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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.

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.

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.

When you build a QNX hypervisor, you don't recompile the hypervisor. If you added or modified components (e.g., drivers or vdevs) you of course have to compile them. However, QNX hypervisors are provided as binaries only. You don't compile them; you include them unmodified when you assemble a bootable image with your hypervisor system.

Prerequisites

Note:

Before you begin to work, check that your board's hardware and firmware support virtualization.

Even if your board hardware supports all of the virtualization capabilities needed to run a QNX virtualized system, the firmware on the board may not enable or may even expressly disable some of these capabilities, in which case you won't be able to run the hypervisor.

You can contact your board vendor to confirm that the board you are considering supports the virtualization capabilities you'll need, and that your board has the appropriate firmware.

For more information about firmware requirements, go to Preparing your target board.

To build a hypervisor system, you need to configure and build both the hypervisor host and its guests. These instructions assume that you know:

about QNX Board Support Packages (BSPs)
about QNX buildfiles
how to use the QNX Software Center
how to build an IFS with a QNX OS

Page updated: March 05, 2025