Virtual machines

A NAS with spare memory and space is the machine in the house where it makes sense to run another computer inside: a Windows for that program that only exists on Windows, a throwaway Linux you can break without fear, or the old system you still need once a year. All from the browser, without installing anything on any other computer.

You need a volume already created (Storage → Create pool): machine disks are big files and live on the volume, under <pool>/vm/<name>/, never on the system disk. And the NAS should be a real machine: if LGM-OS itself runs inside another virtual machine there is no hardware acceleration (KVM) and everything crawls at emulator speed — the machine's screen warns about it.

The first machine

1. Get the installation image (the .iso file of the system you want). Two ways: upload it to any shared folder from Files, or —better— hand it to the NAS directly: in Virtual machines → New machine, the image selector has **"Download from the internet"**: paste the ISO's address and the NAS downloads it by itself into its store, as a task with progress. No downloading to the laptop just to upload it again.
2. "New machine": name, processors (2 by default), memory (2 GB by default), disk (32 GB by default — it is a file that only takes up what the machine writes, not the whole 32 GB up front) and the ISO.
3. The machine boots from the CD and the system installer appears: you drive it from the screen, as if you had a keyboard and monitor plugged in.
4. When the install finishes, eject the CD (the eject button on the machine's card, or in Details). While it is in, every reboot launches the installer again — it is the classic slip, which is why the card flags it with "boots from the CD".

The machine's disk grows up to the cap you gave it, but the cap cannot shrink. Start tight: growing it later is a button (Make the disk bigger); shrinking does not exist.

The screen

The "Screen" button opens the machine's console right in the panel — what you would see on a monitor plugged into it, from the BIOS to the desktop. It can also open in a separate tab, full screen.

• The console is not left open on the network: the machine only shows it to the NAS itself, and the panel acts as an authenticated bridge. Nobody on the local network can peek at it.
• The mouse stays aligned (the machine carries a virtual tablet): the pointer inside matches the one outside, with no weird captures.
• If the connection drops, start the machine (or check it is still running) and open the screen again.

The screen is for installing and for getting out of trouble. For day-to-day use inside the machine, its own remote access is more comfortable (SSH on a Linux, Remote Desktop on a Windows), entering through its IP.

Powering on, off, and starting with the NAS

• Shut down asks it nicely, like the power button on a PC: the system inside saves and closes. If after two minutes it has not obeyed, the panel says so — on a Linux without acpid, or a Windows with the power button set to "do nothing", the request falls on deaf ears.
• Force power off is pulling the plug: anything unsaved inside is lost. Only when it ignores a normal shutdown.
• Starts with the NAS: the autostart switch makes the machine come up on its own every time the NAS powers on. For the machine that serves something, it is the difference between "always works" and "works until the first power cut".

The machine's network

You choose how it connects in Details → hardware, and the panel only offers what actually exists on your machine:

• Virtual network (the usual): the machine reaches the internet and the NAS sees it, but the rest of the house cannot reach it. Perfect for installing and for throwaway machines.
• Bridge: the machine connects as one more computer on your network — your router gives it an IP, other computers see it. It is what you want if the machine serves something to the house. The docker0 bridge puts it on the same network as the Docker containers.
• Direct on a card: for specific cases; the machine shares the NAS's physical card.

The machine's IP shows up in Details, without entering it: the panel asks the guest agent if the system carries it, and otherwise the virtual network's registry.

Hardware after creating it

Everything in Details, and only with the machine off — changing hardware under a running system is the fastest way to corrupt it. You can change memory, processors, the CD's ISO and, under "advanced hardware": firmware (BIOS or UEFI), secure boot, TPM 2.0 chip, the processor model (the NAS's own, as is, which is the fast one, or a generic one that lets the machine move to another computer) and the graphics card (QXL the usual; VirtIO for modern Linux; VGA the one everything accepts).

Make the disk bigger

The "Make it bigger" button adds gigabytes to the disk (it never sets a size: a slip downwards is something nobody can undo). Mind the second half, which is on you: this gives more disk to the machine, not to its partitions — inside, Windows or Linux keep seeing the old partition until you grow it with their own tool (Disk Management on Windows, growpart/GParted on Linux).

Snapshots

Before a delicate change —a system update inside, touching a Windows registry—, "New snapshot". If it goes wrong, "Go back here" and the machine is as it was.

• With the machine running, the snapshot also saves the memory: on going back, it appears exactly as it was, programs open. It takes a while (it is copying the RAM).
• With the machine off, it is disk only and immediate.

⚠️ A snapshot is not a backup: it lives in the same file and on the same disk as the machine. If the volume is lost, they are lost together. The volume's vm folder can be included in backups like any other — with the machine off, so the copied disk is consistent.

Windows, with its three conditions

• Windows 11 demands UEFI, secure boot and TPM 2.0 before it lets itself be installed. All three are switches under "advanced hardware" — turn them on before installing. Changing the firmware of an already installed machine leaves it unable to boot: a system installed under BIOS does not boot through UEFI, nor the other way round.
• The machines' disk and network are VirtIO (the fast ones). Linux ships with them; the Windows installer does not carry the disk driver and will not see anywhere to install: use a Windows ISO with the VirtIO drivers built in (search "virtio-win" plus your version; preparing it takes ten minutes and is done once).
• Once the system is installed, add the guest agent (on Linux, the qemu-guest-agent package; on Windows it comes with the VirtIO drivers): with it the panel sees the IP and orderly shutdown always works.

When it pauses itself

If the storage underneath cannot write, qemu pauses the machine rather than let it corrupt itself. The panel does not stop at "it is paused": it investigates, and the notice tells you which of the four cases it is, because only one is fixed by deleting:

1. Plenty of room → it is not space: volume metadata or a damaged image.
2. The volume claims gigabytes and still refuses writes → clogged volume: fixed with Storage's "Rebalance" button, not by deleting.
3. The folder cannot grow but the volume can → there is a quota on that folder.
4. Truly full → free up space.

With the cause fixed, the "Resume" button wakes it up where it was.

Deleting a machine

"Delete" asks whether you also delete its disk. Without the disk, the machine disappears from the list but the file stays under <pool>/vm/<name>/ in case you want to recreate it; with it, everything goes and there is no way back. If the machine's folder holds files that are not its own, the panel leaves the folder and tells you.