KVM - User contributions [en]

Hotadd pci devices

2010-06-21T19:00:49Z

Scoof:

== Using PCI Hotplug Support ==
PCI Hotplug support is now available in kvm.git, here is how to use it.

== Install PCI Hotplug drivers in the guest (Linux) ==
I loaded the following modules to get pci hotplug working:
* acpiphp
* pci_hotplug

You can either add these to your distro's module list to load on boot, or run a command like this.

for m in acpiphp pci_hotplug; do sudo modprobe ${m}; done

== Use QEMU monitor to hot add devices ==

The QEMU monitor has a new command, '''pci_add''', which is used to hotadd the pci devices.

QEMU 0.9.1 monitor - type 'help' for more information
(qemu) help pci_add
pci_add bus nic|storage [[vlan=n][,macaddr=addr][,model=type]] [file=file][,if=type][,bus=nr]... -- hot-add PCI device

=== Add a NIC ===
The following command in the QEMU monitor hot-adds a nic to the guest.
* '''pci_add auto nic model=e1000'''
You can replace '''model=e1000''' with either '''model=rtl8139''', '''model=virtio''', or '''model=ne2k_pci'''. Note that '''model=ne2000''' isn't pci-based but rather ISA-based and cannot be used for hotplug.

(qemu) pci_add auto nic model=e1000 WARNING: PCI region size must be pow2 type=0x0, size=0x60000 OK bus 0, slot 5, function 0 (devfn 40)

In the guest we can check if the device was added by looking at dmesg.
[ 91.808265] acpiphp: Slot [30] registered
[ 91.808276] acpiphp: Slot [31] registered
[ 110.828130] PCI: Ignore bogus resource 6 [0:0] of 0000:00:02.0
[ 110.828333] decode_hpp: Could not get hotplug parameters. Use defaults
[ 110.903259] Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - version 7.3.20-k2-NAPI
[ 110.903264] Copyright (c) 1999-2006 Intel Corporation.
[ 110.903489] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] enabled at IRQ 10
[ 110.903492] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:05.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, high) -> IRQ 10
[ 111.238713] e1000: 0000:00:05.0: e1000_probe: (PCI:33MHz:32-bit) 52:54:00:12:34:57
[ 111.292550] e1000: eth1: e1000_probe: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection

=== Add a disk ===

Hot-adding a disk means hot-adding a PCI device, so you need PCI hotplug support in the guest for this to work.

The following command in the QEMU monitor will add a scsi disk to the guest:
* '''pci_add auto storage file=/home/rharper/work/images/empty.img,if=scsi'''
You can replace '''if=scsi''' with '''if=virtio''', but IDE is not hotpluggable.

QEMU 0.9.1 monitor - type 'help' for more information
(qemu) pci_add auto storage file=/home/rharper/work/images/empty.img,if=scsi
OK bus 0, slot 5, function 0 (devfn 40)

In the guest we see via dmesg that the device was added.

[ 150.581752] PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:05.0 (0000 -> 0003)
[ 150.582634] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] enabled at IRQ 10
[ 150.582637] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:05.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, high) -> IRQ 10
[ 150.585099] sym0: <895a> rev 0x0 at pci 0000:00:05.0 irq 10
[ 150.594628] sym0: No NVRAM, ID 7, Fast-40, LVD, parity checking
[ 150.607861] sym0: SCSI BUS has been reset.
[ 150.607883] scsi2 : sym-2.2.3
[ 153.608433] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access QEMU QEMU HARDDISK 0.9. PQ: 0 ANSI: 3
[ 153.608462] target2:0:0: tagged command queuingenabled, command queue depth 16.
[ 153.608484] target2:0:0: Beginning Domain Validation
[ 153.609517] target2:0:0: Domain Validation skipping write tests
[ 153.609522] target2:0:0: Ending Domain Validation
[ 153.618880] scsi 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[ 153.749967] Driver 'sd' needs updating - please use bus_type methods
[ 153.750204] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 20971520 512-byte hardware sectors (10737 MB)
[ 153.750253] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 153.750255] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 14 00 00 00
[ 153.750354] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 153.750478] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 20971520 512-byte hardware sectors (10737 MB)
[ 153.750253] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 153.750255] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 14 00 00 00
[ 153.750354] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 153.750478] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 20971520 512-byte hardware sectors (10737 MB)
[ 153.750534] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 153.750536] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 14 00 00 00
[ 153.750634] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 153.750637] sda: unknown partition table
[ 153.759275] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk

FAQ

2010-01-26T22:40:24Z

Scoof:

=FAQ=

== Preparing to use KVM ==
=== What do I need to use KVM? ===
You will need an x86 machine running a recent Linux kernel on an Intel processor with VT (virtualization technology) extensions, or an AMD processor with SVM extensions (also called AMD-V). Xen has a [http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/HVM_Compatible_Processors complete list] of compatible processors. For Intel processors, see also [http://ark.intel.com/VTList.aspx the Intel® Virtualization Technology List].

