How to Install QEMU/KVM on Ubuntu to Create Virtual Machines

James Kiarie Last Updated: October 28, 2022 KVM, Ubuntu, Virtualization 3 Comments

Brief: In this guide, we explore how to install QEMU/KVM on Ubuntu in order to create
virtual machines.

Virtualization is one of the most widely used technologies both in enterprise and home
environments. Whether you are a seasoned IT expert, a programmer, or an IT novice, virtualization
can be one of your greatest friends.

Virtualization is the abstraction of a computer’s hardware resources using a software application

known as a hypervisor. The hypervisor creates an abstraction layer over computer hardware and
virtualizes various components of the system including but not limited to memory, processor,
storage, USB devices, etc.

In doing so, it allows you to create virtual computers also known as virtual machines off of the
virtualized elements, and each virtual machine, also known as a guest, runs independently from
the host system.

KVM, short for Kernel-based Virtual Machine is an open-source type 1 hypervisor (bare metal
hypervisor) that is integrated into the Linux kernel. It allows you to create and manage virtual
machines running Windows, Linux, or UNIX variants such as FreeBSD, and OpenBSD.

As mentioned earlier, each virtual machine has its own virtual resources such as storage, memory,
CPU, network interfaces, USB interfaces, and video graphics to mention a few.

QEMU (Quick Emulator) is a software module that emulates various components of computer
hardware. It supports full virtualizations and works alongside KVM to provide a holistic
virtualization experience.

In this guide, we will demonstrate how to install QEMU/KVM on Ubuntu 20.04 / 22.04 distributions.