
2571 @command{qemu-i386} [@option{-h]} [@option{-d]} [@option{-L} @var{path}] [@option{-s} @var{size}] [@option{-cpu} @var{model}] [@option{-g} @var{port}] [@option{-B} @var{offset}] [@option{-R} @var{size}] @var{program} [@var{arguments}...]
2578 Set the x86 elf interpreter prefix (default=/usr/local/qemu-i386)
2580 Set the x86 stack size in bytes (default=524288)
2582 Select CPU model (-cpu help for list and additional feature selection)
2583 @item -E @var{var}=@var{value}
2584 Set environment @var{var} to @var{value}.
2586 Remove @var{var} from the environment.
2588 Offset guest address by the specified number of bytes. This is useful when
2589 the address region required by guest applications is reserved on the host.
2590 This option is currently only supported on some hosts.
2592 Pre-allocate a guest virtual address space of the given size (in bytes).
2593 "G", "M", and "k" suffixes may be used when specifying the size.
2600 Activate logging of the specified items (use '-d help' for a list of log items)
2602 Act as if the host page size was 'pagesize' bytes
2604 Wait gdb connection to port
2606 Run the emulation in single step mode.
2609 Environment variables:
2613 Print system calls and arguments similar to the 'strace' program
2614 (NOTE: the actual 'strace' program will not work because the user
2615 space emulator hasn't implemented ptrace). At the moment this is
2616 incomplete. All system calls that don't have a specific argument
2617 format are printed with information for six arguments. Many
2618 flag-style arguments don't have decoders and will show up as numbers.
2621 @node Other binaries
2622 @subsection Other binaries
2624 @cindex user mode (Alpha)
2625 @command{qemu-alpha} TODO.
2627 @cindex user mode (ARM)
2628 @command{qemu-armeb} TODO.
2630 @cindex user mode (ARM)
2631 @command{qemu-arm} is also capable of running ARM "Angel" semihosted ELF
2632 binaries (as implemented by the arm-elf and arm-eabi Newlib/GDB
2633 configurations), and arm-uclinux bFLT format binaries.
2635 @cindex user mode (ColdFire)
2636 @cindex user mode (M68K)
2637 @command{qemu-m68k} is capable of running semihosted binaries using the BDM
2638 (m5xxx-ram-hosted.ld) or m68k-sim (sim.ld) syscall interfaces, and
2639 coldfire uClinux bFLT format binaries.
2641 The binary format is detected automatically.
2643 @cindex user mode (Cris)
2644 @command{qemu-cris} TODO.
2646 @cindex user mode (i386)
2647 @command{qemu-i386} TODO.
2648 @command{qemu-x86_64} TODO.
2650 @cindex user mode (Microblaze)
2651 @command{qemu-microblaze} TODO.
2653 @cindex user mode (MIPS)
2654 @command{qemu-mips} TODO.
2655 @command{qemu-mipsel} TODO.
2657 @cindex user mode (NiosII)
2658 @command{qemu-nios2} TODO.
2660 @cindex user mode (PowerPC)
2661 @command{qemu-ppc64abi32} TODO.
2662 @command{qemu-ppc64} TODO.
2663 @command{qemu-ppc} TODO.
2665 @cindex user mode (SH4)
2666 @command{qemu-sh4eb} TODO.
2667 @command{qemu-sh4} TODO.
2669 @cindex user mode (SPARC)
2670 @command{qemu-sparc} can execute Sparc32 binaries (Sparc32 CPU, 32 bit ABI).
2672 @command{qemu-sparc32plus} can execute Sparc32 and SPARC32PLUS binaries
2673 (Sparc64 CPU, 32 bit ABI).
2675 @command{qemu-sparc64} can execute some Sparc64 (Sparc64 CPU, 64 bit ABI) and
2676 SPARC32PLUS binaries (Sparc64 CPU, 32 bit ABI).
2678 @node BSD User space emulator
2679 @section BSD User space emulator
2684 * BSD Command line options::
2688 @subsection BSD Status
2692 target Sparc64 on Sparc64: Some trivial programs work.
