qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1536 -hda ~/vms/winxp.qcow2 -spice port=5930,disable-ticketing -vga qxl
qemu-system-x86_64 \ -machine pc-q35-7.2 \ -cpu qemu64 \ -smp 2 \ -m 1024 \ -drive file=winxp.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=ide \ -cdrom en_windows_xp_professional_with_service_pack_3.iso \ -boot order=d \ -vga cirrus \ -netdev user,id=net0 \ -device e1000,netdev=net0 \ -usb -device usb-tablet
Now go revive the Blue-and-Green era—safely, quickly, and portably.
This will instantly revert the disk image to the exact state it was in when the snapshot was created.
qemu-img create -f qcow2 -o size=20G windowsxp.img windows xp qcow2
qemu-img create -f qcow2 windows_xp.qcow2 20G
40G : The maximum size of the virtual hard drive. While Windows XP rarely needs more than 10 GB to 20 GB, thin provisioning ensures that setting a 40 GB limit won't waste host space. Step 2: Optimizing the Installation Command
A 40GB virtual disk only takes up as much space as the actual files inside it.
To list all snapshots in the image:
The QCOW2 format offers significant advantages over raw disk images or proprietary formats like VMDK:
-m 1024 : Allocates 1 GB of RAM (plenty for Windows XP; assigning over 2 GB can cause stability issues).
links to enable high-speed disk and network performance on Proxmox or KVM?
Are you planning to use this Windows XP image for or for retro gaming ? qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1536 -hda ~/vms/winxp
Running Windows XP as a (QEMU Copy-On-Write) image is the standard way to host this legacy OS on modern hypervisors like
Inactive snapshots or templates can be compressed to save local storage host space. Step 1: Creating the Windows XP QCOW2 Disk Image
XP does not natively support VirtIO disks. You must provide a floppy disk with the drivers during installation (press F6 during the text-mode setup).