How can I emulate an amd64 system on an i386 system?

Question

Is there a way to use virtualization to emulate an amd64 system on a system running with an i386 CPU, or with an amd64 capable CPU running an i386 kernel?

I tried using virtual-manager to set up an amd64 qemu-kvm system on my amd64 compatible Turon X2 system (with an i386 installation) but I got a complaint that my computer was an i686.

How can I do this with my computer without reinstalling and how can others with i386 hardware do it?

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

4

You cannot use KVM on a 32bit host to emulate 64bit machine, see this:

http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/FAQ#Can_KVM_run_a_32-bit_guest_on_a_64-bit_host.3F_What_about_PAE.3F

QEMU allows you to do it using x86_64 target with --no-kvm, see this:

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-945502-start-0.html

However, emulating without kvm is rather slow, see e.g. these for more info:

Hope this helps.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

Community

1

answered Sep 12 '13 at 00:30

icyrock.com

949

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"rather slow" is a bit of an understatement ;) – psusi Sep 12 '13 at 01:46
@psusi :) Awww, come on - Тетрис works just fine! ;) – icyrock.com Sep 12 '13 at 02:04
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Virtual Box can do this too: http://askubuntu.com/questions/180761/can-i-use-virtualbox-with-a-64-bit-image-in-a-32-bit-host – Takkat Sep 12 '13 at 07:37
Thanks @Takkat - I think QEMU supports this without restrictions (i.e. need a 64-bit CPU, etc.) though. Hence the slowness... – icyrock.com Sep 12 '13 at 23:49

How can I emulate an amd64 system on an i386 system?

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