title:Qemu ARM64
keywords:arm64,linux,kernel,initrd

# Qemu ARM64

How to run QEMU with various ARM64 images.
Not covering full blown support of each distribution. Goal is just to get to Linux shell
and no more further at this stage. 

## Run Ubuntu Image

```bash
wget -c https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/22.04/release/ubuntu-22.04.3-live-server-arm64.iso
```


## Run Debian Image

```bash
wget -c http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/bookworm/main/installer-arm64/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/arm64/initrd.gz
wget -c http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/bookworm/main/installer-arm64/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/arm64/linux
```

Prepare qemu empty hdd image

```bash
qemu-img create -f qcow2 hda.qcow2 5G
```

Boot image and follow installation steps. That will install Debian ARM64 distribution

```bash
qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt -m 1024 -cpu cortex-a53 \
  -kernel linux \
  -initrd initrd.gz \
  -drive if=none,file=hda.qcow2,format=qcow2,id=hd \
  -device virtio-blk-pci,drive=hd \
  -netdev user,id=mynet \
  -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=mynet \
  -nographic -no-reboot
```

get guestfs-tools to make below commands work [https://libguestfs.org/](https://libguestfs.org/)

find vmlinuz and initrd names in /boot directory

```
virt-ls -a hda.qcow2 /boot
virt-copy-out -a hda.qcow2 /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-12-arm64 /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-12-arm64 .
```

Boot qemu with installed debian arm64 image

```
qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt -m 1024 -cpu cortex-a53 \
  -kernel vmlinuz-6.1.0-12-arm64 \
  -initrd initrd.img-6.1.0-12-arm64 \
  -append 'root=/dev/vda2' \
  -drive if=none,file=hda.qcow2,format=qcow2,id=hd \
  -device virtio-blk-pci,drive=hd \
  -netdev user,id=mynet \
  -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=mynet \
  -nographic
```

## Run Archlinux

```bash
wget -c http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz
```

## Create custom images

```

```

### Create kernel

```

```

### Create initrd or rootfs

find . -print0 | cpio --null -ov --format=newc > ../initramfs.cpio
zstd initramfs.cpio

List content of cpio 

lsinitcpio initramfs.cpio


### Unpack initrd

## Run virt 

Qemu contains configuration to run non existent machine called virt that suppose to be run with virtual machines. 

```bash
```


## Under ArchLinux

Install all qemu packages with 

```bash
pacman -S qemu-full
```





## Links
1. [/writeup/qemu_usage.md](/writeup/qemu_usage.md)  
2. [https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/target-arm.html](https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/target-arm.html)  
3. [https://futurewei-cloud.github.io/ARM-Datacenter/qemu/how-to-launch-aarch64-vm/](https://futurewei-cloud.github.io/ARM-Datacenter/qemu/how-to-launch-aarch64-vm/)  
4. [https://wiki.debian.org/Arm64Qemu](https://wiki.debian.org/Arm64Qemu)  
5. [https://gist.github.com/oznu/ac9efae7c24fd1f37f1d933254587aa4](https://gist.github.com/oznu/ac9efae7c24fd1f37f1d933254587aa4)  
6. [https://medium.com/@kiky.tokamuro/creating-initramfs-5cca9b524b5a](https://medium.com/@kiky.tokamuro/creating-initramfs-5cca9b524b5a)  
7. [https://translatedcode.wordpress.com/2017/07/24/installing-debian-on-qemus-64-bit-arm-virt-board/](https://translatedcode.wordpress.com/2017/07/24/installing-debian-on-qemus-64-bit-arm-virt-board/)  
8. [https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8/generic](https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8/generic)  
9. [https://github.com/niw/TinyLinux](https://github.com/niw/TinyLinux)  
10. [https://cs4118.github.io/dev-guides/debian-kernel-compilation.html](https://cs4118.github.io/dev-guides/debian-kernel-compilation.html)  
11. [https://developer.ibm.com/articles/l-initrd/](https://developer.ibm.com/articles/l-initrd/)  
12. [https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/mkinitcpio](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/mkinitcpio)  
13. https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.4.0?topic=codes-exit-status-usrsbininit
14. https://access.redhat.com/solutions/24029  
15. [http://phwl.org/2022/qemu-aarch64-debian/](http://phwl.org/2022/qemu-aarch64-debian/)