How to Install KVM on Ubuntu 22.04?

Kernel-based Virtual Machine is a virtualization module in the Linux kernel that allows the kernel to work as a hypervisor. Today, we will explore how to install KVM on an ubuntu machine. We will use Ubuntu’s latest version, 22.04. The installation will take place using the command line. We will run basic Linux commands to install KVM and its necessary dependencies. By the end of this tutorial, you will know how easy it is to install KVM on your system.

Installation Guide

Following are the steps involved in installing KVM on Ubuntu 22.04:

Step 1: Update and Upgrade Your Ubuntu 22.04 System

Before installing KVM on your system, update and upgrade the system.

Use the following command for updating the system:

sudo apt update

Next, use the following command for upgrading the system:

sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Check KVM Compatibility With Your System

Before installing KVM, make sure that KVM is compatible with your system. Otherwise, you will keep running into errors, and KVM won’t install properly.

To check the compatibility between the two, run this command:

egrep -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo

If the output you get is greater than 0, that means KVM is compatible with the system and can be installed.

Step 3: Install Necessary Packages for KVM

Now that we have confirmed the compatibility, let’s begin with installing essential KVM dependencies using the following command:

sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system virtinst libvirt-clients bridge-utils

Step 4: Enable Essential Services to Virtualize and Check Their Status

After successfully installing essential dependencies, let’s enable the services that are needed to virtualize. Enable livirtd using the following command:

sudo systemctl enable libvirtd

Now start libvirtd by issuing the following command:

sudo systemctl start libvirtd

Let’s verify the status of libvirtd using the command mentioned below. If it is running fine, you will see ‘active’ in the output.

sudo systemctl status libvirtd

Step 5: Add Your User to the KVM and Libvirt Group

Now add your user to KVM and libvirt group to get up KVM and avoid running into issues. The user can be added to the KVM group using this command:

sudo usermod -aG kvm $USER

Now add the user to the libvirt group by using this command:

sudo usermod -aG libvirt $USER

Step 6: Make a Bridge Network for the VMs (Virtual Machines)

In this step, we will create a bridge network. This can be done by creating a netplan configuration file like this:

sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml

Now add the following configuration in the 01-netcfg.yaml file:

network:
ethernets:
eth0:
dhcp4: false
dhcp6: false
bridges:
br0:
interfaces: [eth0]
dhcp4: false
addresses: [10.254.152.27/24]
macaddress: 01:26:3b:4b:1d:43
routes:
- to: default
via: 10.254.152.1
metric: 100
nameservers:
addresses: [8.8.8.8]
parameters:
stp: false
dhcp6: false
version: 2

Once you have pasted the configuration in the file, save it and exit.

Step 7: Apply Changes Using Netplan and Review the Changes

To apply the configurations, run the following command:

sudo netplan apply

You can also review the chnages using the ip addr command like this:

ip addr show

Conclusion

In today’s tutorial, we saw in detail how to install KVM on Ubuntu 22.04. Before installing, we tested the compatibility between kvm and our Ubuntu system. After that, we installed the necessary KVM packages and then installed KVM. Then we also showed you how to create a configuration file to enable a bridged network. In the end, we learned how to verify changes using an easy-to-follow command.