# VBoxManage

## Introduction

As briefly mentioned in , VBoxManage is the command-line interface to VirtualBox. With it, you can completely control VirtualBox from the command line of your host operating system. VBoxManage supports all the features that the graphical user interface gives you access to, but it supports a lot more than that. It exposes really all the features of the virtualization engine, even those that cannot (yet) be accessed from the GUI.

You will need to use the command line if you want to

- use a different user interface than the main GUI (for example, VBoxSDL or the VBoxHeadless server);

- control some of the more advanced and experimental configuration settings for a VM.

There are two main things to keep in mind when using `VBoxManage`: First, `VBoxManage` must always be used with a specific "subcommand", such as "list" or "createvm" or "startvm". All the subcommands that `VBoxManage` supports are described in detail in .

Second, most of these subcommands require that you specify a particular virtual machine after the subcommand. There are two ways you can do this:

- You can specify the VM name, as it is shown in the VirtualBox GUI. Note that if that name contains spaces, then you must enclose the entire name in double quotes (as it is always required with command line arguments that contain spaces).

  For example:

      VBoxManage startvm "Windows XP"

- You can specify the UUID, which is the internal unique identifier that VirtualBox uses to refer to the virtual machine. Assuming that the aforementioned VM called "Windows XP" has the UUID shown below, the following command has the same effect as the previous:

      VBoxManage startvm 670e746d-abea-4ba6-ad02-2a3b043810a5

You can type `VBoxManage list vms` to have all currently registered VMs listed with all their settings, including their respective names and UUIDs.

Some typical examples of how to control VirtualBox from the command line are listed below:

- To create a new virtual machine from the command line and immediately register it with VirtualBox, use `VBoxManage createvm` with the `--register` option, For details, see . like this:

      $ VBoxManage createvm --name "SUSE 10.2" --register
      VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
      (C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
      All rights reserved.

      Virtual machine 'SUSE 10.2' is created.
      UUID: c89fc351-8ec6-4f02-a048-57f4d25288e5
      Settings file: '/home/username/.VirtualBox/Machines/SUSE 10.2/SUSE 10.2.xml'

  As can be seen from the above output, a new virtual machine has been created with a new UUID and a new XML settings file.

- To show the configuration of a particular VM, use `VBoxManage showvminfo`; see for details and an example.

- To change settings while a VM is powered off, use `VBoxManage modifyvm`, e.g. as follows:

      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --memory "512MB"

  For details, see .

- To change the storage configuration (e.g. to add a storage controller and then a virtual disk), use `VBoxManage storagectl` and `VBoxManage storageattach`; see and for details.

- To control VM operation, use one of the following:

  - To start a VM that is currently powered off, use `VBoxManage startvm`; see for details.

  - To pause or save a VM that is currently running or change some of its settings, use `VBoxManage controlvm`; see for details.

## Commands overview

When running VBoxManage without parameters or when supplying an invalid command line, the below syntax diagram will be shown. Note that the output will be slightly different depending on the host platform; when in doubt, check the output of `VBoxManage` for the commands available on your particular host.

    $VBOX_MANAGE_OUTPUT

Each time VBoxManage is invoked, only one command can be executed. However, a command might support several subcommands which then can be invoked in one single call. The following sections provide detailed reference information on the different commands.

## VBoxManage list

The `list` command gives relevant information about your system and information about VirtualBox's current settings.

The following subcommands are available with `VBoxManage list`:

- `vms` lists all virtual machines currently registered with VirtualBox. By default this displays a compact list with each VM's name and UUID; if you also specify `--long` or `-l`, this will be a detailed list as with the `showvminfo` command (see below).

- `runningvms` lists all currently running virtual machines by their unique identifiers (UUIDs) in the same format as with `vms`.

- `ostypes` lists all guest operating systems presently known to VirtualBox, along with the identifiers used to refer to them with the `modifyvm` command.

- `hostdvds`, `hostfloppies`, respectively, list DVD, floppy, bridged networking and host-only networking interfaces on the host, along with the name used to access them from within VirtualBox.

- `bridgedifs`, `hostonlyifs` and `dhcpservers`, respectively, list bridged network interfaces, host-only network interfaces and DHCP servers currently available on the host. Please see for details on these.

- `hostinfo` displays information about the host system, such as CPUs, memory size and operating system version.

- `hostcpuids` dumps the CPUID parameters for the host CPUs. This can be used for a more fine grained analyis of the host's virtualization capabilities.

- `hddbackends` lists all known virtual disk back-ends of VirtualBox. For each such format (such as VDI, VMDK or RAW), this lists the back-end's capabilities and configuration.

- `hdds`, `dvds` and `floppies` all give you information about virtual disk images currently in use by VirtualBox, including all their settings, the unique identifiers (UUIDs) associated with them by VirtualBox and all files associated with them. This is the command-line equivalent of the Virtual Media Manager; see .

- `usbhost` supplies information about USB devices attached to the host, notably information useful for constructing USB filters and whether they are currently in use by the host.

- `usbfilters` lists all global USB filters registered with VirtualBox -- that is, filters for devices which are accessible to all virtual machines -- and displays the filter parameters.

- `systemproperties` displays some global VirtualBox settings, such as minimum and maximum guest RAM and virtual hard disk size, folder settings and the current authentication library in use.

- `extpacks` displays all VirtualBox extension packs currently installed; see and for more information.

## VBoxManage showvminfo

The `showvminfo` command shows information about a particular virtual machine. This is the same information as `VBoxManage list vms --long` would show for all virtual machines.

You will get information similar to the following:

    $ VBoxManage showvminfo "Windows XP"
    VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
    (C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
    All rights reserved.

    Name:            Windows XP
    Guest OS:        Other/Unknown
    UUID:            1bf3464d-57c6-4d49-92a9-a5cc3816b7e7
    Config file:     /home/username/.VirtualBox/Machines/Windows XP/Windows XP.xml
    Memory size:     512MB
    VRAM size:       12MB
    Number of CPUs:  2
    Synthetic Cpu:   off
    Boot menu mode:  message and menu
    Boot Device (1): DVD
    Boot Device (2): HardDisk
    Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
    Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
    ACPI:            on
    IOAPIC:          on
    PAE:             on
    Time offset:     0 ms
    Hardw. virt.ext: on
    Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
    Nested Paging:   on
    VT-x VPID:       off
    State:           powered off (since 2009-10-20T14:52:19.000000000)
    Monitor count:   1
    3D Acceleration: off
    2D Video Acceleration: off
    Teleporter Enabled: off
    Teleporter Port: 0
    Teleporter Address:
    Teleporter Password:
    Storage Controller      (0): IDE Controller
    Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
    Storage Controller      (1): Floppy Controller 1
    Storage Controller Type (1): I82078
    IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/user/windows.vdi (UUID: 46f6e53a-4557-460a-9b95-68b0f17d744b)
    IDE Controller (0, 1): /home/user/openbsd-cd46.iso (UUID: 4335e162-59d3-4512-91d5-b63e94eebe0b)
    Floppy Controller 1 (0, 0): /home/user/floppy.img (UUID: 62ac6ccb-df36-42f2-972e-22f836368137)
    NIC 1:           disabled
    NIC 2:           disabled
    NIC 3:           disabled
    NIC 4:           disabled
    NIC 5:           disabled
    NIC 6:           disabled
    NIC 7:           disabled
    NIC 8:           disabled
    UART 1:          disabled
    UART 2:          disabled
    Audio:           disabled (Driver: Unknown)
    Clipboard Mode:  Bidirectional
    VRDE:            disabled
    USB:             disabled

    USB Device Filters:
    <none>

    Shared folders:
    <none>

    Statistics update:  disabled

## VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm

The `registervm` command allows you to import a virtual machine definition in an XML file into VirtualBox. The machine must not conflict with one already registered in VirtualBox and it may not have any hard or removable disks attached. It is advisable to place the definition file in the machines folder before registering it.

When creating a new virtual machine with `VBoxManage createvm` (see below), you can directly specify the `--register` option to avoid having to register it separately.

The `unregistervm` command unregisters a virtual machine. If `--delete` is also specified, the following files will automatically be deleted as well:

1. all hard disk image files, including differencing files, which are used by the machine and not shared with other machines;

2. saved state files that the machine created, if any (one if the machine was in "saved" state and one for each online snapshot);

3. the machine XML file and its backups;

4. the machine log files, if any;

5. the machine directory, if it is empty after having deleted all the above.

