CentOS 6.5 + KVM (Virtual Machine Manager) create shortcut - Laucher for Guest Machine

Question

How can I create a Launcher on my desktop for guests machines inside of KVM on desktop of CentOS 6.5?

Answer 1

You can either use virt-manager which brings up a GUI for launching/interacting with your guest KVM guests or you could create a shell script to do what you want and then setup a shortcut to the script on your desktop.

virt-manager

                     

desktop icon

First create a script like so, saving it to perhaps $HOME/bin/kvm_someguest.bash.

#!/bin/bash

# assuming it's started but you could do this oto
# virsh start someguest

virt-viewer someguest

Make sure it's executable.

$ chmod +x $HOME/bin/kvm_someguest.bash

Now make a shortcut on the desktop to it. For this create a .desktop file like so:

$ more ~/Desktop/kvm_someguest.desktop 
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec=$HOME/bin/kvm_someguest.bash
Terminal=false
Name=KVM Someguest
GenericName=KVM Someguest

Now when you double click it it should run your KVM instance.