2695 @node BSD Quick Start
2696 @subsection Quick Start
2698 In order to launch a BSD process, QEMU needs the process executable
2699 itself and all the target dynamic libraries used by it.
2703 @item On Sparc64, you can just try to launch any process by using the native
2707 qemu-sparc64 /bin/ls
2712 @node BSD Command line options
2713 @subsection Command line options
2716 @command{qemu-sparc64} [@option{-h]} [@option{-d]} [@option{-L} @var{path}] [@option{-s} @var{size}] [@option{-bsd} @var{type}] @var{program} [@var{arguments}...]
2723 Set the library root path (default=/)
2725 Set the stack size in bytes (default=524288)
2726 @item -ignore-environment
2727 Start with an empty environment. Without this option,
2728 the initial environment is a copy of the caller's environment.
2729 @item -E @var{var}=@var{value}
2730 Set environment @var{var} to @var{value}.
2732 Remove @var{var} from the environment.
2734 Set the type of the emulated BSD Operating system. Valid values are
2735 FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD (default).
2742 Activate logging of the specified items (use '-d help' for a list of log items)
2744 Act as if the host page size was 'pagesize' bytes
2746 Run the emulation in single step mode.
2750 @include qemu-tech.texi
2752 @node Deprecated features
2753 @appendix Deprecated features
2755 In general features are intended to be supported indefinitely once
2756 introduced into QEMU. In the event that a feature needs to be removed,
2757 it will be listed in this appendix. The feature will remain functional
2758 for 2 releases prior to actual removal. Deprecated features may also
2759 generate warnings on the console when QEMU starts up, or if activated
2760 via a monitor command, however, this is not a mandatory requirement.
2762 Prior to the 2.10.0 release there was no official policy on how
2763 long features would be deprecated prior to their removal, nor
2764 any documented list of which features were deprecated. Thus
2765 any features deprecated prior to 2.10.0 will be treated as if
2766 they were first deprecated in the 2.10.0 release.
2768 What follows is a list of all features currently marked as
2771 @section Build options
2775 Previously QEMU has supported building against both GTK 2.x
2776 and 3.x series APIs. Support for the GTK 2.x builds will be
2777 discontinued, so maintainers should switch to using GTK 3.x,
2778 which is the default.
2782 Previously QEMU has supported building against both SDL 1.2
2783 and 2.0 series APIs. Support for the SDL 1.2 builds will be
2784 discontinued, so maintainers should switch to using SDL 2.0,
2785 which is the default.
2787 @section System emulator command line arguments
2789 @subsection -no-kvm-pit-reinjection (since 1.3.0)
2791 The ``-no-kvm-pit-reinjection'' argument is now a
2792 synonym for setting ``-global kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=discard''.
2794 @subsection -no-kvm-irqchip (since 1.3.0)
2796 The ``-no-kvm-irqchip'' argument is now a synonym for
2797 setting ``-machine kernel_irqchip=off''.
2799 @subsection -no-kvm (since 1.3.0)
2801 The ``-no-kvm'' argument is now a synonym for setting
2802 ``-machine accel=tcg''.