## VBoxManage createvm

This command creates a new XML virtual machine definition file.

The `--name <name>` parameter is required and must specify the name of the machine. Since this name is used by default as the file name of the settings file (with the extension `.xml`) and the machine folder (a subfolder of the `.VirtualBox/Machines` folder), it must conform to your host operating system's requirements for file name specifications. If the VM is later renamed, the file and folder names will change automatically.

However, if the `--basefolder <path>` option is used, the machine folder will be named `<path>`. In this case, the names of the file and the folder will not change if the virtual machine is renamed.

By default, this command only creates the XML file without automatically registering the VM with your VirtualBox installation. To register the VM instantly, use the optional `--register` option, or run `VBoxManage registervm` separately afterwards.

## VBoxManage modifyvm

This command changes the properties of a registered virtual machine which is not running. Most of the properties that this command makes available correspond to the VM settings that VirtualBox graphical user interface displays in each VM's "Settings" dialog; these were described in . Some of the more advanced settings, however, are only available through the `VBoxManage` interface.

These commands require that the machine is powered off (neither running nor in "saved" state). Some machine settings can also be changed while a machine is running; those settings will then have a corresponding subcommand with the `VBoxManage controlvm` subcommand (see ).

### General settings

The following general settings are available through `VBoxManage modifyvm`:

- `--name <name>`: This changes the VM's name and possibly renames the internal virtual machine files, as described with `VBoxManage createvm` above.

- `--ostype <ostype>`: This specifies what guest operating system is supposed to run in the VM. To learn about the various identifiers that can be used here, use `VBoxManage list ostypes`.

- `--memory <memorysize>`: This sets the amount of RAM, in MB, that the virtual machine should allocate for itself from the host. See the remarks in for more information.

- `--vram <vramsize>`: This sets the amount of RAM that the virtual graphics card should have. See for details.

- `--acpi on|off`; `--ioapic on|off`: These two determine whether the VM should have ACPI and I/O APIC support, respectively; see for details.

- `--hardwareuuid <uuid>`: The UUID presented to the guest via memory tables (DMI/SMBIOS), hardware and guest properties. By default this is the same as the VM uuid. Useful when cloning a VM. Teleporting takes care of this automatically.

- `--cpus <cpucount>`: This sets the number of virtual CPUs for the virtual machine (see ). If CPU hot-plugging is enabled (see below), this then sets the maximum number of virtual CPUs that can be plugged into the virtual machines.

- `--rtcuseutc on|off`: This option lets the real-time clock (RTC) operate in UTC time (see ).

- `--cpuhotplug on|off`: This enables CPU hot-plugging. When enabled, virtual CPUs can be added to and removed from a virtual machine while it is running. See for more information.

- `--plugcpu|unplugcpu <id>`: If CPU hot-plugging is enabled (see above), this adds a virtual CPU to the virtual machines (or removes one). `<id>` specifies the index of the virtual CPU to be added or removed and must be a number from 0 to the maximum no. of CPUs configured with the `--cpus` option. CPU 0 can never be removed.

- `--cpuexecutioncap <1-100>`: This setting controls how much cpu time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.

- `--synthcpu on|off`: This setting determines whether VirtualBox will expose a synthetic CPU to the guest to allow live migration between host systems that differ significantly.

- `--pae on|off`: This enables/disables PAE (see ).

- `--hpet on|off`: This enables/disables a High Precision Event Timer (HPET) which can replace the legacy system timers. This is turned off by default. Note that Windows supports a HPET only from Vista onwards.

- `--hwvirtex on|off`: This enables or disables the use of hardware virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the processor of your host system; see .

- `--hwvirtexexcl on|off`: This specifies whether VirtualBox will make exclusive use of the hardware virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the processor of your host system; see . If you wish to simultaneously share these extensions with other hypervisors, then you must disable this setting. Doing so has negative performance implications.

- `--nestedpaging on|off`: If hardware virtualization is enabled, this additional setting enables or disables the use of the nested paging feature in the processor of your host system; see .

- `--largepages on|off`: If hardware virtualization and nested paging are enabled, for Intel VT-x only, an additional performance improvement of up to 5% can be obtained by enabling this setting. This causes the hypervisor to use large pages to reduce TLB use and overhead.

- `--vtxvpid on|off`: If hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this additional setting enables or disables the use of the tagged TLB (VPID) feature in the processor of your host system; see .

- `--accelerate3d on|off`: This enables, if the Guest Additions are installed, whether hardware 3D acceleration should be available; see .

- You can influence the BIOS logo that is displayed when a virtual machine starts up with a number of settings. Per default, a VirtualBox logo is displayed.

  With `--bioslogofadein on|off` and `--bioslogofadeout on|off`, you can determine whether the logo should fade in and out, respectively.

  With `--bioslogodisplaytime <msec>` you can set how long the logo should be visible, in milliseconds.

  With `--bioslogoimagepath <imagepath>` you can, if you are so inclined, replace the image that is shown, with your own logo. The image must be an uncompressed 256 color BMP file.

- `--biosbootmenu disabled|menuonly|messageandmenu`: This specifies whether the BIOS allows the user to select a temporary boot device. `menuonly` suppresses the message, but the user can still press F12 to select a temporary boot device.

- `--nicbootprio<1-N> <priority>`: This specifies the order in which NICs are tried for booting over the network (using PXE). The priority is an integer in the 0 to 4 range. Priority 1 is the highest, priority 4 is low. Priority 0, which is the default unless otherwise specified, is the lowest.

  Note that this option only has effect when the Intel PXE boot ROM is used.

- `--boot<1-4> none|floppy|dvd|disk|net`: This specifies the boot order for the virtual machine. There are four "slots", which the VM will try to access from 1 to 4, and for each of which you can set a device that the VM should attempt to boot from.

- `--snapshotfolder default|<path>`: This allows you to specify the folder in which snapshots will be kept for a virtual machine.

- `--firmware efi|bios`: Specifies which firmware is used to boot particular virtual machine: EFI or BIOS. Use EFI only if your fully understand what you're doing.

- `--guestmemoryballoon <size>` sets the default size of the guest memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines. <size> must be specified in megabytes. The default size is 0 megabytes. For details, see .

### Networking settings

The following networking settings are available through `VBoxManage modifyvm`. With all these settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N" in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings should be changed.

- `--nic<1-N> none|null|nat|bridged|intnet|hostonly|generic` : With this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of networking should be available. They can be not present (`none`), not connected to the host (`null`), use network address translation (`nat`), bridged networking (`bridged`) or communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking (`intnet`), host-only networking (`hostonly`), or access rarely used sub-modes (`generic`). These options correspond to the modes which are described in detail in .

- `--nictype<1-N> Am79C970A|Am79C973|82540EM|82543GC|82545EM|virtio`: This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to specify which networking hardware VirtualBox presents to the guest; see .

- `--cableconnected<1-N> on|off`: This allows you to temporarily disconnect a virtual network interface, as if a network cable had been pulled from a real network card. This might be useful for resetting certain software components in the VM.

- With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging purposes.

  With `--nictrace<1-N> on|off`, you can enable network tracing for a particular virtual network card.

  If enabled, you must specify with `--nictracefile<1-N> <filename>` what file the trace should be logged to.

- `--bridgeadapter<1-N> none|<devicename>`: If bridged networking has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the `--nic` option above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host interface the given virtual network interface will use. For details, please see .

- `--hostonlyadapter<1-N> none|<devicename>`: If host-only networking has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the --nic option above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host-only networking interface the given virtual network interface will use. For details, please see .

- `--intnet<1-N> network`: If internal networking has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the `--nic` option above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to specify the name of the internal network (see ).

- `--macaddress<1-N> auto|<mac>`: With this option you can set the MAC address of the virtual network card. Normally, each virtual network card is assigned a random address by VirtualBox at VM creation.

- `--nicgenericdrv<1-N> <backend driver>`: If generic networking has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the `--nic` option above; otherwise this setting has no effect), this mode allows you to access rarely used networking sub-modes, such as VDE network or UDP Tunnel.

- `--nicproperty<1-N> <paramname>="paramvalue"`: This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.

  Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example, please see .

