Virt-manager returns an error
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I have only little experience with VM's. But since installing virt-manager includes the necessary packages for qemu, kvm etc. it has become quite easy. At least the installation part. Now I am struggling to connect to qemu. I know I have succeeded before, but now I am stuck.
I can open virt-manager, but when trying to connect, I get an "Error with connecting to virtual machine manager" (my translation from Danish). This is followed by "Unable to connect to libvirt qemu:///system. Verify that the 'libvirtd' daemon is running." (in English).
I have found various reports of this error message, but the solutions vary and I do not understand them.
What could cause this problem?
> What could cause this problem?
Is libvirtd running? You can check that with:
systemctl status libvirtd
To be honest, I am uncertain. Running the command gives a lot of output, but one line says: "Active: inactive (dead) since Wed 2026-02-04 19:36:10 CET; 23h ago"
So I guess it is not running??
What does the previous line say? The one that starts with:
Loaded:
.
Here is the full output:
$ systemctl status libvirtd
○ libvirtd.service - libvirt legacy monolithic daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/libvirtd.service; enabled; preset:>
Active: inactive (dead) since Thu 2026-02-05 20:57:11 CET; 11h ago
Duration: 2min 9ms
TriggeredBy: ● libvirtd.socket
● libvirtd-admin.socket
● libvirtd-ro.socket
Docs: man:libvirtd(8)
https://libvirt.org/
Process: 1452 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/libvirtd $LIBVIRTD_ARGS (code=exited, sta>
Main PID: 1452 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Tasks: 2 (limit: 32768)
Memory: 12.0M (peak: 19.8M)
CPU: 431ms
CGroup: /system.slice/libvirtd.service
├─1576 /usr/sbin/dnsmasq --conf-file=/var/lib/libvirt/dnsmasq/defa>
└─1577 /usr/sbin/dnsmasq --conf-file=/var/lib/libvirt/dnsmasq/defa>
feb 05 20:57:05 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: using nameserver 127.0.0.53#53
feb 05 20:57:11 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: Deactivated successfully.
feb 05 20:57:11 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: Unit process 1576 (dnsma>
feb 05 20:57:11 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: Unit process 1577 (dnsma>
feb 05 21:19:29 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: reading /etc/resolv.conf
feb 05 21:19:29 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: using nameserver 127.0.0.53#53
I am a translator!
On my computer, on which it works but I am not using it now, it shows nearly the same: the service is inactive because it is not used now.
To get information while it is used:
- first run "sudo journalctl -xefu libvirtd" in a mate-terminal window
- then start virt-manager, and capture what newly appeared in the mate-terminal window
Then I get this output:
$ sudo journalctl -xefu libvirtd
[sudo] adgangskode for jbw:
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p systemd[1]: Starting libvirtd.service - libvirt legacy monolithic daemon...
░░ Subject: Enhed libvirtd.service har påbegyndt opstart
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ Enhed libvirtd.service er begyndt at starte op.
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p systemd[1]: Started libvirtd.service - libvirt legacy monolithic daemon.
░░ Subject: Enhed @UNIT har færdiggjort opstart
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ Enhed libvirtd.service er færdig med at starte op.
░░
░░ Resultat for opstart er done.
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: started, version 2.90 cachesize 150
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: compile time options: IPv6 GNU-getopt DBus no-UBus i18n IDN2 DHCP DHCPv6 no-Lua TFTP conntrack ipset nftset auth cryptohash DNSSEC loop-detect inotify dumpfile
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p dnsmasq-dhcp[1576]: DHCP, IP range 192.168.122.2 -- 192.168.122.254, lease time 1h
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p dnsmasq-dhcp[1576]: DHCP, sockets bound exclusively to interface virbr0
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: reading /etc/resolv.conf
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: using nameserver 127.0.0.53#53
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: read /etc/hosts - 8 names
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: read /var/lib/libvirt/dnsmasq/default.addnhosts - 0 names
feb 05 20:55:11 jb-t440p dnsmasq-dhcp[1576]: read /var/lib/libvirt/dnsmasq/default.hostsfile
feb 05 20:57:05 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: reading /etc/resolv.conf
feb 05 20:57:05 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: using nameserver 127.0.0.53#53
feb 05 20:57:11 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: Deactivated successfully.
