VxWorks Getting Started

Get VxWorks running in QEMU, a machine emulator.

Notes

  1. These instructions were executed on a Linux machine, version Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS (Noble Numbat).
  2. Lines starting with > represent commands entered at the command prompt.
  3. Instructions were taken from official references listed below.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with these instructions, ensure the following packages are installed.

sudo apt install build-essential libc6:i386
sudo apt install python3-pip
sudo apt install python3-pyftpdlib
sudo apt install qemu-system-x86

Download SDK and Boot VxWorks Image

  1. Download VxWorks SDK for IA - QEMU (x86-64).

  2. Extract the compressed file. This may take a couple minutes.

    # x = extract
# j = use bzip2 compression
# f = filename follows
tar -xjf wrsdk-vxworks7-qemu-1.17.0.tar.bz2

  3. If preferred, move the extracted directory.

    # Make new directory
> mkdir ~/apps/wind-river

# Move extracted directory to new location
> mv wrsdk-vxworks7-qemu-1.17.0 ~/apps/wind-river

  4. Navigate to the extracted directory and source sdkenv.sh.

    > cd ~/apps/wind-river/wrsdk-vxworks7-qemu-1.17.0
> source sdkenv.sh

    Note: If you get this error after sourcing the file, reconfigure /bin/sh/ to bash as described at the end of this page.

    The default shell is dash, please change your default shell to bash.

  5. Verify that the environment $WIND_HOME has been set.

    > echo $WIND_HOME
/home/flux/apps/wind-river/wrsdk-vxworks7-qemu-1.17.0

  6. Boot VxWorks on QEMU. From the VxWorks SDK root, run the following command (in this example the SDK root is: ~/apps/wind-river/wrsdk-vxworks7-qemu-1.17.0).

    > qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1024M -kernel vxsdk/bsps/itl_generic_3_0_0_5/vxWorks \
  -net nic -net user,hostfwd=tcp::1534-:1534,hostfwd=tcp::2345-:2345         \
  -display none -serial stdio -monitor none                                  \
  -append "bootline:fs(0,0)host:vxWorks h=10.0.2.2 e=10.0.2.15 u=target pw=vxTarget o=gei0"
    Instantiating /ram0 as rawFs, device = 0x1
Instantiating /ram0 as rawFs,  device = 0x1
Formatting /ram0 for HRFS v1.2
Formatting...OK.
Target Name: vxTarget
Instantiating /tmp as rawFs, device = 0x10001
Instantiating /tmp as rawFs,  device = 0x10001
Formatting /tmp for HRFS v1.2
Formatting...OK.

 _________            _________
 \........\          /......../
  \........\        /......../
   \........\      /......../
    \........\    /......../
     \........\   \......./
      \........\   \...../              VxWorks SMP 64-bit
       \........\   \.../
        \........\   \./     Release version: 26.03
         \........\   -      Build date: May  6 2026 15:25:23
          \........\
           \......./         Copyright Wind River Systems, Inc.
            \...../   -                 1984-2026
             \.../   /.\
              \./   /...\
               -   -------

                   Board: x86_64 Processor (ACPI_BOOT_OP) SMP/SMT
               CPU Count: 1
          OS Memory Size: ~958MB
        ED&R Policy Mode: Deployed
     Debug Agent: Started (always)
         Stop Mode Agent: Not started

Instantiating /ram as rawFs,  device = 0x20001
Formatting /ram for DOSFS
Instantiating /ram as rawFs, device = 0x20001
Formatting...Retrieved old volume params with %38 confidence:
Volume Parameters: FAT type: FAT32, sectors per cluster 0
  0 FAT copies, 0 clusters, 0 sectors per FAT
  Sectors reserved 0, hidden 0, FAT sectors 0
  Root dir entries 0, sysId (null)  , serial number 110000
  Label:"           " ...
Disk with 64 sectors of 512 bytes will be formatted with:
Volume Parameters: FAT type: FAT12, sectors per cluster 1
  2 FAT copies, 54 clusters, 1 sectors per FAT
  Sectors reserved 1, hidden 0, FAT sectors 2
  Root dir entries 112, sysId VXDOS12 , serial number 110000
  Label:"           " ...
OK.

 Adding 28098 symbols for standalone.

