Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm · critical · Error

QEMU directory not found: ${dir} Contents of ${parent}: ${co

Error message

QEMU directory not found: ${dir}
Contents of ${parent}: ${contents}
Make sure the QEMU archive is extracted so that the folder is named "${variant}" (not "qemu-${variant}" or a nested subfolder). You can also set OPEN_COMPUTER_QEMU_DIR to point to your QEMU installation.

What it means

Thrown only on Windows by defaultQemuDir() when the expected QEMU distribution folder (<OPEN_COMPUTER_DIR>/master/qemu/<variant>) does not exist. The message is intentionally verbose: it dumps the parent directory's contents to help diagnose archive-extraction layout mistakes, and tells the user the exact expected folder name and the OPEN_COMPUTER_QEMU_DIR escape hatch. Linux returns '' (system QEMU); macOS does not pre-check.

Source

Thrown at open-computer/cli/src/config.ts:35

// On Windows x64      the guest is x86_64  (WHPX + amd64 Debian).
// On Windows arm64    the guest is aarch64 (WHPX + ARM64 Debian).
export const GUEST_ARCH: 'aarch64' | 'x86_64' = ARCH === 'x64' ? 'x86_64' : 'aarch64';

export const QEMU_BINARY =
  GUEST_ARCH === 'aarch64' ? 'qemu-system-aarch64' : 'qemu-system-x86_64';

function defaultQemuDir(): string {
  if (PLATFORM === 'darwin') {
    const darwinVariant = ARCH === 'x64' ? 'darwin-x64' : 'darwin-arm64';
    return path.join(OPEN_COMPUTER_DIR, 'master', 'qemu', darwinVariant);
  }
  if (PLATFORM === 'win32') {
    const variant = ARCH === 'x64' ? 'win-x64' : 'win-arm64';
    const dir = path.join(OPEN_COMPUTER_DIR, 'master', 'qemu', variant);
    if (!fs.existsSync(dir)) {
      const parent = path.join(OPEN_COMPUTER_DIR, 'master', 'qemu');
      const contents = fs.existsSync(parent) ? fs.readdirSync(parent).join(', ') : '(directory missing)';
      throw new Error(
        `QEMU directory not found: ${dir}\n` +
        `Contents of ${parent}: ${contents}\n` +
        `Make sure the QEMU archive is extracted so that the folder is named "${variant}" ` +
        `(not "qemu-${variant}" or a nested subfolder). ` +
        `You can also set OPEN_COMPUTER_QEMU_DIR to point to your QEMU installation.`
      );
    }
    return dir;
  }
  // Linux: assume system QEMU
  return '';
}

export const QEMU_DIST = process.env.OPEN_COMPUTER_QEMU_DIR ?? defaultQemuDir();

// Full path to the QEMU binary (with .exe on Windows)
export function resolveQemuBinary(): string {
  const binaryName = PLATFORM === 'win32' ? `${QEMU_BINARY}.exe` : QEMU_BINARY;

View on GitHub (pinned to 526360e320)

Solutions

1. Re-extract the QEMU archive so the folder is named exactly win-x64 or win-arm64 directly under master/qemu/.
2. If the layout is correct but in a custom location, set OPEN_COMPUTER_QEMU_DIR to that absolute path.
3. Verify ARCH matches the downloaded archive (x64 vs arm64).
4. Use the parent-directory contents printed in the error to identify the wrapper folder, then move/rename it.

Example fix

// before — archive extracted with wrapper folder
// master/qemu/qemu-win-x64/bin/qemu-system-x86_64.exe

// after — flatten so the variant folder is direct
// master/qemu/win-x64/bin/qemu-system-x86_64.exe
// or: set env var
// OPEN_COMPUTER_QEMU_DIR=C:\path\to\qemu-win-x64

// Pre-flight check on Windows before running the CLI.
const fs = require('fs'), path = require('path');
function qemuDirOk(dir, variant) {
  return fs.existsSync(path.join(dir, 'master', 'qemu', variant));
}

try {
  runCli();
} catch (e) {
  if (/QEMU directory not found/.test(e.message)) {
    console.error(e.message); // contains the parent-dir listing for diagnosis
    process.exit(2);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running the open-computer CLI on Windows where the QEMU archive was extracted with a wrapper folder (e.g. qemu-win-x64/qemu-win-x64/...), extracted to the wrong location, or never downloaded at all.

Common situations: User extracted qemu-win-x64.zip and got a top-level 'qemu-win-x64' folder instead of 'win-x64' directly under master/qemu/; the master/qemu directory is missing entirely; the user is on Windows ARM64 but downloaded the x64 archive (variant mismatch).

Related errors

• EFI firmware not found: ${EFI_FIRMWARE_FILE} Searched in: ${
• EFI vars template not found: ${file} Searched in: ${QEMU_DIS
• No webSocketDebuggerUrl — is Chromium running?
• No webSocketDebuggerUrl — is Chromium running?
• No base URL was set.

AI-assisted analysis of Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm@526360e320 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b73c5816b104e52d. Report an issue: GitHub.