virt-install \ --name win7 \ --ram 4096 \ --vcpus 4 \ --disk path=windows7.qcow2,format=qcow2,bus=virtio \ --cdrom /path/to/windows7.iso \ --disk path=/path/to/virtio-win.iso,device=cdrom \ --os-variant win7 \ --graphics vnc
The biggest mistake people make: using IDE emulation for the disk. That is slow . The best setup uses .