I was trying to test qemu on Windows OS and when I tried to start an ubuntu iso whith the following command:
qemu-system-x86_64.exe -boot d -cdrom .\ubuntu-20.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso -m 2048
Then I getting the following error:
qemu: could not load PC BIOS 'bios-256k.bin'
Qemu folder is set in Enviroment Varibles and the bios-256k.bin file is in the folder How can I solve this problem?
Add an option for bios file directory entry with -L switch. Your command should look like this:
qemu-system-x86_64.exe -boot d -cdrom .\ubuntu-20.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso -m 2048 -L "C:\Program Files\qemu"
Of course in case your default qemu installation is in C:\Program Files\qemu and bios files are inside that directory. For some reason, qemu has a bug that doesn't search bios files in defined path and look for them in current working directory.
Edit: I found a bug report that mentions this issue. It also seems to be fixed in newest version. Anyway, here is the link: https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1915794
This is a known and documented problem with a simple workaround: "Known issue: currently requires start from installation directory or -L option to specify the location of the firmware files."
And it is already fixed in the newer installer.