Ubuntu installation on a RISC-V virtual machine using a server install image and QEMU

xypron · April 9, 2022, 8:49am

Overview

Starting with Ubuntu 22.04 a server install image is made available. This topic describes how to use the image for an installation on a virtual machine.

The release image will be available at https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/22.04/release/.
Daily build images are provided at https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-server/daily-live/current/.

A general overview of the installation process is available at https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-server.

Prerequistites

To run the installation you will need the following packages:

qemu-system-misc - QEMU is used to emulate a virtual RISC-V machine.
opensbi - OpenSBI provides the Supervisor Execution Environment running in machine mode.
u-boot-qemu - U-Boot is the firmware implementing the UEFI API and loads GRUB.

sudo apt-get install qemu-system-misc opensbi u-boot-qemu

Download the image either using your web browser or with

wget https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-server/daily-live/current/jammy-live-server-riscv64.img.gz

Installation

Extract the image.

gzip -d jammy-live-server-riscv64.img.gz

Create the disk image on which you will install Ubuntu. 16 GiB should be enough.

dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M of=disk count=1 seek=16383

Start the installer with:

/usr/bin/qemu-system-riscv64 -machine virt -m 4G -smp cpus=2 -nographic \
    -bios /usr/lib/riscv64-linux-gnu/opensbi/generic/fw_jump.bin \
    -kernel /usr/lib/u-boot/qemu-riscv64_smode/u-boot.bin \
    -netdev user,id=net0 \
    -device virtio-net-device,netdev=net0 \
    -drive file=jammy-live-server-riscv64.img,format=raw,if=virtio \
    -drive file=disk,format=raw,if=virtio \
    -device virtio-rng-pci

Follow the installation steps in https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-server.

When rebooting we have to remove the installer image. Otherwise the installer will restart.

U-Boot gives you a 2 second time window to press the Enter key to reach the U-Boot console. In U-Boot’s console you can use the poweroffcommand to stop QEMU. Another option to exit QEMU is pressing keys CTRL-a followed by key x.

Run Ubuntu

To run you installed Ubuntu image use

/usr/bin/qemu-system-riscv64 -machine virt -m 4G -smp cpus=2 -nographic \
    -bios /usr/lib/riscv64-linux-gnu/opensbi/generic/fw_jump.bin \
    -kernel /usr/lib/u-boot/qemu-riscv64_smode/u-boot.bin \
    -netdev user,id=net0 \
    -device virtio-net-device,netdev=net0 \
    -drive file=disk,format=raw,if=virtio \
    -device virtio-rng-pci

In Ubuntu 22.04 the number of virtual CPUs is limited to 8 in QEMU and in the Linux kernel.

dbungert · April 11, 2022, 8:28pm

Nice guide @xypron, thanks.
In my testing on Focal I was not able to use these instructions, as the boot stops with a traceback 5 seconds in.
Running this on Jammy is working just fine.

Are there some fixes that might be SRUed, or is there a minimum series that people should be running if they want to test this?

xypron · April 11, 2022, 9:10pm

Please, use the opensbi and u-boot-qemu from the same release as the one that you are installing.

dbungert · April 11, 2022, 10:31pm

U-Boot gives you a 2 second time window to press the Enter key to reach the U-Boot console

Have you considered the -no-reboot argument for qemu-system ? It results in the installation VM shutting down instead of booting again, which would then make it easier to run your second command line that does not contain the installer image.

jr222 · July 25, 2023, 8:54pm

@dbungert I used -no-reboot and that seemed helpful.

I also added -vga virtio to get it to expand to the full terminal tab width.

@xypron Thank you for posting this. I was able to follow it (with some minor tweaks for the change in the jammy server image name, and the above extra qemu flags).

