Set Up a Virtual QNX Target

This page describes two ways to set up a QNX virtual target: using bash commands or using Visual Studio Code. These instructions were written for Ubuntu and may require adjustments for other Linux distributions.

Official QNX Docs

mkqnximage

Note

On this page, commands preceded by # indicate that the command is run in the terminal window of a running target.

Prerequisites

Install QNX SDP 8.0.
Create an SSH Key.

Install the following packages via apt.

sudo apt install qemu-system-x86 qemu-utils
sudo apt install bridge-utils
sudo apt install libvirt-clients libvirt-daemon-system
sudo apt install net-tools

Create Target Using Bash

Run bash if you aren’t already.
```
bash
```

Source qnxsdp-env.sh from your QNX installation.

source ~/qnx800/qnxsdp-env.sh

Example Output:

QNX_HOST=/home/flux/qnx800/host/linux/x86_64
QNX_TARGET=/home/flux/qnx800/target/qnx
MAKEFLAGS=-I/home/flux/qnx800/target/qnx/usr/include

Check that mkqnximage is found.

which mkqnximage

Example Output:

/home/flux/qnx800/host/common/bin/mkqnximage

Create a directory to hold the VM image.
```
mkdir ~/qnx-vm
cd ~/qnx-vm
```

Run mkqnximage to build the VM. Use --run to run the target.

mkqnximage                             \
--type=qemu                            \
--arch=x86_64                          \
--ssh-ident=$HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub  \
--run

Upon connection to the virtual target, the following will be printed to the terminal screen.

SeaBIOS (version 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2)


iPXE (https://ipxe.org) 00:03.0 CA00 PCI2.10 PnP PMM+3EFCACB0+3EF0ACB0 CA00



Booting from ROM..
non UEFI or UEFI+CSM boot
ACPI table not found (0x4746434d)
overriding mask for controller 2, vector_base 0
---> Starting slogger2
---> Starting PCI Services
---> Starting fsevmgr
# ---> Starting devb
---> Mounting file systems
Path=0 - Intel 82371SB
 target=0 lun=0     Direct-Access(0) -          QEMU HARDDISK    Rev: 2.5+
Path=1 - Intel 82371SB
 target=0 lun=0            CD-ROM(5) - QEMU     QEMU DVD-ROM     Rev: 2.5+
---> Mounting file systems
---> Starting Networking
---> Starting sshd
---> Starting misc

To exit QEMU, type <ctrl>a x

Process count:22
Startup complete
QNX noname 8.0.0 2025/07/30-19:24:08EDT x86pc x86_64

Press <Enter> to bring up the prompt, indicated by #. Enter the command uname -a to confirm that the target is running.

Example:
```
# uname -a
QNX noname 8.0.0 2025/07/30-19:24:08EDT x86pc x86_64
```

Run Target After Creation

After creating the target, navigate to the target directory (in this case ~/qnx-vm) and execute the following command. Always source qnxsdp-env.sh before invoking mkqnximage.

mkqnximage --run

Errors When Running `mkqnximage`

Error: Cannot Find brctl

Solution: Install bridge-utils:

sudo apt install bridge-utils

Error: SSH Identity File

You may encounter this error:

To allow root ssh, you need an ssh identity file. You probably want to use an option such as: --ssh-ident=~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Solution: Include the --ssh-ident parameter in the mkqnximage command.

--ssh-ident=$HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

If you do not already have an SSH key set up, follow instructions from this page.

Error: Unable to Run vmrun

You may encounter this error if you use --type=vmware

Unable to run vmrun. If you have VMWare Workstation Pro installed
you will need to add its directory to your PATH. If you are using
VMWare Workstation Player you will have to open the virtual
machine local/vmware_files/vmware.vmx directly.

Solution: Install VMware. Note that in this example we are using qemu instead of VMware.

Create Target Using Visual Studio Code QNX Toolkit

Install the QNX Toolkit extension.
Select the QNX extension from the activity bar. From QNX TARGETS, click the button labeled Add new QNX Virtual Target.
Select the virtual machine type. In this example we are using qemu.
Select the architecture.
For Enter extra mkqnximage options, add --ssh-ident=/path/to/public/ssh/key.

Make sure to use the full path, i.e. /home/username instead of ~. If you do not have an SSH Key set up already, follow instructions here.
In the sidebar under QNX TARGETS, a new target should be visible.

The following should be printed to the terminal window.

SeaBIOS (version 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2)


iPXE (https://ipxe.org) 00:03.0 CA00 PCI2.10 PnP PMM+3EFCACB0+3EF0ACB0 C0



Booting from ROM..
non UEFI or UEFI+CSM boot
ACPI table not found (0x4746434d)
overriding mask for controller 2, vector_base 0
---> Starting slogger2
---> Starting PCI Services
---> Starting fsevmgr
# ---> Starting devb
---> Mounting file systems
Path=0 - Intel 82371SB
 target=0 lun=0     Direct-Access(0) -          QEMU HARDDISK    Rev: 2.+
Path=1 - Intel 82371SB
 target=0 lun=0            CD-ROM(5) - QEMU     QEMU DVD-ROM     Rev: 2.+
---> Mounting file systems
---> Starting Networking
---> Starting sshd
---> Starting misc

To exit QEMU, type <ctrl>a x

Process count:22
Startup complete
QNX qemu-qnx800-x86_64 8.0.0 2025/07/30-19:24:08EDT x86pc x86_64
---

#

At the prompt, type uname -a to confirm that you are running the virtual target.

# uname -a
QNX qemu-qnx800-x86_64 8.0.0 2025/07/30-19:24:08EDT x86pc x86_64
# ---

Errors With Virtual Target Creation in Visual Studio Code

Error: Non-Existent SSH Key File

You may encounter the following error in the terminal window:

--ssh-ident refers to non-existent file: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Solution: If you are confident that the path provided for the public key is correct, use the full path instead of using ~ for home.

Example:

--ssh-ident=/home/flux/id_ed25519.pub

Error: dnsmasq Not Running

You may encounter this error in the terminal:

dnsmasq not running on br0 for DHCP service
You might be better off installing libvirt so you can use virbr0.
To do this, run:

    sudo apt install libvirt-clients libvirt-daemon-system

or whatever is appropriate for your system.

Need to configure networking for QEMU
Unable to configure networking please run:
    /home/flux/qnx800/host/linux/x86_64/../../common/mkqnximage/qemu/check-net
Command exited with error code: 2

Solution: Install libvirt:

sudo apt install libvirt-clients libvirt-daemon-system