---
name: "virt-v2v-copy-to-local"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "libguestfs-tools"
version: "1:1.40.2-2"
release: "Debian 10 (Buster)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/virt-v2v-copy-to-local"
---

# virt-v2v-copy-to-local(1)

Copy a remote guest to the local machine

## NAME

virt-v2v-copy-to-local - Copy a remote guest to the local machine

## SYNOPSIS

```
 virt-v2v-copy-to-local -ic LIBVIRT_URI GUEST
 virt-v2v-copy-to-local -ic xen+ssh://root@xen.example.com xen_guest
```

## DESCRIPTION

`"virt-v2v-copy-to-local"` copies a guest from a remote hypervisor to the local machine, in preparation for conversion by [**virt-v2v**(1)](/virt-v2v/1.md). Note this tool alone **does not** do the virt-v2v conversion.

### When to use this tool

This tool is not usually necessary, but there are a few special cases (see list below) where you might need it.

If your case does not fit one of these special cases, then ignore this tool and read [**virt-v2v**(1)](/virt-v2v/1.md) instead.  The virt-v2v-copy-to-local process is slower than using virt-v2v directly, because it has to copy unused parts of the guest disk.

- •

  You have a Xen guest using host block devices.  Virt-v2v cannot convert such guests directly.

  See [**virt-v2v-input-xen**(1)](/virt-v2v-input-xen/1.md).

### How this tool works

This tool uses libvirt to get the libvirt XML (metadata) of the remote guest, essentially equivalent to running `"virsh dumpxml guest"`.

It then uses the XML to locate the remote guest disks, which are copied over using a hypervisor-specific method.  It uses ssh for remote Xen hypervisors.

It then modifies the libvirt XML so that it points at the local copies of the guest disks.

The libvirt XML is output to a file called *guest.xml* (where *guest* is the name of the guest).  The disk(s) are output to file(s) called *guest-disk1*, *guest-disk2* and so on.

After copying the guest locally, you can convert it using:

```
 virt-v2v -i libvirtxml guest.xml [-o options ...]
```

Virt-v2v finds the local copies of the disks by looking in the XML.

## EXAMPLES

### Copy and convert from Xen hypervisor that uses host block devices

For full instructions, see [**virt-v2v-input-xen**(1)](/virt-v2v-input-xen/1.md).

```
 virt-v2v-copy-to-local -ic xen+ssh://root@xen.example.com xen_guest
 virt-v2v -i libvirtxml xen_guest.xml -o local -os /var/tmp
 rm xen_guest.xml xen_guest-disk*
```

## OPTIONS

- **--help**

  Display help.

- **-ic** libvirtURI

  Specify a libvirt connection URI

- **-ip** file

  Instead of asking for password(s) interactively, pass the password through a file.  Note the file should contain the whole password, **without any trailing newline**, and for security the file should have mode `0600` so that others cannot read it.

  Currently this option does not have any effect on xen+ssh transfers, but that is a bug.

- **-q**

  - **--quiet**

  This disables progress bars and other unnecessary output.

- **-v**

  - **--verbose**

  Enable verbose messages for debugging.

- **-V**

  - **--version**

  Display version number and exit.

## SEE ALSO

[**virt-v2v**(1)](/virt-v2v/1.md), [**virsh**(1)](/virsh/1.md), http://libguestfs.org/, https://libvirt.org/uri.html, https://libvirt.org/remote.html.

## AUTHORS

Richard W.M. Jones http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2009-2019 Red Hat Inc.

## LICENSE

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

## BUGS

To get a list of bugs against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

To report a new bug against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter\_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

When reporting a bug, please supply:

- •

  The version of libguestfs.

- •

  Where you got libguestfs (eg. which Linux distro, compiled from source, etc)

- •

  Describe the bug accurately and give a way to reproduce it.

- •

  Run [**libguestfs-test-tool**(1)](/libguestfs-test-tool/1.md) and paste the **complete, unedited** output into the bug report.