bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | @example |
| 2 | @c man begin SYNOPSIS |
| 3 | usage: qemu-img command [command options] |
| 4 | @c man end |
| 5 | @end example |
| 6 | |
| 7 | @c man begin OPTIONS |
| 8 | |
| 9 | The following commands are supported: |
| 10 | @table @option |
ths | ec36ba1 | 2007-09-16 21:59:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 11 | @item create [-e] [-6] [-b @var{base_image}] [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename} [@var{size}] |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 12 | @item commit [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename} |
ths | f58c7b3 | 2008-06-05 21:53:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 13 | @item convert [-c] [-e] [-6] [-f @var{fmt}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-B @var{output_base_image}] @var{filename} [@var{filename2} [...]] @var{output_filename} |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 14 | @item info [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename} |
| 15 | @end table |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Command parameters: |
| 18 | @table @var |
| 19 | @item filename |
| 20 | is a disk image filename |
ths | 5fafdf2 | 2007-09-16 21:08:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 21 | @item base_image |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 22 | is the read-only disk image which is used as base for a copy on |
| 23 | write image; the copy on write image only stores the modified data |
ths | f58c7b3 | 2008-06-05 21:53:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 24 | @item output_base_image |
| 25 | forces the output image to be created as a copy on write |
| 26 | image of the specified base image; @code{output_base_image} should have the same |
| 27 | content as the input's base image, however the path, image format, etc may |
| 28 | differ |
ths | 5fafdf2 | 2007-09-16 21:08:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 29 | @item fmt |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 30 | is the disk image format. It is guessed automatically in most cases. The following formats are supported: |
| 31 | |
| 32 | @table @code |
| 33 | @item raw |
| 34 | |
| 35 | Raw disk image format (default). This format has the advantage of |
bellard | 19d3679 | 2006-08-07 21:34:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 36 | being simple and easily exportable to all other emulators. If your |
| 37 | file system supports @emph{holes} (for example in ext2 or ext3 on |
| 38 | Linux or NTFS on Windows), then only the written sectors will reserve |
| 39 | space. Use @code{qemu-img info} to know the real size used by the |
| 40 | image or @code{ls -ls} on Unix/Linux. |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 41 | |
bellard | 19d3679 | 2006-08-07 21:34:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 42 | @item qcow2 |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 43 | QEMU image format, the most versatile format. Use it to have smaller |
| 44 | images (useful if your filesystem does not supports holes, for example |
bellard | 19d3679 | 2006-08-07 21:34:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 45 | on Windows), optional AES encryption, zlib based compression and |
| 46 | support of multiple VM snapshots. |
| 47 | @item qcow |
| 48 | Old QEMU image format. Left for compatibility. |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 49 | @item cow |
| 50 | User Mode Linux Copy On Write image format. Used to be the only growable |
| 51 | image format in QEMU. It is supported only for compatibility with |
| 52 | previous versions. It does not work on win32. |
| 53 | @item vmdk |
bellard | e5d80f9 | 2005-07-23 17:43:14 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 54 | VMware 3 and 4 compatible image format. |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 55 | @item cloop |
| 56 | Linux Compressed Loop image, useful only to reuse directly compressed |
| 57 | CD-ROM images present for example in the Knoppix CD-ROMs. |
| 58 | @end table |
| 59 | |
ths | 5fafdf2 | 2007-09-16 21:08:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 60 | @item size |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 61 | is the disk image size in kilobytes. Optional suffixes @code{M} |
ths | 5fafdf2 | 2007-09-16 21:08:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 62 | (megabyte) and @code{G} (gigabyte) are supported |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | |
| 64 | @item output_filename |
ths | 5fafdf2 | 2007-09-16 21:08:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 65 | is the destination disk image filename |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 66 | |
| 67 | @item output_fmt |
| 68 | is the destination format |
| 69 | |
| 70 | @item -c |
| 71 | indicates that target image must be compressed (qcow format only) |
ths | 5fafdf2 | 2007-09-16 21:08:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 72 | @item -e |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 73 | indicates that the target image must be encrypted (qcow format only) |
ths | ec36ba1 | 2007-09-16 21:59:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 74 | @item -6 |
| 75 | indicates that the target image must use compatibility level 6 (vmdk format only) |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 76 | @end table |
| 77 | |
| 78 | Command description: |
| 79 | |
| 80 | @table @option |
ths | ec36ba1 | 2007-09-16 21:59:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 81 | @item create [-6] [-e] [-b @var{base_image}] [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename} [@var{size}] |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 82 | |
| 83 | Create the new disk image @var{filename} of size @var{size} and format |
ths | 5fafdf2 | 2007-09-16 21:08:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 84 | @var{fmt}. |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 85 | |
| 86 | If @var{base_image} is specified, then the image will record only the |
| 87 | differences from @var{base_image}. No size needs to be specified in |
| 88 | this case. @var{base_image} will never be modified unless you use the |
| 89 | @code{commit} monitor command. |
| 90 | |
| 91 | @item commit [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename} |
| 92 | |
| 93 | Commit the changes recorded in @var{filename} in its base image. |
| 94 | |
| 95 | @item convert [-c] [-e] [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename} [-O @var{output_fmt}] @var{output_filename} |
| 96 | |
| 97 | Convert the disk image @var{filename} to disk image @var{output_filename} |
ths | 4be456f | 2007-06-03 13:41:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 98 | using format @var{output_fmt}. It can be optionally encrypted |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 99 | (@code{-e} option) or compressed (@code{-c} option). |
| 100 | |
| 101 | Only the format @code{qcow} supports encryption or compression. The |
| 102 | compression is read-only. It means that if a compressed sector is |
| 103 | rewritten, then it is rewritten as uncompressed data. |
| 104 | |
| 105 | Encryption uses the AES format which is very secure (128 bit keys). Use |
| 106 | a long password (16 characters) to get maximum protection. |
| 107 | |
| 108 | Image conversion is also useful to get smaller image when using a |
| 109 | growable format such as @code{qcow} or @code{cow}: the empty sectors |
| 110 | are detected and suppressed from the destination image. |
| 111 | |
| 112 | @item info [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename} |
| 113 | |
| 114 | Give information about the disk image @var{filename}. Use it in |
| 115 | particular to know the size reserved on disk which can be different |
bellard | 19d3679 | 2006-08-07 21:34:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 116 | from the displayed size. If VM snapshots are stored in the disk image, |
| 117 | they are displayed too. |
bellard | acd935e | 2004-11-15 22:57:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 118 | @end table |
| 119 | |
| 120 | @c man end |
| 121 | |
| 122 | @ignore |
| 123 | |
| 124 | @setfilename qemu-img |
| 125 | @settitle QEMU disk image utility |
| 126 | |
| 127 | @c man begin SEEALSO |
| 128 | The HTML documentation of QEMU for more precise information and Linux |
| 129 | user mode emulator invocation. |
| 130 | @c man end |
| 131 | |
| 132 | @c man begin AUTHOR |
| 133 | Fabrice Bellard |
| 134 | @c man end |
| 135 | |
| 136 | @end ignore |