#### NAT Networking settings.

The following NAT networking settings are available through `VBoxManage modifyvm`. With all these settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N" in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings should be changed.

- `--natpf<1-N> [<name>],tcp|udp,[<hostip>],<hostport>,[<guestip>], <guestport>`: This option defines a NAT port-forwarding rule (please see for details).

- `--natpf<1-N> delete <name>`: This option deletes a NAT port-forwarding rule (please see for details).

- `--nattftpprefix<1-N> <prefix>`: This option defines a prefix for the built-in TFTP server, i.e. where the boot file is located (please see and for details).

- `--nattftpfile<1-N> <bootfile>`: This option defines the TFT boot file (please see for details).

- `--nattftpserver<1-N> <tftpserver>`: This option defines the TFTP server address to boot from (please see for details).

- `--natdnspassdomain<1-N> on|off`: This option specifies whether the built-in DHCP server passes the domain name for network name resolution.

- `--natdnsproxy<1-N> on|off`: This option makes the NAT engine proxy all guest DNS requests to the host's DNS servers (please see for details).

- `--natdnshostresolver<1-N> on|off`: This option makes the NAT engine use the host's resolver mechanisms to handle DNS requests (please see for details).

- `--natnatsettings<1-N> [<mtu>],[<socksnd>],[<sockrcv>],[<tcpsnd>], [<tcprcv>]`: This option controls several NAT settings (please see for details).

- `--nataliasmode<1-N> default|[log],[proxyonly],[sameports]`: This option defines behaviour of NAT engine core: log - enables logging, proxyonly - switches of aliasing mode makes NAT transparent, sameports enforces NAT engine to send packets via the same port as they originated on, default - disable all mentioned modes above . (please see for details).

### Serial port, audio, clipboard, remote desktop and USB settings

The following other hardware settings are available through `VBoxManage modifyvm`:

- `--uart<1-N> off|<I/O base> <IRQ>`: With this option you can configure virtual serial ports for the VM; see for an introduction.

- `--uartmode<1-N> <arg>`: This setting controls how VirtualBox connects a given virtual serial port (previously configured with the `--uartX` setting, see above) to the host on which the virtual machine is running. As described in detail in , for each such port, you can specify `<arg>` as one of the following options:

  - `disconnected`: Even though the serial port is shown to the guest, it has no "other end" -- like a real COM port without a cable.

  - `server <pipename>`: On a Windows host, this tells VirtualBox to create a named pipe on the host named `<pipename>` and connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that Windows requires that the name of a named pipe begin with `\\.\pipe\`.

    On a Linux host, instead of a named pipe, a local domain socket is used.

  - `client <pipename>`: This operates just like `server ...`, except that the pipe (or local domain socket) is not created by VirtualBox, but assumed to exist already.

  - `<devicename>`: If, instead of the above, the device name of a physical hardware serial port of the host is specified, the virtual serial port is connected to that hardware port. On a Windows host, the device name will be a COM port such as `COM1`; on a Linux host, the device name will look like `/dev/ttyS0`. This allows you to "wire" a real serial port to a virtual machine.

- `--audio none|null|oss`: With this option, you can set whether the VM should have audio support.

- `--clipboard disabled|hosttoguest|guesttohost|bidirectional`: With this setting, you can select whether the guest operating system's clipboard should be shared with the host; see . This requires that the Guest Additions be installed in the virtual machine.

- `--monitorcount <count>`: This enables multi-monitor support; see .

- `--usb on|off`: This option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB controller; see for details.

- `--usbehci on|off`: This option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 2.0 controller; see for details.

### Remote machine settings

The following settings that affect remote machine behavior are available through `VBoxManage modifyvm`:

- `--vrde on|off`: With the VirtualBox graphical user interface, this enables or disables the VirtualBox remote desktop extension (VRDE) server. Note that if you are using `VBoxHeadless` (see ), VRDE is enabled by default.

- `--vrdeport default|<ports>`: A port or a range of ports the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. You can specify a comma-separated list of ports or ranges of ports. Use a dash between two port numbers to specify a range. The VRDE server will bind to one of available ports from the specified list. Only one machine can use a given port at a time. For example, the option `--vrdeport 5000,5010-5012` will tell the server to bind to one of following ports: 5000, 5010, 5011 or 5012.

- `--vrdeaddress <IP address>`: The IP address of the host network interface the VRDE server will bind to. If specified, the server will accept connections only on the specified host network interface.

- `--vrdeauthtype null|external|guest`: This allows you to choose whether and how authorization will be performed; see for details.

- `--vrdemulticon on|off`: This enables multiple connections to the same VRDE server, if the server supports this feature; see .

- `--vrdereusecon on|off`: This specifies the VRDE server behavior when multiple connections are disabled. When this option is enabled, the server will allow a new client to connect and will drop the existing connection. When this option is disabled (this is the default setting), a new connection will not be accepted if there is already a client connected to the server.

- `--vrdevideochannel on|off`: This enables video redirection, if it is supported by the VRDE server; see .

- `--vrdevideochannelquality <percent>`: Sets the image quality for video redirection; see .

### Teleporting settings

With the following commands for `VBoxManage modifyvm` you can configure a machine to be a target for teleporting. See for an introduction.

- `--teleporter on|off`: With this setting you turn on or off whether a machine waits for a teleporting request to come in on the network when it is started. If "on", when the machine is started, it does not boot the virtual machine as it would normally; instead, it then waits for a teleporting request to come in on the port and address listed with the next two parameters.

- `--teleporterport <port>`, `--teleporteraddress <address>`: these must be used with --teleporter and tell the virtual machine on which port and address it should listen for a teleporting request from another virtual machine. `<port>` can be any free TCP/IP port number (e.g. 6000); `<address>` can be any IP address or hostname and specifies the TCP/IP socket to bind to. The default is "0.0.0.0", which means any address.

- `--teleporterpassword <password>`: if this optional argument is given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the source machine specifies the same password as the one given with this command.

- `--teleporterpasswordfile <password>`: if this optional argument is given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the source machine specifies the same password as the one specified in the file give with this command. Use `stdin` to read the password from stdin.

- `--cpuid <leaf> <eax> <ebx> <ecx> <edx>`: Advanced users can use this command before a teleporting operation to restrict the virtual CPU capabilities that VirtualBox presents to the guest operating system. This must be run on both the source and the target machines involved in the teleporting and will then modify what the guest sees when it executes the `CPUID` machine instruction. This might help with misbehaving applications that wrongly assume that certain CPU capabilities are present. The meaning of the parameters is hardware dependent; please refer to the AMD or Intel processor manuals.

## VBoxManage clonevm

This command creates a full or linked copy of an existing virtual machine.

The `clonevm` subcommand takes at least the name of the virtual machine which should be cloned. The following additional settings can be used to further configure the clone VM operation:

- `--snapshot <uuid>|<name>`: Select a specific snapshot where the clone operation should refer to. Default is referring to the current state.

- `--mode machine|machineandchildren|all`: Selects the cloning mode of the operation. If `machine` is selected (the default), the current state of the VM without any snapshots is cloned. In the `machineandchildren` mode the snapshot provided by `--snapshot` and all child snapshots are cloned. If `all` is the selected mode all snapshots and the current state are cloned.

- `--options link|keepallmacs|keepnatmacs|keepdisknames`: Allows additional fine tuning of the clone operation. The first option defines that a linked clone should be created, which is only possible for a machine clone from a snapshot. The next two options allow to define how the MAC addresses of every virtual network card should be handled. They can either be reinitialized (the default), left unchanged (`keepallmacs`) or left unchanged when the network type is NAT (`keepnatmacs`). If you add `keepdisknames` all new disk images are called like the original once, otherwise they are renamed.

- `--name <name>`: Select a new name for the new virtual machine. Default is "Original Name Clone".

- `--basefolder <basefolder>`: Select the folder where the new virtual machine configuration should be saved in.

- `--uuid <uuid>`: Select the UUID the new VM should have. This id has to be unique in the VirtualBox instance this clone should be registered. Default is creating a new UUID.

- `--register`: Automatically register the new clone in this VirtualBox installation. If you manually want register the new VM later, see for instructions how to do so.

## VBoxManage import

This command imports a virtual appliance in OVF format by copying the virtual disk images and creating virtual machines in VirtualBox. See for an introduction to appliances.

