About This Document

This User's Guide explains the QNX hypervisor architecture and provides instructions for installing and running a QNX Hypervisor system, changing system components and configuration, and using hypervisor features such as virtual devices (vdevs).

What's in this guide


To find out about:	See:
QNX virtual environments, including the architecture of a QNX hypervisor system	Understanding QNX Virtual Environments
Physical and virtual devices in a QNX hypervisor system	Devices, Virtual devices, and Physical devices
The protection features used by QNX hypervisors	QNX Hypervisor: Protection Features
Configuring the hypervisor host domain, virtual machines (VMs), and guests	Configuration
Building and booting the hypervisor and its guests	Building a QNX Hypervisor System
Starting and stopping the hypervisor	Booting the QNX hypervisor host and Shutting down the QNX hypervisor
Networking in a hypervisor system	Networking
Memory sharing between guests, and between guests and the hypervisor host	Memory sharing
Debugging your hypervisor system	Monitoring and Troubleshooting
Tuning your hypervisor system for optimal performance	Performance Tuning
Defining options to assemble and configure the VM in which a guest will run	VM Configuration Reference
Configuring the vdevs that will be included in a VM to provide the guest with the devices it needs	Virtual Device Reference
Utilities and drivers delivered with the QNX hypervisor	Utilities and Drivers Reference

QNX hypervisor variants

Warning:

QNX hypervisors are available in two variants: QNX Hypervisor and QNX Hypervisor for Safety.

The QNX Hypervisor variant (QH), which includes QNX Hypervisor 8.0, is not a safety-certified product. It must not be used in a safety-related production system.

If you are building a safety-related system, you must use the QNX Hypervisor for Safety (QHS) variant that has been built and approved for use in the type of system you are building, and you must use it only as specified in its Safety Manual. The latest QHS release is QNX Hypervisor for Safety 2.2, which is based on QNX SDP 7.1.

If you have any questions, contact your QNX representative.

Non-hypervisor components

This User's Guide includes and identifies as such documentation for some non-hypervisor QNX components that are of interest to QNX Hypervisor users but not described in the QNX OS documentation.

QNX Hypervisor GitLab Repository

The QNX Hypervisor GitLab Repository contains technical notes and FAQs about different QNX hypervisor topics, including building custom virtual devices and supporting guests for a QNX hypervisor system. The location of this repository is: https://gitlab.com/qnx/hypervisor.

The documentation about writing custom devices includes the Virtual Device Developer's Guide, which contains instructions and source code samples, and the Virtual Device Developer's API Reference, which describes the API for developing the devices.

Page updated: August 11, 2025