qemu-libretro

This is a libretro QEMU core, allowing to run VMs in a libretro frontend.

Download

You can download this core from the libretro Buildbot.

Usage

You can open a .iso, .img, .qcow, or .qcow2 file, and it will be run with the command

qemu-system-x86_64 -audiodev libretro,id=snd0 -machine pcspk-audiodev=snd0 -device AC97,audiodev=snd0 PATH_TO_OPENED_FILE

If you need more customization, such as increasing memory or using a different architecture than x86_64, you can provide your own QEMU command in a .qemu_cmd_line file. It uses the g_shell_parse_argv() function and not an actual shell to parse the command, so it will only supports simple shell features. The core interprets relative paths as relative to the directory containing the .qemu_cmd_line file.

Examples

KolibriOS

1. Download the live CD image.
2. Open kolibri.iso with the QEMU core.

Windows XP

1. Create an empty disk image with

   qemu-img create -f qcow2 winxp_disk.qcow2 12G

   Change 12G to the size of the disk you want. This core doesn't provide a way to run qemu-img, so you will need to make the disk image separately and copy it into the games folder.
2. Copy the installer ISO to winxp_installer.iso in the games folder.
3. Create a text file winxp.qemu_cmd_line in the games folder containing the command

   qemu-system-x86_64 -hda winxp_disk.qcow2 -cdrom winxp_installer.iso -boot d -m 1G

4. Load winxp.qemu_cmd_line with the QEMU core and complete the installation.
5. Modify winxp.qemu_cmd_line to contain

   qemu-system-x86_64 -hda winxp_disk.qcow2 -m 1G

   Change the 1G to a different amount of RAM if desired. The winxp_installer.iso file isn't needed anymore and can be deleted.
6. Load winxp.qemu_cmd_line with the QEMU core to boot into Windows XP.

Windows 11

1. Create an empty disk image with

   qemu-img create -f qcow2 win11_disk.qcow2 64G

   Change 64G to the size of the disk you want. This core doesn't provide a way to run qemu-img, so you will need to make the disk image separately and copy it into the games folder.
2. Copy the installer ISO to win11_installer.iso in the games folder.
3. Create a text file win11.qemu_cmd_line in the games folder containing the command

   qemu-system-x86_64 -hda win11_disk.qcow2 -cdrom win11_installer.iso -boot d -m 1G --cpu Skylake-Client-v3

4. Load win11.qemu_cmd_line with the QEMU core and complete the installation.
5. Modify win11.qemu_cmd_line to contain

   qemu-system-x86_64 -hda win11_disk.qcow2 -m 1G --cpu Skylake-Client-v3

   Change the 1G to a different amount of RAM if desired. The win11_installer.iso file isn't needed anymore and can be deleted.
6. Load win11.qemu_cmd_line with the QEMU core to boot into Windows 11.

MacOS 9.2

1. Create an empty disk image with

   qemu-img create -f qcow2 mac9_disk.qcow2 2G

   Change 2G to the size of the disk you want. This core doesn't provide a way to run qemu-img, so you will need to make the disk image separately and copy it into the games folder.
2. Copy the installer ISO to mac9_installer.iso in the games folder.
3. Create a text file mac9.qemu_cmd_line in the games folder containing the command

   qemu-system-ppc -boot d -m 512 -L pc-bios -hda mac9_disk.qcow2 -drive file=mac9_installer.iso,format=raw,media=cdrom -M mac99,via=pmu

4. Load mac9.qemu_cmd_line with the QEMU core and complete the installation. Open "Drive Setup" in the "Utilities" folder, and initialize the volume called "not initialized". Then open the "Mac OS Install" program and complete the installation.
5. Modify mac9.qemu_cmd_line to contain

   qemu-system-ppc -boot c -m 512M -L pc-bios -hda mac9_disk.qcow2 -M mac99,via=pmu

   Change the 512M to a different amount of RAM if desired. The mac9_installer.iso file isn't needed anymore and can be deleted.
6. Load mac9.qemu_cmd_line with the QEMU core to boot into MacOS 9.2.

Compile instructions (Ubuntu)

sudo apt-get install build-essential python3 python3-venv ninja-build flex bison zlib1g-dev
git clone --recursive https://github.com/io12/qemu-libretro
cd qemu-libretro
mkdir build
cd build
CFLAGS="-Os -Wno-error -Wno-nested-externs -Wno-redundant-decls" ../configure \
    --without-default-features \
    --glib=internal \
    --zlib=internal \
    --disable-pie \
    --enable-fdt=internal \
    --disable-modules \
    --disable-plugins \
    --enable-libretro \
    --audio-drv-list=libretro \
    --disable-sdl \
    -Dwrap_mode=forcefallback
make -j$(nproc) libqemu_libretro.so

For help compiling for other platforms, see the CI build script.