----------
=== Are 64bits processors supported under KVM? ===
Yes they are supported and will allow you to run 32bits and 64 bits guests.

See also '''Can KVM run a 32-bit guest on a 64-bit host? What about PAE?''' below.

----------

=== What is Intel VT / AMD-V / hvm? ===
[http://www.intel.com/technology/itj/2006/v10i3/1-hardware/6-vt-x-vt-i-solutions.htm Intel VT] and [http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_8826_14287,00.html AMD's AMD-V] are instruction set extensions that provide hardware assistance to virtual machine monitors. They enable running fully isolated virtual machines at native hardware speeds, for some workloads.

HVM (for Hardware Virtual Machine) is a vendor-neutral term often used to designate the x86 instruction set extensions.

----------

=== Where do I get my kvm kernel modules from? ===

See the [[Getting the kvm kernel modules]] page.

----------

=== How can I tell if I have Intel VT or AMD-V? ===
With a recent enough Linux kernel, run the command:

. egrep '^flags.*(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo

If something shows up, you have VT. You can also check the processor model name (in `/proc/cpuinfo`) in the vendor's web site.

Note:

* You'll never see (vmx|svm) in /proc/cpuinfo if you're currently running in in a dom0 or domU.<br /> The Xen hypervisor suppresses these flags in order to prevent hijacking.
* Some manufacturers disable VT in the machine's BIOS, in such a way that it cannot be re-enabled.
* `/proc/cpuinfo` only shows virtualization capabilities starting with Linux 2.6.15 (Intel) and Linux 2.6.16 (AMD). Use the `uname -r` command to query your kernel version.
In case of doubt, contact your hardware vendor.

----------

=== "KVM: disabled by BIOS" error ===
Check if there is an option to enable it in the BIOS. If not, look for a more recent BIOS on the vendor's web site.

Note:

* On some hardware (e-g HP nx6320), you need to power-off/power-on the machine after enabling virtualization in the BIOS.
* Enabling some BIOS features may break VT support on some hardware (e-g Enabling Intel AMT on a Thinkpad T500 will prevent kvm-intel from loading with "disabled by bios")
* On some Dell hardware, you also need to disable "Trusted Execution", otherwise VT will not be enabled.

----------

=== How can I use AMD-V extension? ===
modprobe kvm-amd

----------

=== What user space tools does KVM use? ===
KVM uses a slightly modified [http://www.nongnu.org/qemu QEMU] program to instantiate the virtual machine. Once running, a virtual machine is just a regular process. You can use `top(1), kill(1), taskset(1)` and similar tools to manage virtual machines.

----------

=== What virtual disk formats can KVM use? ===
KVM inherits a wealth of disk formats support from QEMU; it supports raw images, the native QEMU format (qcow2), VMware format, and many more.

----------

=== Are there management tools available to help me manage my virtual machines? ===
Yes. Please see the [[Management Tools]] page for some links.

----------

== Using KVM ==
=== How can I use KVM with a non-privileged user? ===
The cleanest way is probably to create a group, say ''kvm'', and add the user(s) to that group. Then you will need change /dev/kvm to owned by group ''kvm''.

On a system that runs udev, you will probably need to add the following line somewhere in your udev configuration so it will automatically give the right group to the newly created device (i-e for ubuntu add a line to ''/etc/udev/rules.d/40-permissions.rules'').

KERNEL=="kvm", GROUP="kvm"

----------

=== How can I get the most performance out of KVM? ===

See the [[Tuning KVM]] page.

----------

=== Is KVM stable? ===
KVM is stable and used in production. As with most open source projects, development snapshots are less stable than the stable release series.

----------

=== That's alright, but can I really use it for my daily use? ===
Sure. We continuously run the most often-used OSes and configurations and if anything breaks for the developers, it's fixed as soon as it was broken. See the [[Guest Support Status]] and [[Host Support Status]] pages to find out more. Please update them with success stories so that new users would benefit from the experience of the community.

----------

=== How about production use? ===
For production use, it's recommended you use the KVM modules shipped by the distribution you're using to ensure stability. As mentioned above, it's tempting to use new features, but you never know of (unwanted) surprises hidden away. It'll be best if you can run the development snapshots with non-critical production load, so that the latest releases are stable for you when you decide to deploy them.

