VCDS on Linux/Mac: Installation & Setup

Translated on 28-07-2026, 3:57.

VCDS can be used on a virtual machine with Windows, and also under other operating systems.
For example, Apple's macOS or Linux.

Quote:

Currently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Solaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, 7, 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4, 2.6, 3.x, 4.x, 5.x and 6.x), Solaris and OpenSolaris, OS/2, OpenBSD, NetBSD and FreeBSD.

https://www.virtualbox.org/ An important prerequisite is that VCDS device drivers must be available for the computer's CPU.

HEX-V2 and HEX-NET support x86, AMD64, and ARM as processor platforms.

My development machine, for example, uses Ubuntu 22.04 LTS with VirtualBox and Windows 8.1 as a virtual machine.

To use the USB device (e.g., HEX-V2 / HEX-NET) within the virtual machine, you need to make the corresponding USB device available to the virtual machine. This essentially means that the host operating system (in my case, Ubuntu) is no longer responsible for the device; instead, the virtual machine takes over control.

Under Linux, the `dmesg` command (run as root) provides information about connected USB devices, among other things.
The easiest way is to bind the VirtualBox USB filter generously to the USB product string (a restart of the virtual machine may be necessary).

Now I can use VCDS as usual, in my case on Ubuntu.

Best regards, Rainer.

Translated on 28-07-2026, 4:05.

Alternatively, QEMU can also be used with the Virtual Machine Manager.

I am currently using Kubuntu 24.04, and I found it easier to set up and use.

Quote:

Complete package list for QEMU and Virtual Machine Manager under Ubuntu 24.04

1. Basic installation (Essential)

Code:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients virt-manager -y

Included packages:

qemu-kvm - QEMU with KVM support (hardware virtualization).
libvirt-daemon-system - Libvirt daemon for VM management.
libvirt-clients - Command-line tools for Libvirt.
virt-manager - A GUI for VM management (Virtual Machine Manager).

2. Network & Bridge (optional, but recommended)

Code:

sudo apt install bridge-utils net-tools dnsmasq dnsmasq-base -y
# ODER für virtio-net Unterstützung
sudo apt install virtio-net-drivers -y

3. UEFI/EFI Support (for modern VMs)

Code:

sudo apt install ovmf qemu-efi-aarch64 qemu-efi -y

4. Additional QEMU Utilities

Code:

sudo apt install qemu-utils libguestfs-tools -y

5. Performance Optimization

Code:

sudo apt install cpu-checker qemu-system-x86 qemu-system-gui -y

6. Complete installation line (all-in-one)

Code:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install \
qemu-kvm \
libvirt-daemon-system \
libvirt-clients \
virt-manager \
bridge-utils \
ovmf \
qemu-utils \
libguestfs-tools \
cpu-checker \
qemu-system-x86 \
qemu-system-gui \
virtio-net-drivers \
-y

7. After the installation

A. Add users to groups

Code:

sudo usermod -aG libvirt $USER
sudo usermod -aG kvm $USER
newgrp libvirt

B. Start services

Code:

sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd
sudo systemctl start libvirtd
sudo systemctl status libvirtd

C. Check virtualization

Code:

kvm-ok
egrep -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo

8. Optional packages for specific applications

For Windows guests

Code:

wget https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso

For USB Passthrough

Code:

sudo apt install usbutils -y

For GPU passthrough.

Code:

sudo apt install intel-microcode amd64-microcode -y

9. Verify installation

Code:

which virt-manager
which virsh
which qemu-system-x86_64
virsh list --all
qemu-system-x86_64 --version

10. Firewall rules (if UFW is active)

Code:

sudo ufw allow libvirt
sudo ufw reload

11. Alternative: Minimal installation (command-line interface only)

Code:

sudo apt install qemu-kvm qemu-utils libvirt-clients -y

12. Key dependencies at a glance:

qemu-kvm - A KVM hypervisor using QEMU.
libvirt-daemon-system - Background service for VM management.
virt-manager - Graphical interface.
bridge-utils - Network Bridging.
ovmf – UEFI firmware for VMs.
qemu-utils - Tools for disk images (qemu-img).
libguestfs-tools - Tools for accessing virtual machine file systems.

13. Starting virt-manager:

Code:

virt-manager

14. Troubleshooting:

If virt-manager does not start:

Code:

groups | grep libvirt
sudo systemctl restart libvirtd
export LIBVIRT_DEFAULT_URI="qemu:///system"

If the network is not working:

Code:

sudo virsh net-start default
sudo virsh net-autostart default