Error /dev/kvm device permission error in Ubuntu | Fixed

Learn how to fix /dev/kvm device permission error in Ubuntu. Our KVM Support team is here to help you with your questions and concerns.

How to fix /dev/kvm device permission error in Ubuntu

KVM lets us run multiple virtual machines on a single host. However, enabling KVM on our system may lead to issues like

/dev/kvm device permission denied

Today, our experts are going to take us through setting up the virtualization environment and avoiding errors like the one above:

1. To begin with, press the F1 key before the system boots to enter the BIOS setup.
2. Then, head to the Security tab and enable Intel Virtualization Technology and Intel VT-d Feature.
3. Next, save the new settings by pressing the F10 key.
4. Now, exit BIOS and restart the computer.
5. At this point, head to the terminal and install the “qemu-kvm” package as seen here:

   sudo apt install qemu-kvmCopy Code
6. Then, we have to add our username to the “kvm” group by running this command:

   sudo adduser our_username kvmCopy Code
7. Sometimes, we may have to ensure the correct ownership of the “/dev/kvm” device by running this command:

   sudo chown our-username /dev/kvmCopy Code
8. Furthermore, we can find our username with whoami command and check the owner of “/dev/kvm,” with this command:

   ls -al /dev/kvmCopy Code
9. Additionally, we can confirm which users are in the “kvm” group:

   grep kvm /etc/groupCopy Code
10. Finally, it is time to verify if our username is added to the “kvm” group:

    grep kvm /etc/groupCopy Code

After the above steps, we have to restart our Ubuntu system. In case we still run into the error message, our experts suggest re-logging in to refresh our user permissions.

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Conclusion

In brief, our Support Experts demonstrated how to fix /dev/kvm device permission error in Ubuntu.