What is Quickemu used for?

Quickemu is a command-line wrapper around QEMU that quickly creates and runs optimized Windows, macOS and Linux virtual machines. It is a good fit for testing Linux distributions quickly and running Windows or macOS in a VM on Linux.

Is Quickemu open source?

Yes. Quickemu is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at quickemu-project/quickemu and is written mainly in Shell.

Yes. Quickemu is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What is Quickemu an alternative to?

Quickemu is an open-source alternative to VMware Workstation and Parallels Desktop. Other open-source alternatives to VMware Workstation include VirtualBox, virt-manager and QEMU.

Is Quickemu actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Quickemu was on 28 September 2026, and the latest release is 4.9.9, published on 10 February 2026. The project has 16k stars on GitHub.

Quickemu: open-source alternative to VMware Workstation

About Quickemu

Quickemu is a wrapper for QEMU that aims to do the right thing automatically when you create virtual machines. You choose the operating system you want to run, and the tools handle configuration. It is a set of shell scripts released under the MIT license, with no need to work through exhaustive QEMU options.

Two programs do the work: quickget downloads the upstream operating system and creates the configuration, and quickemu inspects your hardware and launches the virtual machine with settings that suit your computer. Virtual machines and their config can be stored anywhere, such as external USB storage or a home directory, and running them needs no elevated permissions.

Originally built for quickly testing Linux distributions, it now supports macOS releases from Mojave to Sequoia, Windows 10 and 11 including TPM 2.0, Windows Server, most BSDs and unusual systems such as FreeDOS, Haiku and ReactOS. The README cites nearly 1000 operating system editions. Features include SPICE clipboard sharing, VirtIO and Samba file sharing, and ARM64 guests. Hosts can be Linux or macOS.

Key features

Automatic OS download with quickget
Hardware-aware VM configuration
Windows 10 and 11 guests with TPM 2.0
macOS, BSD and Linux guests
SPICE clipboard and VirtIO file sharing
ARM64 guest support

Good fit for

→Testing Linux distributions quickly
→Running Windows or macOS in a VM on Linux

Built with: Shell
Tags: virtualization; qemu; virtual-machines; kvm; linux; macos; windows; shell

Quickemu: questions and answers

What is Quickemu used for?: Quickemu is a command-line wrapper around QEMU that quickly creates and runs optimized Windows, macOS and Linux virtual machines. It is a good fit for testing Linux distributions quickly and running Windows or macOS in a VM on Linux.
Is Quickemu open source?: Yes. Quickemu is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at quickemu-project/quickemu and is written mainly in Shell.
Is Quickemu free?: Yes. Quickemu is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What is Quickemu an alternative to?: Quickemu is an open-source alternative to VMware Workstation and Parallels Desktop. Other open-source alternatives to VMware Workstation include VirtualBox, virt-manager and QEMU.
Is Quickemu actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Quickemu was on 28 September 2026, and the latest release is 4.9.9, published on 10 February 2026. The project has 16k stars on GitHub.