To enable copy-paste between a QEMU host and guest

To enable copy-paste between a QEMU host and guest, install spice-vdagent (or guest tools) in the guest OS, ensure it’s running, and use the SPICE display protocol for seamless clipboard sharing, often requiring the virtio-serial device and correct QEMU arguments in your setup. For Windows guests, you may also need to install VirtIO drivers, and for Linux guests, ensure the service starts correctly after X starts. 

For Linux Guests (e.g., Ubuntu, Fedora)

1. Install Agent: In the guest VM, run sudo apt install spice-vdagent (Debian/Ubuntu) or sudo dnf install spice-vdagent (Fedora).
2. Ensure Service is Running: The agent usually starts automatically, but you might need to run sudo systemctl start spice-vdagent or add it to startup.
3. Use SPICE: Ensure your QEMU setup uses the SPICE display protocol (e.g., -display spice) and includes virtio-serial devices for communication. 

For Windows Guests (e.g., Windows 10/11)

1. Install VirtIO Drivers: Download and install the VirtIO guest tools (virtio-win-pkg) from Fedora’s website for the necessary Spice Guest Driver and VirtIO Serial driver.
2. Install Agent: Install spice-vdagent within the guest after the drivers are in place.
3. Check Service: Verify the spice-vdagent service is running in Windows Services.
4. Use SPICE: Use SPICE for display and ensure the correct QEMU arguments for virtio-serial are set. 

For Both & General Troubleshooting

• Restart: Restart the guest VM and potentially the host’s virt-manager (if used) after installation.

• QEMU Arguments: When launching QEMU, ensure you have lines like these for the host to pass to the guest:

  -device virtio-serial-pci \
  -chardev spicevmc,id=charchannel1,name=vdagent \
  -device virtserialport,chardev=charchannel1,id=channel1,name=com.redhat.spice.0
  

• Alternative (Manual): If all else fails, you can use standard copy-paste, but you might need to click the VM’s title bar first, then click inside the guest before pasting (less reliable).

• Drag & Drop: For file transfers, drag-and-drop often works with the same setup (spice-vdagent + virtio drivers).#

See also

• Docker Cheat Sheet
• Emergency Docker Downgrade
• Missing Git Submodules?
• Mount a remote rsync.net filesystem in Linux
• Github pages, custom domains and Cloudflare