Getting QEMU

Guestbay runs virtual machines with QEMU, the free, open-source emulator. The Microsoft Store edition includes it. The editions from this site use the QEMU on your computer: if Guestbay doesn’t find one, choose Install QEMU in the library and Guestbay installs it for you. To do it yourself, or to add emulators, follow the steps for your system.

Windows on an x64 computer

Install QEMU for Windows, the build linked from qemu.org, in either of these ways:

• In Terminal or PowerShell, run winget install SoftwareFreedomConservancy.QEMU. This is what Install QEMU does.
• Or download the installer from qemu.weilnetz.de and run it, keeping the suggested folder (C:\Program Files\qemu).

It includes every emulator. For fast guests, also turn on Windows Hypervisor Platform: search the Start menu for “Turn Windows features on or off”, tick Windows Hypervisor Platform, and restart Windows.

Windows on an ARM64 computer

QEMU for Windows from qemu.org and winget is built for x64 computers. On an ARM64 computer it runs emulated, without Windows Hypervisor Platform, and it can’t run ARM64 virtual machines properly. Choose Install QEMU in Guestbay instead: it installs the ARM64 QEMU from MSYS2 that Guestbay has tested, the same as the Microsoft Store edition includes, with the x86-64, 32-bit x86, ARM64, 32-bit ARM, RISC-V and PowerPC emulators. Or get Guestbay from the Microsoft Store, which includes it.

Mac

Install QEMU with Homebrew or MacPorts:

• Homebrew: brew install qemu
• MacPorts: sudo port install qemu

Both include every emulator, and both run fast on Intel and Apple silicon with the Mac’s own hypervisor. Install QEMU in Guestbay uses Homebrew if you have it on an Apple silicon Mac, and otherwise MacPorts, which it sets up first if needed. For a TPM in Windows 11 virtual machines, also install swtpm the same way.

Linux

Install your distribution’s QEMU. Install QEMU in Guestbay does this through your package manager, and asks for your password. To do it yourself:

• Debian and Ubuntu: sudo apt install qemu-system-x86 qemu-utils (on an ARM64 computer, qemu-system-arm; for other architectures, add qemu-system-misc and qemu-system-ppc)
• Fedora: sudo dnf install qemu-kvm qemu-img (for other architectures, qemu-system-riscv, qemu-system-ppc and so on, or qemu for all of them)
• Arch: sudo pacman -S qemu-full
• openSUSE: sudo zypper install qemu

For fast guests, check that /dev/kvm exists and that your user is in the kvm group, then sign out and in again. For a TPM in Windows 11 virtual machines, also install swtpm.

Then, in Guestbay

Choose Look again in the library, or restart Guestbay. It looks in the usual places: C:\Program Files\qemu and your PATH on Windows, Homebrew and MacPorts on a Mac, and the system folders on Linux. If you installed QEMU somewhere else, choose Settings › QEMU › Add QEMU… and pick its qemu-system program; every emulator in that folder becomes available.

Questions? See Help or contact support.