Kvm + Virtmanager

Note: This guide was tested on Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 Source: How to Install KVM on Ubuntu 20.04 This is a work in progress

Step 1

  1. Check if virtualization is supported using the commands:
    egrep -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo
    This command should return any number greater than 0
  2. Install cpu checker:
    sudo apt update && sudo apt install cpu-checker
  3. Check if your system supports KVM
    sudo kvm-ok
    This should return the following output: 
    INFO: /dev/kvm exists
KVM acceleration can be used

Step 2

  1. Install KVM and other dependencies:
    sudo apt install -y qemu qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon libvirt-clients bridge-utils virt-manager
  2. Enable the virtualization daemon:
    sudo systemctl status libvirtd
  3. Check if the kvm modules are running:
    lsmod | grep -i kvm
  4. This should return the following output (similar): 
    kvm_amd              208896   0
kvm                  1417216  1 kvm_amd
ccp                  155648   4 kvm_amd
  5. Add your user to the necessary groups. This will allow qemu to use iso files: sudo usermod -aG libvirt-qemu $USER and sudo usermod -aG libvirt $USER
  6. You can make virtual machines with virt-manager now. The process is similar to Virtualbox.
  7. If you get an error message in virt-manager that reads: QEMU/KVM - Not Connected, reboot.

Pending on this guide:

  1. Add steps to create virtual machines graphically and via the command line
  2. Add steps to export virtual machines
  3. Add steps to create snapshopts and install spice tools