My final working command is:

/usr/bin/qemu-system-riscv64 -machine virt -m 4G -smp cpus=2 -nographic \
    -bios /usr/lib/riscv64-linux-gnu/opensbi/generic/fw_jump.bin \
    -kernel /usr/lib/u-boot/qemu-riscv64_smode/u-boot.bin \
    -netdev user,id=net0 \
    -device virtio-net-device,netdev=net0 \
    -drive file=qemu_disk.bin,format=raw,if=virtio \
    -device virtio-rng-pci \
    -vga virtio \
    -no-reboot

Now I wanted to get a GUI on the VM if possible.

I tried following your instructions from here: Installing the Gnome Desktop on RISC-V Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy

I ran the installer for the missing GUI packages as given:

sudo apt-get install \
  adwaita-icon-theme-full \
  mutter \
  gdm3 \
  gnome \
  gnome-shell-extension-appindicator \
  gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng \
  gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock \
  gnome-terminal \
  network-manager-gnome \
  ubuntu-gnome-wallpapers \
  ubuntu-settings

However, at the end of this, after I reboot, no GUI appears. I tried both with and without WaylandEnable=false, but the result was the same.

Is there an additional activation step needed?

xypron · July 26, 2023, 6:27am

You have explicitly switched off graphic output with:

-nographic

If you want a graphical console, you could use:

-serial mon:stdio \
-device virtio-gpu-pci -full-screen \
-device qemu-xhci \
-device usb-kbd \
-device usb-mouse \

I would not expect the GUI to be usable due to performance.

Best regards

Heinrich

jr222 · July 26, 2023, 10:17am

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I had thought the -nographic would be a problem, but when I removed it before the system wouldn’t boot, and then I forgot about it.

When I add those command line args, I get gtk initialization failed. And when I add -D ./log.txt as I’ve seen mentioned elsewhere, I get an empty log. Any idea how to proceed?

xypron · July 26, 2023, 11:44am

The following worked for me:

wget https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/22.04.2/release/ubuntu-22.04.2-preinstalled-server-riscv64+unmatched.img.xz
xz -d ubuntu-22.04.2-preinstalled-server-riscv64+unmatched.img.xz
qemu-img resize -f raw ubuntu-22.04.2-preinstalled-server-riscv64+unmatched.img +8G
/usr/bin/qemu-system-riscv64 -machine virt -m 4G -smp cpus=2 \
-bios /usr/lib/riscv64-linux-gnu/opensbi/generic/fw_jump.bin \
-kernel /usr/lib/u-boot/qemu-riscv64_smode/u-boot.bin \
-netdev user,id=net0 \
-device virtio-net-device,netdev=net0 \
-drive file=ubuntu-22.04.2-preinstalled-server-riscv64+unmatched.img,format=raw,if=virtio \
-device virtio-rng-pci \
-serial mon:stdio \
-device virtio-gpu-pci -full-screen \
-device qemu-xhci \
-device usb-kbd \
-device usb-mouse

Once logged in:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install \
  adwaita-icon-theme-full \
  mutter \
  gdm3 \
  gnome \
  gnome-shell-extension-appindicator \
  gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng \
  gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock \
  gnome-terminal \
  network-manager-gnome \
  ubuntu-gnome-wallpapers \
  ubuntu-settings
# set WaylandEnable=false in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
sudo systemctl start gdm3

After several minutes the Ubuntu logo showed up.

The system is much too slow to be used.

xypron · July 26, 2023, 12:02pm

jr222 · July 27, 2023, 11:47am

Thank you! I was able to replicate your results on a physical Linux system. And I can confirm that indeed the system is too slow to be usable for my limited GUI use case (but I had to try, just in case it was slow but still usable. But no, you’re right, it was totally unusable and unresponsive even as far as mouse movement went.)