->

    Note: If the VxWorks image did not load, a terminal window will pop up and might look like this:

    If you click on the QEMU terminal, you might not be able to click anywhere on your machine. press Ctrl+Alt+G to release the grab.

Hello World

  1. Create a ‘hello world’ source file named hello.c.

    #include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
  {
    printf("\n\nHello there :)\n\n");
    return 0;
  }

  2. Source the sdkenv.sh script from the root of the SDK.

    > cd ~/apps/wind-river/wrsdk-vxworks7-qemu-1.17.0
> source sdkenv.sh

  3. Compile the source file.

    wr-cc -rtp hello.c -static -o hello.exe

  4. Start an FTP server.

    > sudo python3 -m pyftpdlib -p 21 -u target -P vxTarget -d $HOME
[I 2026-05-16 19:58:35] concurrency model: async
[I 2026-05-16 19:58:35] masquerade (NAT) address: None
[I 2026-05-16 19:58:35] passive ports: None
[I 2026-05-16 19:58:35] >>> starting FTP server on 0.0.0.0:21, pid=406255 <<<

    To turn off FTP logging, append the command with > /dev/null 2>&1

    sudo python3 -m pyftpdlib -p 21 -u target -P vxTarget -d $HOME > /dev/null 2>&1

  5. Move the FTP server process to the background by pressing Ctrl+Z. Run bg to keep the process running.

      ^Z
zsh: suspended  sudo python3 -m pyftpdlib -p 21 -u target -P vxTarget -d $HOME

> bg
[3]    continued  sudo python3 -m pyftpdlib -p 21 -u target -P vxTarget -d $HOME

  6. Boot VxWorks on QEMU as described above.

    > qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1024M -kernel vxsdk/bsps/itl_generic_3_0_0_5/vxWorks \
  -net nic -net user,hostfwd=tcp::1534-:1534,hostfwd=tcp::2345-:2345         \
  -display none -serial stdio -monitor none                                  \
  -append "bootline:fs(0,0)host:vxWorks h=10.0.2.2 e=10.0.2.15 u=target pw=vxTarget o=gei0"

  7. Run cmd.

    -> cmd
[vxWorks *]# cd <path to hello.exe>

    Example

    Note: If logging was not redirected when starting the FTP server, FTP session messages may appear during command execution. These can be safely ignored.

    -> cmd
[vxWorks *]# cd ~/git/sample-programs/vxworks/hello-vxworks
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42454-[] FTP session opened (connect)
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42454-[target] USER 'target' logged in.
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42454-[target] FTP session closed (disconnect).
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42458-[] FTP session opened (connect)
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42458-[target] USER 'target' logged in.
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42458-[target] FTP session closed (disconnect).
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42474-[] FTP session opened (connect)
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42474-[target] USER 'target' logged in.
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42474-[target] FTP session closed (disconnect).
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42478-[] FTP session opened (connect)
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42478-[target] USER 'target' logged in.
[I 2026-05-16 20:34:53] 127.0.0.1:42478-[target] FTP session closed (disconnect).

[vxWorks *]# hello.exe
Launching process 'hello.exe' ...
Process 'hello.exe' (process Id = 0xffff800006ede000) launched.


Hello there :)

  8. To shut down the VxWorks image, exit cmd and then press Ctrl+C.

    [vxWorks *]# exit
Au revoir!
qemu-system-x86_64: terminating on signal 2

Stop FTP Server Process

  1. Determine the PID for the process.

    > sudo lsof -i :21
COMMAND    PID USER   FD   TYPE   DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
python3 406255 root    4u  IPv4 11734009      0t0  TCP *:ftp (LISTEN)

  2. Kill the process, in this case, 406255.

    > sudo kill 406255

Reconfigure /bin/sh

The script sdkenv.sh assumes that /bin/sh is configured to bash, but in this example, it was configured to dash. This section describes how to reconfigure /bin/sh to bash.

  1. Verify /bin/sh is pointing to dash.

    > ls -la /bin/sh
rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Mar 31  2024 /bin/sh -> dash

  2. Force /bin/sh to link to bash.

    > sudo ln -sf /usr/bin/bash /bin/sh

  3. Verify /bin/sh has been reconfigured to /usr/bin/bash.

    > readlink -f /bin/sh
/usr/bin/bash