virsh

Manage virsh guest domains. (Note: guest_id can be the ID, name or UUID of the guest). Some subcommands such as list have their own usage documentation. More information: https://libvirt.org/manpages/virsh.html.

  • Connect to a hypervisor session:

virsh connect qemu:///system

  • Activate a network named default:

sudo virsh net-start default

  • List all domains:

virsh list --all

  • Create a guest from a configuration file:

virsh create path/to/config_file.xml

  • Edit a guest's configuration file (editor can be changed with $EDITOR):

virsh edit guest_id

  • Start/reboot/shutdown/suspend/resume a guest:

virsh command guest_id

  • Save the current state of a guest to a file:

virsh save guest_id filename

  • Delete a running guest:

virsh destroy guest_id && virsh undefine guest_id