| .. _direct_005flinux_005fboot: |
| |
| Direct Linux Boot |
| ----------------- |
| |
| This section explains how to launch a Linux kernel inside QEMU without |
| having to make a full bootable image. It is very useful for fast Linux |
| kernel testing. |
| |
| The syntax is: |
| |
| .. parsed-literal:: |
| |
| |qemu_system| -kernel bzImage -drive file=rootdisk.img,format=raw -append "root=/dev/sda" |
| |
| Use ``-kernel`` to provide the Linux kernel image and ``-append`` to |
| give the kernel command line arguments. The ``-initrd`` option can be |
| used to provide an INITRD image. |
| |
| If you do not need graphical output, you can disable it and redirect the |
| virtual serial port and the QEMU monitor to the console with the |
| ``-nographic`` option. The typical command line is: |
| |
| .. parsed-literal:: |
| |
| |qemu_system| -kernel bzImage -drive file=rootdisk.img,format=raw \ |
| -append "root=/dev/sda console=ttyS0" -nographic |
| |
| Use :kbd:`Ctrl+a c` to switch between the serial console and the monitor (see |
| :ref:`GUI_keys`). |
