[libvirt-users] hvm on x86_64 on binutils i386

Hi, I have this setup kernel: x86_64 version 4.2.0 operating system (rootfs binutils etc.,) : i386 (ELF-32-bit) qemu-system : version 2.4.0 qemu-system-x86_64 (i386 binary) libvirt: 1.2.19 (i386 ) When I run the qemu-system-x86_64 binary with --enable-kvm, the guest machine is working properly as hvm. So QEMU can run x86_64 OS as hvm when I install using virt-install virt-install --name debian --cdrom ./debian-stretch-DI-a1-amd64-netinst.iso --disk /STOR/DEBIAN,bus=sata --ram 1024 --graphics vnc I expect the 64-bit kernel to load and start install in the guest but i get a complaint that the guest cannot boot since the cpu is not 64-bit capable (please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU) I tried adding the machine option to virt-install virt-install --name debian --cdrom ./debian-stretch-DI-a1-amd64-netinst.iso --disk /STOR/DEBIAN,bus=sata --ram 1024 --graphics vnc --machine pc-i440fx-2.0 No joy Tried changing the machine as hvm and also added --arch x86_64 none of them help ! Can someone tell me how to do this ? Just because the binutils and the OS is 32-bit I think libvirt must not refuse to hvm a x86_64 guest since the kernel is still x86_64 kernel and so so the kvm (module) I am guessing I am missing some option passed to virt-install or this is a limitation purely on libvirt (not qemu or kvm) Moreover QEMU is able to run a hvm guest x86_64 and manually running qemu does bootup the 64-bit kernel guests.