The `import` subcommand takes at least the path name of an OVF file as input and expects the disk images, if needed, in the same directory as the OVF file. A lot of additional command-line options are supported to control in detail what is being imported and modify the import parameters, but the details depend on the content of the OVF file.

It is therefore recommended to first run the import subcommand with the `--dry-run` or `-n` option. This will then print a description of the appliance's contents to the screen how it would be imported into VirtualBox, together with the optional command-line options to influence the import behavior.

As an example, here is the screen output with a sample appliance containing a Windows XP guest:

    VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf --dry-run
    Interpreting WindowsXp.ovf...
    OK.
    Virtual system 0:
     0: Suggested OS type: "WindowsXP"
        (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all)
     1: Suggested VM name "Windows XP Professional_1"
        (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
     3: Number of CPUs: 1
        (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
     4: Guest memory: 956 MB (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
     5: Sound card (appliance expects "ensoniq1371", can change on import)
        (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
     6: USB controller
        (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
     7: Network adapter: orig bridged, config 2, extra type=bridged
     8: Floppy
        (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
     9: SCSI controller, type BusLogic
        (change with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --scsitype {BusLogic|LsiLogic}";
        disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
    10: IDE controller, type PIIX4
        (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
    11: Hard disk image: source image=WindowsXp.vmdk,
          target path=/home/user/disks/WindowsXp.vmdk, controller=9;channel=0
        (change controller with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --controller <id>";
        disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")

As you can see, the individual configuration items are numbered, and depending on their type support different command-line options. The import subcommand can be directed to ignore many such items with a `--vsys X --unit Y --ignore` option, where X is the number of the virtual system (zero unless there are several virtual system descriptions in the appliance) and Y the item number, as printed on the screen.

In the above example, Item #1 specifies the name of the target machine in VirtualBox. Items #9 and #10 specify hard disk controllers, respectively. Item #11 describes a hard disk image; in this case, the additional `--controller` option indicates which item the disk image should be connected to, with the default coming from the OVF file.

You can combine several items for the same virtual system behind the same `--vsys` option. For example, to import a machine as described in the OVF, but without the sound card and without the USB controller, and with the disk image connected to the IDE controller instead of the SCSI controller, use this:

    VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf
          --vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore --unit 6 --ignore --unit 11 --controller 10

## VBoxManage export

This command exports one or more virtual machines from VirtualBox into a virtual appliance in OVF format, including copying their virtual disk images to compressed VMDK. See for an introduction to appliances.

The `export` command is simple to use: list the machine (or the machines) that you would like to export to the same OVF file and specify the target OVF file after an additional `--output` or `-o` option. Note that the directory of the target OVF file will also receive the exported disk images in the compressed VMDK format (regardless of the original format) and should have enough disk space left for them.

Beside a simple export of a given virtual machine, you can append several product information to the appliance file. Use `--product`, `--producturl`, `--vendor`, `--vendorurl` and `--version` to specify this additional information. For legal reasons you may add a license text or the content of a license file by using the `--eula` and `--eulafile` option respectively. As with OVF import, you must use the `--vsys X` option to direct the previously mentioned options to the correct virtual machine.

For virtualization products which aren't fully compatible with the OVF standard 1.0 you can enable a OVF 0.9 legacy mode with the `--legacy09` option.

## VBoxManage startvm

This command starts a virtual machine that is currently in the "Powered off" or "Saved" states.

This is provided for backwards compatibility only. We recommend to start virtual machines directly by running the respective front-end, as you might otherwise miss important error and state information that VirtualBox may display on the console. This is especially important for front-ends other than `VirtualBox`, our graphical user interface, because those cannot display error messages in a popup window. See for more information.

The optional `--type` specifier determines whether the machine will be started in a window (GUI mode, which is the default) or whether the output should go through `VBoxHeadless`, with VRDE enabled or not; see for more information. The list of types is subject to change, and it's not guaranteed that all types are accepted by any product variant.

The following values are allowed:

gui

  Starts a VM showing a GUI window. This is the default.

headless

  Starts a VM without a window for remote display only.

## VBoxManage controlvm

The `controlvm` subcommand allows you to change the state of a virtual machine that is currently running. The following can be specified:

- `VBoxManage controlvm <vm> pause` temporarily puts a virtual machine on hold, without changing its state for good. The VM window will be painted in gray to indicate that the VM is currently paused. (This is equivalent to selecting the "Pause" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)

- Use `VBoxManage controlvm <vm> resume` to undo a previous `pause` command. (This is equivalent to selecting the "Resume" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)

- `VBoxManage controlvm <vm> reset` has the same effect on a virtual machine as pressing the "Reset" button on a real computer: a cold reboot of the virtual machine, which will restart and boot the guest operating system again immediately. The state of the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting the "Reset" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)

- `VBoxManage controlvm <vm> poweroff` has the same effect on a virtual machine as pulling the power cable on a real computer. Again, the state of the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting "Power off the machine" in the dialog.)

  After this, the VM's state will be "Powered off". From there, it can be started again; see .

- `VBoxManage controlvm <vm> savestate` will save the current state of the VM to disk and then stop the VM. (This is equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting "Save the machine state" in the dialog.)

  After this, the VM's state will be "Saved". From there, it can be started again; see .

- `VBoxManage controlvm <vm> teleport --hostname <name> --port <port> [--password <password>]` makes the machine the source of a teleporting operation and initiates a teleport to the given target. See for an introduction. If the optional password is specified, it must match the password that was given to the `modifyvm` command for the target machine; see for details.

A few extra options are available with `controlvm` that do not directly affect the VM's running state:

- The `setlinkstate<1-N>` operation connects or disconnects virtual network cables from their network interfaces.

- `nic<1-N> null|nat|bridged|intnet|hostonly|generic`: With this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of networking should be available. They can be not connected to the host (`null`), use network address translation (`nat`), bridged networking (`bridged`) or communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking (`intnet`) or host-only networking (`hostonly`) or access to rarely used sub-modes (`generic`). These options correspond to the modes which are described in detail in .

- `usbattach` and `usbdettach` make host USB devices visible to the virtual machine on the fly, without the need for creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID (unique identifier) or by address on the host system.

  You can use `VBoxManage list usbhost` to locate this information.

- `vrde on|off` lets you enable or disable the VRDE server, if it is installed.

- `vrdeport default|<ports>` changes the port or a range of ports that the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. For details, see the description for the `--vrdeport` option in .

- `setvideomodehint` requests that the guest system change to a particular video mode. This requires that the Guest Additions be installed, and will not work for all guest systems.

- `screenshotpng` takes a screenshot of the guest display and saves it in PNG format.

- The `setcredentials` operation is used for remote logons in Windows guests. For details, please refer to .

- The `guestmemoryballoon` operation changes the size of the guest memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines. This must be specified in megabytes. For details, see .

- The `cpuexecutioncap <1-100>`: This operation controls how much cpu time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.

## VBoxManage discardstate

This command discards the saved state of a virtual machine which is not currently running, which will cause its operating system to restart next time you start it. This is the equivalent of pulling out the power cable on a physical machine, and should be avoided if possible.

## VBoxManage adoptstate

If you have a saved state file (`.sav`) that is seperate from the VM configuration, you can use this command to "adopt" the file. This will change the VM to saved state and when you start it, VirtualBox will attempt to restore it from the saved state file you indicated. This command should only be used in special setups.

## VBoxManage snapshot

This command is used to control snapshots from the command line. A snapshot consists of a complete copy of the virtual machine settings, copied at the time when the snapshot was taken, and optionally a virtual machine saved state file if the snapshot was taken while the machine was running. After a snapshot has been taken, VirtualBox creates differencing hard disk for each normal hard disk associated with the machine so that when a snapshot is restored, the contents of the virtual machine's virtual hard disks can be quickly reset by simply dropping the pre-existing differencing files.

The `take` operation takes a snapshot of the current state of the virtual machine. You must supply a name for the snapshot and can optionally supply a description. The new snapshot is inserted into the snapshots tree as a child of the current snapshot and then becomes the new current snapshot.

The `delete` operation deletes a snapshot (specified by name or by UUID). This can take a while to finish since the differencing images associated with the snapshot might need to be merged with their child differencing images.