░░ Subject: Unit succeeded
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ The unit libvirtd.service has successfully entered the 'dead' state.
feb 05 20:57:11 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: Unit process 1576 (dnsmasq) remains running after unit stopped.
feb 05 20:57:11 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: Unit process 1577 (dnsmasq) remains running after unit stopped.
feb 05 21:19:29 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: reading /etc/resolv.conf
feb 05 21:19:29 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: using nameserver 127.0.0.53#53
feb 06 07:54:48 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: reading /etc/resolv.conf
feb 06 07:54:48 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: using nameserver 127.0.0.53#53
feb 06 07:54:48 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: reading /etc/resolv.conf
feb 06 07:54:48 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: using nameserver 127.0.0.53#53
feb 06 11:45:03 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: Found left-over process 1576 (dnsmasq) in control group while starting unit. Ignoring.
feb 06 11:45:03 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: This usually indicates unclean termination of a previous run, or service implementation deficiencies.
feb 06 11:45:03 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: Found left-over process 1577 (dnsmasq) in control group while starting unit. Ignoring.
feb 06 11:45:03 jb-t440p systemd[1]: libvirtd.service: This usually indicates unclean termination of a previous run, or service implementation deficiencies.
feb 06 11:45:03 jb-t440p systemd[1]: Starting libvirtd.service - libvirt legacy monolithic daemon...
░░ Subject: Enhed libvirtd.service har påbegyndt opstart
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ Enhed libvirtd.service er begyndt at starte op.
feb 06 11:45:03 jb-t440p systemd[1]: Started libvirtd.service - libvirt legacy monolithic daemon.
░░ Subject: Enhed @UNIT har færdiggjort opstart
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ Enhed libvirtd.service er færdig med at starte op.
░░
░░ Resultat for opstart er done.
feb 06 11:45:04 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: read /etc/hosts - 8 names
feb 06 11:45:04 jb-t440p dnsmasq[1576]: read /var/lib/libvirt/dnsmasq/default.addnhosts - 0 names
feb 06 11:45:04 jb-t440p dnsmasq-dhcp[1576]: read /var/lib/libvirt/dnsmasq/default.hostsfile
feb 06 11:45:04 jb-t440p libvirtd[16037]: libvirt version: 10.0.0, package: 10.0.0-2ubuntu8.11 (Ubuntu)
feb 06 11:45:04 jb-t440p libvirtd[16037]: hostname: jb-t440p
feb 06 11:45:04 jb-t440p libvirtd[16037]: internal error: Unknown PCI header type '127' for device '0000:00:16.0'
I am a translator!
When I do the same on my computer, I have the same except for the last 3 lines.
According to https://forum.level1techs.com/t/unknown-pci-header-type-127-for-device-000000-0/180125, the last line is a problem with a graphics card. Do you have a graphics card connected with PCI? I am not sure whether the person who posted the message had the VM not working or another issue. I don't understand all the details, but the message mentions that after reboot, it works again. Did you try rebooting and then try virt-manager?
I am a translator!
Is the libvirt-daemon-system package installed?
Yes
I had to add libvirt to my user's group list in order to get virtualization to work. I wonder if that was a good idea after all.
Except in my case a while back I think it did not add my user to the group "libvirt".
You can check to see if your user has this added this group by opening a terminal and using the id username command, where you replace username with yours.
This sounds very familiar to me. Back when I used debian based distros including Trisquel as my main OS, virt-manager didn't work right off the bat.
I remember vaguely doing just that to get it to work.
About half a year ago or so I installed virt-manager on trisquel (T11/Aramo) and crated a perfectly running VM through it.
With your words, it worked right off the bat.
But now it doesn't.
Looks like it is:
$ id jbw
uid=1001(jbw) gid=1001(jbw) grupper=1001(jbw),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),30(dip),46(plugdev),100(users),111(lpadmin),120(sambashare),125(libvirt)