How to correctly install and use QEMU-KVM on Ubuntu 14.04?

Question

In general, I prefer to install Linux software packages (not already installed by the default Ubuntu installer) via the distro-specific mechanism provided by that distro. In my case, I am using Ubuntu 14.04 and so, when time came to install QEMU, I didn't use sudo apt-get install qemu-kvm libvirt-bin ubuntu-vm-builder bridge-utils as described in this Ubuntu Help web page.

Instead, I clicked on the left pane launcher Ubuntu Software Center, searched for qemu, received a confusing number of matching results (I don't really know the difference between the various qemu-related packaged), then decided to install these two:

First:

qemu 2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.9
25.5 MB to download, 188.1 MB when installed

Then:

qemu-launcher 1.7.4-1ubuntu2
1.4 MB to download, 5.8 MB when installed

I was prepared to launch QEMU for the first time in my life, as described in the QEMU documentation, using qemu <image-name> but... I could not find any qemu in my $PATH. Instead, all I could find were files like qemu-aarch64, qemu-alpha, qemu-arm, etc.

Where did qemu disappear? Did I install the right packages? Did I miss something in the installation?

Solution

You installed everything correctly. QEMU did not disappear. The documentation is simply not up to date. You should use the qemu module name appropriate for your architecture. For example, instead of qemu <image-name>, run:

qemu-system-x86_64 <image-name>

Comments

[MrE]

awesome guide here: unixmen.com/how-to-install-and-configure-qemu-in-ubuntu

[Bill The Ape]

@MathieuBorderé Not any longer. At least not now.