What is the correct command to run GNU guix/Hurd in qemu?

freebert--- via Users list for the GNU Hurd <[email protected]> Wed, 17 Jun 2026 02:33:55 +0200 (CEST)
Newsgroups gmane.os.hurd.bugs
Message-ID <[email protected]>
I could not find much info about running GNU guix/Hurd in qemu, but I tried using two commands and I get get two different errors.

This is the one from GNU guix guide. https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Running-Guix-in-a-VM.html

qemu-system-x86_64 --machine q35    -nic user,model=virtio-net-pci    -enable-kvm -m 2048    -device virtio-blk,drive=myhd    -drive if=none,file=86pbr2w7zfzf31njwwihxs86adwbb6zv-hurd-barebones.qcow2,id=myhd

It then gets stuck in the boot process with the line "sd0: timeout waiting for identify"

The second command I tried is from the Debian GNU/Hurd guide. https://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-install

kvm -m 4G -drive file=$(echo 86pbr2w7zfzf31njwwihxs86adwbb6zv-hurd-barebones.qcow2),cache=writeback

It boots properly into GNU guix/Hurd, and I could login as root, but when I run "guix pull", I get this error

guix pull: error: Git error: cannot extend packfile '/root/.cache/guix/checkouts/7x37p6bub2newlthjx5kk2mco2aq44vxbq9p5gua3sifqxzfb3aqq/.git/objects/pack/pack_git2_37ae6b67c8b573ea': No space left on device

ext2fs: part:1:device:hd0: warning: This filesystem is out of space.

What is the command to run GNU guix/Hurd? Are there any other issues that I am unaware of that might be happening as well?