----------

=== What happens if I kill -9 a VM process? ===
From the guest's perspective, it is as if you yanked the power cord out. From the host's perspective, the process is killed and all resources it uses are reclaimed.

----------

=== I need help to setup the network for my guest ===
You can have a look to the [[Networking]] page of this wiki for informations on the most classical networking setup for the guests. You can also refer to the QEMU documentation.

----------

=== Where can I find more documention... ===
Most usability issues are covered in the QEMU [http://www.nongnu.org/qemu/user-doc.html documentation]. There is also an extensive [http://kidsquid.com/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/FrequentlyAskedQuestions FAQ].

----------

== Troubleshooting ==
=== How can I check that I'm not falling back to QEMU with no hardware acceleration? ===

If you think that you might no be using the hardware acceleration provided by the KVM module, here are a few steps to help you check this.

First of all, check that you don't have messages such as:

qemu-system-x86_64 -hda myvm.qcow2
open /dev/kvm: No such file or directory
Could not initialize KVM, will disable KVM support

In that case, you can check that:
* the modules are correctly loaded <code>lsmod|grep kvm
* you don't have a "KVM: disabled by BIOS" line in the output of dmesg
* /dev/kvm exists and you have the correct rights to use it

Other ways to do the diagnostic:
* if you have access to the QEMU monitor (Ctrl-Alt-2, use Ctrl-Alt-1 to get back to the VM display), enter the "info kvm" command and it should respond with "KVM support: enabled"
* the right-end columns of the output from <code>lsmod|grep kvm</code> on the host system, once the VM is started should show only non zero values. The value on the line corresponding to the architecture specific module (e-g kvm_intel, kvm_amd) show the number of VM using the module. For instance, if I have 2 VM running using the KVM module on a machine with vt, it will report:

lsmod|grep kvm
kvm_intel 44896 2
kvm 159656 1 kvm_intel

=== "rect too big" Message when using VNC Display ===
When connection to a VNC Terminal, a "rect too big" message appears, and the VNC Session disconnects.

This happens because of a VNC protocol flaw on the way on-the-fly pixel format changes are handled (more info at [http://www.mail-archive.com/qemu-devel@nongnu.org/msg04879.html this thread]). If you are using TigerVNC, you can avoid this problem by disabling on-the-fly selection of pixel encoding, using the <tt>-AutoSelect=0</tt> command-line option of vncviewer. You may also want to check the encoding options on the vncviewer man page, as this will disable automatic selection of encoding based on connection speed.

----------
'''How do I set up the network such that my guest is accessible from other machines?''' or

=== My guest network is stuck what should I do? ===
KVM uses QEMU for its device emulation. Consult the [http://kidsquid.com/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/QemuNetwork QEMU network wiki page] for detailed network setup instructions.

One would probably be interested in the Root Networking Mode page and the Network Bridge page.

----------

=== I get an "Exception 13" or "Exception 12" message while booting a guest OS on my Intel host ===
See the [[Intel Real Mode Emulation Problems]] page.

----------
=== I get "rtc interrupts lost" messages, and the guest is very slow? ===
Try setting <code>CONFIG_HPET_EMULATE_RTC=y</code> in your host <code>.config</code>.

----------

=== I have VMware/Parallels/VirtualBox installed and when I modprobe KVM, my system deadlocks. ===
Neither Intel VT nor AMD-V provide a mechanism to determine whether software is currently using the hardware virtualization extensions. This means that if you have two kernel modules loaded attempting to use hardware virtualization extensions, very bad things will happen. If you are using another type of virtualization software and experience any sort of weirdness with KVM, make sure you can reproduce the problem without the kernel modules for that software loaded before you report a bug in KVM.

----------

=== There's nothing on QEMU/KVM screen, but it's not hanged! I'm trying to install Kubuntu. ===
Try to run kvm with -std-vga option. It helps if guest operating system uses framebuffer mode like Kubuntu/Ubuntu.

----------

=== When I click the guest operating system window, mouse is grabbed. How can I get mouse to not to do that? OR Mouse doesn't show up / doesn't work in the guest. What do I do? ===
From #qemu wiki, try to run kvm/qemu with

-usb -usbdevice tablet
If that doesn't work, try this:

$ export SDL_VIDEO_X11_DGAMOUSE=0
(from http://wiki.clug.org.za/wiki/QEMU_mouse_not_working )

----------

== General KVM information ==
=== What is the difference between KVM and Xen? ===
Xen is an external hypervisor; it assumes control of the machine and divides resources among guests. On the other hand, KVM is part of Linux and uses the regular Linux scheduler and memory management. This means that KVM is much smaller and simpler to use; it is also more featureful; for example KVM can swap guests to disk in order to free RAM.

