Executive Summary
I’m currently working on switching over from VirtualBox to KVM. I’ve been able to successfully follow the guides available online to convert VDI disk images to QCOW2. I’ve also followed steps to create virtual machines within the Virtual Machine Manager (GUI). I can also successfully start said machines, but they don’t have any networking available. I can also successfully create virtual machines in KVM that network just fine (bridged despite VMM’s warning).
The big question: Where did I go wrong?*
- Besides not falling into the hole in the first place
Details
Host Machines
- Host A: Windows 10 (fully updated) running Oracle’s VirtualBox 6.1 (latest).
- Host B: Linux Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS running KVM.
- Edit: I also have VirtualBox running on Host B as part of experimenting. Not sure if that’s interfering with anything, but will experiment by removing it. Update: no difference.
Steps to Take to Attempt to Recreate the Problem
- On Host A: Create a virtual machine on VirtualBox: Linux Ubuntu Server 20.04. Create VDI dynamic image (500 GB; I also experimented with VMDK). 4096 MB RAM. 2 CPUs. Bridged network adapter. Install system using defaults for everything (I experimented between Static IP and DHCP).
- Copy VDI disk image from Host A to Host B.
- On Host B: Convert VDI file to QCOW2 (I experimented with root or [user]). Two methods here: 1) convert straight over or 2) create a RAW image first. I was unable to create a RAW image on Host B because of space limitations ¯_(ツ)_/¯. The command to execute the first option is: qemu-img convert -f vdi -O qcow2 [image.vdi] [image.qcow2]
- Create a virtual machine on Virtual Machine Manager. Change “Network selection” to “Host device…” (I experimented with this on a guest machine I created on Host B. This will normally work). I experimented with either SATA or VirtIO.
- Log into guest machine and execute command: ip a. For me, the network adapter settings come up as: 1: lo: (blah blah blah the loopback is normal) and 2: enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000 link/ether 52:54:00:00:fa:ca brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff