virt-sysprep(1)

📦

version 1.57.3 · 15 versions

💖 `virt-sysprep(1)` — NAME 💖

virt-sysprep — reset, unconfigure, or customize a virtual machine so clones can be made. Slay.

🫶 SYNOPSIS 🫶

        virt-sysprep [--colors] [--colours] [-c URI] [--connect URI]
           [-n] [--dry-run] [--enable OPERATIONS] [--operations OPERATIONS]
           [--echo-keys] [--format raw|qcow2] [--key SELECTOR]
           [--keys-from-stdin] [--mount-options] [-q] [--quiet]
           [--network] [--no-network] [-v] [--verbose] [--wrap] [-x]
           -d domname | -a disk.img [-a disk.img ...]

         virt-sysprep --list-operations

         virt-sysprep --version

         virt-sysprep -V

💀 WARNING 💀

Bestie, please do not do the chaotic thing. Using virt-sysprep on live virtual machines, or concurrently with other disk editing tools, can be dangerous, potentially causing disk corruption. The virtual machine must be shut down before you use this command, and disk images must not be edited concurrently.

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Okay so virt-sysprep can reset or unconfigure a virtual machine so that clones can be made from it, or to prepare a template from which clones can be made later on. Steps in this process include removing SSH host keys, removing persistent network MAC configuration, and removing user accounts. virt-sysprep can also customize a virtual machine, for instance by adding SSH keys, users or logos. Each step can be enabled or disabled as required. Iconic little preparation era.

virt-sysprep modifies the guest or disk image in place. The guest must be shut down. If you want to preserve the existing contents of the guest, you must snapshot, copy or clone the disk first. No cap, back up first.

You do not need to run virt-sysprep as root. In fact we’d generally recommend that you don’t. The time you might want to run it as root is when you need root in order to access the disk image, but even in this case it would be better to change the permissions on the disk image to be writable as the non-root user running virt-sysprep.

“Sysprep” stands for “system preparation” tool. The name comes from the Microsoft program sysprep.exe which is used to unconfigure Windows machines in preparation for cloning them. (virt-sysprep does not work on Microsoft Windows guests.) iykyk.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

--help — Display brief help. Short, sweet, helpful.
-a file, --add file — Add file which should be a disk image from a virtual machine.

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. The URI format is compatible with guestfish. See “ADDING REMOTE STORAGE” in guestfish(1).
--colors, --colours — Use ANSI colour sequences to colourize messages. This is the default when the output is a tty. If the output of the program is redirected to a file, ANSI colour sequences are disabled unless you use this option. rainbow terminal moment, but make it ANSI.
-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.

-d guest, --domain guest — Add all the disks from the named libvirt guest. Domain UUIDs can be used instead of names. name or UUID, both slay.
-n, --dry-run — Perform a read-only “dry run” on the guest. This runs the sysprep operation, but throws away any changes to the disk at the end. practice mode, literally.
--enable operations — Choose which sysprep operations to perform. Give a comma-separated list of operations, for example:

--enable ssh-hostkeys,udev-persistent-net

would enable ONLY ssh-hostkeys and udev-persistent-net operations.

If the --enable option is not given, then we default to trying most sysprep operations (see --list-operations to show which are enabled).

Regardless of the --enable option, sysprep operations are skipped for some guest types.

Use --list-operations to list operations supported by a particular version of virt-sysprep.

See “OPERATIONS” below for a list and an explanation of each operation.

--operation operations, --operations operations — Choose which sysprep operations to perform. Give a comma-separated list of operations, for example:

--operations ssh-hostkeys,udev-persistent-net

would enable ONLY ssh-hostkeys and udev-persistent-net operations.

--operations allows you to enable and disable any operation, including the default ones (which would be tried when specifying neither --operations nor --enable) and all the available ones; prepending a - in front of an operation name removes it from the list of enabled operations, while the meta-names defaults and all represent respectively the operations enabled by default and all the available ones. For example:

--operations firewall-rules,defaults,-tmp-files

would enable the firewall-rules operation (regardless whether it is enabled by default), all the default ones, and disable the tmp-files operation.

--operations can be specified multiple times; the first time the set of enabled operations is empty, while any further --operations affects the operations enabled so far.

If the --operations option is not given, then we default to trying most sysprep operations (see --list-operations to show which are enabled).

Regardless of the --operations option, sysprep operations are skipped for some guest types.

Use --list-operations to list operations supported by a particular version of virt-sysprep.

See “OPERATIONS” below for a list and an explanation of each operation.

--echo-keys — When prompting for keys and passphrases, virt-sysprep 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. only for the brave and the alone.
--format raw|qcow2|.., --format auto — 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 auto switches back to auto-detection for subsequent -a options.

For example:

virt-sysprep --format raw -a disk.img

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

virt-sysprep --format raw -a disk.img --format auto -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). security girlies, pay attention.

--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.

--list-operations — List the operations supported by the virt-sysprep program.

These are listed one per line, with one or more single-space-separated fields, eg:

$ virt-sysprep --list-operations
bash-history * Remove the bash history in the guest
cron-spool * Remove user at-jobs and cron-jobs
dhcp-client-state * Remove DHCP client leases
dhcp-server-state * Remove DHCP server leases
[etc]

The first field is the operation name, which can be supplied to --enable. The second field is a * character if the operation is enabled by default or blank if not. Subsequent fields on the same line are the description of the operation.

Before libguestfs 1.17.33 only the first (operation name) field was shown and all operations were enabled by default. history lesson, but make it sysprep.

--mount-options mp:opts[;mp:opts;...] — Set the mount options used when libguestfs opens the disk image. Note this has no effect on the guest. It is used when opening certain guests such as ones using the UFS (BSD) filesystem.

Use a semicolon-separated list of mountpoint:options pairs. You may need to quote this list to protect it from the shell.

For example:

--mount-options "/:noatime"

will mount the root directory with notime. This example:

--mount-options "/:noatime;/var:rw,nodiratime"

will do the same, plus mount /var with rw,nodiratime.

-q, --quiet — Don’t print log messages.

To enable detailed logging of individual file operations, use -x.

--network, --no-network — Enable or disable network access from the guest during the installation.

In virt-sysprep, the network is disabled by default. You must use --network to enable it, in order that options such as --install or --update will work.

virt-builder(1) has more information about the security advantages of disabling the network. network off by default, very demure.

-v, --verbose — Enable verbose messages for debugging.
-V, --version — Display version number and exit.
--wrap — Wrap error, warning, and informative messages. This is the default when the output is a tty. If the output of the program is redirected to a file, wrapping is disabled unless you use this option.
-x — Enable tracing of libguestfs API calls. spill the API tea.
--append-line FILE:LINE — (peep the customize section below) — slaps exactly one line of text onto FILE. If the file doesn't already end with a newline, one gets added before your line lands. Also, a newline is auto-appended to the end of the LINE string, so you don't have to think about it.

Like, say (assuming normal shell quoting) you run this:

--append-line '/etc/hosts:10.0.0.1 foo'

it'll add either 10.0.0.1 foo⏎ or ⏎10.0.0.1 foo⏎ to the file — that second one only happens if the existing file doesn't already end with a newline.

⏎ is a newline character, and it gets guessed by looking at what's already in the file, so this just does the right thing for files with Unix or Windows line endings. It also works on empty files and files that don't even exist yet ✨

Wanna insert several lines? Just use the same option multiple times:

--append-line '/etc/hosts:10.0.0.1 foo'
--append-line '/etc/hosts:10.0.0.2 bar'

And to drop a blank line before your appended line, do:

--append-line '/etc/hosts:'
--append-line '/etc/hosts:10.0.0.1 foo'

--chmod PERMISSIONS:FILE — (see customize below) — changes the permissions of FILE to PERMISSIONS.

⚠️ Okay bestie, listen: PERMISSIONS is decimal by default unless you prefix it with 0 to get octal — so use 0700, NOT 700. That difference is literally everything, don't get caught out 💅

--chown UID:GID:PATH — (see customize below) — changes the owner user and group ID of a file or directory inside the guest. Some notes, because of course:
- Only numeric UIDs and GIDs will work, and ngl these may not be the same inside the guest as they are on the host.
- This will not work with Windows guests. 🙈

For example:

virt-customize --chown '0:0:/var/log/audit.log'

🦋 OPERATIONS 🦋

Okay so if you don't give the --enable/--operations option, then most sysprep operations are enabled. Default-on energy.

Use virt-sysprep --list-operations to list all operations for your virt-sysprep binary. The ones which are enabled by default are marked with a * character. And regardless of the --enable/--operations options, sysprep operations are skipped for some guest types. FYI. 💅

Operations can be individually enabled using the --enable/--operations options. Use a comma-separated list, for example:

 virt-sysprep --operations ssh-hostkeys,udev-persistent-net [etc..]

Future versions of virt-sysprep may add more operations. So if you're using virt-sysprep and want predictable behaviour, specify only the operations that you want to have enabled. Future-proof your vibes. 🔮

* = enabled by default when no --enable/--operations option is given.

`abrt-data` *

Remove the crash data generated by ABRT.

Specifically, remove the automatically generated ABRT crash data in /var/spool/abrt/. Bye crash data 👋

`backup-files` *

Remove editor backup files from the guest.

The following files are removed from anywhere in the guest filesystem:

*.bak
*~

On Linux and Unix operating systems, only the following filesystems will be examined:

/etc
/root
/srv
/tmp
/var

`bash-history` *

Remove the bash history in the guest.

Remove the bash history of user root and any other users who have a .bash_history file in their home directory. Deleting the receipts, honestly. 🫢

Notes on bash-history

Currently this only looks in /root and /home/* for home directories, so users with home directories in other locations won't have the bash history removed. Sorry to those guys. 🙈

`blkid-tab` *

Remove blkid tab in the guest.

`ca-certificates`

Remove CA certificates in the guest.

In case any certificate is removed, the system CA store is updated. Keeping it consistent, we love to see it. ✨

`crash-data` *

Remove the crash data generated by kexec-tools.

Remove the automatically generated kdump kernel crash data.

`cron-spool` *

Remove user at-jobs and cron-jobs. 🕐

`customize` *

Customize the guest.

Customize the guest by providing virt-customize(1) options for installing packages, editing files and so on. The whole makeover package. 💖

`dhcp-client-state` *

Remove DHCP client leases.

`dhcp-server-state` *

Remove DHCP server leases.

`dovecot-data` *

Remove Dovecot (mail server) data.

`firewall-rules`

Remove the firewall rules.

This removes custom firewall rules by removing /etc/sysconfig/iptables or custom firewalld configuration in /etc/firewalld/*/*.

Note this is not enabled by default since it may expose guests to exploits. Use with care. 🔥

`flag-reconfiguration`

Flag the system for reconfiguration.

For Linux guests, this touches /.unconfigured, which causes the first boot to interactively query the user for settings such as the root password and timezone.

`fs-uuids`

Change filesystem UUIDs.

On guests and filesystem types where this is supported, new random UUIDs are generated and assigned to filesystems. 🎲

Notes on fs-uuids

The fs-uuids operation is disabled by default because it does not yet find and update all the places in the guest that use the UUIDs. For example /etc/fstab or the bootloader. Enabling this operation is more likely than not to make your guest unbootable. Yeah. Do not. 😭

See: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=991641

`ipa-client` *

Remove the IPA files.

Remove all the files related to an IPA (Identity, Policy, Audit) system. This effectively unenrolls the guest from an IPA server without interacting with it.

This operation does not run ipa-client. Just so we're clear. 💅

`kerberos-data`

Remove Kerberos data in the guest.

`kerberos-hostkeytab` *

Remove the Kerberos host keytab file in the guest.

`logfiles` *

Remove many log files from the guest.

On Linux the following files are removed:

/etc/Pegasus/*.cnf
/etc/Pegasus/*.crt
/etc/Pegasus/*.csr
/etc/Pegasus/*.pem
/etc/Pegasus/*.srl
/root/anaconda-ks.cfg
/root/anaconda-post.log
/root/initial-setup-ks.cfg
/root/install.log
/root/install.log.syslog
/root/original-ks.cfg
/var/cache/fontconfig/*
/var/cache/gdm/*
/var/cache/man/*
/var/lib/AccountService/users/*
/var/lib/fprint/*
/var/lib/logrotate.status
/var/log/*.log*
/var/log/BackupPC/LOG
/var/log/ConsoleKit/*
/var/log/anaconda.syslog
/var/log/anaconda/*
/var/log/apache2/*_log
/var/log/apache2/*_log-*
/var/log/apt/*
/var/log/aptitude*
/var/log/audit/*
/var/log/btmp*
/var/log/ceph/*.log
/var/log/chrony/*.log
/var/log/cron*
/var/log/cups/*_log*
/var/log/debug*
/var/log/dmesg*
/var/log/exim4/*
/var/log/faillog*
/var/log/firewalld*
/var/log/gdm/*
/var/log/glusterfs/*glusterd.vol.log
/var/log/glusterfs/glusterfs.log
/var/log/grubby*
/var/log/httpd/*log
/var/log/installer/*
/var/log/jetty/jetty-console.log
/var/log/journal/*
/var/log/lastlog*
/var/log/libvirt/libvirtd.log
/var/log/libvirt/libxl/*.log
/var/log/libvirt/lxc/*.log
/var/log/libvirt/qemu/*.log
/var/log/libvirt/uml/*.log
/var/log/lightdm/*
/var/log/mail/*
/var/log/maillog*
/var/log/messages*
/var/log/ntp
/var/log/ntpstats/*
/var/log/ppp/connect-errors
/var/log/rhsm/*
/var/log/sa/*
/var/log/secure*
/var/log/setroubleshoot/*.log
/var/log/spooler*
/var/log/squid/*.log
/var/log/syslog*
/var/log/tallylog*
/var/log/tuned/tuned.log
/var/log/wtmp*
/var/log/xferlog*
/var/named/data/named.run

`lvm-system-devices` *

Ok so this one nukes the LVM2 system.devices file. 🧹

On Linux guests, LVM2's scanning for physical volumes (PVs) may be restricted to those block devices whose WWIDs are listed in /etc/lvm/devices/system.devices. When cloning VMs, WWIDs may change — which lowkey breaks lvm pvscan. So yeah, we remove /etc/lvm/devices/system.devices. 💅

`lvm-uuids` *

This one changes the LVM2 PV and VG UUIDs. 🔄

On Linux guests that have LVM2 physical volumes (PVs) or volume groups (VGs), brand new random UUIDs get generated and assigned to those PVs and VGs. Fresh identity, who dis. 🦋

`machine-id` *

Removes the local machine ID. 🆔

The machine ID is usually generated from a random source during system installation and stays constant for all subsequent boots. Optionally, for stateless systems it is generated during runtime at boot if it's found to be empty.

`mail-spool` *

Removes email from the local mail spool directory. 📬 Say bye to the stale mail bestie.

`net-hostname` *

Removes HOSTNAME and DHCP_HOSTNAME in the network interface configuration. 🌐

For Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, this is removed from ifcfg-* files.

`net-hwaddr` *

Removes HWADDR (the hard-coded MAC address) configuration. 🔌

For Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, this is removed from ifcfg-* files.

`net-nmconn` *

Removes system-local NetworkManager connection profiles (keyfiles). 📡

On Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, it removes the /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*.nmconnection files.

`pacct-log` *

Removes the process accounting log files. 🧾

The system wide process accounting will store to the pacct log files if the process accounting is on.

`package-manager-cache` *

Removes the package manager cache. 🗑️ It's giving "clear your cache, bestie".

`pam-data` *

Removes the PAM data in the guest. 🔐

`passwd-backups` *

Removes /etc/passwd- and similar backup files. 📄

On Linux, these are the files that get removed:

/etc/group-
/etc/gshadow-
/etc/passwd-
/etc/shadow-
/etc/subgid-
/etc/subuid-

`puppet-data-log` *

Removes the data and log files of puppet. 🎭

`rh-subscription-manager` *

Removes the RH subscription manager files. 🎟️

`rhn-systemid` *

Removes the RHN system ID. 🪪

`rpm-db` *

Removes host-specific RPM database files. 📦

It removes host-specific RPM database files and locks. RPM will recreate these files automatically if needed — so like, it heals itself, no cap.

`samba-db-log` *

Removes the database and log files of Samba. 🌈

`script` *

Runs arbitrary scripts against the guest. 🧚 This is the main character module ngl.

The script module lets you run arbitrary shell scripts or programs against the guest.

Heads up: this feature requires FUSE support. You may have to enable this on your host — for example by adding the current user to the fuse group, or by loading a kernel module. 😭

Use one or more --script parameters to specify scripts or programs that will be run against the guest.

The script or program is run with its current directory being the guest's root directory, so relative paths should be used. For example: rm etc/resolv.conf in the script would remove a Linux guest's DNS configuration file, but rm /etc/resolv.conf would (try to) remove the host's file. 💀 Yes, that's the scary one — read your paths twice, bestie.

Normally a temporary mount point for the guest is used, but you can choose a specific one by using the --scriptdir parameter.

Note: this is different from --firstboot scripts (which run in the context of the guest when it is booting first time). --script scripts run on the host, not in the guest. Know the difference fr fr.

`smolt-uuid` *

Removes the Smolt hardware UUID. 🐟

`ssh-hostkeys` *

Removes the SSH host keys in the guest. 🔑

The SSH host keys are regenerated (differently) next time the guest is booted.

