systemd-boot Configuration
Enabling flags needed for Virtualization/QEMU/KVM/libvirtd
Tested within an Arch virtual machine.
You should be familiar with systemd-boot to make these modifications, these are not copy and paste commands. You must read and adapt to your configuration.
Start by issuing the sudo bootctl list command in your terminal to view your configurations.
Example console output:
type: Boot Loader Specification Type #1 (.conf)
title: Arch Linux (linux) (default) (selected)
id: 2023-08-12_19-47-44_ linux.conf
source: /boot/loader/entries/2023-08-12_19-47-44_1inux.conf
linux: /boot/vmlinuz-linux
initrd: /boot/initramfs-linux. img
options: zswap.enabled=0 rw rootfstype-ext4
type: Boot Loader Specification Tupe #1 (.conf)
title: Arch Linux (linux-fallback)
id: 2023-08-12_19-47-44_1inux-fallback.conf
source: /boot/loader/entries/2023-08-12_19-47-44_Iinux-fallback.conf
linux: /boot/vmlinuz-linux
initrd: /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.ing
options: zswap.enabled=0 rw rootfstype-ext4
type: Automatic
title: Reboot Into Firmware Interface id: auto-reboot-to-firmware-setup
source: /sus/firmware/efi/efivars/LoaderEntries-4267b082-0a4c-41cf-b6c7-440b29668c4f
You’ll want to note the path of your default boot configuration file.
Depending on your choice of editor, and configuration file from the output, you’ll need to modify it to contain certain boot arguments depending on your host hardware configuration.
| Intel CPU | AMD GPU | Needed Regardless |
|---|---|---|
| intel_iommu=on | video=efifb:off | iommu=pt |
An example using Nano to edit Arch Linux (Linux) (Default) on an AMD Host with an AMD GPU.
sudo nano /boot/loader/entries/2023-08-12_19-47-44_1inux.conf
title Arch Linux (Linux)
linux /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options zswap.enabled=0 rw rootfstype-ext4 iommu=pt video=efifb:off
Once you’re done adding the flags to the options, save the file and reboot.
Once back, you can issue the following command to view currently booted arguments to verify it applied, and you’ve booted with said updated args.
cat /proc/cmdline
Example output
zswap.enabled=0 rw rootfstype-ext4 iommu=pt video=efifb:off