2804 @subsection -vnc tls (since 2.5.0)
2806 The ``-vnc tls'' argument is now a synonym for setting
2807 ``-object tls-creds-anon,id=tls0'' combined with
2808 ``-vnc tls-creds=tls0'
2810 @subsection -vnc x509 (since 2.5.0)
2812 The ``-vnc x509=/path/to/certs'' argument is now a
2814 ``-object tls-creds-x509,dir=/path/to/certs,id=tls0,verify-peer=no''
2815 combined with ``-vnc tls-creds=tls0'
2817 @subsection -vnc x509verify (since 2.5.0)
2819 The ``-vnc x509verify=/path/to/certs'' argument is now a
2821 ``-object tls-creds-x509,dir=/path/to/certs,id=tls0,verify-peer=yes''
2822 combined with ``-vnc tls-creds=tls0'
2824 @subsection -tftp (since 2.6.0)
2826 The ``-tftp /some/dir'' argument is replaced by either
2827 ``-netdev user,id=x,tftp=/some/dir '' (for pluggable NICs, accompanied
2828 with ``-device ...,netdev=x''), or ``-nic user,tftp=/some/dir''
2829 (for embedded NICs). The new syntax allows different settings to be
2832 @subsection -bootp (since 2.6.0)
2834 The ``-bootp /some/file'' argument is replaced by either
2835 ``-netdev user,id=x,bootp=/some/file '' (for pluggable NICs, accompanied
2836 with ``-device ...,netdev=x''), or ``-nic user,bootp=/some/file''
2837 (for embedded NICs). The new syntax allows different settings to be
2840 @subsection -redir (since 2.6.0)
2842 The ``-redir [tcp|udp]:hostport:[guestaddr]:guestport'' argument is
2844 ``-netdev user,id=x,hostfwd=[tcp|udp]:[hostaddr]:hostport-[guestaddr]:guestport''
2845 (for pluggable NICs, accompanied with ``-device ...,netdev=x'') or
2846 ``-nic user,hostfwd=[tcp|udp]:[hostaddr]:hostport-[guestaddr]:guestport''
2847 (for embedded NICs). The new syntax allows different settings to be
2850 @subsection -smb (since 2.6.0)
2852 The ``-smb /some/dir'' argument is replaced by either
2853 ``-netdev user,id=x,smb=/some/dir '' (for pluggable NICs, accompanied
2854 with ``-device ...,netdev=x''), or ``-nic user,smb=/some/dir''
2855 (for embedded NICs). The new syntax allows different settings to be
2858 @subsection -net vlan (since 2.9.0)
2860 The ``-net vlan=NN'' argument was mostly used to attach separate
2861 network backends to different virtual NICs. This is the default
2862 behavior for ``-netdev'' and ``-nic''. You can connect multiple
2863 ``-netdev'' and ``-nic'' devices to the same network using the
2864 "hubport" network backend, created with ``-netdev hubport,hubid=NN,...''
2865 and ``-nic hubport,hubid=NN''.
2867 @subsection -drive cyls=...,heads=...,secs=...,trans=... (since 2.10.0)
2869 The drive geometry arguments are replaced by the the geometry arguments
2870 that can be specified with the ``-device'' parameter.
2872 @subsection -drive serial=... (since 2.10.0)
2874 The drive serial argument is replaced by the the serial argument
2875 that can be specified with the ``-device'' parameter.
2877 @subsection -drive addr=... (since 2.10.0)
2879 The drive addr argument is replaced by the the addr argument
2880 that can be specified with the ``-device'' parameter.
2882 @subsection -usbdevice (since 2.10.0)
2884 The ``-usbdevice DEV'' argument is now a synonym for setting
2885 the ``-device usb-DEV'' argument instead. The deprecated syntax
2886 would automatically enable USB support on the machine type.
2887 If using the new syntax, USB support must be explicitly
2888 enabled via the ``-machine usb=on'' argument.
2890 @subsection -nodefconfig (since 2.11.0)
2892 The ``-nodefconfig`` argument is a synonym for ``-no-user-config``.
2894 @subsection -balloon (since 2.12.0)
2896 The @option{--balloon virtio} argument has been superseded by
2897 @option{--device virtio-balloon}.
