(1) Stop the libvirt daemon: $> systemctl stop libvirtd Warning: Stopping libvirtd.service, but it can still be activated by: libvirtd.socket libvirtd-admin.socket libvirtd-ro.socket (2) Set the log filters: $> export LIBVIRT_LOG_FILTERS="1:libvirt 1:qemu 1:conf 1:security 3:event 3:json 3:file 3:object 1:util" (3) Set the log output to `stdout` (not `stderr`): $> export LIBVIRT_LOG_OUTPUTS="1:file:/dev/stdout" (4) Now, from the _same_ shell, start the libvirt daemon: $> systemctl start libvirtd That's it. You can try if this is working by trying a libvirt command from the same shell: $> virsh list 2020-05-05 15:33:23.639+0000: 21380: info : libvirt version: 6.1.0, package: 1.fc30 (Unknown, 2020-03-05-06:04:41, ) 2020-05-05 15:33:23.639+0000: 21380: info : hostname: paraplu 2020-05-05 15:33:23.639+0000: 21380: debug : virLogParseOutputs:1649 : outputs=1:file:/dev/stdout 2020-05-05 15:33:23.639+0000: 21380: debug : virLogParseOutput:1487 : output=1:file:/dev/stdout 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: info : libvirt version: 6.1.0, package: 1.fc30 (Unknown, 2020-03-05-06:04:41, ) 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: info : hostname: paraplu 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virGlobalInit:240 : register drivers 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:518 : driver=0x7f862229ddc0 name=Test 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:529 : registering Test as driver 0 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:518 : driver=0x7f86222b3480 name=OPENVZ 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:529 : registering OPENVZ as driver 1 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:518 : driver=0x7f86222b2b40 name=VMWARE 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:529 : registering VMWARE as driver 2 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:518 : driver=0x7f862229e9c0 name=ESX 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:529 : registering ESX as driver 3 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:518 : driver=0x7f862229f8e0 name=Hyper-V 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:529 : registering Hyper-V as driver 4 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:518 : driver=0x7f86222b3d00 name=remote 2020-05-05 15:33:23.644+0000: 21380: debug : virRegisterConnectDriver:529 : registering remote as driver 5 2020-05-05 15:33:23.645+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenAuth:1228 : name=, auth=0x7f86222b50e0, flags=0x0 2020-05-05 15:33:23.645+0000: 21380: debug : virConfLoadConfig:1533 : Loading config file '/etc/libvirt/libvirt.conf' 2020-05-05 15:33:23.645+0000: 21380: debug : virConfReadFile:737 : filename=/etc/libvirt/libvirt.conf 2020-05-05 15:33:23.645+0000: 21381: debug : virThreadJobSet:96 : Thread 21381 is now running job vshEventLoop 2020-05-05 15:33:23.645+0000: 21380: debug : virConfGetValueString:881 : Get value string (nil) 0 2020-05-05 15:33:23.645+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:879 : Trying to probe for default URI 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:884 : OPENVZ driver URI probe returned '' 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:978 : no name, allowing driver auto-select 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1014 : trying driver 0 (Test) ... 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1027 : No URI, skipping driver with URI whitelist 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1014 : trying driver 1 (OPENVZ) ... 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1027 : No URI, skipping driver with URI whitelist 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1014 : trying driver 2 (VMWARE) ... 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1027 : No URI, skipping driver with URI whitelist 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1014 : trying driver 3 (ESX) ... 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1027 : No URI, skipping driver with URI whitelist 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1014 : trying driver 4 (Hyper-V) ... 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1027 : No URI, skipping driver with URI whitelist 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1014 : trying driver 5 (remote) ... 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1053 : Matching any URI scheme for '' 2020-05-05 15:33:23.646+0000: 21380: debug : virConfGetValueString:881 : Get value string (nil) 0 2020-05-05 15:33:23.652+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectOpenInternal:1079 : driver 5 remote returned SUCCESS 2020-05-05 15:33:23.652+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectSetKeepAlive:1357 : conn=0x558118bd76e0, interval=5, count=6 2020-05-05 15:33:23.652+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectRegisterCloseCallback:1441 : conn=0x558118bd76e0 2020-05-05 15:33:23.652+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectIsAlive:1392 : conn=0x558118bd76e0 2020-05-05 15:33:23.652+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectListAllDomains:6503 : conn=0x558118bd76e0, domains=0x558118bda910, flags=0x1 Id Name State -------------------- 2020-05-05 15:33:23.653+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectUnregisterCloseCallback:1476 : conn=0x558118bd76e0 2020-05-05 15:33:23.653+0000: 21380: debug : virConnectClose:1273 : conn=0x558118bd76e0 2020-05-05 15:33:23.653+0000: 21380: debug : virObjectEventStateDispose:522 : obj=0x558118bd62a0 2020-05-05 15:33:23.653+0000: 21381: debug : virThreadJobClear:121 : Thread 21381 finished job vshEventLoop with ret=0