Meet Quickemu

Quickemu is a command-line program that uses scripts to automate the process of downloading, setting up, and optimizing a virtual machine on your Linux or Mac device. If you haven’t guessed by its name, it uses the QEMU emulator and virtualizer on the backend, and that’s what will be running when Quickemu launches your VM.

All Quickemu is doing is automating the installation and initialization. It configures everything for you; there’s no need to worry about managing virtualized components. You just choose the operating system you want, and after the scripts do their job, you can start working in it.

You’re also not limited to Windows desktops. Quickemu automates the setup of hundreds of operating systems, including Windows Server, macOS, Ubuntu, Fedora, and FreeBSD.

Installing Quickemu

First, you’ll need to install Quickemu. At the time of writing, its availability in common repositories is limited, but you can check the official installation instructions for updates.

On Linux

Quickemu is easiest to install when you’re on Ubuntu or Debian. On any Debian derivative, you can download the latest DEB package from the Quickemu release page, then use this command to install it:

sudo apt-get install ./quickemu_*.*.*-1_all.deb

On Ubuntu and its derivatives, you can instead add the Quickemu PPA to your repositories:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:flexiondotorg/quickemu

Then use this command to update your repos and install Quickemu:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install quickemu

Quickemu is also available in the AUR, so Arch users can install it using yay:

yay -Sy quickemu

If you’re using a different Linux distro or don’t want to use the AUR, see Quickemu’s guide to installing from source.

On a Mac

In macOS, you can install Quickemu and its dependencies using Homebrew:

brew install bash cdrtools coreutils jq python3 qemu usbutils samba socat swtpm zsync

Then you’ll want to clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/quickemu-project/quickemu

And finally enter the repo to begin operations:

cd quickemu

You’re now ready to start using Quickemu commands.

Command 1: Download an OS Image

To get Windows, you first need to download Windows 10 or Windows 11 ISO image. You could go get that image yourself, but Quickemu automates this for you with a single “quickget” command. You just need to name the version you want.

For example, I’ll get the latest Windows 10 ISO with this command:

quickget windows 10

If everything went according to plan, you’ll see a message saying the download was successful, and you’ll be returned to the command line.

Command 2: Run your Virtual Machine

Now it’s time to launch your VM. All you need to know is the name of the configuration file (with a .conf extension) that Quickemu created, which it tells you after the installation. In my case, it was “windows-10.conf”

quickemu --vm windows-10.conf

You might get a few odd-looking screens at first, but just wait while the application does its work. Soon you should see a Windows initialization screen.

Follow the prompts to agree to terms, and Quickemu will take care of the rest of the installation. Soon you’ll arrive on your Windows desktop.

Play around with it, and when you’re done, shut it down like you normally shut down Windows. In the future just reuse that command to launch it. You could even create an alias to make launching your VM even faster:

alias windows='quickemu --vm windows-10.conf'

Then you’d just need to type windows into your terminal and you’ll be cruising Microsoft-style in no time.

Start Exploring VMs

Quickemu can do a lot more, including downloading specific editions. For example, Quickemu by default downloads the “English International” edition of Windows 10, but you can get the US edition with this command:

quickget windows 10 "English (United States)"

You can also get your preferred version of macOS (though you should refer to Quickemu’s full guide to macOS VMs because they can be a bit tricky):

quickget macos catalina

Older point versions of Linux distros are also available. To get Ubuntu 22.04, for example:

quickget ubuntu 22.04