Quick Emulator (QEMU) is the main component of the QEMU/KVM virtualization technology suit. It provides hardware virtualization and processor emulation. QEMU runs in userspace and, without the need for kernel, drivers can still provide fast system emulation. QEMU supports two operating modes:
- Full system emulation, where QEMU emulates an entire computer system, including the CPU type and peripherals.
- User mode emulation, where QEMU can run a process that has been compiled on a different CPU architecture natively.
In case you encounter the below error:
kvm-img: command not found
You may try installing below package as per your choice of distribution.
| Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| Debian | apt-get install qemu-kvm |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install qemu-kvm |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install qemu-kvm |
| CentOS | yum install qemu-kvm |
| Fedora | dnf install qemu-kvm |
Summary
The interaction of libvirt, QEMU, and KVM is something that gives us the full virtualization capabilities. When working with KVM, you’re most likely to first interface with its main Application Programming Interface (API), called libvirt (https://libvirt.org). But libvirt has other functionalities – it’s also a daemon and a management tool for different hypervisors. QEMU is a generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer. When used as a machine emulator, QEMU can run OSes and programs made for one machine (such as an ARM board) on a different machine (such as your own PC).