qemu-img convert: raw, qcow2, qed, vdi, vmdk, vhd

This example will convert a raw image file named image.img to a qcow2 image file.

qemu-img convert -f raw -O qcow2 image.img image.qcow2

Run the following command to convert a vmdk image file to a raw image file.

qemu-img convert -f vmdk -O raw image.vmdk image.img

Run the following command to convert a vmdk image file to a qcow2 image file.

qemu-img convert -f vmdk -O qcow2 image.vmdk image.qcow2

root@manu:~# qemu-img create -f qcow2 /Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img 20G
Formatting '/Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img', fmt=qcow2 cluster_size=65536 extended_l2=off compression_type=zlib size=21474836480 lazy_refcounts=off refcount_bits=16
	.
root@manu:~# du -sh /Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img
196K	/Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img

root@manu:~# qemu-img info /Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img
image: /Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img
file format: qcow2
virtual size: 20 GiB (21474836480 bytes)
disk size: 196 KiB
cluster_size: 65536
Format specific information:
    compat: 1.1
    compression type: zlib
    lazy refcounts: false
    refcount bits: 16
    corrupt: false
    extended l2: false
Child node '/file':
    filename: /Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img
    protocol type: file
    file length: 192 KiB (197120 bytes)
    disk size: 196 KiB

qemu-system-x86_64 -k fr -m 512 -drive file=/Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img,format=qcow2 -boot d -cdrom /home/manu/Downloads/Rocky-9.4-x86_64-minimal.iso -nographic -netdev user,id=mynet0 -device e1000,netdev=mynet0

virt-install \
    --memory 1024 \
    --vcpus 1 \
    --name Rocky9 \
    --disk /Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img,device=disk,bus=virtio,format=qcow2 \
    --disk home/manu/Downloads/Rocky-9.4-x86_64-minimal.iso,device=cdrom \
    --os-variant virt-install \
    --memory 1024 \
    --vcpus 1 \
    --name Rocky9 \
    --disk /Virtual_srv/qemu/rocky9_01_disk.img,device=disk,bus=virtio,format=qcow2 \
    --disk /home/manu/Downloads/Rocky-9.4-x86_64-minimal.iso,device=cdrom \
    --os-variant rocky9 \
    --virt-type kvm \
    --graphics none \
    --import

manu@manu:~$ virsh domiflist rocky9
 Interface   Type      Source    Model    MAC
-------------------------------------------------------------
 vnet0       network   default   virtio   52:54:00:56:fe:1e

manu@manu:~$ virsh list
 Id   Name     State
------------------------
 1    rocky9   running

manu@manu:~$ virsh shutdown rocky9
Domain 'rocky9' is being shutdown

manu@manu:~$ virsh list
 Id   Name   State
--------------------

manu@manu:~$ virsh start rocky9
Domain 'rocky9' started

manu@manu:~$ virsh list
 Id   Name     State
------------------------
 2    rocky9   running

Review the provision from the Host OS.

manu@manu:~$ virsh domblklist FMGinternal

 Target   Source
----------------------------------------

 hda      /srv/VMs/fmg.qcow2
 hdb      /srv/VMs/fortimanager.qcow2
 vdb      /srv/VMs/fortimanager2.qcow2


manu@manu:~$ virsh domblkinfo FMGinternal vdb --human

Capacity:       80.000 GiB
Allocation:     196.000 KiB
Physical:       193.250 KiB

In the Host OS:

If the 'virsh' command hangs during some operations, restart it. If it still hangs, review the rights of the user and the logs for more clues.

systemctl restart libvirtd

Review the logs with 'journalctl' and press G to go to the latest ones.

journalctl -b 0