2899 @subsection -machine s390-squash-mcss=on|off (since 2.12.0)
2901 The ``s390-squash-mcss=on`` property has been obsoleted by allowing the
2902 cssid to be chosen freely. Instead of squashing subchannels into the
2903 default channel subsystem image for guests that do not support multiple
2904 channel subsystems, all devices can be put into the default channel
2907 @subsection -fsdev handle (since 2.12.0)
2909 The ``handle'' fsdev backend does not support symlinks and causes the 9p
2910 filesystem in the guest to fail a fair amount of tests from the PJD POSIX
2911 filesystem test suite. Also it requires the CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH capability,
2912 which is not the recommended way to run QEMU. This backend should not be
2913 used and it will be removed with no replacement.
2915 @subsection -no-frame (since 2.12.0)
2917 The @code{--no-frame} argument works with SDL 1.2 only. The other user
2918 interfaces never implemented this in the first place. So this will be
2919 removed together with SDL 1.2 support.
2921 @subsection -rtc-td-hack (since 2.12.0)
2923 The @code{-rtc-td-hack} option has been replaced by
2924 @code{-rtc driftfix=slew}.
2926 @subsection -localtime (since 2.12.0)
2928 The @code{-localtime} option has been replaced by @code{-rtc base=localtime}.
2930 @subsection -startdate (since 2.12.0)
2932 The @code{-startdate} option has been replaced by @code{-rtc base=@var{date}}.
2934 @subsection -virtioconsole (since 2.13.0)
2936 Option @option{-virtioconsole} has been replaced by
2937 @option{-device virtconsole}.
2939 @section qemu-img command line arguments
2941 @subsection convert -s (since 2.0.0)
2943 The ``convert -s snapshot_id_or_name'' argument is obsoleted
2944 by the ``convert -l snapshot_param'' argument instead.
2946 @section QEMU Machine Protocol (QMP) commands
2948 @subsection block-dirty-bitmap-add "autoload" parameter (since 2.12.0)
2950 "autoload" parameter is now ignored. All bitmaps are automatically loaded
2953 @subsection query-cpus (since 2.12.0)
2955 The ``query-cpus'' command is replaced by the ``query-cpus-fast'' command.
2957 @subsection query-cpus-fast "arch" output member (since 2.13.0)
2959 The ``arch'' output member of the ``query-cpus-fast'' command is
2960 replaced by the ``target'' output member.
2962 @section System emulator devices
2964 @subsection ivshmem (since 2.6.0)
2966 The ``ivshmem'' device type is replaced by either the ``ivshmem-plain''
2967 or ``ivshmem-doorbell`` device types.
2969 @subsection Page size support < 4k for embedded PowerPC CPUs (since 2.12.0)
2971 qemu-system-ppcemb will be removed. qemu-system-ppc (or qemu-system-ppc64)
2972 should be used instead. That means that embedded 4xx PowerPC CPUs will not
2973 support page sizes < 4096 any longer.
2975 @section System emulator machines
2977 @subsection Xilinx EP108 (since 2.11.0)
2979 The ``xlnx-ep108'' machine has been replaced by the ``xlnx-zcu102'' machine.
2980 The ``xlnx-zcu102'' machine has the same features and capabilites in QEMU.
2982 @section Block device options
2984 @subsection "backing": "" (since 2.12.0)
2986 In order to prevent QEMU from automatically opening an image's backing
2987 chain, use ``"backing": null'' instead.
2992 QEMU is a trademark of Fabrice Bellard.
2994 QEMU is released under the
2995 @url{https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.txt,GNU General Public License},
2996 version 2. Parts of QEMU have specific licenses, see file
2997 @url{https://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu.git;a=blob_plain;f=LICENSE,LICENSE}.
3011 @section Concept Index
3012 This is the main index. Should we combine all keywords in one index? TODO
3015 @node Function Index
3016 @section Function Index
3017 This index could be used for command line options and monitor functions.
3020 @node Keystroke Index
3021 @section Keystroke Index
3023 This is a list of all keystrokes which have a special function
3024 in system emulation.
3029 @section Program Index
3032 @node Data Type Index
3033 @section Data Type Index
3035 This index could be used for qdev device names and options.
3039 @node Variable Index
3040 @section Variable Index