Hello
I have questions I tried the official documentation and I didn’t find any answer, please help out:
1- What’s the different between sys-firewall and default (sys-firewall)? as you can see in the pic below some qubes are connected to sys-firewall and other to default (sys-firewall)?
2- What’s the default-dvm and what happen if I deleted it?
3- Is there loop here, as you can see sys-firewall using default-dvm and default -dvm using default (sys-firewall) as NetVM and sys-firewall using sys-net as NetVM?
how are things work here
And I’m sorry for the newbie questions, I’m looking for an answer here
The “default” sets the current default net qube that is specified in “Qubes Global Config”. The difference here is that if you change the default net qube, all qubes set to that default will change to the new one, while in the other case it will stay on “sys-firewall” because it is specifically set to that value.
This is a disposable template, it is used to create new disposable qubes on the fly, which will be deleted once they are closed. If you delete it, you won’t be able to use this Qubes feature.
There is no loop. sys-firewall is a named disposable qube based on the default-dvm disposable template. This means that the state of sys-firewall is lost every time it is rebooted. It is completely separate from the original disposable template, and multiple of them can run at the same time from the same disposable template.
You would also not be able to delete it because currently other qubes have set dependencies against it. Trying to delete it will tell you, that you cannot until no other qubes depend on it.
p.s. Don’t delete it. You want it. Keep it where it is.
I should have also said, it sounds like you’re interested in “cleaning up your list” of qubes.
Here’s a list of things you do not wish to delete:
Anything -whonix- - you’ll learn to use them eventually.
fedora-41-xfce - its currently the TemplateVM which all your other VMs are currently based on.
sys-* - all of these are segregating network or USB connections to protect QubesOS
default-dvm - it’s what any DisposableVM is based on, including sys-usb and sys-firewall
What you can delete safely (but are not required to):
personal
work
unstrusted
vault
debian-12-xfce (if you have no interested in qubes being based on Debian)
If this was a question about what you could safely delete, because you wanted a smaller list, I would recommend you don’t delete any - instead change qube’s color to gray and ignore it.
It’s a bit easier to just ignore a default qube you don’t think you need, rather than regret that you deleted one.
You can delete the fedora-41-xfce template. You can use the Qubes
Template Switcher (from the Qubes Tools menu), to make sure that no
qubes are using this template, and then delete it.
If you want to have all your qubes using Debian, or Arch, you can.
You can also delete the default-dvm. You will have to base some
disposables (like sys-usb and sys-firewall) on some other disposable
template.
You will also have to make sure that other qubes have a default_dispvm
set, if you want to load disposables from those qubes. You do not need to
set this. If you do not, then you will not be able to open disposables
from those qubes - you may see this as an advantage.
I never presume to speak for the Qubes team.
When I comment in the Forum I speak for myself.
You can’t delete it until you switch to another template, but it can be deleted.
I was going off the provided screenshot, and made an assumption that because fedora-41-xfce was TemplateVM default choice, that it was an intentional choice.
The image supplied is what Qubes OS 4.2.4 looks like immediately after a fresh install - no changes to default choices have been made during the post-installation wizard whilst installing; and no further customizations to Qubes OS like any regular user would have made if this installation was in regular use.
That screenshot is from a stock vanilla / fresh install of Qubes OS.
Couple that with the question of “what can I delete” - I just assumed that the user has just finished installing for the first time but doesn’t know what they need or if they need everything that’s installed by default.
