qemu KVM kernel module no such file or directory

13
votes

I am currently taking an operating systems class and I need to use qemu to run a small operating system that my professor provided. I am trying to use qemu within an ubuntu 12.04 virtual machine on virtualbox on my macbook air 5.2. I know the problems I am having probably have to do with nested virtualization but the specific error I get when I try to run qemu is:

Could not access the KVM kernel module: No such file or directory

failed to initialize KVM: no such file or directory Back to tcg accelerator.

qemu does start up the os but the window flickers quite a lot and I would like to fix the KVM problem if possible. I've done research but I can't find a solution I can understand or that works so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also for the ubuntu virtual machine in virtualbox I have both Enable VT-x/AMD-V and Enable Nested Paging checked under Hardware Virtualization. I've also tried using

modprobe kvm-intel

and I get this error:

FATAL: Error inserting kvm_intel (/lib/modules.3.5.0-22-generic/kernel/arch/x86/kvm/kvm-intel.ko): Operation not permitted.

2
virtualizationqemukvm
This question would be more generic if it read 'Can I nest virtualization in a way that it supports qemu KVM?' or something like that, and not regarding your specific case. Remember, StackOverflow is more of a place for questions that may happen to anyone, not to you specifically. - ssice
just for reference, the errors Could not access the KVM kernel module: No such file or directory failed to initialize KVM: no such file or directory Back to tcg accelerator. are not unique to nested virtualization issues. I ran qemu on Ubuntu Precise (without virtualization) and it returned the same error (but then it continued and worked). - Cashew

2 Answers

12
votes

Try with sudo modprobe kvm-intel.

In order to have the module automatically loaded at the startup of the virtual machine, do the following:

  1. Edit the corresponding file from the shell with sudo vim /etc/modules.conf
  2. Possibly enter your username password.
  3. Press the key G to go to the end of the document and then o to begin inserting.
  4. Write kvm-intel and press Enter, producing a new line.
  5. Press Esc to return to the Normal mode of vim. "--INSERT--" will disappear from the bottom.
  6. Save the file and exit vim by writing :wq.

You are done. Try to reboot and load the nested virtual machine.

19
votes

In my case, the virtualization was disabled.

So sudo modprobe kvm-intel kept giving me the following error

could not insert 'kvm_intel': Operation not supported

I just had to go in the BIOS and enable Virtualization.