Running Impossible OS in QEMU

QEMU is the fastest way to run Impossible OS. It supports UEFI boot via OVMF firmware and AHCI storage out of the box.

Prerequisites

Ubuntu / Debian / WSL 2

sudo apt install qemu-system-x86 ovmf

Fedora

sudo dnf install qemu-system-x86 edk2-ovmf

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S qemu-system-x86 edk2-ovmf

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install qemu

Note
On macOS, OVMF firmware is bundled with QEMU. No separate install needed.

Quick Start

qemu-system-x86_64 \
    -m 256M \
    -drive if=none,id=disk,file=system-disk.img,format=raw \
    -device ahci,id=ahci \
    -device ide-hd,drive=disk,bus=ahci.0 \
    -bios /usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd \
    -serial file:serial.log

Recommended Settings

Setting	Value	Why
RAM	`-m 256M`	Minimum. 512M recommended for desktop
Storage	AHCI (`-device ahci`)	Impossible OS uses AHCI DMA -- no IDE/PIO
Firmware	OVMF (`-bios`)	UEFI required -- legacy BIOS will NOT boot
Display	Default SDL or `-display gtk`	VGA framebuffer via GOP
Serial	`-serial file:serial.log`	Captures boot log for debugging
Network	`-netdev user,id=net0 -device rtl8139,netdev=net0`	RTL8139 NIC driver

Common OVMF Paths

Distro	OVMF Path
Ubuntu/Debian	`/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd`
Fedora	`/usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_CODE.fd`
Arch	`/usr/share/edk2/x64/OVMF_CODE.fd`
macOS (Homebrew)	`/opt/homebrew/share/qemu/edk2-x86_64-code.fd`

Full Example (Networking + VirtIO Tablet)

qemu-system-x86_64 \
    -m 512M \
    -drive if=none,id=disk,file=system-disk.img,format=raw \
    -device ahci,id=ahci \
    -device ide-hd,drive=disk,bus=ahci.0 \
    -bios /usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd \
    -netdev user,id=net0 \
    -device rtl8139,netdev=net0 \
    -device virtio-tablet-pci \
    -serial file:serial.log \
    -display gtk

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Black screen	Verify OVMF path exists. Try `-bios` with full path
No disk detected	Must use `-device ahci` + `-device ide-hd`. Legacy `-hda` won't work
Mouse stuck in corner	Add `-device virtio-tablet-pci` for absolute positioning
Kernel panic on boot	Check `serial.log` for the full stack trace
"No bootable device"	UEFI requires GPT + EFI System Partition. Verify disk image integrity