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qvm create

Creates and initializes a new virtual machine.

Usage

qvm create <name> <iso> [driver_iso]

Arguments

  • <name>: Alphanumeric VM identifier (can include - and _).
  • <iso>: Path to the installer ISO image.
  • [driver_iso] (optional): Path to auxiliary driver ISO (e.g. VirtIO drivers for Windows).

What It Creates

Stores everything under ~/vms/<name>/ (override via QVM_DIR):

  • vm.conf: Saved VM hardware configuration.
  • disk.qcow2: QCOW2 sparse virtual disk (default: 40G, override via QVM_DISK).
  • ovmf-vars.fd: Dedicated writable UEFI NVRAM.

Examples

# Basic VM
qvm create debian-vm ~/Downloads/debian.iso

# Windows VM with VirtIO drivers
qvm create win11 ~/Downloads/Win11.iso ~/Downloads/virtio-win.iso

# Custom RAM, CPU, and Disk size
QVM_RAM=16384 QVM_CPUS=8 QVM_DISK=80G qvm create dev-box ~/Downloads/arch.iso