KVM only run on processors that supports x86 hvm (vt/svm instructions set) whereas Xen also allows running modified operating systems on non-hvm x86 processors using a technique called paravirtualization. KVM does not support paravirtualization for CPU but may support paravirtualization for device drivers to improve I/O performance.

----------

=== What is the difference between KVM and VMware? ===
VMware is a proprietary product. KVM is Free Software released under the GPL.

----------

=== What is the difference between KVM and QEMU? ===
QEMU uses emulation; KVM uses processor extensions (HVM) for virtualization.

----------

=== Do you have a port of KVM for Windows? ===
No.

----------

=== What kernel version does it work with? ===
It depends on what version of KVM you are using. The last release of KVM should work with any recent kernel (2.6.17 and above), older releases even older kernels.

----------

=== How much RAM do I need? ===
You will need enough memory to let the guest run comfortably while keeping enough for the host. 1GB is probably a minimum configuration for the host OS.

----------

=== Is dynamic memory management for guests supported? ===
This is a broad topic covering a few areas.

A. KVM only allocates memory as the guest tries to use it. Once it's allocated, KVM keeps it. Some guests (namely Microsoft guests) zero all memory at boot time. So they will use all memory.

B. Certain guests (only Linux at the moment) have a balloon driver, so the host can have the guest allocate a certain amount of memory which the guest won't be able to use anymore and it can then be freed on the host. Ballooning is controlled in the host via the [http://www.nongnu.org/qemu/qemu-doc.html#SEC12 balloon monitor command].

C. Some hosts (presently only RHEL5.4 / CentOS 5.4) have a feature called KSM (Kernel Sharedpage Merging), which collapses together identical pages; this requires kernel support on the host, as well as a kvm new enough to opt in to the behavior. As some guest platforms (most notably Windows) zero out free'd memory, such pages are trivially collapsed. The ksmctl command needs to be used to enable KSM; alternately, the ksmtuned service found in Fedora 12 can be run to dynamically adjust KSM's aggressiveness based on the amount of free memory available

----------

=== What OSs can I run inside KVM VM? ===
Several. See the [[Guest Support Status]] page for details. Note that several Linux flavors are known to hang on Intel processors during startup. Workaround is to disable splash screens in grub.

----------

=== Does KVM support a live migration feature to move virtual machines from one host to another without downtime? ===
Yes. See the [[Migration]] page for details.

----------

=== Does KVM support live migration from an AMD host to an Intel host and back? ===
Yes. There may be issues on 32-bit Intel hosts which don't support NX (or XD), but for 64-bit hosts back and forth migration should work well. Migration of 32-bit guests should work between 32-bit hosts and 64-bit hosts.
If one of your hosts does not support NX, you may consider disabling NX when starting the guest on a NX-capable system. You can do it by passing "-cpu qemu64,-nx" parameter to the guest.

----------

=== Can KVM run a 32-bit guest on a 64-bit host? What about PAE? ===
KVM supports 32-bit guests on 64-bit hosts, and any combination of PAE and non-PAE guests and hosts. The only unsupported combination is a 64-bit guest on a 32-bit host.

If you are running a Windows Virtual Machine and have problems enabling PAE in your guest see the [[Windows PAE Workaround]] page.

----------

=== Is it possible to use USB devices with a guest OS? ===
Yes, look up how to do it with QEMU, it's the same way.

----------

=== Can I have higher or widescreen resolutions (eg 1680 x 1050) in KVM? ===
Use the -vga std parameter while starting the VM to allow high resolution and widescreen displays.

If the resolution you want to use is not available, you can patch the corresponding source files (see http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.kvm.devel/13557 as a reference), or send a mail to the KVM mailing list if you are not able to patch the source yourself.

When using Windows as guest OS you might want to use the driver from the VBEMP x86 project (http://www.bearwindows.boot-land.net/vbemp.htm).

----------

=== Does KVM support SMP hosts? ===
Yes.

----------

=== Does KVM support SMP guests? ===
Yes. Up to 16 CPUs can be specified using the -smp option.

----------

=== Is the name 'KVM' trademarked? ===
No.

