Archipelago » qemu

@example

@c man begin SYNOPSIS

usage: qemu-img command [command options]

@c man end

@end example

@c man begin OPTIONS

The following commands are supported:

@include qemu-img-cmds.texi

Command parameters:

@table @var

@item filename

 is a disk image filename

@item fmt

is the disk image format. It is guessed automatically in most cases. See below

for a description of the supported disk formats.

@item size

is the disk image size in bytes. Optional suffixes @code{k} or @code{K}

(kilobyte, 1024) @code{M} (megabyte, 1024k) and @code{G} (gigabyte, 1024M)

and T (terabyte, 1024G) are supported.  @code{b} is ignored.

@item output_filename

is the destination disk image filename

@item output_fmt

 is the destination format

@item options

is a comma separated list of format specific options in a

name=value format. Use @code{-o ?} for an overview of the options supported

by the used format or see the format descriptions below for details.

@item -c

indicates that target image must be compressed (qcow format only)

@item -h

with or without a command shows help and lists the supported formats

@end table

Parameters to snapshot subcommand:

@table @option

@item snapshot

is the name of the snapshot to create, apply or delete

@item -a

applies a snapshot (revert disk to saved state)

@item -c

creates a snapshot

@item -d

deletes a snapshot

@item -l

lists all snapshots in the given image

@end table

Command description:

@table @option

@item create [-f @var{fmt}] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{size}]

Create the new disk image @var{filename} of size @var{size} and format

@var{fmt}. Depending on the file format, you can add one or more @var{options}

that enable additional features of this format.

If the option @var{backing_file} is specified, then the image will record

only the differences from @var{backing_file}. No size needs to be specified in

this case. @var{backing_file} will never be modified unless you use the

@code{commit} monitor command (or qemu-img commit).

The size can also be specified using the @var{size} option with @code{-o},

it doesn't need to be specified separately in this case.

@item commit [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename}

Commit the changes recorded in @var{filename} in its base image.

@item convert [-c] [-f @var{fmt}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{filename2} [...]] @var{output_filename}

Convert the disk image @var{filename} to disk image @var{output_filename}

using format @var{output_fmt}. It can be optionally compressed (@code{-c}

option) or use any format specific options like encryption (@code{-o} option).

Only the formats @code{qcow} and @code{qcow2} support compression. The

compression is read-only. It means that if a compressed sector is

rewritten, then it is rewritten as uncompressed data.

Image conversion is also useful to get smaller image when using a

growable format such as @code{qcow} or @code{cow}: the empty sectors

are detected and suppressed from the destination image.

You can use the @var{backing_file} option to force the output image to be

created as a copy on write image of the specified base image; the

@var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image,

however the path, image format, etc may differ.

@item info [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename}

Give information about the disk image @var{filename}. Use it in

particular to know the size reserved on disk which can be different

from the displayed size. If VM snapshots are stored in the disk image,

they are displayed too.

@item snapshot [-l | -a @var{snapshot} | -c @var{snapshot} | -d @var{snapshot} ] @var{filename}

List, apply, create or delete snapshots in image @var{filename}.

@end table

Supported image file formats:

@table @option

@item raw

Raw disk image format (default). This format has the advantage of

being simple and easily exportable to all other emulators. If your

file system supports @emph{holes} (for example in ext2 or ext3 on

Linux or NTFS on Windows), then only the written sectors will reserve

space. Use @code{qemu-img info} to know the real size used by the

image or @code{ls -ls} on Unix/Linux.

@item host_device

Host device format. This format should be used instead of raw when

converting to block devices or other devices where "holes" are not

supported.

@item qcow2

QEMU image format, the most versatile format. Use it to have smaller

images (useful if your filesystem does not supports holes, for example

on Windows), optional AES encryption, zlib based compression and

support of multiple VM snapshots.

Supported options:

@table @code

@item backing_file

File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand)

@item backing_fmt

Image format of the base image

@item encryption

If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted.

Encryption uses the AES format which is very secure (128 bit keys). Use

a long password (16 characters) to get maximum protection.

@item cluster_size

Changes the qcow2 cluster size (must be between 512 and 2M). Smaller cluster

sizes can improve the image file size whereas larger cluster sizes generally

provide better performance.

@item preallocation

Preallocation mode (allowed values: off, metadata). An image with preallocated

metadata is initially larger but can improve performance when the image needs

to grow.

@end table

@item qcow

Old QEMU image format. Left for compatibility.

Supported options:

@table @code

@item backing_file

File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand)

@item encryption

If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted.

@end table

@item cow

User Mode Linux Copy On Write image format. Used to be the only growable

image format in QEMU. It is supported only for compatibility with

previous versions. It does not work on win32.

@item vdi

VirtualBox 1.1 compatible image format.

@item vmdk

VMware 3 and 4 compatible image format.

Supported options:

@table @code

@item backing_fmt

Image format of the base image

@item compat6

Create a VMDK version 6 image (instead of version 4)

@end table

@item vpc

VirtualPC compatible image format (VHD).

@item cloop

Linux Compressed Loop image, useful only to reuse directly compressed

CD-ROM images present for example in the Knoppix CD-ROMs.

@end table

@c man end

@ignore

@setfilename qemu-img

@settitle QEMU disk image utility

@c man begin SEEALSO

The HTML documentation of QEMU for more precise information and Linux

user mode emulator invocation.

@c man end

@c man begin AUTHOR

Fabrice Bellard

@c man end

@end ignore