I tried booting a gentoo image I had created using the command virt-install --name=test --ram=512 --vcpus=1 --import --os-type=Linux --arch=i686 --disk path=/vms/test.qcow2,format=qcow2 --graphics vnc,port=5910,listen=0.0.0.0,password=test123 --network bridge=virbr0 --noautoconsole --description --autostart However even though the architecture is specified as i686, the image does not boot. It gives a message This kernel requires an i586 CPU, but only detected an i486 CPU. Unable to boot- please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU. The created libvirt profile xml can be found at Pastebin test.xml<http://pastebin.ca/2156937> I am able to boot it directly using qemu --enable-kvm I am at a loss about what could be causing such an issue?? Additionally is there by which I can pass additional parameters to qemu using libvirt? I understand that it is possible to pass the arguments by modifying the domain xml, but is there any way to do the same though command line? For my current work, I need to use a custom version of qemu with custom arguments. -- Regards Georgy