How to run Linux (or some other) VM on Windows in QEMU in nearly-native host speed?

Easy. Hare are a few tips:

Install Intel HAXM for acceleration as described here - https://www.qemu.org/2017/11/22/haxm-usage-windows/

Note: you will need to reboot your PC after this. Again: reboot (not shutdown and start) to avoid Windows quick-start which skips some initialisations.
Install QEMU from https://qemu.weilnetz.de/w64/ (I used 5.2 version.) And add it to your Path.
[optional?] Convert your vmdk disk to native QEMU format qcow2:
```
qemu-img.exe convert disk1.vmdk -O qcow2 -c disk1.qcow2 -p
```
Note: QEMU can work with vmdk format directly, so you can try it and skip this step if it works for you. But if you see some disk-related issues (for example, like this one) - better to convert it.

Tip: I find it convenient to run all commands in git-bash on Windows.
Start your vm in QEMU (for example, with 4 CPUs and 4GB RAM configuration):
```
qemu-system-x86_64.exe -accel hax -smp 4 -m 4G disk1.qcow2
```
Note1: if you see errors like “could not load PC BIOS” you might need to specify the path to qemu directory with -L option:
```
qemu-system-x86_64.exe -L /c/Program\ Files/qemu -accel hax -smp 4 -m 4G disk1.qcow2
```
Note2: I find it convenient to work with the vm via ssh, so I start it with the port forwarding option -nic hostfwd:
```
qemu-system-x86_64.exe -L /c/Program\ Files/qemu -accel hax -smp 4 -m 4G disk1.qcow2 -nic hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:22222-:22 &
```
Now you can ssh to your vm from the same git-bash terminal:
```
ssh -p 22222 <user>@127.0.0.1
```

Have fun!

andriytk/qemu-on-win.md