How to use qemu to run netbsd-9.1?

start

I have netbsd-9.1-amd64-install.img and qemu-system-x86_64 ready.
First run "qemu-img resize netbsd-9.1-amd64-install.img 20g".
Directly running "qemu-system-x86_64 netbsd-9.1-amd64-install.img" will display the following results:
WARNING: Image format was not specified for 'NetBSD-9.1-amd64-install.img' and probing guessed raw.
Automatically detecting the format is dangerous for raw images, write operations on block 0 will be restricted.
Specify the 'raw' format explicitly to remove the restrictions.
VNC server running on ::1:5900

start I have netbsd-9.1-amd64-install.img

First of all, you should use the .iso file to boot inside qemu and not the .img one.

Second, you should use some sort of hypervisor to get hardware accelaration, otherwise it will be too slow.
nvmm should be enabled, see https://m00nbsd.net/4e0798b7f2620c965d0dd9d6a7a2f296.html on how to use it.

Alternatively, you can use haxm for hardware accelaration. Check this thread for how to set-up haxm, boot an .iso in qemu and create a virtual machine.

start

pin I try to run "qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2G -drive if=none,file=NetBSD-9.1-amd64-install.img -cdrom /home/NetBSD-9.1-amd64.iso -cdrom" and the following results will appear:SeaBIOS (version ?-20190711_202441-buildvm-armv7-10.arm.fedoraproject.org-2.fc1
)

iPXE (http://ipxe.org) 00:03.0 C980 PCI2.10 PnP PMM+7FF921B0+7FEF21B0 C980

Booting from Hard Disk...
Boot failed: could not read the boot disk

Booting from Floppy...
Boot failed: could not read the boot disk

Booting from DVD/CD...

NetBSD/x86 cd9660 Primary Bootstrap

start

pin By the way: My system is Gentoo Linux and my processor is R3 2200g.Will the NVMM or HAXM you mentioned work?

start Will the NVMM or HAXM you mentioned work?

No, nvmm is NetBSD's own hypervisor. I don't know if haxm is ported to Gentoo or not.
On Linux you should use kvm, make sure your user is in the kvm-group.

Here's on my Void machine with the latest NetBSD-9.1 .iso from the daily builds.

$ qemu-img create virtualmachine.img 10G
$ qemu-system-x86_64 -boot d -cdrom Downloads/NetBSD-9.1_STABLE-amd64.iso -enable-kvm -m 3G -hda virtualmachine.img

And after installing,

$ qemu-system-x86_64 -boot d -enable-kvm -m 2G -device intel-hda -device hda-duplex virtualmachine.img

Hope it helps 😉

start

pin I ran the following commands in order:
qemu-img create virtualmachine.img 10G
qemu-system-x86_64 -boot d -cdrom /home/NetBSD-9.1-amd64.iso -enable-kvm -m 2G -hda virtualmachine.img -nographic
It will still show:
SeaBIOS (version ?-20190711_202441-buildvm-armv7-10.arm.fedoraproject.org-2.fc1
)
iPXE (http://ipxe.org) 00:03.0 C980 PCI2.10 PnP PMM+7FF921A0+7FEF21A0 C980

Booting from DVD/CD...

NetBSD/x86 cd9660 Primary Bootstrap
Is it strange that seabios shows the "arm" character instead of "x86"?
And the cursor position seems to be moving.

start

I successfully run the netbsd virtual machine of the aarch64 platform through this tutorial, but it fails on x86. Is it related to bios?:
https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/qemu_arm/.

start qemu-system-XXX should be adjusted depending on which image you're booting.
In the example I was using qemu-system-x86_64 since I was booting the x86_64 (aka amd64) image.

Replace XXX above with the correct option for the image you're using.

EDIT: Do you have virtualization enabled on the BIOS of your machine?

start

pin I am sure that virtualization is turned on in the BIOS.I want to start two virtual machines, running netbsd on x86 and aarch64 virtual machine. The netbsd virtual machine on aarch64 has successfully run, but there are problems with x86.

start Please grab an image from the daily builds.

http://nycdn.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/netbsd-9/latest/images

The one I used yesterday surely works,

20-100

start there are problems with x86

It looks like on x86, QEMU tries to load the ARMv7 BIOS instead of the x86 version. You may want to check available BIOSes under /usr/share/... ("..." depend on the distro: ovmf, edk2-ovmf, etc).

