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QNX Hypervisor User's Guide
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).
Building a QNX Hypervisor System
This chapter explains how to build (assemble) a QNX Hypervisor system and transfer a bootable image to a supported target platform.
Preparing your target board
After you have built your QNX hypervisor system, you must prepare your supported hardware board to boot and run this system.

QNX Momentics IDE User's Guide
This User's Guide describes version 8.0 of the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that's part of the QNX Tool Suite.
QNX Software Development Platform
QNX SDP is a cross-compiling and debugging environment, including an IDE and command-line tools, for building binary images and programs for target boards running the QNX OS 8.0.
QNX Software in the Cloud
QNX Software in the Cloud enables developers to use the QNX OS in the Amazon cloud environment.
QNX Toolkit for Visual Studio Code
This User's Guide describes the QNX^® Toolkit for Visual Studio Code. The guide introduces you to the QNX Toolkit by explaining the QNX development environment and how to build, run, and debug your QNX^® Operating System (OS) applications and systems.
QNX Hypervisor User's Guide
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).
- Understanding QNX Virtual Environments
  QNX hypervisors are designed to meet the expectations of a hypervisor specified by the Popek/Goldberg Theorem.
- QNX Hypervisor: Protection Features
  This chapter explains the main features used by the QNX Hypervisor to protect itself and its guests. Many of these features are part of the design, while others are configurable.
- Configuration
  A QNX hypervisor, its qvm processes that create the VMs in which guests run, and these guests must be configured to work together.
- Building a QNX Hypervisor System
  This chapter explains how to build (assemble) a QNX Hypervisor system and transfer a bootable image to a supported target platform.
  - Method of building a QNX Hypervisor system
    Building a QNX Hypervisor system entails adding the necessary hypervisor components to a QNX OS system, then building the host and guests using the appropriate build environments.
  - Supported build environments
    The QNX Hypervisor host must be built in the appropriate QNX SDP environment, and guests must be built in their own environments.
  - Building guests
    When you build guests to run in a QNX virtualized environment, you must build them for the appropriate hardware architecture, and configure the VMs in which they will run.
  - Building the host
    After you have installed the QNX Hypervisor product, all of the components needed to build the hypervisor host should be on your development host. After you have configured your build environment and built one or more guests, you are now ready to build the hypervisor host into an IFS.
  - Hypervisor disk images
    If you make changes to the hypervisor host or the guests, you need to create a new bootable disk image with the hypervisor system and transfer it to your target.
  - Preparing your target board
    After you have built your QNX hypervisor system, you must prepare your supported hardware board to boot and run this system.
  - Transferring the disk image
    After you have prepared your target board, you must transfer your QNX hypervisor system image onto it. At a minimum this system includes a hypervisor host; in most cases it will have a hypervisor host and at least one guest.
- Booting and Shutting Down
  This chapter describes how to boot and shut down a QNX hypervisor system.
- Using Virtual Devices, Networking, and Memory Sharing
  This chapter describes how guests can discover and connect to vdevs and how they can use important hypervisor capabilities, such as networking and memory sharing.
- Monitoring and Troubleshooting
  This chapter describes some tools and techniques you can use to monitor and troubleshoot your hypervisor system.
- Performance Tuning
  This chapter describes common sources of overhead in a QNX hypervisor system, and strategies for reducing this overhead and optimizing system performance.
- VM Configuration Reference
  When you specify options to configure a qvm process, you are assembling and configuring the components of a virtual machine (VM) in which a guest will run.
- Virtual Device Reference
  This chapter presents the virtual devices (vdevs) delivered with QNX hypervisors, and describes how to configure these vdevs.
- Utilities and Drivers Reference
  This chapter describes the utilities and drivers delivered with the QNX hypervisor.
- Terminology
  The following terms are used throughout the QNX hypervisor documentation.
Typographical Conventions, Support, and Licensing
This section describes the typographical conventions used throughout the documentation, explains how to obtain technical support, and provides some information about licensing.

Preparing your target board

After you have built your QNX hypervisor system, you must prepare your supported hardware board to boot and run this system.

Preparing a target board for a hypervisor system is no different from preparing one for a non-virtualized system. You need to set DIP switches to configure board behavior (such as where it looks for IPL and startup code), and connect Ethernet, USB, and serial cables so you can connect to your host system and your network. For more information, see the BSP User's Guide for your board, and the board manufacturer's documentation.

x86 boards

On x86 boards, you can use the serial port to establish a terminal connection from the development host to the board (and hence, access the hypervisor system via a shell). This provides a very useful view into the target board without requiring the setup of a TCP or USB (keyboard) connection. For details on how to configure a serial port for terminal connection, see the BSP User's Guide for your board.

For some boards, the system shell is active only on the serial port; it isn't active on the VGA console. If you connect via the VGA console, you will see a logo and it will seem like the board is stalled somewhere in its boot process.

The default smmuman configuration instructs the service to use the board's ACPI tables to get the locations of the VT-d registers responsible for remapping PCI device DMA. Make sure that your startup doesn't include the -B option, which instructs the startup to not get the ACPI tables.

For more information, see the pass option reference, and the DMA device containment section.

ARM boards

To run a virtualized system, ARM boards require firmware that boots into exception level 2 (EL2). On some older boards the required firmware isn't installed when they are shipped. If you attempt to boot the hypervisor on these boards, the boot will fail with a message like the following:

# qvm @qnx80.qvmconf
QVM disabled: hypervisor support not available

If your board doesn't boot into EL2, you probably have an old board revision that the QNX hypervisor doesn't support. Contact your board manufacturer to get a newer, supported board with a newer BSP.

See the BSP User's Guide for your board to learn about the DIP switch settings to use for your board variant and revision.

Page updated: March 05, 2025