The `restore` operation will restore the given snapshot (specified by name or by UUID) by resetting the virtual machine's settings and current state to that of the snapshot. The previous current state of the machine will be lost. After this, the given snapshot becomes the new "current" snapshot so that subsequent snapshots are inserted under the snapshot from which was restored.

The `restorecurrent` operation is a shortcut to restore the current snapshot (i.e. the snapshot from which the current state is derived). This subcommand is equivalent to using the "restore" subcommand with the name or UUID of the current snapshot, except that it avoids the extra step of determining that name or UUID.

With the `edit` operation, you can change the name or description of an existing snapshot.

With the `showvminfo` operation, you can view the virtual machine settings that were stored with an existing snapshot.

## VBoxManage closemedium

This commands removes a hard disk, DVD or floppy image from a VirtualBox media registry. Before VirtualBox 4.0, it was necessary to call VBoxManage openmedium before a medium could be attached to a virtual machine; that call "registered" the medium with the global VirtualBox media registry. With VirtualBox 4.0 this is no longer necessary; media are added to media registries automatically. The "closemedium" call has been retained, however, to allow for explicitly removing a medium from a registry.

Optionally, you can request that the image be deleted. You will get appropriate diagnostics that the deletion failed, however the image will become unregistered in any case.

## VBoxManage storageattach

This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage medium connected to a storage controller that was previously added with the `storagectl` command (see the previous section). The syntax is as follows:

    VBoxManage storageattach    <uuid|vmname>
                                --storagectl <name>
                                [--port <number>]
                                [--device <number>]
                                [--type dvddrive|hdd|fdd]
                                [--medium none|emptydrive|
                                          <uuid>|<filename>|host:<drive>|iscsi]
                                [--mtype normal|writethrough|immutable|shareable]
                                [--comment <text>]
                                [--setuuid <uuid>]
                                [--setparentuuid <uuid>]
                                [--passthrough on|off]
                                [--tempeject on|off]
                                [--bandwidthgroup name|none]
                                [--forceunmount]
                                [--server <name>|<ip>]
                                [--target <target>]
                                [--tport <port>]
                                [--lun <lun>]
                                [--encodedlun <lun>]
                                [--username <username>]
                                [--password <password>]
                                [--intnet]

A number of parameters are commonly required; the ones at the end of the list are required only for iSCSI targets (see below).

The common parameters are:

uuid|vmname

  The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.

storagectl

  Name of the storage controller. Mandatory. The list of the storage controllers currently attached to a VM can be obtained with `VBoxManage showvminfo`; see .

port

  The number of the storage controller's port which is to be modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single port.

device

  The number of the port's device which is to be modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single device per port.

type

  Define the type of the drive to which the medium is being attached/detached/modified. This argument can only be omitted if the type of medium can be determined from either the medium given with the `--medium` argument or from a previous medium attachment.

medium

  Specifies what is to be attached. The following values are supported:

  - "none": Any existing device should be removed from the given slot.

  - "emptydrive": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this makes the device slot behaves like a removeable drive into which no media has been inserted.

  - If a UUID is specified, it must be the UUID of a storage medium that is already known to VirtualBox (e.g. because it has been attached to another virtual machine). See for how to list known media. This medium is then attached to the given device slot.

  - If a filename is specified, it must be the full path of an existing disk image (ISO, RAW, VDI, VMDK or other), which is then attached to the given device slot.

  - "host:<drive>": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this connects the given device slot to the specified DVD or floppy drive on the host computer.

  - "iscsi": For virtual hard disks only, this allows for specifying an iSCSI target. In this case, more parameters must be given; see below.

  Some of the above changes, in particular for removeable media (floppies and CDs/DVDs), can be effected while a VM is running. Others (device changes or changes in hard disk device slots) require the VM to be powered off.

mtype

  Defines how this medium behaves with respect to snapshots and write operations. See for details.

comment

  Any description that you want to have stored with this medium (optional; for example, for an iSCSI target, "Big storage server downstairs"). This is purely descriptive and not needed for the medium to function correctly.

setuuid, setparentuuid

  Modifies the UUID or parent UUID of a medium before attaching it to a VM. This is an expert option. Inappropriate use can make the medium unusable or lead to broken VM configurations if any other VM is referring to the same media already. The most frequently used variant is `--setuuid ""`, which assigns a new (random) UUID to an image. This is useful to resolve the duplicate UUID errors if one duplicated an image using file copy utilities.

passthrough

  For a virtual DVD drive only, you can enable DVD writing support (currently experimental; see ).

tempeject

  For a virtual DVD drive only, you can configure the behavior for guest-triggered medium eject. If this is set to "on", the eject has only temporary effects. If the VM is powered off and restarted the originally configured medium will be still in the drive.

bandwidthgroup

  Sets the bandwidth group to use for the given device; see .

forceunmount

  For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this forcibly unmounts the DVD/CD/Floppy or mounts a new DVD/CD/Floppy even if the previous one is locked down by the guest for reading. Again, see for details.

When "iscsi" is used with the `--medium` parameter for iSCSI support -- see --, additional parameters must or can be used:

server

  The host name or IP address of the iSCSI target; required.

target

  Target name string. This is determined by the iSCSI target and used to identify the storage resource; required.

tport

  TCP/IP port number of the iSCSI service on the target (optional).

lun

  Logical Unit Number of the target resource (optional). Often, this value is zero.

username, password

  Username and password for target authentication, if required (optional).

  Currently, username and password are stored without encryption (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine configuration file.

intnet

  If specified, connect to the iSCSI target via Internal Networking. This needs further configuration which is described in .

## VBoxManage storagectl

This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage controller. After this, virtual media can be attached to the controller with the `storageattach` command (see the next section).

The syntax is as follows:

    VBoxManage storagectl       <uuid|vmname>
                                --name <name>
                                [--add <ide/sata/scsi/floppy>]
                                [--controller <LsiLogic|LSILogicSAS|BusLogic|
                                              IntelAhci|PIIX3|PIIX4|ICH6|I82078>]
                                [--sataideemulation<1-4> <1-30>]
                                [--sataportcount <1-30>]
                                [--hostiocache on|off]
                                [--bootable on|off]
                                [--remove]

where the parameters mean:

uuid|vmname

  The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.

name

  Name of the storage controller. Mandatory.

add

  Define the type of the system bus to which the storage controller must be connected.

controller

  Allows to choose the type of chipset being emulated for the given storage controller.

sataideemulation

  This specifies which SATA ports should operate in IDE emulation mode. As explained in , by default, this is the case for SATA ports 1-4; with this command, you can map four IDE channels to any of the 30 supported SATA ports.

sataportcount

  This determines how many ports the SATA controller should support.

hostiocache

  Configures the use of the host I/O cache for all disk images attached to this storage controller. For details, please see .

bootable

  Selects whether this controller is bootable.

remove

  Removes the storage controller from the VM config.

## VBoxManage bandwidthctl

This command creates/deletes/modifies bandwidth groups of the given virtual machine:

    VBoxManage bandwidthctl    <uuid|vmname>
                              --name <name>
                              [--add disk
                              [--delete]
                              [--limit MB/s]

See for an introduction to bandwidth limits. The parameters mean:

uuid|vmname

  The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.

name

  Name of the bandwidth group. Mandatory.

add

  Creates a new bandwdith group with the given type.

delete

  Deletes a bandwdith group if it isn't used anymore.

limit

  Sets the limit for the given group to the specified amount. Can be changed while the VM is running.

## VBoxManage showhdinfo

This command shows information about a virtual hard disk image, notably its size, its size on disk, its type and the virtual machines which use it.

For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the "showvdiinfo" command is also supported and mapped internally to the "showhdinfo" command.

The disk image must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by `VBoxManage list hdds` (see for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current directory.

## VBoxManage createhd

This command creates a new virtual hard disk image. The syntax is as follows:

    VBoxManage createhd         --filename <filename>
                                --size <megabytes>
                                [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD] (default: VDI)
                                [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]

where the parameters mean:

filename

  Allows to choose a file name. Mandatory.

size

  Allows to define the image capacity, in 1 MiB units. Mandatory.

format

  Allows to choose a file format for the output file different from the file format of the input file.

variant

  Allows to choose a file format variant for the output file. It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will result in an error message.

For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the "createvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the "createhd" command.

