Cannot start KVM machine on arch after update

Question

I'm having trouble with a VM I was using yesterday. After using, I closed the guest and updated my host machine (arch linux). Today I turned on the host and tried to turn on my guest and this message appears:

Error starting domain: unsupported configuration: chardev 'spicevmc' not supported without spice graphics

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtManager/asyncjob.py", line 72, in cb_wrapper callback(asyncjob, *args, **kwargs)

File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtManager/asyncjob.py", line 108, in tmpcb callback(*args, **kwargs)

File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtManager/object/libvirtobject.py", line 57, in newfn ret = fn(self, *args, **kwargs)

File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtManager/object/domain.py", line 1384, in startup self._backend.create()

File "/usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages/libvirt.py", line 1352, in create raise libvirtError('virDomainCreate() failed') libvirt.libvirtError: unsupported configuration: chardev 'spicevmc' not supported without spice graphics

I'm using a dedicated nvidia card on a manjaro guest OS.

I'm not a linux expert.

Any idea what might be happening and how to fix this?

Any other info you need let me know.

UPDATE #1:

I removed the usb spice redirectors from my VM:

<redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
  <address type="usb" bus="0" port="4"/>
</redirdev>
<redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
  <address type="usb" bus="0" port="5"/>
</redirdev>

And now it works fine... I just can't have usb redirectors on the guest OS now... Anyone know why this is and how to fix it?

Answer 1

My solution was based off a couple of the answers above.
Basically in order to have the "Channel Spice" device (used for things like redirecting individual USB devices, I think), I ended up with the following:

• a "Display Spice" device (Spice Server)
• a "Video" device set to "None"
• and my Spice Channel (which was the one I wanted, but was throwing errors)

Screen shots and XML of each device below.

ScreenShot of Display Spice Device (Virtual Machine Manager)

<graphics type="spice" port="5901" autoport="yes" listen="127.0.0.1">

  <listen type="address" address="127.0.0.1"/>

  <image compression="off"/>

  <gl enable="no"/>

</graphics>

ScreenShot of Video Device (Virtual Machine Manager)

<video>

  <model type="none"/>

  <alias name="video0"/>

</video>

ScreenShot of Spice Channel Device (Virtual Machine Manager)

  <target type="virtio" name="com.redhat.spice.0" state="disconnected"/>

  <alias name="channel0"/>

  <address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="1"/>

</channel>

Answer 2

I have the same issue on my VM too does this fix work with evdev?

update: I can't even remove the:

<redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
  <address type="usb" bus="0" port="1"/>
</redirdev>
<redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
  <address type="usb" bus="0" port="2"/>
</redirdev>

It spits out the same error

update 2: My VM boots after I added spice server and set the video to none

Answer 3

same I was able to use virsh edit to remove the two spice redirectors and everything works fine now but I'm not sure what they were used for

Answer 4

Same issue, I tried adding a spice server which caused some issues with mutiple monitors, like the mouse sticking to one of the displays. I removed "Channel Spice" and it let me start the VM without spice graphics. I removed these lines from the XML in virt-manager.

<channel type="spicevmc">
  <target type="virtio" name="com.redhat.spice.0"/>
  <address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="1"/>
</channel>

Answer 5

Same issue after the recent ArchLinux upgrade. Simply adding a Spice display server (which defaults to a new cirrus display) will stop my VM from booting, because it's taking over the main console, and the nvidia passthrough will stop working. The workaround is to first add a Spice display server, and then change the Video type to 'None'.