----------

Guest Support Status

2009-04-12T20:02:55Z

Scoof:

=Guest Support Status=

== Windows Family ==
{|border=1
| '''Guest'''
| '''Guest bitness'''
| '''Host version'''
| '''Host cpu'''
| '''Host bitness'''
| '''Status'''
| '''Comments'''
|-
| Windows 7 Beta
| 64
| kvm-84
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| Installs and works without any problem with 512M mem.
|-

| Windows 7 Beta
| 32
| kvm-83
| Intel
| 32
| Works
| Installed in about 25-30 minutes and worked flawlessly on my ThinkPad T60 (1953-7EU) with 1.5G of RAM
|-

| Windows 7 Beta
| 32
| kvm-62
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| "-m 2048 -vnc :0 -usbdevice tablet -smp 2 -std-vga" on qcow2
|-

| Windows Server 2008 (Datacenter)
| 64
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows Server 2008 (Datacenter)
| 32
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64, 32
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows Vista Ultimate
| 64
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Does not work
| Stopped working after kvm-75. Reported to work on kvm-72 (not Aero Glass capable) by by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows Vista Ultimate
| 32
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64, 32
| Does not work
| Stopped working after kvm-75. Reported to work on kvm-72 (not Aero Glass capable) by by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows Server 2003 x64
| 64
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E. (setup is unstable, rerun several times)
|-

| Windows Server 2003 (Enterprise)
| 32
| kvm-72
| Intel
| 32, 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows Server 2003 (Enterprise)
| 32
| kvm-72
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows XP Pro x64
| 64
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E. (setup is unstable, rerun several times)
|-

| Windows XP Pro
| 32
| kvm-72
| Intel
| 32, 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows XP Pro
| 32
| kvm-72
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows 2000 Pro (SP4)
| 32
| kvm-64
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| use Qcow2 format. (setup is unstable, rerun several times) by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows 2000 Pro (SP4)
| 32
| kvm-64
| Intel
| 32
| Works
| use Qcow2 format. (setup is unstable, rerun several times) by Alexey.E.
|-

| Windows 2000 Advanced Server
| 32
| kvm-44
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| use Qcow2 format.
|-

| Windows 98SE
| 32
| kvm-63
| Intel
| 32
| FAILS
| by Alexey.E. (halts when booting HIMEM)
|-

| Windows 98SE
| 32
| kvm-80, 2.6.27.7
| AMD
| 64
| no way
| install crashes
|-

| Windows 95
| 32
| kvm-44, 2.6.23-rc8
| AMD
| 64, 32
| no way
|
|}

== Linux Family: Fedora/RedHat Derivatives ==
{|border=1
| '''Guest'''
| '''Guest bitness'''
| '''Host version'''
| '''Host cpu'''
| '''Host bitness'''
| '''Status'''
| '''Comments'''
|-

| Fedora 11 BETA
| 64
| kvm-84
| Intel
| 64
| Fails
| by Alexey.E. Slowness and softlockups.
|-

| Fedora 11 BETA
| 32
| kvm-84
| Intel
| 64
| Fails
| by Alexey.E. Slowness and softlockups.
|-
|-

| Fedora 10
| 64
| kvm-79
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Fails
| by Alexey.E. Random crashes/lockups. Bootloader cannot be installed.
|-

| Fedora 10
| 32
| kvm-79
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Fails
| by Alexey.E. Random crashes/lockups. Bootloader cannot be installed.
|-

| Fedora 9
| 64
| kvm-75
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Fedora 9
| 32
| kvm-75
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Fedora 8
| 64
| kvm-75
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Fedora 8
| 32
| kvm-75
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Fedora 7
| 64
| kvm-75
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Fedora 7
| 32
| kvm-75
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Fedora 6
| 32
| kvm-26
| Intel, AMD
| 32, 64
| Works
|
|-

| Fedora 5
| 32, 64
| kvm-12
| Intel, AMD
| 32, 64
| Works
|
|-

| Fedora 4
| 64
|
| AMD
| 64
| Works, slightly high idle cpu
|by MichaelKarliner
|-

| Fedora 3
| 64
| kvm-78
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| by George Y. Requires noacpi in boot options
|-

| RHEL5/CentOS 5
| 64
| kvm-75
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| RHEL5/CentOS 5
| 32
| kvm-75
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E. (SMP is unstable) (on AMD, you may need latest BIOS, even for UP)
|-

| CentOS 4.6
| 32
| kvm-62
| Intel
| 32
| Works
| by EddyMulyono
|-

| RHEL4
| 64
| kvm-64
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| by Frank.Q.
|-

| RHEL3
| 32
| kvm-64
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| by Frank.Q.
|-

| Red Hat Linux 9
| 32
| kvm-51
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Red Hat Linux 8
| 32
| kvm-64
| Intel
| 64
| Crashes
| Fails on init. by Frank.Q.
|-

| Red Hat Linux 7
| 32
| kvm-52
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Crashes
| Fails on init. by Alexey.E.
|-

