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Asked: 2011-12-15 09:04:58 +0800 CST

Is there a way to run virt-manager on Windows?

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We've been using KVM for almost a year strictly on CentOS 5.x as the KVM host, with Fedora and Ubuntu workstations accessing the KVM host and its guests using virt-manager, virt-viewer, and ssh.

Is anyone aware of a way to access the KVM host using virt-manager from a Windows workstation? We have one co-worker who would like to access the KVM host, from a Win7 system.

EDIT #1

I'm familiar with running a X11 server on windows such as Xming, and remote displaying virt-manager from the KVM host to a windows workstation, but what I'd really like here is to know of any solutions native to windows, i.e. is there a version of virt-manager that'll run on windows.

EDIT #2

Still no progress on this myself wrt. a native virt-manager client. I did come across a compiled version of libvirtd for windows along with a discussion on a mailing list about how to get libvirtd working on windows. I'm adding the links to this question in the hopes that someone will figure out how to get virt-manager working.

EDIT #3

Finally some progress. Came across this project on github called msys_setup which includes a windows port of virt-manager. It's partially functional, doesn't support qem+ssh:// connection type so it's still not usable for our needs, but it's a start.

virtualization windows kvm-virtualization

9 Answers

  1. Use putty and some X Server software on the Windows side (e.g. Xming) and use X11 tunneling with putty to display the remote virt-manager console.

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  2. I would use Cygwin. Then you can install virt-manager and openssh and place a shortcut on the Desktop. It is native.

    Cygwin provides the linux tools and facilities around programs so that it feels like a linux environment. For instance, virt-manager can call ssh to make the connection to your KVM Server and would be able to run virsh and send commands to it. It also provides an X-Server. Which is all natively compiled.

    Update: Thanks Yaakov's comment: There is now a directly installable package in cygwin for virt-manager. The actions below are not necessary anymore.

    If you have the time: You can easily customize the cygwin installation to exactly fit your needs. Just go through the folders, throw everything out you don't need. Write a script that starts the X Server and then virt-manager, zip it up and ey presto! there's your virt-manager for Windows.

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  3. I would simply use ssh (putty) and virsh, and a VNC/Spice client (like virt-viewer for Windows), if I were confined to a Windows workstation

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  4. Here is a up-to-date instruction set performed by me today and saved here for my future reference:

    1. Install wsl and ubuntu 18.04 LTS
    2. Install XMing
    3. Start Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
    4. Install dbus-x11 and virt-manager: sudo apt install dbus-x11 virt-manager
    5. (optional) If you need ssh
      1. Install ssh-askpass: sudo apt install ssh-askpass and
      2. Generate a new ssh key, if you have not done so: ssh-keygen
      3. Copy the key to your servers: ssh-copy-id user@server
    6. Start Xming
    7. run virt-manager

    The first error is not a problem, just add a new connection and remove the local connection and you are up and running. If your connections are not saved between starts of the virt-manager, you need to perform the dbus session.conf trick:

    Edit the configuration file: sudoedit /etc/dbus-1/session.conf and edit the first line or add the line such that the file contains: 

     <listen>tcp:host=localhost,port=0</listen>
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  5. Yes. There is virt-viewer for Windows

    http://virt-manager.org/download/sources/virt-viewer/

    Update:

    I see you were asking about virt-manager on windows and not virt-viewer.

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  6. You could use Bash on Ubuntu on Windows ( https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/commandline/wsl/about ).

    Then, you are able to install virt-manager as on Ubuntu: 

    $ apt-get install virt-manager

    Then you'll need a X server. You can install Xming.

    You'll need to add DISPLAY=:0.0 to your environment. To do that, add export DISPLAY=':0.0' to ~/.bashrc and restart your terminal.

    You may want to enable a ssh agent: 

    eval `ssh-agent` ; ssh-add

    After that, you should be able to run virt-manager as you'll do on Linux. There are some bugs but it works :-).

    edit by a z:
    d-bus error? Per: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/4rsmzp/bash_on_windows_getting_dbus_and_x_server_working/
    Run: sudo sed -i 's$<listen>.*</listen>$<listen>tcp:host=localhost,port=0</listen>$' /etc/dbus-1/session.conf

    close/open bash, try again, use virt-manager --debug for more info

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  7. Adding a "HowTo" on AndreasT Answer as it is the "best option" IMO ATM. Although using Bash + Windows Subsystem for Linux might be another option, it was unavailable on Windows 10 LTSB and I really hate how I can't backup Windows 10 Store Apps, so it would need to be re-configured/install each time Windows was deployed.

    I posted a YouTube Video here >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDEAu3oPcR0

    And I wrote up my own blog post, but I know better than to leave out the details in a URL so I will copy the short form here. (https://www.freesoftwareservers.com/wiki/running-virt-manager-inside-windows-10-using-cygwin-with-shortcut-on-desktop-28016650.html)

    • Install Cygwin w/ virt-manager, xinit and openssh.
    • Configure passwordless SSH via RSA Key to KVM Host.

    • Configure XWin to autostart Virt-Manager.

      cat << 'EOF' > ~/.startxwinrc
export DISPLAY=:0.0
virt-manager
sleep inf
EOF
chmod +x ~/.startxwinrc

    Create shortcut on Desktop: Virt-Manager.cmd
    This is the contents of mine:

    tskill.exe xwin

C:\cygwin64\bin\run.exe /usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c /usr/bin/startxwin
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  9. virt-manager is now available natively on Windows: https://virt-manager.org/download/

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