---
title: "Install the QEMU Guest Agent | Hostman Docs"
description: "See how to set up the QEMU Guest Agent on Ubuntu, CentOS, or Debian to enhance your virtualization environment with Hostman."
---

> For the complete documentation index for AI agents, see [llms.txt](https://hostman.com/llms.txt).

To fully manage your Hostman [server](https://hostman.com/cloud-server/) in the dashboard, you need to have the **QEMU Guest Agent** installed. 

If the QEMU agent is not installed or is disabled, some dashboard functionality will be unavailable, such as managing backups, snapshots, or SSH keys, resetting your root password, and others.

If you installed any software from the marketplace while creating the server, the QEMU guest agent will be installed automatically. Otherwise, you can install it manually by following this guide.

## Checking for QEMU Guest Agent

To check if the QEMU guest agent is installed on your server:

1.  Connect to the server via SSH.
2.  Run the following command:

```shell
systemctl status qemu-guest-agent
```

If you have a similar output, it means the guest agent is up and running:

![Powershell 25 Kh J1u Wr D](https://content.hostman.com/assets/586b2be6-f504-4ec1-ad72-60aef9615cb1.png?width=771&height=218)

If the output looks like this, it means the agent is not installed:

```shell
Unit qemu-guest-agent.service could not be found.
```

In this case, the agent is installed but disabled—you need to restart it:

```shell
Active: inactive (dead) since ...
```

## Restarting QEMU Guest Agent

If you've already installed the QEMU guest agent but some features of the dashboard are still unavailable, try restarting the agent. This will likely solve the issue.

1.  Connect to the server via SSH.
    
2.  Run the following command:
    

```shell
systemctl restart qemu-guest-agent.service
```

3.  Check that everything is working correctly with the following command:
    

```shell
systemctl status qemu-guest-agent.service
```

If everything is in order, the output will be as follows:

![Powershell 25 Kh J1u Wr D](https://content.hostman.com/assets/586b2be6-f504-4ec1-ad72-60aef9615cb1.png?width=771&height=218)

## Installing QEMU Guest Agent

To install the QEMU agent, connect to the server via SSH and run the appropriate commands for your operating system.

### Ubuntu 18.04 and higher

```shell
apt update && apt install qemu-guest-agent -y;
```

### CentOS Stream 9

```shell
yum install qemu-guest-agent
```

### Debian 8 and higher

```
apt update;
apt install qemu-guest-agent -y
```