| Red Hat Linux 7.3
| 32
| kvm-78
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| -no-kvm is required for installation, but not for production.
|-

| Trixbox (CentOS)
| 32
| kvm-12
| Intel
| 64
| Works
|
|}

== Linux Family: Ubuntu/Debian Derivatives ==
{|border=1
| '''Guest'''
| '''Guest bitness'''
| '''Host version'''
| '''Host cpu'''
| '''Host bitness'''
| '''Status'''
| '''Comments'''
|-

| Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
| 32, 64
| kvm-64
| Intel, AMD
| 32, 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E. (some issues with virtio)
|-

| Ubuntu 7.10
| 32, 64
| kvm-62
| Intel,AMD
| 32, 64
| Crashes, Workaround exists
| Install using Qemu, remove GFX boot. by Alexey.E.
|-

| Ubuntu 7.10 Server
| 64
| kvm-60
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| No framebuffer (black screen at first). Hit enter to start installer.
|-

| Ubuntu 7.10 Server
| 32
| kvm-60/61
| Intel
| 64
| Doesn't work
| Installer crashes (by Ryota Ozaki)
|-

| Ubuntu 7.04
| 32, 64
| kvm-62
| Intel,AMD
| 32, 64
| Crashes, Workaround exists
| Install using Qemu, remove GFX boot. by Alexey.E.
|-

| Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Server
| 32
| kvm-20
| Intel
| 32
| Works
| use -no-acpi
|-

| Debian Lenny
| 64
| kvm-72/77
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| recognizes virtio devices
|-

| Debian Lenny
| 32
| kvm-72/77
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| recognizes virtio devices
|-

| Debian Etch 4.0
| 64
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Debian Etch 4.0
| 32
| kvm-64
| Intel
| 64, 32
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Debian Etch 4.0
| 32
| kvm-64
| AMD
| 64
| FAILS, workaround exists
| by Alexey.E. (manually choose i586 kernel, do not use default "k7" kernel)
|-

| Debian Sarge 3.1
| 32
| kvm-12
| Intel
| 32
| Works
|
|-

| Debian Sarge 3.1
| 32
| kvm-12
| Intel
| 64
| Mostly works
| Install hangs, will install via -no-kvm. Runs fine after
|-

| Xandros 3 OCE
| 32
| kvm-29
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| KNOPPIX 5.1.1
| 32
| kvm-18
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| use nmi_watchdog=0 or nolapic kernel parameter to boot
|-

| Knoppix 5.2
| 32
| kvm-18
| Intel
| 32
| Works
|
|}

== Other Linux Distros ==
{|border=1
| '''Guest'''
| '''Guest bitness'''
| '''Host version'''
| '''Host cpu'''
| '''Host bitness'''
| '''Status'''
| '''Comments'''
|-

| openSUSE 11.0
| 64
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| openSUSE 11.0
| 32
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| openSUSE 10.3
| 32
| kvm-57
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| openSUSE 10.3
| 32/64
| kvm-64
| Intel
| 64, 32
| Crashes, Workaround exists
| Start kvm with -no-kvm for installation. Remove graphical GRUB. by Alexey.E.
|-

| openSUSE 10.2
| 32/64
| kvm-28/kvm-51
| Intel
| 64
| Crashes, Workaround exists
| Start kvm with -no-kvm for installation. Remove graphical GRUB. by Alexey.E.
|-

| SUSE Linux 10.0
| 32
| kvm-64
| Intel
| 64, 32
| Crashes, Workaround exists
| Start kvm with -no-kvm for installation. Remove graphical GRUB. by Alexey.E.
|-

| SUSE Linux 9.1
| 32
| kvm-72
| Intel/AMD
| 64, 32
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Slackware 12
| 32
| kvm-36
| Intel
| 32
| Works
|
|-

| Slackware 11
| 32
| kvm-15
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| using test26.s kernel
|-

| Qemu-Puppy 2.01-3
| 32
| kvm-17/18
| Intel
| 32
| Works
|
|-

| Qemu-Puppy 2.13-1
| 32
| kvm-17/18
| Intel
| 32
| Works
|
|-

| SystemRescueCD 0.3.4
| 32
| kvm-18
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| Works fine, except for initial X-setting "cirrus" - changed to "vesa", then works.
|-

| Gentoo 2006.1
| 32
| kvm-24
| Intel
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| Gentoo 2007.0
| 32
| kvm-24
| Intel
| 64
| Works
|
|-
}
| Arch Linux (Duke)
|32
| kvm-17
|AMD
|64
|Works
|Host: 2.6.21-ARCH, guest: 2.6.22-rc5-ARCH says "booting paravirtualized kernel on bare hardware"
|-

