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1@example
2@c man begin SYNOPSIS
3usage: qemu-img command [command options]
4@c man end
5@end example
6
7@c man begin OPTIONS
8
9The following commands are supported:
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10
11@include qemu-img-cmds.texi
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12
13Command parameters:
14@table @var
15@item filename
16 is a disk image filename
5fafdf24 17@item fmt
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18is the disk image format. It is guessed automatically in most cases. See below
19for a description of the supported disk formats.
acd935ef 20
5fafdf24 21@item size
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22is the disk image size in bytes. Optional suffixes @code{k} or @code{K}
23(kilobyte, 1024) @code{M} (megabyte, 1024k) and @code{G} (gigabyte, 1024M)
24and T (terabyte, 1024G) are supported. @code{b} is ignored.
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25
26@item output_filename
5fafdf24 27is the destination disk image filename
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28
29@item output_fmt
30 is the destination format
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31@item options
32is a comma separated list of format specific options in a
33name=value format. Use @code{-o ?} for an overview of the options supported
3e032364 34by the used format or see the format descriptions below for details.
eff44266 35
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36
37@item -c
38indicates that target image must be compressed (qcow format only)
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39@item -h
40with or without a command shows help and lists the supported formats
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41@item -p
42display progress bar (convert and rebase commands only)
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43@item -S @var{size}
44indicates the consecutive number of bytes that must contain only zeros
45for qemu-img to create a sparse image during conversion. This value is rounded
46down to the nearest 512 bytes. You may use the common size suffixes like
47@code{k} for kilobytes.
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48@item -t @var{cache}
49specifies the cache mode that should be used with the (destination) file. See
50the documentation of the emulator's @code{-drive cache=...} option for allowed
51values.
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52@end table
53
54Parameters to snapshot subcommand:
55
56@table @option
57
58@item snapshot
59is the name of the snapshot to create, apply or delete
60@item -a
61applies a snapshot (revert disk to saved state)
62@item -c
63creates a snapshot
64@item -d
65deletes a snapshot
66@item -l
67lists all snapshots in the given image
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68@end table
69
70Command description:
71
72@table @option
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73@item check [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename}
74
75Perform a consistency check on the disk image @var{filename}.
76
77Only the formats @code{qcow2}, @code{qed} and @code{vdi} support
78consistency checks.
79
8063d0fe 80@item create [-f @var{fmt}] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{size}]
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81
82Create the new disk image @var{filename} of size @var{size} and format
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83@var{fmt}. Depending on the file format, you can add one or more @var{options}
84that enable additional features of this format.
acd935ef 85
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86If the option @var{backing_file} is specified, then the image will record
87only the differences from @var{backing_file}. No size needs to be specified in
88this case. @var{backing_file} will never be modified unless you use the
89@code{commit} monitor command (or qemu-img commit).
acd935ef 90
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91The size can also be specified using the @var{size} option with @code{-o},
92it doesn't need to be specified separately in this case.
93
3763f26f 94@item commit [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] @var{filename}
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95
96Commit the changes recorded in @var{filename} in its base image.
97
3763f26f 98@item convert [-c] [-p] [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-o @var{options}] [-s @var{snapshot_name}] [-S @var{sparse_size}] @var{filename} [@var{filename2} [...]] @var{output_filename}
acd935ef 99
51ef6727 100Convert the disk image @var{filename} or a snapshot @var{snapshot_name} to disk image @var{output_filename}
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101using format @var{output_fmt}. It can be optionally compressed (@code{-c}
102option) or use any format specific options like encryption (@code{-o} option).
acd935ef 103
8063d0fe 104Only the formats @code{qcow} and @code{qcow2} support compression. The
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105compression is read-only. It means that if a compressed sector is
106rewritten, then it is rewritten as uncompressed data.
107
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108Image conversion is also useful to get smaller image when using a
109growable format such as @code{qcow} or @code{cow}: the empty sectors
110are detected and suppressed from the destination image.
111
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112You can use the @var{backing_file} option to force the output image to be
113created as a copy on write image of the specified base image; the
114@var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image,
115however the path, image format, etc may differ.
116
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117@item info [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename}
118
119Give information about the disk image @var{filename}. Use it in
120particular to know the size reserved on disk which can be different
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121from the displayed size. If VM snapshots are stored in the disk image,
122they are displayed too.
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123
124@item snapshot [-l | -a @var{snapshot} | -c @var{snapshot} | -d @var{snapshot} ] @var{filename}
125
126List, apply, create or delete snapshots in image @var{filename}.
ae6b0ed6 127
3763f26f 128@item rebase [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-p] [-u] -b @var{backing_file} [-F @var{backing_fmt}] @var{filename}
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129
130Changes the backing file of an image. Only the formats @code{qcow2} and
131@code{qed} support changing the backing file.
