Introduction

WIP

This is part one of the Fireracker microVM guide.

Create/Build Kernel

Get the Linux source code at v6.19 using the recommended guest Kernel configuration (see: https://github.com/firecracker-microvm/firecracker/tree/main/resources/guest_configs).

$ git clone https://github.com/torvalds/linux.git
$ cd linux
$ git checkout -b v6.19 v6.19
$ wget 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/firecracker-microvm/firecracker/refs/heads/main/resources/guest_configs/microvm-kernel-ci-x86_64-6.1.config' -O .config
$ make olddefconfig
$ make vmlinux

If the above fails at any point, please try either yes "" | make oldconfig or make silentoldconfig before make vmlinux.

Create Linux rootfs image

Download pre-built Linux Kernel and rootfs

If you prefer a pre-built solution then execute the below:

# Download a linux kernel binary
$ wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/spec.ccfc.min/firecracker-ci/v1.7/x86_64/vmlinux-5.10.204
# Download a rootfs
$ wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/spec.ccfc.min/firecracker-ci/v1.7/x86_64/ubuntu-22.04.ext4
# Download the ssh key for the rootfs
$ wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/spec.ccfc.min/firecracker-ci/v1.7/x86_64/ubuntu-22.04.id_rsa
# Set user read permission on the ssh key
$ chmod 400 ./ubuntu-22.04.id_rsa

Internet within guest

Extra reading material.

Demo

https://github.com/firecracker-microvm/firecracker-demo/blob/main/start-firecracker.sh

References

Last updated on Sunday, September 20, 2026 • Mohamed Bana

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