EDIT: tldr - I was having issues creating a VM using Virtual Machine Manager on Bazzite Linux. Several responders chimed in that it’s likely because I’m using the flatpak version of VMM. I probably still could make it work on Bazzite somehow, perhaps w/ the help of distrobox, but instead I’ve fired up a VM on an old laptop running Linux Mint and everything is smooth sailing. Thanks to all who took some time to help me find a solution.

Original body:

Background: I’m looking to set up a virtual Debian server using Virtual Machine Manager, but I’m stuck on creating my first VM. I’m running Bazzite on my host machine if that makes any difference.

Steps to Reproduce the Issue:

  1. Launch Virtual Machine Manager.
  2. Click File > New Virtual Machine, which opens the “New VM - Step 1” window.
  3. Select “Local install media” and click Forward, which brings me to “New VM - Step 2.”
  4. Click “Browse…” which opens the “Locate ISO media volume” window:
  5. Click “Browse Local,” which opens the file browser.
  6. Choose ISO file (in my case, I’m using debian-12.11.0-amd64-netinst.iso) and click Select, which returns me to the “New VM - Step 2” window.
  7. Because the OS is not detected automatically, I uncheck the “Automatically detect from the installation media / source” checkbox, start typing the word “debian” in the text box above it, and select Debian 12 from the pop-up selection menu.
  8. Click Forward.

Actual behavior:

Input Error - Error setting installer parameters. Validating install media ‘/run/user/1000/doc/c0a3c3fc/debian-12.11.0-amd64-netinst.iso’ failed. Could not start storage pool: cannot open directory ‘/run/usr/1000/doc/c0a3c3fc’: Permission denied.

Expected behavior: Create the VM and boot into the ISO that I selected in previous steps.

What am I doing wrong? Thanks!

  • HayadSont@discuss.online
    1·
    3 days ago

    Virtual Machine Manager’s GitHub page for its flatpak includes the following lines:

    NOTE: By default, this Flatpak only includes the Virtual Machine Manager client application and does not include the libvirt daemon or QEMU. Depending on your use case, you may have to install other applications or extensions:

    • Connecting to a remote libvirt instance: nothing else needed
    • Connecting to a libvirt system instance: make sure that libvirtd is installed on the host, either via your package manager or using a system extension on image based systems for example
    • Connecting to a libvirt user instance: install the QEMU extension using flatpak install org.virt_manager.virt_manager.Extension.Qemu

    So, in this case, have you either installed libvirtd on the host[1] (i.e. have you installed it with rpm-ostree) OR have you installed the QEMU extension as per its own instruction?

    If neither, then you should at least do one of them and report back.

    EDIT: While what’s written above remains relevant beyond Bazzite, Bazzite’s ujust scripts do provide handholds for a myriad of situations including this one:

    • (Step 0: Uninstall[2] the flatpak of Virtual Machine Manager)
    • Step 1: Install Virtual Machine Manager with ujust, i.e. invoke the ujust setup-virtualization command

    I suppose the ujust way handles a bunch of gotchas you’d otherwise have to tackle yourself. And, thus, is most likely preferred over all other methods.

    As a side note, please consider consulting Bazzite’s excellent documentation first. We’ll be more than happy to help out regardless, but I’m sure there are a bunch of gems you’ll be missing out on otherwise.

    1. Technically, you could also install libvirtd as a sysext. ↩︎

    2. The ujust script will likely install another instance of VM Manager. As such, the flatpak is no longer needed and would only cause confusion. ↩︎