this answers the whole question. Thanks a lot. closing
** Changed in: qemu Status: New => Invalid -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of qemu- devel-ml, which is subscribed to QEMU. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1860759 Title: [REGRESSION] option `-snapshot` ignored with blockdev Status in QEMU: Invalid Bug description: After upgrade of qemu 3.1.0 → 4.2.0 I found that running with libvirt doesn't honor `-snapshot` option anymore. I.e. disk images get modified. Using `-hda` option honors `-snapshot` So I made a test case without libvirt. Testcase using 4.2.0: > qemu -hda tmp-16G.img -cdrom regular-rescue-latest-x86_64.iso -m 2G This works fine and tmp-16G.img stays unmodified. But: > /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 -name guest=test-linux,debug-threads=on -S -machine pc-i440fx-3.1,accel=kvm,usb=off,vmport=off,dump-guest-core=off -cpu Broadwell-noTSX,vme=on,ss=on,f16c=on,rdrand=on,hypervisor=on,arat=on,tsc-adjust=on,xsaveopt=on,pdpe1gb=on,abm=on -m 2048 -overcommit mem-lock=off -smp 3,sockets=3,cores=1,threads=1 -uuid d32a9191-f51d-4fae-a419-b73d85b49198 -no-user-config -nodefaults -rtc base=utc,driftfix=slew -global kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=delay -no-hpet -no-shutdown -global PIIX4_PM.disable_s3=1 -global PIIX4_PM.disable_s4=1 -boot strict=on -device ich9-usb-ehci1,id=usb,bus=pci.0,addr=0x5.0x7 -device ich9-usb-uhci1,masterbus=usb.0,firstport=0,bus=pci.0,multifunction=on,addr=0x5 -device ich9-usb-uhci2,masterbus=usb.0,firstport=2,bus=pci.0,addr=0x5.0x1 -device ich9-usb-uhci3,masterbus=usb.0,firstport=4,bus=pci.0,addr=0x5.0x2 -blockdev \{\"driver\":\"file\",\"filename\":\"/tmp/regular-rescue-latest-x86_64.iso\",\"node-name\":\"libvirt-2-storage\",\"auto-read-only\":true,\"discard\":\"unmap\"} -blockdev \{\"node-name\":\"libvirt-2-format\",\"read-only\":true,\"driver\":\"raw\",\"file\":\"libvirt-2-storage\"} -device ide-cd,bus=ide.0,unit=0,drive=libvirt-2-format,id=ide0-0-0,bootindex=1 -blockdev \{\"driver\":\"file\",\"filename\":\"/tmp/tmp-2G.img\",\"node-name\":\"libvirt-1-storage\",\"auto-read-only\":true,\"discard\":\"unmap\"} -blockdev \{\"node-name\":\"libvirt-1-format\",\"read-only\":false,\"driver\":\"qcow2\",\"file\":\"libvirt-1-storage\",\"backing\":null} -device virtio-blk-pci,scsi=off,bus=pci.0,addr=0x7,drive=libvirt-1-format,id=virtio-disk0 -netdev user,id=hostnet0 -device e1000,netdev=hostnet0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:ab:d8:29,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3 -chardev pty,id=charserial0 -device isa-serial,chardev=charserial0,id=serial0 -device qxl-vga,id=video0,ram_size=67108864,vram_size=67108864,vram64_size_mb=0,vgamem_mb=16,max_outputs=1,bus=pci.0,addr=0x2 -device intel-hda,id=sound0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x4 -device hda-duplex,id=sound0-codec0,bus=sound0.0,cad=0 -device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x6 -snapshot -sandbox on,obsolete=deny,elevateprivileges=deny,spawn=deny,resourcecontrol=deny -msg timestamp=on This modifies tmp-16G.img. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1860759/+subscriptions