02 Create Linux virtual machines

The quickget tool is provided as part of Quickemu and it's purpose is to automatically download operating system images and create an optimised virtual machine configuration.

quickget -h will produce a list of all operating systems it supports, including hundreds of Linux distribution editions, all the BSDs, macOS, Windows, FreeDOS and many others.

Automatically create Linux guests

Here's an example of how to create and run an Ubuntu guest virtual machine, the process is much the same for any other Linux distribution.

quickget ubuntu 24.04
quickemu --vm ubuntu-24.04.conf

• Complete the installation as normal.
• Post-install:
  • Install the SPICE agent (spice-vdagent) in the guest to enable copy/paste and USB redirection
    • sudo apt install spice-vdagent
  • Install the SPICE WebDAV agent (spice-webdavd) in the guest to enable file sharing.
    • sudo apt install spice-webdavd

Ubuntu daily-live images

quickget can also download/refresh daily-live images via zsync for Ubuntu developers and testers.

quickget ubuntu daily-live
quickemu --vm ubuntu-daily-live.conf

You can run quickget ubuntu daily-live to refresh your daily development image as often as you like, it will even automatically switch to a new series.

Ubuntu flavours

All the official Ubuntu flavours are supported, just replace ubuntu with your preferred flavour: edubuntu (Edubuntu), kubuntu (Kubuntu), lubuntu (Lubuntu), ubuntu-budgie (Ubuntu Budgie), ubuntucinnamon (Ubuntu Cinnamon), ubuntukylin (Ubuntu Kylin), ubuntu-mate (Ubuntu MATE), ubuntustudio (Ubuntu Studio), ubuntu-unity (Ubuntu Unity), xubuntu (Xubuntu).

Manually create Linux guests

You can also download a Linux image and manually create a VM configuration.

• Download a .iso image of a Linux distribution
• Create a VM configuration file; for example my-custom-linux.conf

guest_os="linux"
disk_img="my-custom-linux/disk.qcow2"
iso="my-custom-linux/my-custom-linux.iso"

• Use quickemu to start the virtual machine:

quickemu --vm my-custom-linux.conf

• Complete the installation as normal.
• Post-install:
  • Install the SPICE agent (spice-vdagent) in the guest to enable copy/paste and USB redirection.
  • Install the SPICE WebDAV agent (spice-webdavd) in the guest to enable file sharing.

Supporting old Linux distros

If you want to run an old Linux , from 2016 or earlier, change the guest_os to linux_old. This will enable the vmware-svga graphics driver which is better supported on older distros.