| 1 | <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
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| 2 | <!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
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| 3 | <topic xml:lang="en-us" id="vboxconfigdata-machine-folder">
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| 4 | <title>The Machine Folder</title>
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| 5 |
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| 6 | <body>
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| 7 | <p>
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| 8 | By default, each virtual machine has a directory on your host
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| 9 | computer where all the files of that machine are stored: the XML
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| 10 | settings file, with a <filepath>.vbox</filepath> file extension,
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| 11 | and its disk images. This is called the <i>machine
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| 12 | folder</i>.
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| 13 | </p>
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| 14 | <p>
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| 15 | By default, this machine folder is located in a common folder
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| 16 | called <filepath>VirtualBox VMs</filepath>, which <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>
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| 17 | creates in the current system user's home directory. The
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| 18 | location of this home directory depends on the conventions of
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| 19 | the host operating system, as follows:
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| 20 | </p>
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| 21 | <ul>
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| 22 | <li>
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| 23 | <p>
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| 24 | On Windows, this is the location returned by the
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| 25 | <codeph>SHGetFolderPath</codeph> function of the Windows
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| 26 | system library Shell32.dll, asking for the user profile. A
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| 27 | typical location is
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| 28 | <filepath>C:\Users\<varname>username</varname>
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| 29 | </filepath>.
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| 30 | </p>
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| 31 | </li>
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| 32 | <li>
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| 33 | <p>
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| 34 | On Linux, macOS, and Oracle Solaris, this is generally
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| 35 | taken from the environment variable
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| 36 | <filepath>$HOME</filepath>, except for the user
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| 37 | <codeph>root</codeph> where it is taken from the account
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| 38 | database. This is a workaround for the frequent trouble
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| 39 | caused by users using <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> in combination with the
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| 40 | tool <userinput>sudo</userinput>, which by default does not
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| 41 | reset the environment variable <filepath>$HOME</filepath>.
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| 42 | </p>
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| 43 | <p>
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| 44 | A typical location on Linux and Oracle Solaris is
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| 45 | <filepath>/home/<varname>username</varname>
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| 46 | </filepath>
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| 47 | and on macOS is
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| 48 | <filepath>/Users/<varname>username</varname>
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| 49 | </filepath>.
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| 50 | </p>
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| 51 | </li>
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| 52 | </ul>
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| 53 | <p>
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| 54 | For simplicity, we abbreviate the location of the home directory
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| 55 | as <filepath>$HOME</filepath>. Using that convention, the common
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| 56 | folder for all virtual machines is <filepath>$HOME/VirtualBox
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| 57 | VMs</filepath>.
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| 58 | </p>
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| 59 | <p>
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| 60 | As an example, when you create a virtual machine called "Example
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| 61 | VM", <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> creates the following:
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| 62 | </p>
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| 63 | <ul>
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| 64 | <li>
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| 65 | <p>
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| 66 | A machine folder: <filepath>$HOME/VirtualBox VMs/Example
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| 67 | VM/</filepath>
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| 68 | </p>
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| 69 | </li>
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| 70 | <li>
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| 71 | <p>
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| 72 | In the machine folder, a settings file: <filepath>Example
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| 73 | VM.vbox</filepath>
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| 74 | </p>
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| 75 | </li>
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| 76 | <li>
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| 77 | <p>
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| 78 | In the machine folder, a virtual disk image:
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| 79 | <filepath>Example VM.vdi</filepath>.
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| 80 | </p>
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| 81 | </li>
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| 82 | </ul>
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| 83 | <p>
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| 84 | This is the default layout if you use the
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| 85 | <b outputclass="bold">Create New Virtual Machine</b>
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| 86 | wizard described in <xref href="create-vm-wizard.dita">Creating Your First Virtual Machine</xref>. Once you
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| 87 | start working with the VM, additional files are added. Log files
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| 88 | are in a subfolder called <filepath>Logs</filepath>, and if you
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| 89 | have taken snapshots, they are in a
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| 90 | <filepath>Snapshots</filepath> subfolder. For each VM, you can
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| 91 | change the location of its snapshots folder in the VM settings.
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| 92 | </p>
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| 93 | <p>
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| 94 | You can change the default machine folder by selecting <b outputclass="bold">Preferences</b>
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| 95 | from the <b outputclass="bold">File</b> menu in the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> main window. Then, in
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| 96 | the displayed window, click on the <b outputclass="bold">General</b> tab. Alternatively, use
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| 97 | the <userinput>VBoxManage setproperty machinefolder</userinput> command. See
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| 98 | <xref href="vboxmanage-setproperty.dita">VBoxManage setproperty</xref>.
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| 99 | </p>
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| 100 | </body>
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| 101 |
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| 102 | </topic>
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