Group 'libvirtd' does not exist while installing QEMU-KVM

I am using Ubuntu 17.04 and linux kernel 4.11.3 on a server. The system operates on x86-64 architecture.

I was using the Ubuntu documentation to install KVM linked here Install KVM.

I have encountered a problem while installing it. I see that the installation of libvirt-bin did not install the group libvirtd in my system.

Edit : I see that the below groups have been created possibly after the installation -

akalita@######:~$ cat /etc/group

kvm:x:120:
libvirt:x:121:#######
libvirt-qemu:x:64055:libvirt-qemu

I still cannot find the group libvirtd.

So when I go on to run the below command as per the documentation -

sudo adduser `id -un` libvirtd

I get the below error :-

adduser: The group `libvirtd' does not exist.

How can I resolve this issue ?

The issue is about the name of the group. On Ubuntu, the group name should be "libvirt" ...without "d".

so your command should be:

sudo adduser `id -un` libvirt

I had the same problem and for me the solution was to manually create the libvirtd group:

sudo addgroup libvirtd
sudo adduser YOURUSERNAME libvirtd

After that: virt-manager started without telling me to add myself to the libvirtd group anymore.

The group was renamed to libvirt for Ubuntu 16.10 and later. It's in the Ubuntu Server Guide

I faced the same issue on ubuntu 17.04 Desktop

Workaround:

In a terminal enter:

sudo apt install virt-manager

and then

sudo virt-manager

if you try to start virt-manager using Unity GUI
Application > virt-manager
it won't work because your current user does not have the requisite permissions.