However, I couldn’t replicate within the Linux VM where I was initially working. That had the same gtk initialization failed error. Just to conclude, can you think of any reason why GTK wouldn’t work in a Linux VM running in VMWare workstation? (FWIW I enabled pass-through hypervisor support in the VM, even though I know it shouldn’t be necessary here since it should be using pure emultation, not Intel VMX.)

xypron · July 27, 2023, 1:33pm

I have no access to VMWare. You can check if virtio-gpu is available with:

lspci -nn

virtio-gpu has:

Field	value
vendor ID	0x1af4
prod ID	0x1050
sub-class	0x80

jr222 · July 27, 2023, 1:42pm

I’m not sure if you meant to check from within the RISC-V QEMU VM or from outside. Here’s both (from within my prior CLI invocation of QEMU w/o mouse etc):

inside QEMU:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Red Hat, Inc. QEMU PCIe Host bridge [1b36:0008]
00:01.0 Unclassified device [00ff]: Red Hat, Inc. Virtio RNG [1af4:1005]
00:02.0 SCSI storage controller [0100]: Red Hat, Inc. Virtio block device [1af4:1001]

outside QEMU:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge [8086:7190] (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge [8086:7191] (rev 01)
00:07.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA [8086:7110] (rev 08)
00:07.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE [8086:7111] (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge [0680]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI [8086:7113] (rev 08)
00:07.7 System peripheral [0880]: VMware Virtual Machine Communication Interface [15ad:0740] (rev 10)
00:0f.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: VMware SVGA II Adapter [15ad:0405]
00:10.0 SCSI storage controller [0100]: Broadcom / LSI 53c1030 PCI-X Fusion-MPT Dual Ultra320 SCSI [1000:0030] (rev 01)
00:11.0 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI bridge [15ad:0790] (rev 02)
00:15.0 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:15.1 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:15.2 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:15.3 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:15.4 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:15.5 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:15.6 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:15.7 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:16.0 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:16.1 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:16.2 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:16.3 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:16.4 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:16.5 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:16.6 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:16.7 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:17.0 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:17.1 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:17.2 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:17.3 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:17.4 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:17.5 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:17.6 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:17.7 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:18.0 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:18.1 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:18.2 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:18.3 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:18.4 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:18.5 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:18.6 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
00:18.7 PCI bridge [0604]: VMware PCI Express Root Port [15ad:07a0] (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82545EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper) [8086:100f] (rev 01)
02:01.0 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Ensoniq ES1371/ES1373 / Creative Labs CT2518 [1274:1371] (rev 02)
02:03.0 SATA controller [0106]: VMware SATA AHCI controller [15ad:07e0]
03:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: VMware Device [15ad:07f0]

It doesn’t look like 0x1af4:0x1050 is available

majinsuk · February 19, 2025, 8:14am

I don’t know if I can post this question here. If the question is in the wrong place, please let me know and I will delete it.
I am using Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS(x86-64). Qemu-system-misc install command leads to install qemu-system-riscv64 version QEMU emulator version 6.2.0(Debian 1:6.2+dfsg-2ubuntu6.24). Is there any particular reason to use this version even though newer qemu versions exist in github?
I followed the following link.(https://canonical-ubuntu-boards.readthedocs-hosted.com/en/latest/how-to/qemu-riscv/ )

xypron · February 19, 2025, 8:57am

Hello Ma-Jin,

Ubuntu 22.04 is a long term release . This means it is meant to be as stable as possible. Canonical and the Ubuntu community provides security and bug fixes. But typically package releases will stay the same for the lifetime.

If you need a newer QEMU, please, either upgrade your Ubuntu installation or build QEMU from upstream source.

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/qemu shows which version of Ubuntu contains which release of QEMU.

Best regards

Heinrich

majinsuk · February 19, 2025, 9:24am

Thank you for answering and guiding me, Heinrich.
I just want to know QEMU 6.2 selection reason in ubuntu 22.04 release specifically.
For example, QEMU6.2 is a more stable version among various QEMU versions, etc.
Thanks in advance and have a nice day.
Best regards

xypron · February 19, 2025, 9:43am

Whenever we prepare a release, we try to add the most current upstream packages. QEMU v6.2 was the last upstream QEMU release before the feature freeze on February 29, 2022. QEMU 7.0 was released April 19th.

Best regards

Heinrich

majinsuk · February 19, 2025, 9:45am

Hi Heinrich
Oh, I can understand it.
Thank you Heinrich
Best regards