Changes
/* Snapshot */
# Move the disk image <code>/path/to/images/vm-001.qcow2</code> to the retain location: <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">mv /path/to/images/vm-001.qcow2 /path/to/retain/vm-001.qcow2</syntaxhighlight>
#* '''Please note:''' The retain directory (<code>/path/to/retain/</code>) '''has to be''' on the same partition as the images directory (<code>/path/to/images/</code>). This will make the <code>mv</code> operation very fast (only renaming the inode). So the downtime (remember the VM <code>vm-001</code> is shut down) is as short as possible.
#* '''Please note<sup>2</sup>:''' If the VM <code>vm-001</code> has more than just one disk-image, repeat this step for every disk-image
# Create the new (empty) disk image with the old as backing store file: <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">qemu-img create -f qcow2 -b /path/to/retain/vm-001.qcow2 /path/to/images/vm-001.qcow2</syntaxhighlight>
#* <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">chmod 660 /path/to/images/vm-001.qcow2</syntaxhighlight>
