how to find out if running inside KVM guest

Question

Is there a way to find out if OS(linux) is running inside KVM guest..

related: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/89714/easy-way-to-determine-virtualization-technology — Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com, Oct 04 '18 at 14:50

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 08 '10 at 10:16

13

Grep dmesg, there should be at least one line containing kvm. On my machines:

[    0.000000] kvm-clock: cpu 0, msr 0:5dd801, boot clock
[    0.000000] kvm-clock: cpu 0, msr 0:1023801, primary cpu clock

Alternativly check /proc/cpuinfo, it contains a line:

model name : QEMU Virtual CPU version 0.9.1

But, the problem is: You can't be sure you are an KVM guest (on top of QEMU) or only a QEMU-Guest.

answered Sep 08 '10 at 10:16

theomega

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kvm-clock clocksource might be not present or disabled for stability reasons. – sendmoreinfo Oct 02 '10 at 11:57
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You may want to add `dmidecode` to the list of ways that might show if you are running virtualized, it works well with VMWare. – Law29 Apr 03 '16 at 06:49
The first worked for me but the second shows the regular intel model name – MikeKulls Feb 01 '23 at 23:10

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 09 '10 at 18:37

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You can check if imvirt or virt-what which are available for several Linux distros, including Ubuntu, can help you.

answered Sep 09 '10 at 18:37

Not Now

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In my experience `imvirt` is more accurate. – bahamat Sep 14 '13 at 01:04

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 04 '18 at 14:55

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systemd-detect-virt

returns on this Ubuntu 18.04 KVM setup:

kvm

and on my host:

none

See also: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/89714/easy-way-to-determine-virtualization-technology

Tested on an Ubuntu 18.04 host.

answered Oct 04 '18 at 14:55

Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com

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score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 21 '18 at 18:27

Current versions of lscpu also show if a hypervisor is detected:

# lscpu
Architecture:          x86_64
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                2
On-line CPU(s) list:   0,1
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    1
Socket(s):             2
NUMA node(s):          1
Vendor ID:             GenuineIntel
CPU family:            6
Model:                 23
Model name:            Intel Core 2 Duo P9xxx (Penryn Class Core 2)
Stepping:              3
CPU MHz:               2659.936
BogoMIPS:              5319.87
Hypervisor vendor:     KVM
Virtualization type:   full
...

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 07 '17 at 09:51

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Another possibility is dmidecode -s 'system-product-name'

[samveen@vm1 ~]$ sudo dmidecode -s 'system-product-name'
KVM

answered Jun 07 '17 at 09:51

Samveen

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Did not work with this Ubuntu 18.04 on Ubuntu 18.04 setup: https://askubuntu.com/revisions/1046792/15 , it just output: `Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX , 1996)`. – Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com Oct 04 '18 at 15:05
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@CiroSantilli新疆改造中心六四事件法轮功 Please check the other DMI information fields as well. I dont have access to an Ubuntu based KVM host to test. In most cases, the`system-product-name` identifier gives the expected answer, even in cases like `VirtualBox` and `VMWare`. – Samveen Oct 12 '18 at 05:34

how to find out if running inside KVM guest

5 Answers5