If, after cloning, the guest gets the same IP address, ssh will give you a stark warning about the host key changing:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@    WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!     @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!

`ssh-userdir` *

Removes .ssh directories in the guest. 🗂️

It removes the .ssh directory of user root and any other users who have a .ssh directory in their home directory.

Notes on ssh-userdir

Currently this only looks in /root and /home/* for home directories, so users with home directories in other locations won't have the ssh files removed. 🙈

`sssd-db-log` *

Removes the database and log files of sssd. 💽

`tmp-files` *

Removes temporary files. 🧼

This removes temporary files under /tmp and /var/tmp.

`udev-persistent-net` *

Removes udev persistent net rules. 🕸️

It removes udev persistent net rules which map the guest's existing MAC address to a fixed ethernet device (eg. eth0).

After a guest is cloned, the MAC address usually changes. Since the old MAC address occupies the old name (eg. eth0), this means the fresh MAC address is assigned to a new name (eg. eth1) and this is usually undesirable. Erasing the udev persistent net rules avoids this. Slay. ✨

`user-account`

Removes the user accounts in the guest. 👤

By default it removes all the user accounts and their home directories. The root account is not removed. Root stays, obviously — she's main character energy. 👑

See the --remove-user-accounts parameter for a way to specify how to remove only some users, or to not remove some others.

`utmp` *

Removes the utmp file. 📋

This file records who is currently logged in on a machine. In modern Linux distros it is stored in a ramdisk and hence not part of the virtual machine's disk, but it was stored on disk in older distros.

`yum-uuid` *

Removes the yum UUID. 🍦

Yum creates a fresh UUID the next time it runs when it notices that the original UUID has been erased. Iconic self-healing behaviour tbh.

`zsh-history` *

Removes the zsh history in the guest. 🐚

It removes the zsh history of user root and any other users who have a .zsh_history file in their home directory.

Notes on zsh-history

Currently this only looks in /root and /home/* for home directories, so users with home directories in other locations won't have the zsh history removed. 🙈

🛡️ SECURITY

Virtual machines that employ full disk encryption internally to the guest should not be considered for cloning and distribution, as it provides multiple parties with the same internal volume key, enabling any one such party to decrypt all the other clones. Refer to the LUKS FAQ for details. 🔐 No cap, that's a real problem.

Although virt-sysprep removes some sensitive information from the guest, it does not pretend to remove all of it. You should examine the OPERATIONS above and the guest afterwards. 👀

Sensitive files are simply removed. The data they contained may still exist on the disk, easily recovered with a hex editor or undelete tool. 💀 The --scrub option can be used to scrub files instead of just deleting them. virt-sparsify(1) is another way to remove this content. See also the scrub(1) command to get rid of deleted content in directory entries and inodes.

🌱 Random seed

(This section applies to Linux guests only)

For supported guests, virt-sysprep writes a few bytes of randomness from the host into the guest's random seed file. 🎲

If this is just done once and the guest is cloned from the same template, then each guest will start with the same entropy, and things like SSH host keys and TCP sequence numbers may be predictable. 😬 Which is, you know, not the vibe.

Therefore you should arrange to add more randomness after cloning from a template too, which can be done by enabling just the customize module:

cp template.img newguest.img
virt-sysprep --enable customize -a newguest.img

📋 NOTES

SELinux

For guests which make use of SELinux, special handling for them might be needed when using operations which create new files or alter existing ones. 🧩

For further details, see SELINUX in virt-builder(1).

Windows ≥ 8

Windows 8 "fast startup" can prevent virt-sysprep from working. 😤 See WINDOWS HIBERNATION AND WINDOWS 8 FAST STARTUP in guestfs(3).

🚦 EXIT STATUS

This program returns 0 on success, or 1 if there was an error.

🌍 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

VIRT_TOOLS_DATA_DIR — this can point to the directory containing data files used for Windows firstboot installation.

Normally you do not need to set this. If not set, a compiled-in default will be used (something like /usr/share/virt-tools).

This directory may contain the following files:

rhsrvany.exe — this is the RHSrvAny Windows binary, used to install a "firstboot" script in Windows guests. It is required if you intend to use the --firstboot or --firstboot-command options with Windows guests.

pvvxsvc.exe — this is a Windows binary shipped with SUSE VMDP, used to install a "firstboot" script in Windows guests. It is required if you intend to use the --firstboot or --firstboot-command options with Windows guests.

