Ubuntu 20.04 - Install KVM

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Check Compatibility

If you run the following command and get a number of 1 or more, you are fine:

egrep -c '(svm|vmx)' /proc/cpuinfo

Alternatively, do the following:

sudo apt-get install cpu-checker -y
kvm-ok

If you have problems, you may just need to enable virtualization in your BIOS/UEFI. VT-x (Intel) or AMD-V (AMD).

Steps

sudo apt-get install \
  qemu-kvm qemu-utils libvirt-clients bridge-utils libvirt-daemon-system virtinst

Add yourself to the libvirt group. It already added me by default, but good to do manually just in case.

sudo adduser $USER libvirt

Virtual Machine Manager

If you want a GUI application for managing your KVM guests, then install the virtual machine manager:

sudo apt install -y virt-manager

Taking It Further

Now that you have installed KVM, you may wish to use this helper script to set up some VMs.