How to open a .qcow2 file
Quick, free ways to open QCOW2 on any system.
A .qcow2 file is a QEMU Copy-On-Write v2. If double-clicking does nothing, your computer simply does not have an app that reads QCOW2 yet. Here is how to fix that on each operating system, using free software wherever possible.
Open a .qcow2 file step by step
- Confirm the file really is a .qcow2. Drop it into the WhatFileType file identifier, which reads its signature without uploading anything.
- On Windows, open it with qemu or qemu-img.
- On Mac, use qemu or qemu-img.
- On Linux, try QEMU / KVM or qemu-img.
- Still stuck? Convert the .qcow2 to vmdk, which opens more widely.
Best apps to open .qcow2 files
Windows
- qemu
- qemu-img
macOS
- qemu
- qemu-img
Linux
- QEMU / KVM
- qemu-img
- virt-manager
!
Before you open it: Safe as a container; it holds a full system image. Only boot images you trust.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I open my .qcow2 file?
Almost always because no installed app understands QCOW2. Install one of the apps above, or convert the file to a format your existing software already reads.
How do I open a qcow2 file?
Boot it with QEMU or virt-manager, or convert and inspect it with qemu-img. It is a virtual disk image for QEMU/KVM.
What are qcow2 snapshots?
Copy-on-write points in time you can return to. Because only changed blocks are stored, snapshots are cheap in space and fast to create.