## VBoxManage modifyhd

With the `modifyhd` command, you can change the characteristics of a disk image after it has been created:

    VBoxManage modifyhd         <uuid>|<filename>
                                [--type normal|writethrough|immutable|shareable|
                                        readonly|multiattach]
                                [--autoreset on|off]
                                [--compact]
                                [--resize <megabytes>|--resizebyte <bytes>]

Despite the "hd" in the subcommand name, the command works with all disk images, not only hard disks. For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the "modifyvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the "modifyhd" command.

The disk image to modify must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by `VBoxManage list hdds` (see for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current directory.

The following options are available:

- With the `--type` argument, you can change the type of an existing image between the normal, immutable, write-through and other modes; see for details.

- For immutable (differencing) hard disks only, the `--autoreset on|off` option determines whether the disk is automatically reset on every VM startup (again, see ). The default is "on".

- With the `--compact` option, can be used to compact disk images, i.e. remove blocks that only contains zeroes. This will shrink a dynamically allocated image again; it will reduce the physical size of the image without affecting the logical size of the virtual disk. Compaction works both for base images and for diff images created as part of a snapshot.

  For this operation to be effective, it is required that free space in the guest system first be zeroed out using a suitable software tool. For Windows guests, you can use the `sdelete` tool provided by Microsoft. Execute `sdelete -z` in the guest to zero the free disk space before compressing the virtual disk image. For Linux, use the `zerofree` utility which supports ext2/ext3 filesystems.

  Please note that compacting is currently only available for VDI images. A similar effect can be achieved by zeroing out free blocks and then cloning the disk to any other dynamically allocated format. You can use this workaround until compacting is also supported for disk formats other than VDI.

- The `--resize x` option (where x is the desired new total space in megabytes) allows you to change the capacity of an existing image; this adjusts the logical size of a virtual disk without affecting the physical size much. Image resizing was added with VirtualBox 4.0. This currently works only for VDI and VHD formats, and only for the dynamically allocated variants, and can only be used to expand (not shrink) the capacity. For example, if you originally created a 10G disk which is now full, you can use the `--resize 15360` command to change the capacity to 15G (15,360MB) without having to create a new image and copy all data from within a virtual machine. Note however that this only changes the drive capacity; you will typically next need to use a partition management tool inside the guest to adjust the main partition to fill the drive.

  The `--resizebyte x` option does almost the same thing, except that x is expressed in bytes instead of megabytes.

## VBoxManage clonehd

This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a new image file with a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be transferred to another host system or imported into VirtualBox again using the Virtual Media Manager; see and . The syntax is as follows:

    VBoxManage clonehd         <uuid>|<filename> <outputfile>
                               [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD|RAW|<other>]
                               [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
                               [--existing]

The disk image to clone as well as the target image must be described either by its UUIDs (if the mediums are registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by `VBoxManage list hdds` (see for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current directory.

The following options are available:

format

  Allow to choose a file format for the output file different from the file format of the input file.

variant

  Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file. It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will result in an error message.

existing

  Perform the clone operation to an already existing destination medium. Only the portion of the source medium which fits into the destination medium is copied. This means if the destination medium is smaller than the source only a part of it is copied, and if the destination medium is larger than the source the remaining part of the destination medium is unchanged.

For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the "clonevdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the "clonehd" command.

## VBoxManage convertfromraw

This command converts a raw disk image to a VirtualBox Disk Image (VDI) file. The syntax is as follows:

    VBoxManage convertfromraw   <filename> <outputfile>
                                [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD]
                                [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
                                [--uuid <uuid>]
    VBoxManage convertfromraw   stdin <outputfile> <bytes>
                                [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD]
                                [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
                                [--uuid <uuid>]

where the parameters mean:

format

  Select the disk image format to create. Default is VDI.

variant

  Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file. It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will result in an error message.

uuid

  Allow to specifiy the UUID of the output file.

The second form forces VBoxManage to read the content for the disk image from standard input (useful for using that command in a pipe).

For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the "convertdd" command is also supported and mapped internally to the "convertfromraw" command.

## VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata

These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual machine or to a VirtualBox configuration (by specifying `global` instead of a virtual machine name). You must specify a key (as a text string) to associate the data with, which you can later use to retrieve it. For example:

    VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate 2006.01.01
    VBoxManage setextradata SUSE10 installdate 2006.02.02

would associate the string "2006.01.01" with the key installdate for the virtual machine Fedora5, and "2006.02.02" on the machine SUSE10. You could retrieve the information as follows:

    VBoxManage getextradata Fedora5 installdate

which would return

    VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
    (C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
    All rights reserved.

    Value: 2006.01.01

To remove a key, the `setextradata` command must be run without specifying data (only the key), for example:

    VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate

## VBoxManage setproperty

This command is used to change global settings which affect the entire VirtualBox installation. Some of these correspond to the settings in the "Global settings" dialog in the graphical user interface. The following properties are available:

machinefolder

  This specifies the default folder in which virtual machine definitions are kept; see for details.

vrdeauthlibrary

  This specifies which library to use when "external" authentication has been selected for a particular virtual machine; see for details.

websrvauthlibrary

  This specifies which library the web service uses to authenticate users. For details about the VirtualBox web service, please refer to the separate VirtualBox SDK reference (see ).

vrdelibrary

  This specifies which library implements the VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension.

hwvirtexenabled

  This selects whether or not hardware virtualization support is enabled by default.

## VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove

The `usbfilter` commands are used for working with USB filters in virtual machines, or global filters which affect the whole VirtualBox setup. Global filters are applied before machine-specific filters, and may be used to prevent devices from being captured by any virtual machine. Global filters are always applied in a particular order, and only the first filter which fits a device is applied. So for example, if the first global filter says to hold (make available) a particular Kingston memory stick device and the second to ignore all Kingston devices, that memory stick will be available to any machine with an appropriate filter, but no other Kingston device will.

When creating a USB filter using `usbfilter add`, you must supply three or four mandatory parameters. The index specifies the position in the list at which the filter should be placed. If there is already a filter at that position, then it and the following ones will be shifted back one place. Otherwise the new filter will be added onto the end of the list. The `target` parameter selects the virtual machine that the filter should be attached to or use "global" to apply it to all virtual machines. `name` is a name for the new filter and for global filters, `action` says whether to allow machines access to devices that fit the filter description ("hold") or not to give them access ("ignore"). In addition, you should specify parameters to filter by. You can find the parameters for devices attached to your system using `VBoxManage list usbhost`. Finally, you can specify whether the filter should be active, and for local filters, whether they are for local devices, remote (over an RDP connection) or either.

When you modify a USB filter using `usbfilter modify`, you must specify the filter by index (see the output of `VBoxManage list usbfilters` to find global filter indexes and that of `VBoxManage showvminfo` to find indexes for individual machines) and by target, which is either a virtual machine or "global". The properties which can be changed are the same as for `usbfilter add`. To remove a filter, use `usbfilter remove` and specify the index and the target.

## VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove

This command allows you to share folders on the host computer with guest operating systems. For this, the guest systems must have a version of the VirtualBox Guest Additions installed which supports this functionality.

Shared folders are described in detail in .

## VBoxManage guestproperty

The "guestproperty" commands allow you to get or set properties of a running virtual machine. Please see for an introduction. As explained there, guest properties are arbitrary key/value string pairs which can be written to and read from by either the guest or the host, so they can be used as a low-volume communication channel for strings, provided that a guest is running and has the Guest Additions installed. In addition, a number of values whose keys begin with "/VirtualBox/" are automatically set and maintained by the Guest Additions.

The following subcommands are available (where `<vm>`, in each case, can either be a VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):

- `enumerate <vm> [--patterns <pattern>]`: This lists all the guest properties that are available for the given VM, including the value. This list will be very limited if the guest's service process cannot be contacted, e.g. because the VM is not running or the Guest Additions are not installed.

  If `--patterns <pattern>` is specified, it acts as a filter to only list properties that match the given pattern. The pattern can contain the following wildcard characters:

  - `*` (asterisk): represents any number of characters; for example, "`/VirtualBox*`" would match all properties beginning with "/VirtualBox".

  - `?` (question mark): represents a single arbitrary character; for example, "`fo?`" would match both "foo" and "for".

  - `|` (pipe symbol): can be used to specify multiple alternative patterns; for example, "`s*|t*`" would match anything starting with either "s" or "t".

