orgcontrib/gnome-boxes-imp-exp.md

## gnome-boxes-imp-exp.md

      
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              gnome-boxes-imp-exp.md
            
          
    HOWTO Import/Export GNOME Boxes (VMs)

WIP Feature (work in progress)

Issue#444 as of now: 2025-11-09.
Hints about the current state of affairs

dacbarbos@vivobookone:~$ ll ~/.var/app/org.gnome.Boxes/data/gnome-boxes/images
ls: cannot access '/home/dacbarbos/.var/app/org.gnome.Boxes/data/gnome-boxes/images': No such file or directory
dacbarbos@vivobookone:~$ # the new way hasn't landed yet (as of F43/GNOME-Boxes-49.0)
dacbarbos@vivobookone:~$ virsh list --all
 Id   Name     State
-------------------------
 -    debian   shut off
 -    win7     shut off

dacbarbos@vivobookone:~$ # so where are my VMs (disk images)?
dacbarbos@vivobookone:~$ ll ~/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images
total 61366800
-rwxr--r--. 1 dacbarbos dacbarbos 31938445484 Nov  9 10:50 debian
-rwxr--r--. 1 dacbarbos dacbarbos 30901403648 Nov  8 22:13 win7
dacbarbos@vivobookone:~$ # what's the default image format?
dacbarbos@vivobookone:~$ file ~/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images/debian
/home/dacbarbos/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images/debian: QEMU QCOW Image (v3), 32212254720 bytes (v3), 32212254720 bytes
dacbarbos@vivobookone:~$ 

EXPORT: Simply copy/backup your source image file(s) onto some external storage (e.g., a USB drive).

cp ~/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images/debian /run/media/$USER/debian.qcow2

IMPORT: Simply use the Install from File (+ menu option) in the app's window (upper-left corner).

TIP: It's important to set the correct OS when it is undetected or unknown during import or installation.
NOTE: To maintain consistency, I suggest installing the image in its place before importing it.

EXAMPLE: install /run/media/$USER/debian.qcow2 -m 744 -t ~/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images

Optional, but recommended (for the sake of consistency), is to rename it without the qcow2 extension.
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