On Sat, Dec 26, 2020 at 5:29 AM Patrick O'Callaghan
<pocallaghan(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Thu, 2020-12-24 at 16:26 -0700, Chris Murphy wrote:
> Two other ideas:
>
> You could create an "original" copy of the VM that you never touch,
> and then clone it to restore. What I don't know is whether clone
> implies duplicating all the storage too. If so then you might want the
> original to have no file set for the virtual drive.
>
> I've gotten somewhat adept at fiddling with the xml using 'virsh edit
> $vm' but there's a somewhat recent feature you can enable in
> virt-manager to directly edit xml in virt-manager. For every device on
> the left side UI, there's GUI configuration on the right side, but at
> the top there's a tab to see the xml. You have to go dig in
> virt-manager preferences to enable xml editing, otherwise you just get
> to look at the xml, not change it. I've started doing this rather than
> editing the xml directly via virsh edit.
Yes, I've used that. My current difficulty (annoyance really) is that
having edited the xml file in a local directory, I can run it using
'virsh create ...' and it duly appears in the virt-manager panel.
However if I close virt-manager or end my login session it doesn't show
up on restarting and I have to do the 'virsh create' again. I can't
figure out how to actually install the new VM where virt-manager will
find it (having deleted the original one). I've had a look at virt-
clone but haven't managed to find right incantation yet.
I'm not sure I know of an elegant way to do it but you could create a
new VM in virt-manager, then use 'virsh edit VM' to edit it, and copy
paste your backup xml into that edit window and save it. Viola. I know
it'll work cuz I've done it, but yeah something more elegant might be
nice.
--
Chris Murphy