14.8. Starting, Suspending, Resuming, Saving, and Restoring a Guest Virtual Machine

This section provides information on starting, suspending, resuming, saving, and restoring guest virtual machines.

14.8.1. Starting a Defined Domain

The virsh start domain --console --paused --autodestroy --bypass-cache --force-boot --pass-fds command starts a inactive domain that was already defined but whose state is inactive since its last managed save state or a fresh boot. The command can take the following options:
  • --console - will boot the domain attaching to the console
  • --paused - If this is supported by the driver it will boot the domain and then put it into a paused state
  • --autodestroy - the guest virtual machine is automatically destroyed when the virsh session closes or the connection to libvirt closes, or it otherwise exits
  • --bypass-cache - used if the domain is in the managedsave state. If this is used, it will restore the guest virtual machine, avoiding the system cache. Note this will slow down the restore process.
  • --force-boot - discards any managedsave options and causes a fresh boot to occur
  • --pass-fds - is a list of additional options separated by commas, which are passed onto the guest virtual machine.