Create Artix VM with QEMU

Sources:

• QEMU Archwiki
• Virtual machines from the command line with QEMU
• Real full disk encryption using GRUB on Artix Linux for BIOS and UEFI

Prepare disk image and start installation

Create the hard disk image with the following command:

$ qemu-img create -f qcow2 rtx.qcow 8G

Boot the installation image (CD-ROM) with disk for system installation:

$ qemu-system-x86_64 -m 4G -enable-kvm \
-cdrom artix-base-runit-20220713-x86_64.iso \
-drive file=rtx.qcow,format=qcow2 \
-boot order=d

Open the VNCviewer in another console window:

$ vncviewer localhost

And continue the installation as any other over bare metal.

Run the VM

Run the virtual machine with the following command:

$ qemu-system-x86_64 -m 4G -smp 2 -enable-kvm \
> -nic user,hostfwd=tcp::60022-:22 \
> rtx.qcow

If you want to hide the graphical display:

$ qemu-system-x86_64 -m 4G -smp 2 -enable-kvm \
> -display none \
> -nic user,hostfwd=tcp::60022-:22 \
> rtx.qcow

where:

• -display none : hides the graphical display
• -smp 2 : tell qemu to use 2 cpu’s
• -nic user,… : makes port 60022 on the host point to port 22 (ssh) on the guest. This allows to ssh on the machine with ssh localhost -p 60022, is sshd is running on the guest.

Conclusion

Enjoy motherfucker! :D