How To Use QEMU From the Linux Command-Line

26 July 2025, 18:59:38

QEMU is a type-2 hypervisor that uses dynamic translation to emulate CPU instructions on a foreign architecture. It’s helpful for many tasks, such as testing and development, cloud computing, and system administration. In conjunction with other virtualization technologies like KVM or Xen, it allows the guest to run directly on the host CPU at near-native speed.

In this tutorial, we’ll see how to use QEMU to emulate an entire machine (CPU, memory, and devices) to run a popular Linux distro as a guest OS inside a Linux host.

https://www.baeldung.com/linux/qemu-from-terminal

3. Using QEMU From the Command-Line

Using QEMU from the terminal has several advantages over using a graphical frontend:

Flexibility → Terminal commands allow more customization options and fine-grained control.
Scriptability → Automation and scripting of QEMU commands are more straightforward in the terminal.
Remote Access → The terminal allows for remote access and management of QEMU virtual machines.
Resource Usage → Using the terminal reduces resource usage compared to GUI frontends, especially on systems with limited resources, such as older computers or embedded systems. The terminal’s lower resource usage also makes it a good choice for running multiple virtual machines simultaneously on a single system.
Consistency → Terminal commands ensure consistency across different platforms and environments.

Re: How To Use QEMU From the Linux Command-Line

Reply #1 – 26 July 2025, 20:08:10

This repo makes setting up some linux distributions very easy. It generates a shell script containing a long qemu command. I did manage to get a working mac os vm going and also (with difficulty) a windows11 one.