- `get <vm>`: This retrieves the value of a single property only. If the property cannot be found (e.g. because the guest is not running), this will print

      No value set!

- `set <vm> <property> [<value> [--flags <flags>]]`: This allows you to set a guest property by specifying the key and value. If `<value>` is omitted, the property is deleted. With `--flags` you can optionally specify additional behavior (you can combine several by separating them with commas):

  - `TRANSIENT`: the value will not be stored with the VM data when the VM exits;

  - `TRANSRESET`: the value will be deleted as soon as the VM restarts and/or exits;

  - `RDONLYGUEST`: the value can only be changed by the host, but the guest can only read it;

  - `RDONLYHOST`: reversely, the value can only be changed by the guest, but the host can only read it;

  - `READONLY`: a combination of the two, the value cannot be changed at all.

- `wait <vm> <pattern> --timeout <timeout>`: This waits for a particular value described by "pattern" to change or to be deleted or created. The pattern rules are the same as for the "enumerate" subcommand above.

## VBoxManage guestcontrol

The "guestcontrol" commands allow you to control certain things inside a guest from the host. Please see for an introduction.

Generally, the syntax is as follows:

    VBoxManage guestcontrol <command>

The following subcommands are available (where `<vm>`, in each case, can either be a VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):

- `execute`, which allows for executing a program/script (process) which already is installed and runnable on the guest. This command only works while a VM is up and running and has the following syntax:

      VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>|<uuid> exec[ute]
                  --image <path to program>
                  --username <name> [--password <password>]
                  [--dos2unix]
                  [--environment "<NAME>=<VALUE> [<NAME>=<VALUE>]"]
                  [--timeout <msec>] [--unix2dos] [--verbose]
                  [--wait-exit] [--wait-stdout] [--wait-stderr]
                  -- [[<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]

  where the parameters mean:

  uuid|vmname

    The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.

  --image "<path to program>"

    Absolute path and process name of process to execute in the guest, e.g. `C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe`

  --username <name>

    Name of the user the process should run under. This user must exist on the guest OS.

  --password <password>

    Password of the user account specified with `--username`. If not given, an empty password is assumed.

  --dos2unix
    Converts output from DOS/Windows guests to UNIX-compatible line endings (CR + LF -> LF). Not implemented yet.
  --environment "<NAME>=<VALUE>"

    One or more environment variables to be set or unset.

    By default, the new process in the guest will be created with the standard environment of the guest OS. This option allows for modifying that environment. To set/modify a variable, a pair of `NAME=VALUE` must be specified; to unset a certain variable, the name with no value must set, e.g. `NAME=`.

    Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in quotation marks. More than one `--environment` at a time can be specified to keep the command line tidy.

  --timeout <msec>

    Value (in milliseconds) that specifies the time how long the started process is allowed to run and how long VBoxManage waits for getting output from that process. If no timeout is specified, VBoxManage will wait forever until the started process ends or an error occured.

  --unix2dos
    Converts output from a UNIX/Linux guests to DOS-/Windows-compatible line endings (LF -> CR + LF). Not implemented yet.
  --verbose

    Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.

  --wait-exit

    Waits until the process ends and outputs its exit code along with the exit reason/flags.

  --wait-stdout

    Waits until the process ends and outputs its exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stdout.

  --wait-stderr

    Waits until the process ends and outputs its exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stderr.

  [-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]

    One or more arguments to pass to the process being executed.

    Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in quotation marks.

  On Windows there are certain limitations for graphical applications; please see for more information.

  Examples:

      VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls"
                --username foo --password bar --wait-exit --wait-stdout -- -l /usr

      VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "c:\\windows\\system32\\ipconfig.exe"
                --username foo --password bar --wait-exit --wait-stdout

  Note that the double backslashes in the second example are only required on Unix hosts.

  For certain commands a user name of an existing user account on the guest must be specified; anonymous executions are not supported for security reasons. A user account password, however, is optional and depends on the guest's OS security policy or rules. If no password is specified for a given user name, an empty password will be used. On certain OSes like Windows the security policy may needs to be adjusted in order to allow user accounts with an empty password set. Also, global domain rules might apply and therefore cannot be changed.

  Starting at VirtualBox 4.1.2 guest process execution by default is limited to serve up to 5 guest processes at a time. If a new guest process gets started which would exceed this limit, the oldest not running guest process will be discarded in order to be able to run that new process. Also, retrieving output from this old guest process will not be possible anymore then. If all 5 guest processes are still active and running, starting a new guest process will result in an appropriate error message.

  To raise or lower the guest process execution limit, either the guest property `/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--control-procs-max-kept` or VBoxService' command line by specifying `--control-procs-max-kept` needs to be modified. A restart of the guest OS is required afterwards. To serve unlimited guest processes, a value of `0` needs to be set (not recommended).

- `copyto`, which allows copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).

      VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>|<uuid> copyto|cp
                  <source on host> <destination on guest>
                  --username <name> [--password <password>]
                  [--dryrun] [--follow] [--recursive] [--verbose]

  where the parameters mean:

  uuid|vmname

    The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.

  source on host

    Absolute path of source file(s) on host to copy over to the guest, e.g. `C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe`. This also can be a wildcard expression, e.g. `C:\Windows\System32\*.dll`

  destination on guest

    Absolute destination path on the guest, e.g. `C:\Temp`

  --username <name>

    Name of the user the copy process should run under. This user must exist on the guest OS.

  --password <password>

    Password of the user account specified with `--username`. If not given, an empty password is assumed.

  --dryrun

    Tells VBoxManage to only perform a dry run instead of really copying files to the guest.

  --follow

    Enables following symlinks on the host's source.

  --recursive

    Recursively copies files/directories of the specified source.

  --verbose

    Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.

  --flags <flags>

    Additional flags to set. This is not used at the moment.

- `createdirectory`, which allows copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).

      VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>|<uuid> createdir[ectory]|mkdir|md
                  <directory to create on guest>
                  [--username "<name>"] [--password "<password>"]
                  [--parents] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]

  where the parameters mean:

  uuid|vmname

    The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.

  directory to create on guest

    Absolute path of directory/directories to create on guest, e.g. `D:\Foo\Bar`. Parent directories need to exist (e.g. in this example `D:\Foo`) when switch `--parents` is omitted. The specified user must have appropriate rights to create the specified directory.

  --username <name>

    Name of the user the copy process should run under. This user must exist on the guest OS.

  --password <password>

    Password of the user account specified with `--username`. If not given, an empty password is assumed.

  --parents

    Also creates not yet existing parent directories of the specified directory, e.g. if the directory `D:\Foo` of `D:\Foo\Bar` does not exist yet it will be created. Without specifying `--parent` the action would have failed.

  --mode <mode>

    Sets the permission mode of the specified directory. Only octal modes (e.g. `0755`) are supported right now.

  --verbose

    Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.

- `stat`, which displays file or file system status on the guest.

      VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>|<uuid> stat
                  <file element(s) to check on guest>
                  [--username "<name>"] [--password "<password>"]
                  [--verbose]

  where the parameters mean:

  uuid|vmname

    The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.

  file element(s) to check on guest

    Absolute path of directory/directories to check on guest, e.g. `/home/foo/a.out`. The specified user must have appropriate rights to access the given file element(s).

  --username <name>

    Name of the user the copy process should run under. This user must exist on the guest OS.

  --password <password>

    Password of the user account specified with `--username`. If not given, an empty password is assumed.

  --verbose

    Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.

- `updateadditions`, which allows for updating an already installed Guest Additions version on the guest (only already installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).

      VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>|<uuid> updateadditions
                  [--source "<guest additions .ISO file to use>"] [--verbose]

  where the parameters mean:

  uuid|vmname

    The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.

  --source "<guest additions .ISO file to use>"

    Full path to an alternative VirtualBox Guest Additions .ISO file to use for the Guest Additions update.

  --verbose

    Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.

## VBoxManage debugvm

The "debugvm" commands are for experts who want to tinker with the exact details of virtual machine execution. Like the VM debugger described in , these commands are only useful if you are very familiar with the details of the PC architecture and how to debug software.

The subcommands of "debugvm" all operate on a running virtual machine. The following are available:

- With `dumpguestcore --filename <name>`, you can create a system dump of the running VM, which will be written into the given file. This file will have the standard ELF core format (with custom sections); see .

