QEMU image command

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You can use the qemu-img command to manage disk images.

  • This example creates a qcow2 image with a maximum size of 10 GB:
    # qemu-img create -f qcow2 /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img 10G
Formatting '/var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img', fmt=qcow2
size=10737418240 encryption=off cluster_size=65536
lazy_refcounts=off
Format specific information:
compat: 1.1
lazy refcounts: false
refcount bits: 16
corrupt: false
  • This example displays attributes of a qcow2 image:
    # qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img
file format: qcow2
virtual size: 10G (10737418240 bytes)
disk size: 136K
cluster_size: 65536
  • This example increases the size of a qcow2 image:
    # qemu-img resize /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img 20G
Image resized.

# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img      
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img
file format: qcow2
virtual size: 20G (21474836480 bytes)
disk size: 140K
cluster_size: 65536
  • This example creates a RAW image with a maximum size of 10 GB:
    # qemu-img create -f raw /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img 10G
Formatting '/var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img', fmt=raw 
size=10737418240
  • This example displays attributes of a RAW image:
    # qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 10G (10737418240 bytes)
disk size: 0
  • This example increases the size of a RAW image:
    # qemu-img resize -f raw /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img 20G        
Image resized.

# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img      
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/disk1.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 20G (21474836480 bytes)
disk size: 0