Fedora VM for Yocto Builds

Recommended host setup

The Fedora virtual machine should have enough CPU, memory, and disk space available for Yocto builds. Yocto image builds can require significant storage and processing time, so avoid using a minimal VM configuration.

There’s a lot of work to be done, therefore, from this point on, the documentation will be brief. If you need help, contact us or F&S directly.

Getting the VM

1. Download and install Oracle Virtual Box. Head to this web site to download and install Oracle Virtual Box into your PC.
2. Sign into F&S customer portal. Head to F&S web site and sign in. If you don’t have login information, you may need to register first or contact their support.
3. Download Fedora Virtual Machine base file. Navigate into the following download folder: Tools-Linux -> Virtual Machines -> Fedora36 -> 32-bit_(i.MX6) Look for the latest “.ova” file. As of writing this article, this is “F_S_Development_Machine-Fedora-36-arm32_V1.6.ova” dated 10/10/2025. Its size is approx. 8.2 GB. Download it.
   Save it to a folder with enough space. At least 100 GB.
4. Download DCUTerm. Click on Back to parent directory link. Then browse into Tools-Windows. Look for DcuTerm.zip. Download and unzip it into your favourite folder. We will use it later.

Import the VM basefile into Virtual Box

1. File -> Import Appliance
2. Browse for the downloaded file.
3. Expand Settings.
4. Give your VM a name, if you want to.
5. Update/change “Machine base folder”. Make sure, that base folder has enough capacity.
6. Change the amount of RAM to at least 8192 MB (but better would 16384 MB or even 32768 MB).
7. Click “Finish”. Importing will take a few seconds.

Booting into VM

1. Once imported, right-click it in on the main screen of Virtual Box and choose Start -> Normal Start.
2. Default password is: “developer”.
3. Once it boots up, log in. Default password is: “developer”.

Tip: If the desktop in your VM appears very small, then try to resize the window of Oracle Virtual Box, however, do this by grabbing the edges of the window. Do not maximize the window, as this does not help.

Change a few system settings

This is optional, but very much recommended.

1. In the upper-left menu, click: System -> Preferences -> Hardware -> Power Management
2. In “Display” section set “Put display to sleep …” to “Never”.
3. Click “Close” button.
4. In the upper-left menu, click: System -> Control Center -> Screensaver.
5. Uncheck two checkboxes: “Activate screensaver …” and “Lock screen …”
6. Click “Close” button.
7. In the upper-right corner next to a red box, there is a text, that says “de”. This is a notification, that your current keybaord layout is German. You may want to change this, or remove German layout completely, if you want. To do that, right-click on “de” text and go to Keyboard Preferences.
8. Click Layouts card.
9. Click on German layout.
10. You may want to move it down or remove it.
11. Click “Close”.

Optional: Install Visual Studio Code

Before we move on to the next phase – building the actual OS, we recommend you to install Visual Studio Code. Even though you can build the entire OS just with MATE terminal, this is not very comfortable. Visual Studio Code has a terminal built into it, in addition, it is also a powerful file system browser, search tool and file editor. It also allows you to install various plug-ins, which may be very helpful when editing configuration files. The plug-ins may offer e.g., syntax highlighting, error checking, etc.

1. Open MATE terminal.
2. Import Microsoft package list.
   Copy

   sudo rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc

3. Creates a YUM/DNF repository configuration file.
   Copy

   sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo > /dev/null <<'EOF'
   [code]
   name=Visual Studio Code
   baseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode
   enabled=1
   gpgcheck=1
   gpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
   EOF

4. Update packages.
   Copy

   sudo dnf check-update

5. Install Visual Studio Code
   Copy

   sudo dnf install code

6. To start Visual Studio Code, in the upper-left corner, click Applications -> Programming -> Visual Studio Code

Tip: After starting Visual Studio Code, you may want to install Python extension. A lot of configuration files in Yocto build environment are based on Pyhon language.