| .. _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 -hda rootdisk.img -append "root=/dev/hda" | |
| 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 -hda rootdisk.img \ | |
| -append "root=/dev/hda console=ttyS0" -nographic | |
| Use Ctrl-a c to switch between the serial console and the monitor (see | |
| :ref:`pcsys_005fkeys`). |