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Install LXD

Try LXD on your laptop, workstation or server. Set up a single instance LXD for testing and development, or run it in a clustering mode for highly-available production environments.

Looking for help running LXD?

Get in touch


Why choose LXD?

1. Install LXD as a snap

To install LXD as a snap, just run:

snap install lxd

2. Configure LXD

Run the following command and either accept the defaults or choose different options when prompted:

lxd init

3. Install the OS you'd like to use in your container or VM

Command:

lxc launch <image_server>:<image_name> <instance_name>

Example:

lxc launch ubuntu:22.04 ubuntu-container

Check the community image server for other Linux distributions.


4. Run commands

You now have your instance up and running! You're all set to experiment with any commands you need.

Command:

lxc exec <instance_name> -- <command />

Example:

lxc exec ubuntu-container -- apt-get update

For a list of available commands and options, just run

lxc

For other installation options, please check our documentation.


Firewall issues

You might see issues with your firewall blocking network access for your instances, or connectivity issues because you run LXD and Docker on the same host.

Access documentation about how to resolve these issues ›


Familiarise yourself with the basics

Instances

LXD supports two types of instances: system containers and virtual machines.

Learn more about containers and VMs ›


Security

Security is at the forefront of everything we do and there are various things to consider to keep your LXD installation secure.

Learn more about LXD and security ›


Images

LXD uses an image-based workflow, providing images for a large number of Linux distributions.

Learn more about common operations with images ›


Contribute

We welcome and value contributions from the community.