For other environment variables, see ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES in guestfs(3). ✨

👯 SEE ALSO

Like bestie, you're not doing this alone — here's the whole friend group 💅

guestfs(3) — the big libguestfs API page, the mothership 🌸
guestfish(1) — the interactive shell situation
virt-builder(1) — for building images from scratch, iconic
virt-clone(1) — the cloning one
virt-customize(1) — literally virt-sysprep's sibling, related energy
virt-rescue(1) — rescue mode, main character energy
virt-resize(1) — resizing, obviously
virt-sparsify(1) — the sparsifying one
virsh(1) — libvirt's CLI, you know her
lvcreate(8) — LVM, section 8, don't ask
qemu-img(1) — image tooling 🫶
scrub(1) — yes, that scrub
http://libguestfs.org/ — the website, go look 👑
http://libvirt.org/ — and the other website, also go look ✨

🫶 AUTHORS

These two literally built the thing, show some respect 💖

Richard W.M. Jones — http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/
Wanlong Gao, Fujitsu Ltd.

©️ COPYRIGHT

The legal receipts, no cap 📜

📄 LICENSE

Okay so here's the boring-but-important part, and bestie I need you to actually read it 🎀

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. 😭 (yes that's the all-caps part, and yes it means what it says)

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

Found a bug? First of all, slay for caring 💀 Here's where to go:

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 all of this — a half-filled bug report is giving nothing, bestie 🙈

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 ✨

This is guestfs-tools-1.57.3, dated 2026-09-16 — that's virt-sysprep(1) herself, signing off 🎀💖 Go sysprep something iconic, and remember: read the WARNING section again before you do. Love u, bye 🦋

📦 where this page comes from

centos-stream 10: guestfs-tools 1.57.3-1.el10 · GPL-2.0-or-later AND LGPL-2.0-or-later
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on 2026-11-04: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms

virt-sysprep(1)

💖 virt-sysprep(1) — NAME 💖

🫶 SYNOPSIS 🫶

💀 WARNING 💀

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

💅 OPTIONS 💅

🦋 OPERATIONS 🦋

abrt-data *

backup-files *

bash-history *

Notes on bash-history

blkid-tab *

ca-certificates

crash-data *

cron-spool *

customize *

dhcp-client-state *

dhcp-server-state *

dovecot-data *

firewall-rules

flag-reconfiguration

fs-uuids

Notes on fs-uuids

ipa-client *

kerberos-data

kerberos-hostkeytab *

logfiles *

lvm-system-devices *

lvm-uuids *

machine-id *

mail-spool *

net-hostname *

net-hwaddr *

net-nmconn *

pacct-log *

package-manager-cache *

pam-data *

passwd-backups *

puppet-data-log *

rh-subscription-manager *

rhn-systemid *

rpm-db *

samba-db-log *

script *

smolt-uuid *

ssh-hostkeys *

ssh-userdir *

Notes on ssh-userdir

sssd-db-log *

tmp-files *

udev-persistent-net *

user-account

utmp *

yum-uuid *

zsh-history *

Notes on zsh-history

🛡️ SECURITY

🌱 Random seed

📋 NOTES

SELinux

Windows ≥ 8

🚦 EXIT STATUS

🌍 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

👯 SEE ALSO

🫶 AUTHORS

©️ COPYRIGHT

📄 LICENSE

🐛 BUGS

💖 `virt-sysprep(1)` — NAME 💖

`abrt-data` *

`backup-files` *

`bash-history` *

`blkid-tab` *

`ca-certificates`

`crash-data` *

`cron-spool` *

`customize` *

`dhcp-client-state` *

`dhcp-server-state` *

`dovecot-data` *

`firewall-rules`

`flag-reconfiguration`

`fs-uuids`

`ipa-client` *

`kerberos-data`

`kerberos-hostkeytab` *

`logfiles` *

`lvm-system-devices` *

`lvm-uuids` *

`machine-id` *

`mail-spool` *

`net-hostname` *

`net-hwaddr` *

`net-nmconn` *

`pacct-log` *

`package-manager-cache` *

`pam-data` *

`passwd-backups` *

`puppet-data-log` *

`rh-subscription-manager` *

`rhn-systemid` *

`rpm-db` *

`samba-db-log` *

`script` *

`smolt-uuid` *

`ssh-hostkeys` *

`ssh-userdir` *

`sssd-db-log` *

`tmp-files` *

`udev-persistent-net` *

`user-account`

`utmp` *

`yum-uuid` *

`zsh-history` *