| Mandrake Linux 9.2
|32
| kvm-51
|Intel
|64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Mandriva 2009
| 32/64
| kvm-75
| Intel
| 64
| Crashes, Workaround exists
| start kvm with -no-kvm for installation. Remove graphical GRUB. by Alexey.E.
|-

| Mandriva 2008.1
| 32
| kvm-64
| Intel
| 64, 32
| Crashes, Workaround exists
| start kvm with -no-kvm for installation. Remove graphical GRUB. by Alexey.E.
|-

| Mandriva 2008
| 32
| kvm-51
| Intel
| 64
| Crashes, Workaround exists
| start kvm with -no-kvm for installation. Remove graphical GRUB. by Alexey.E.
|-

| Mandriva 2007
| 32
| kvm-51
| Intel
| 64
| Crashes, Workaround exists
| start kvm with -no-kvm for installation. Remove graphical GRUB. by Alexey.E.
|-

| Crux Linux 2.5
| 32
| kvm-82
| Intel
| 32
| Works
| Boots Automatically at 'Guest Install' stage. Installs without issue. by Chris P
|}

== UNIX Family: BSD ==
{|border=1
|'''Guest'''
| '''Guest bitness'''
| '''Host version'''
| '''Host cpu'''
| '''Host bitness'''
| '''Status'''
| '''Comments'''
|-

| OpenBSD 4.4
| 64
| kvm-78
| AMD
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| OpenBSD 4.2
| 32
| kvm-58
| Intel
| 32
| Works
|
|-

| OpenBSD 4.1
| 32
| kvm-72
| Intel, AMD
| 64
| Works
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| OpenBSD 4.0
| 64
| kvm-12
| Intel
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| OpenBSD 4.0
| 32
| kvm-16 + CVS
| Intel
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| FreeBSD 6.1
| 32
| kvm-17/18
| Intel
| 32
| Works
|
|-

| FreeBSD 6.2
| 64
| kvm-12
| AMD
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| FreeBSD 6.2
| 32
| kvm-16 + CVS
| AMD
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| FreeBSD 6.3
| 32
| Fedora 8 - kvm-37-7.fc8
| Intel
| 64
| works
|
|-

|FreeBSD 6.3
|32
|Debian Lenny, kvm-60
|AMD
|64
|Works
|No issues in several weeks of testing. Freddie
|-

|FreeBSD 6.3
|64
|Debian Lenny, kvm-60
|AMD
|64
|Works
|No issues in several weeks of testing. Freddie
|-

|FreeBSD 7.0
|32
|Debian Lenny, kvm-60
|AMD
|64
|Works
|No issues in several weeks of testing. Tested with 1 and 2 virtual CPUs. Freddie
|-

|FreeBSD 7.0
|64
|Debian Lenny, kvm-60
|AMD
|64
|Works
|No issues in several weeks of testing. Tested with 1 and 2 virtual CPUs. Freddie
|-

|FreeBSD 7.0
|32
|OpenSUSE 10.3 kvm-63
|AMD
|64
|works
| disk i/o issues? "ad0: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=XXXXXXX"
|-

| FreeBSD 7.0
| 64
| OpenSUSE 10.3 kvm-63
| AMD
| 64
| crashes after boot loader
|-

| FreeBSD 7.1
| 64
| kvm-84
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| sdl graphics mess up if using kvm, setup with -nokvm then use ssh or -nographics and serial console
|-

| GNU/kFreeBSD
| 32
| kvm-84
| Intel
| 32
| Works
| kvm module must be loaded with oos_shadow=0
|-

|GNU/kFreeBSD
| 64
| kvm-15
| AMD
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| GNU/kFreeBSD
| 32
| kvm-16 + CVS
| AMD
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| NetBSD 3.1
| 32
| kvm-17/18
| Intel
| 32
| Works
|
|-

| NetBSD 3.1
| 32
| kvm-21
| AMD
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| NetBSD 4.0
| 32
| kvm-60
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| avoid hangup on boot with --no-acpi and network card timeout by trying out a different card, e.g. -net nic,model=ne2k_pci
|-

| PC-BSD 1.4
| 32
| kvm-56
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| By Alexey.E.
|-

| DragonflyBSD 1.10.1
| 32
| kvm-58
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| avoid kvm-[64-67] which require -no-kvm-pit to work; use -net nic,model=e1000 to avoid network timeouts
|}

