virt-log(1)

📦
version 1.57.3 · 15 versions
, in centos-stream 10

💅 virt-log(1) — it's the manual page bestie

ok so this is virt-log, from the libguestfs / guestfs-tools fam — Virtualization Support, main character energy only. Pull up a chair, we're reading logs out of a whole entire virtual machine. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

virt-log — display log files from a virtual machine

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

 virt-log [--options] -d domname

 virt-log [--options] -a disk.img [-a disk.img ...]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so virt-log is a command line tool that shows you the log files from the named virtual machine (or disk image). that's the whole vibe. 🫶

and listen — this tool is NOT picky. it understands and displays both plain text log files (eg. /var/log/messages) and binary formats such as the systemd journal. so iconic of it honestly. ✨

but wait, it's not a one-tool-for-everything situation (no cap), so:

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

✨ Display the complete logs from a guest

 virt-log -d mydomain | less

🔥 Find out what DHCP IP address a VM acquired

 virt-log -d mydomain | grep 'dhclient.*bound to'

👑 OPTIONS 👑

  • --help — Display brief help. short, sweet, slays.
  • -a file, --add file — Add file, which should be a disk image from a virtual machine. If the virtual machine has multiple block devices, you must supply all of them with separate -a options. (like, all of them, bestie — don't leave a disk at home 💀)

The format of the disk image is auto-detected. To override this and force a particular format use the --format=.. option.

  • -a URI, --add URI — Add a remote disk. See "ADDING REMOTE STORAGE" in guestfish(1).
  • --blocksize=512, --blocksize=4096, --blocksize — This parameter sets the sector size of the disk image. It affects all explicitly added subsequent disks after this parameter. Using --blocksize with no argument switches the disk sector size to the default value, which is usually 512 bytes. See also "guestfs_add_drive_opts" in guestfs(3).
  • -c URI, --connect URI — If using libvirt, connect to the given URI. If omitted, then we connect to the default libvirt hypervisor.

If you specify guest block devices directly (-a), then libvirt is not used at all. periodt.

  • -d guest, --domain guest — Add all the disks from the named libvirt guest. Domain UUIDs can be used instead of names. 🎀
  • --echo-keys — When prompting for keys and passphrases, virt-log normally turns echoing off so you cannot see what you are typing. If you are not worried about Tempest attacks and there is no one else in the room, you can specify this flag to see what you are typing. 👀
  • --format=raw|qcow2|.., --format — The default for the -a option is to auto-detect the format of the disk image. Using this forces the disk format for -a options which follow on the command line. Using --format with no argument switches back to auto-detection for subsequent -a options.

For example:

 virt-log --format=raw -a disk.img

forces raw format (no auto-detection) for disk.img.

 virt-log --format=raw -a disk.img --format -a another.img

forces raw format (no auto-detection) for disk.img and reverts to auto-detection for another.img.

If you have untrusted raw-format guest disk images, you should use this option to specify the disk format. This avoids a possible security problem with malicious guests (CVE-2010-3851). not a drill bestie, please actually do this 💀
  • --key SELECTOR — Specify a key for LUKS, to automatically open a LUKS device when using the inspection.
    • --key NAME:key:KEY_STRING
    • --key UUID:key:KEY_STRING
    • --key all:key:KEY_STRING

"NAME" is the libguestfs device name (eg. /dev/sda1). "UUID" is the device UUID. "all" means try the key against any encrypted device.

Use the specified "KEY_STRING" as passphrase.

  • --key NAME:file:FILENAME
  • --key UUID:file:FILENAME
  • --key all:file:FILENAME

Read the passphrase from FILENAME.

  • --key NAME:clevis
  • --key UUID:clevis
  • --key all:clevis

Attempt passphrase-less unlocking for the device with Clevis, over the network. Please refer to "ENCRYPTED DISKS" in guestfs(3) for more information on network-bound disk encryption (NBDE).

Note that if any such option is present on the command line, QEMU user networking will be automatically enabled for the libguestfs appliance.

  • --key NAME:error
  • --key UUID:error
  • --key all:error

Any encrypted device matching will cause an error. --key all:error can be used to reject any disk image that contains an encrypted partition.

  • --keys-from-stdin — Read key or passphrase parameters from stdin. The default is to try to read passphrases from the user by opening /dev/tty.

If there are multiple encrypted devices then you may need to supply multiple keys on stdin, one per line. 🗝️

  • -v, --verbose — Enable verbose messages for debugging.
  • -V, --version — Display version number and exit.
  • -x — Enable tracing of libguestfs API calls. literally watching it work, we love transparency ✨

⭐ EXIT STATUS ⭐

This program returns 0 if successful, or non-zero if there was an error. simple as that, no cap.

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

guestfs(3), guestfish(1), virt-cat(1), virt-copy-out(1), virt-tail(1), virt-tar-out(1), virt-win-reg(1), http://libguestfs.org/.

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

Richard W.M. Jones http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/

Copyright (C) 2010-2025 Red Hat Inc.

🧚 LICENSE 🧚

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

🙈 BUGS 🙈

To get a list of bugs against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

To report a new bug against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

When reporting a bug, please supply:

  • The version of libguestfs.
  • Where you got libguestfs (eg. which Linux distro, compiled from source, etc)
  • Describe the bug accurately and give a way to reproduce it.
  • Run libguestfs-test-tool(1) and paste the complete, unedited output into the bug report.
💖 and that's the whole page bestie — brought to you by guestfs-tools-1.57.3, dated 2026-09-16, and this lil virt-log(1) moment. go read some logs, u got this 🦋
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