You can force QEMU to use a specific BIOS with the -bios option, e.g. -bios /usr/share/ovmf/OVMF.fd

start

pin The iso file I downloaded according to the URL you provided can't start normally. I also tried the iso file of other systems, and the same.
e.g:cn_windows_10_enterprise_ltsc_2019_x64_dvd_9c09ff24.iso(windows 10),install-amd64-minimal-20190410T214502Z.iso(gentoo linux),NetBSD-9.1_STABLE-amd64.iso(netbsd).I think the operating system iso is no problem, the problem should come from the qemu version or the wrong parameter settings.

start the problem should come from the qemu version or the wrong parameter settings.

I doubt but, in any case, here's from my Void machine,
qemu-5.2.0_1 Open Source Processor Emulator

Maybe @20-100 has found the issue.

20-100

FWIW, here are the command lines I use under Void:

qemu-img create -f qcow2 /home/wrk/vm/NetBSD.qcow2 16G

qemu-system-x86_64 -name NetBSD -hda /home/wrk/vm/NetBSD.qcow2 \
    -enable-kvm -machine q35 -cpu max -smp 2 -m 2560 \
    -display gtk,gl=on -device virtio-vga,virgl=on,xres=1280,yres=720 \
    -audiodev id=pa,driver=pa -device ich9-intel-hda -device hda-micro,audiodev=pa \
    -usb -device usb-mouse -k fr_ch \
    -nic user,model=virtio-net-pci \
    -bios /usr/share/edk2-ovmf/x64/OVMF.fd \
    -cdrom /home/wrk/iso/NetBSD-9.1_STABLE-amd64.iso -boot once=dc

start

20-100 The netbsd system can be successfully loaded, but cd9660.kmod is loaded incorrectly:

NetBSD/x86 EFI Boot (x64), Revision 1.1 (Sun Oct 18 19:24:30 UTC 2020) (from NetBSD 9.1)
Memory: 640/2089136 k
 1. Boot normally
 2. Boot single user
 3. Drop to boot prompt
Choose an option; RETURN for default; SPACE to stop countdown.
Option 1 will be chosen in 3 seconds. 0 seconds.
command(s): rndseed /var/db/entropy-file;boot
default boot twice, skipping...
18463280+668736+1428416 [869065+1251672+893433]=0x16e07d0
WARNING: couldn't open /var/db/entropy-file
Loading /stand/amd64/9.1/modules/cd9660/cd9660.kmod
WARNING: 1 module failed to load

My qemu command parameters are as follows:
qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -M q35 -m 2G -object rng-random,id=rng0,filename=/dev/urandom -device virtio-rng-pci,rng=rng0 -cpu host -smp 4 -boot d -cdrom /home/NetBSD-9.1-amd64.iso -drive file=NetBSD-9.1-amd64-install.img,if=virtio -device virtio-net,netdev=vmnic -netdev tap,id=vmnic,ifname=tap1,script=no,downscript=no -bios /usr/share/edk2-ovmf/OVMF_CODE.fd -nographic

20-100

It looks like you're trying to pass host devices through to the VM.
Using the recommended(*) virtual devices in a first step would make troubleshooting easier.
For example, you could start with:

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -M q35 -cpu host -smp 4 -m 2G \
-boot d -cdrom /home/NetBSD-9.1-amd64.iso \
-hda NetBSD-9.1-amd64-install.img \
-display gtk,gl=on -device virtio-vga \
-nic user,model=virtio-net-pci \
-bios /usr/share/edk2-ovmf/OVMF_CODE.fd

It should work out of the box and you'll then be able to change one option at a time to get exactly what you want.

[Note: using "gtk" as the display option will give you a "View" menu where you can switch between virtio-vga (the VM's screen) and compatmonitor0 (an administration console where you can type cool things such as "sendkey ctlr-alt-f2" - very convenient for troubleshooting)]

(*): The major problem with QEMU is that it is poorly documented and that relevant information is scattered across the web, mostly on blogs. :/

Jay

I think you are not adding -hda path for install target. did you managed to get it work ?