== UNIX Family: Solaris/OpenSolaris ==
{|border=1
| '''Guest'''
| '''Guest bitness'''
| '''Host version'''
| '''Host cpu'''
| '''Host bitness'''
| '''Status'''
| '''Comments'''
|-

| Solaris 10 U1
| 32
| kvm-12
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| later releases will detect the CPU is 64 bit capable and try to default to run a 64 bit kernel and fail, for those you have to override Solaris autodetection by adding "kernel/unix" to the kernel multiboot entry in GRUB
|-

| Solaris 10 U3
| 64
| kvm-58 + patch
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| needs additional patch to kvm for [http://tapir.sajinet.com.pe/gentoo/portage/app-emulation/kvm/files/kvm-57-kernel-longmode.patch kvm kernel longmode]
|-

| Nexenta Core 1.0
| 64
| kvm-61
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| needs additional patch to kvm for [http://tapir.sajinet.com.pe/gentoo/portage/app-emulation/kvm/files/kvm-57-kernel-longmode.patch kvm kernel longmode]. Use -m 512 -net nic,model=e1000
|-

| OpenSolaris 2008.05
| 64
| kvm-69
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| Use -m 512 -net nic,model=e1000
|-

| Milax 0.3.2
| 32
| kvm-62
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| Use the kvm option -net nic,model=rtl8139 and add atapi-cd-dma-enabled=0,atapi-other-dma-enabled=0 to the kernel line in the grub menu for older releases of Milax http://www.milax.org/ in version 0.3.2 choose the Qemu grub menu entry ; tested on Ubuntu 8.04.1 by BerndSchemmer
|-

| Belenix 0.7.1
| 64
| kvm-62
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| Note: older releases of Belenix only work in text mode; tested on Ubuntu 8.04.1 by BerndSchemmer
|-

| Solaris 10 U6
| 32
| kvm-62
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| Note: the grub menu entry for Solaris 10 created by the installer is wrong, to make it work add unix/kernel to the line beginning with kernel ; tested on Ubuntu 8.04.1 by BerndSchemmer
|-

| OpenSolaris 2008.11
| 64
| kvm-62
| Intel
| 64
|Works
| tested on Ubuntu 8.04.1 by BerndSchemmer
|}

== Other UNIX systems ==
{| border=1
|'''Guest'''
| '''Guest bitness'''
| '''Host version'''
| '''Host cpu'''
| '''Host bitness'''
| '''Status'''
| '''Comments'''
|-

| Darwin 8.0.1
| 32
| kvm-29
| Intel
| 64
| Crashes
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| MINIX 3.1.2a
| 32
| kvm-71
| Intel
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| GNU hurd live CD (20051117)
| 32
| kvm-28
| Intel
| 32
| Works
| Seems to have networking problems.
|-

| GNU/Hurd (Debian K14)
| 32
| kvm-33
| Intel
| 32
| Works
| [http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki/Guest_Support_Status?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=hurd-k14.png screenshot]
|-

| GNU/Hurd (Debian K16)
| 32
| kvm-69
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| avoid kvm-[64-67] which require -no-kvm-pit to work
|}

== Others ==
{|border=1
| '''Guest'''
| '''Guest bitness'''
| '''Host version'''
| '''Host cpu'''
| '''Host bitness'''
| '''Status'''
| '''Comments'''
|-

| Haiku OS
| 32
| kvm-12
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| [http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki/Screenshots?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=kvm_aros_haiku.png screenshot]
|-

| Amiga Research OS (AROS)
| 32
| kvm-12
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| LiveCD tested. [http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki/Screenshots?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=kvm_aros_haiku.png screenshot]
|-

| Amiga Research OS (AROS)
| 32
| kvm-58
| Intel
| 32
| Works
| LiveCD tested.
|-

| ReactOS 0.3.0
| 32
| kvm-14
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| [http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki/Screenshots?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=kvm_reactos.png screenshot]
|-

| FreeDOS 1.0
| 32
| kvm-71
| Intel
| 64
| Works
|
|-

| MS DOS 6.22
| 32
| kvm-28
| Intel
| 32
| Stops
| It seems to stop booting after HIMEM.
|-

| Syllable 0.61
| 32
| kvm-29
| Intel
| 64
| Crashes
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Visopsys 0.62
| 32
| kvm-29
| Intel
| 64
| Crashes
| by Alexey.E.
|-

| Plan 9
| 32
| kvm-68
| Intel
| 64
| Works
| needs -no-kvm-irqchip
|-

| FreeDOS 7 + Novell Netware 4.1
| 32
| kvm-83
| AMD
| 64
| Works
| tested by Ruediger G. Biernat / [http://flickr.com/photos/rgbiernat/3261075882/ screenshot]
|}