  This corresponds to the `writecore` command in the debugger.

- The `info` command is used to display info items relating to the VMM, device emulations and associated drivers. This command takes one or two arguments: the name of the info item, optionally followed by a string containing arguments specific to the info item. The `help` info item provides a listning of the available items and hints about any optional arguments.

  This corresponds to the `info` command in the debugger.

- The `injectnmi` command causes a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) in the guest, which might be useful for certain debugging scenarios. What happens exactly is dependent on the guest operating system, but an NMI can crash the whole guest operating system. Do not use unless you know what you're doing.

- The `osdetect` command makes the VMM's debugger facility (re-)detection the guest operation system.

  This corresponds to the `detect` command in the debugger.

- The `osinfo` command is used to display info about the operating system (OS) detected by the VMM's debugger facility.

- The `getregisters` command is used to display CPU and device registers. The command takes a list of registers, each having one of the following forms:

  - `register-set.register-name.sub-field`
  - `register-set.register-name`
  - `cpu-register-name.sub-field`
  - `cpu-register-name`
  - `all`
  The `all` form will cause all registers to be shown (no sub-fields). The registers names are case-insensitive. When requesting a CPU register the register set can be omitted, it will be selected using the value of the `--cpu` option (defaulting to 0).

- The `setregisters` command is used to change CPU and device registers. The command takes a list of register assignments, each having one of the following forms:

  - `register-set.register-name.sub-field=value`
  - `register-set.register-name=value`
  - `cpu-register-name.sub-field=value`
  - `cpu-register-name=value`
  The value format should be in the same style as what `getregisters` displays, with the exception that both octal and decimal can be used instead of hexadecimal. The register naming and the default CPU register set are handled the same way as with the `getregisters` command.

- The `statistics` command can be used to display VMM statistics on the command line. The `--reset` option will reset statistics. The affected statistics can be filtered with the `--pattern` option, which accepts DOS/NT-style wildcards (`?` and `*`).

## VBoxManage metrics

This command supports monitoring the usage of system resources. Resources are represented by various metrics associated with the host system or a particular VM. For example, the host system has a `CPU/Load/User` metric that shows the percentage of time CPUs spend executing in user mode over a specific sampling period.

Metric data is collected and retained internally; it may be retrieved at any time with the `VBoxManage metrics query` subcommand. The data is available as long as the background `VBoxSVC` process is alive. That process terminates shortly after all VMs and frontends have been closed.

By default no metrics are collected at all. Metrics collection does not start until `VBoxManage metrics setup` is invoked with a proper sampling interval and the number of metrics to be retained. The interval is measured in seconds. For example, to enable collecting the host processor and memory usage metrics every second and keeping the 5 most current samples, the following command can be used:

    VBoxManage metrics setup --period 1 --samples 5 host CPU/Load,RAM/Usage

Metric collection can only be enabled for started VMs. Collected data and collection settings for a particular VM will disappear as soon as it shuts down. Use `VBoxManage metrics list` subcommand to see which metrics are currently available. You can also use `--list` option with any subcommand that modifies metric settings to find out which metrics were affected.

Note that the `VBoxManage metrics setup` subcommand discards all samples that may have been previously collected for the specified set of objects and metrics.

To enable or disable metrics collection without discarding the data `VBoxManage metrics enable` and `VBoxManage metrics disable` subcommands can be used. Note that these subcommands expect metrics, not submetrics, like `CPU/Load` or `RAM/Usage` as parameters. In other words enabling `CPU/Load/User` while disabling `CPU/Load/Kernel` is not supported.

The host and VMs have different sets of associated metrics. Available metrics can be listed with `VBoxManage metrics list` subcommand.

A complete metric name may include an aggregate function. The name has the following form: `Category/Metric[/SubMetric][:aggregate]`. For example, `RAM/Usage/Free:min` stands for the minimum amount of available memory over all retained data if applied to the host object.

Subcommands may apply to all objects and metrics or can be limited to one object or/and a list of metrics. If no objects or metrics are given in the parameters, the subcommands will apply to all available metrics of all objects. You may use an asterisk ("`*`") to explicitly specify that the command should be applied to all objects or metrics. Use "host" as the object name to limit the scope of the command to host-related metrics. To limit the scope to a subset of metrics, use a metric list with names separated by commas.

For example, to query metric data on the CPU time spent in user and kernel modes by the virtual machine named "test", you can use the following command:

    VBoxManage metrics query test CPU/Load/User,CPU/Load/Kernel

The following list summarizes the available subcommands:

list

  This subcommand shows the parameters of the currently existing metrics. Note that VM-specific metrics are only available when a particular VM is running.

setup

  This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The retained data is available for displaying with the `query` subcommand. The `--list` option shows which metrics have been modified as the result of the command execution.

enable

  This subcommand "resumes" data collection after it has been stopped with `disable` subcommand. Note that specifying submetrics as parameters will not enable underlying metrics. Use `--list` to find out if the command did what was expected.

disable

  This subcommand "suspends" data collection without affecting collection parameters or collected data. Note that specifying submetrics as parameters will not disable underlying metrics. Use `--list` to find out if the command did what was expected.

query

  This subcommand retrieves and displays the currently retained metric data.

  The `query` subcommand does not remove or "flush" retained data. If you query often enough you will see how old samples are gradually being "phased out" by new samples.

collect

  This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The collected data is displayed periodically until Ctrl-C is pressed unless the `--detach` option is specified. With the `--detach` option, this subcommand operates the same way as `setup` does. The `--list` option shows which metrics match the specified filter.

## VBoxManage hostonlyif

With "hostonlyif" you can change the IP configuration of a host-only network interface. For a description of host-only networking, please refer to . Each host-only interface is identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a manual IP configuration (both IP4 and IP6).

## VBoxManage dhcpserver

The "dhcpserver" commands allow you to control the DHCP server that is built into VirtualBox. You may find this useful when using internal or host-only networking. (Theoretically, you can enable it for a bridged network as well, but that will likely cause conflicts with other DHCP servers in your physical network.)

Use the following command line options:

- If you use internal networking for a virtual network adapter of a virtual machine, use `VBoxManage dhcpserver add --netname <network_name>`, where `<network_name>` is the same network name you used with `VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname> --intnet<X> <network_name>`.

- If you use host-only networking for a virtual network adapter of a virtual machine, use `VBoxManage dhcpserver add --ifname <hostonly_if_name>` instead, where `<hostonly_if_name>` is the same host-only interface name you used with `VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname> --hostonlyadapter<X> <hostonly_if_name>`.

  Alternatively, you can also use the --netname option as with internal networks if you know the host-only network's name; you can see the names with `VBoxManage list hostonlyifs` (see above).

The following additional parameters are required when first adding a DHCP server:

- With `--ip`, specify the IP address of the DHCP server itself.

- With `--netmask`, specify the netmask of the network.

- With `--lowerip` and `--upperip`, you can specify the lowest and highest IP address, respectively, that the DHCP server will hand out to clients.

Finally, you must specify `--enable` or the DHCP server will be created in the disabled state, doing nothing.

After this, VirtualBox will automatically start the DHCP server for given internal or host-only network as soon as the first virtual machine which uses that network is started.

Reversely, use `VBoxManage dhcpserver remove` with the given `--netname <network_name>` or `--ifname <hostonly_if_name>` to remove the DHCP server again for the given internal or host-only network.

To modify the settings of a DHCP server created earlier with `VBoxManage dhcpserver add`, you can use `VBoxManage dhcpserver modify` for a given network or host-only interface name.

## VBoxManage extpack

The "extpack" command allows you to add or remove VirtualBox extension packs, as described in .

- To add a new extension pack, use `VBoxManage extpack install <tarball>`. This command will fail if an older version of the same extension pack is already installed. The optional `--replace` parameter can be used to uninstall the old package before the new package is installed.

- To remove a previously installed extension pack, use `VBoxManage extpack uninstall <name>`. You can use `VBoxManage list extpacks` to show the names of the extension packs which are currently installed; please see also. The optional `--force` parameter can be used to override the refusal of an extension pack to be uninstalled.

- The `VBoxManage extpack cleanup` command can be used to remove temporary files and directories that may have been left behind if a previous install or uninstall command failed.