How do I transfer a KVM VM to a different PC?

General Help
1

I have Zorin OS 18 Core on my old Lenovo ThinkBook with KVM that has Windows 11 VM. I just got a new laptop that I have installed Zorin OS 18 Core on with KVM. How do I transfer the Windows 11 VM from my old laptop to the new one?

2

Hi, what program did you use to create the VM of Windows 11?

3

Virtual Machine Manager

4

OK so if you used virt-manager on a different distro then it should play on Zorin. Two things to bear-in-mind.

  1. When you created it was it using .qcow or .qcow2?

  2. By default, the 'pool' defaults to /var/lib/libvirt/images

The second part is more crucial as var is locked and owned by 'root'. To access this you are going to have to temporarily take ownership of /var/lib/libvirt/images so:

sudo chown [your username] /var/lib/libvirt/images

You will be asked for your password to elevate you to root. Next use the graphical interface to go to /var/lib/libvirt/images and copy the .qcow file to an external device.

Now I have just learned that the .config files are stored in /etc:

So you may need to copy these too.

Lastly, when setting up virt-manager from new I create a new pool and call it 'storage' as a folder within /home as /var usually only allows space for one VM. I then delete the default location that virt-manager points to in the virt-manager interface.

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