Installing Virtual Machine Manager on Void Linux

If you’re a fellow Void Linux enthusiast like me, you know the thrill of a lean, customizable system. But sometimes, you might want to run other operating systems within your streamlined Void environment. That’s where virtual machines (VMs) come to the rescue, and Virtual Machine Manager makes it super easy to set them up.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps I took to get this working.

Step 1: Installing the Essentials

First, fire up your terminal and type:

sudo xbps-install libvirt virt-manager qemu polkit

This gets us all the pieces we need – libvirt for virtualization magic, virt-manager for a friendly interface, qemu as our trusty emulator, and polkit for handling permissions.

Step 2: Getting the Right Permissions

We need to make sure our regular user account can play with virtual machines. Let’s add ourselves to the libvirt and kvm groups:

sudo usermod -a -G libvirt,kvm your_username

(Remember to replace your_username!)

Step 3: A Quick Log Out and Back In

Just to be sure the group changes stick, log out of your account and log back in.

Step 4: A Tiny Bit of Configuration

Let’s setup a config file for libvirt so it knows what’s up:

mkdir ~/.config/libvirt && sudo cp -rv /etc/libvirt/libvirt.conf ~/.config/libvirt/ && sudo chown your_username: ~/.config/libvirt/libvirt.conf

Step 5: Tweaking libvirt Settings

Open ~/.config/libvirt/libvirt.conf in your favorite text editor and find the line that says uri_default. Change it to:

uri_default = "qemu:///system"

Step 6: QEMU Permissions

Edit /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf, setting the user and group to match your username and libvirt respectively. This lets you manage the VMs you create.

Step 7: Starting the Services

Void Linux uses runit for services. Let’s enable the ones we need:

sudo ln -s /etc/sv/dbus /var/service/
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/polkitd /var/service/
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/libvirtd /var/service/
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/virtlockd /var/service/
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/virtlogd /var/service/

Step 8: Launch Time!

That’s it! Go ahead, launch Virtual Machine Manager, and get ready to spin up new virtual worlds!

Bonus Tip: Pump Up the Graphics

Want smoother graphics in your VMs? Edit a VM’s settings, go to “Video”, select “Virtio”, and check the “3D Acceleration” box.