132
133The backing file is changed to @var{backing_file} and (if the image format of
134@var{filename} supports this) the backing file format is changed to
135@var{backing_fmt}.
136
137There are two different modes in which @code{rebase} can operate:
138@table @option
139@item Safe mode
140This is the default mode and performs a real rebase operation. The new backing
141file may differ from the old one and qemu-img rebase will take care of keeping
142the guest-visible content of @var{filename} unchanged.
143
144In order to achieve this, any clusters that differ between @var{backing_file}
145and the old backing file of @var{filename} are merged into @var{filename}
146before actually changing the backing file.
147
148Note that the safe mode is an expensive operation, comparable to converting
149an image. It only works if the old backing file still exists.
150
151@item Unsafe mode
152qemu-img uses the unsafe mode if @code{-u} is specified. In this mode, only the
153backing file name and format of @var{filename} is changed without any checks
154on the file contents. The user must take care of specifying the correct new
155backing file, or the guest-visible content of the image will be corrupted.
156
157This mode is useful for renaming or moving the backing file to somewhere else.
158It can be used without an accessible old backing file, i.e. you can use it to
159fix an image whose backing file has already been moved/renamed.
160@end table
161
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162You can use @code{rebase} to perform a ``diff'' operation on two
163disk images. This can be useful when you have copied or cloned
164a guest, and you want to get back to a thin image on top of a
165template or base image.
166
167Say that @code{base.img} has been cloned as @code{modified.img} by
168copying it, and that the @code{modified.img} guest has run so there
169are now some changes compared to @code{base.img}. To construct a thin
170image called @code{diff.qcow2} that contains just the differences, do:
171
172@example
173qemu-img create -f qcow2 -b modified.img diff.qcow2
174qemu-img rebase -b base.img diff.qcow2
175@end example
176
177At this point, @code{modified.img} can be discarded, since
178@code{base.img + diff.qcow2} contains the same information.
179
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180@item resize @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size}
181
182Change the disk image as if it had been created with @var{size}.
183
184Before using this command to shrink a disk image, you MUST use file system and
185partitioning tools inside the VM to reduce allocated file systems and partition
186sizes accordingly. Failure to do so will result in data loss!
187
188After using this command to grow a disk image, you must use file system and
189partitioning tools inside the VM to actually begin using the new space on the
190device.
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191@end table
192
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193Supported image file formats:
194
195@table @option
196@item raw
197
198Raw disk image format (default). This format has the advantage of
199being simple and easily exportable to all other emulators. If your
200file system supports @emph{holes} (for example in ext2 or ext3 on
201Linux or NTFS on Windows), then only the written sectors will reserve
202space. Use @code{qemu-img info} to know the real size used by the
203image or @code{ls -ls} on Unix/Linux.
204
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205@item qcow2
206QEMU image format, the most versatile format. Use it to have smaller
207images (useful if your filesystem does not supports holes, for example
208on Windows), optional AES encryption, zlib based compression and
209support of multiple VM snapshots.
8063d0fe 210
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211Supported options:
212@table @code
213@item backing_file
214File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand)
215@item backing_fmt
216Image format of the base image
217@item encryption
218If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted.
219
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220Encryption uses the AES format which is very secure (128 bit keys). Use
221a long password (16 characters) to get maximum protection.
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222
223@item cluster_size
224Changes the qcow2 cluster size (must be between 512 and 2M). Smaller cluster
225sizes can improve the image file size whereas larger cluster sizes generally
226provide better performance.
227
228@item preallocation
229Preallocation mode (allowed values: off, metadata). An image with preallocated
230metadata is initially larger but can improve performance when the image needs
231to grow.
232
233@end table
234
235
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236@item qcow
237Old QEMU image format. Left for compatibility.
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238
239Supported options:
240@table @code
241@item backing_file
242File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand)
243@item encryption
244If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted.
245@end table
246
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247@item cow
248User Mode Linux Copy On Write image format. Used to be the only growable
249image format in QEMU. It is supported only for compatibility with
250previous versions. It does not work on win32.
251@item vdi
252VirtualBox 1.1 compatible image format.
253@item vmdk
254VMware 3 and 4 compatible image format.
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255
256Supported options:
257@table @code
258@item backing_fmt
259Image format of the base image
260@item compat6
261Create a VMDK version 6 image (instead of version 4)
262@end table
263
264@item vpc
265VirtualPC compatible image format (VHD).
266
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267@item cloop
268Linux Compressed Loop image, useful only to reuse directly compressed
269CD-ROM images present for example in the Knoppix CD-ROMs.
270@end table
271
272
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273@c man end
274
275@ignore
276
277@setfilename qemu-img
278@settitle QEMU disk image utility
279
280@c man begin SEEALSO
281The HTML documentation of QEMU for more precise information and Linux
282user mode emulator invocation.
283@c man end
284
285@c man begin AUTHOR
286Fabrice Bellard
287@c man end
288
289@end ignore