How to rename a KVM virtual machine image

Hello,

 Below is the steps to rename a kvm virtual machine.

1)Shutdown the Virtual machine first

virsh shutdown test1

or

virsh destroy test1

2) I just want to rename the virtual machine to test2

first dump the xml file of the old virtual machine which needs to be renamed

virsh dumpxml test1 > test2.xml

Then it will dump the xml file of test1 to test2.xml

The xml files are in the location /etc/libvirt/qemu


3)Then edit the file test2.xml using vi command line

vi /etc/libvirt/qemu/test2.xml

find the below two lines in the file

<domain type='kvm'>
  <name>test1</name>

replace the test1 with test2(new name)

Then save it and exit

4)Then undefine the older virtual machine using the command

virsh undefine test1

5)Define the new one using the command

virsh define /etc/libvirt/qemu/test2.xml


New renamed vm will start now.

regards
Syamkumar.M