1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
---|
2 | <!--
|
---|
3 | manpage, user manual, usage: VBoxManage modifymedium
|
---|
4 |
|
---|
5 | Copyright (C) 2006-2020 Oracle Corporation
|
---|
6 |
|
---|
7 | This file is part of VirtualBox Open Source Edition (OSE), as
|
---|
8 | available from http://www.virtualbox.org. This file is free software;
|
---|
9 | you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
|
---|
10 | General Public License (GPL) as published by the Free Software
|
---|
11 | Foundation, in version 2 as it comes in the "COPYING" file of the
|
---|
12 | VirtualBox OSE distribution. VirtualBox OSE is distributed in the
|
---|
13 | hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY of any kind.
|
---|
14 | -->
|
---|
15 | <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
|
---|
16 | "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd"[
|
---|
17 | <!ENTITY % all.entities SYSTEM "all-entities.ent">
|
---|
18 | %all.entities;
|
---|
19 | ]>
|
---|
20 | <refentry id="vboxmanage-modifymedium" lang="en">
|
---|
21 | <refentryinfo>
|
---|
22 | <pubdate>$Date: 2022-03-14 09:02:16 +0000 (Mon, 14 Mar 2022) $</pubdate>
|
---|
23 | <title>VBoxManage modifymedium</title>
|
---|
24 | </refentryinfo>
|
---|
25 |
|
---|
26 | <refmeta>
|
---|
27 | <refentrytitle>VBoxManage-modifymedium</refentrytitle>
|
---|
28 | <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
|
---|
29 | </refmeta>
|
---|
30 |
|
---|
31 | <refnamediv>
|
---|
32 | <refname>VBoxManage-modifymedium</refname>
|
---|
33 | <refpurpose>change the characteristics of an existing disk image</refpurpose>
|
---|
34 | <refclass>&product-name;</refclass>
|
---|
35 | </refnamediv>
|
---|
36 |
|
---|
37 | <refsynopsisdiv>
|
---|
38 | <cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-modifymedium">
|
---|
39 | <!-- The 'id' is mandatory and must start with 'synopsis-'. -->
|
---|
40 | <command>VBoxManage modifymedium</command>
|
---|
41 | <group>
|
---|
42 | <arg choice="plain">disk</arg>
|
---|
43 | <arg choice="plain">dvd</arg>
|
---|
44 | <arg choice="plain">floppy</arg>
|
---|
45 | </group>
|
---|
46 | <group choice="req">
|
---|
47 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>uuid</replaceable></arg>
|
---|
48 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>filename</replaceable></arg>
|
---|
49 | </group>
|
---|
50 | <arg>--autoreset=on | off</arg>
|
---|
51 | <arg>--compact</arg>
|
---|
52 | <arg>--description=<replaceable>description</replaceable></arg>
|
---|
53 | <arg>--move=<replaceable>pathname</replaceable></arg>
|
---|
54 | <arg>--property=<replaceable>name</replaceable>=[<replaceable>value</replaceable>]</arg>
|
---|
55 | <arg>--resize=<replaceable>megabytes</replaceable> | --resizebyte=<replaceable>bytes</replaceable></arg>
|
---|
56 | <arg>--setlocation=<replaceable>pathname</replaceable></arg>
|
---|
57 | <arg>--type=normal | writethrough | immutable | shareable | readonly | multiattach</arg>
|
---|
58 | </cmdsynopsis>
|
---|
59 | </refsynopsisdiv>
|
---|
60 |
|
---|
61 | <refsect1>
|
---|
62 | <title>Description</title>
|
---|
63 | <para>
|
---|
64 | The <command>VBoxManage modifymedium</command> command enables you
|
---|
65 | to change the characteristics of an existing disk image.
|
---|
66 | </para>
|
---|
67 | <note>
|
---|
68 | <para>
|
---|
69 | For compatibility with earlier versions of &product-name;, you
|
---|
70 | can use the <command>modifyvdi</command> and
|
---|
71 | <command>modifyhd</command> commands.
|
---|
72 | </para>
|
---|
73 | </note>
|
---|
74 | <variablelist>
|
---|
75 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
76 | <term>disk | dvd | floppy</term>
|
---|
77 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
78 | Specifies the media type of the image.
|
---|
79 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
80 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
81 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
82 | <term><replaceable>filename</replaceable></term>
|
---|
83 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
84 | Specifies the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) or path
|
---|
85 | name of the disk image on the host file system. You can
|
---|
86 | specify the UUID only if the medium is registered. Use the
|
---|
87 | <command>VBoxManage list hdds</command> command to list the
|
---|
88 | registered images. You can specfy an absolute or relative
|
---|
89 | path to the medium.
|
---|
90 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
91 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
92 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
93 | <term><option>--autoreset=on | off</option></term>
|
---|
94 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
95 | Specifies whether to automatically reset an immutable hard
|
---|
96 | disk on every virtual machine (VM) startup. This option is
|
---|
97 | only for immutable hard disks and the default value is
|
---|
98 | <literal>on</literal>. See <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />.
|
---|
99 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
100 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
101 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
102 | <term><option>--compact</option></term>
|
---|
103 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
104 | Compresses disk images by removing blocks that contain only
|
---|
105 | zeroes. This option shrinks a dynamically allocated image
|
---|
106 | and reduces the <emphasis>physical</emphasis> size of the
|
---|
107 | image without affecting the logical size of the virtual
|
---|
108 | disk.
|
---|
109 | </para><para>
|
---|
110 | You can use this option for base images and for differencing
|
---|
111 | images that are created as part of a snapshot.
|
---|
112 | </para><note>
|
---|
113 | <para>
|
---|
114 | Before you compress the image, you must use a suitable
|
---|
115 | software tool to zero out free space in the guest system.
|
---|
116 | For example:
|
---|
117 | </para>
|
---|
118 | <itemizedlist>
|
---|
119 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
120 | <emphasis role="bold">Windows guests.</emphasis> Run
|
---|
121 | the <command>sdelete -z</command> command.
|
---|
122 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
123 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
124 | <emphasis role="bold">Linux guests.</emphasis> Use the
|
---|
125 | <command>zerofree</command> utility, which supports
|
---|
126 | <literal>ext2</literal> and <literal>ext3</literal>
|
---|
127 | file systems.
|
---|
128 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
129 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
130 | <emphasis role="bold">Mac OS X guests.</emphasis> Use
|
---|
131 | the <command>diskutil secureErase freespace 0
|
---|
132 | /</command> command.
|
---|
133 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
134 | </itemizedlist>
|
---|
135 | </note><para>
|
---|
136 | Note that you can only use this option to compress VDI
|
---|
137 | images. To compress non-VID images, you can zero out free
|
---|
138 | blocks and then clone the disk to any other dynamically
|
---|
139 | allocated format.
|
---|
140 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
141 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
142 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
143 | <term><option>--description=<replaceable>description</replaceable></option></term>
|
---|
144 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
145 | Specifies a text description of the medium.
|
---|
146 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
147 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
148 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
149 | <term><option>--move=<replaceable>pathname</replaceable></option></term>
|
---|
150 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
151 | Specifies a relative or absolute path to a medium on the
|
---|
152 | host system. Use this option to relocate a medium to a
|
---|
153 | different location on the host system.
|
---|
154 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
155 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
156 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
157 | <term><option>--property=<replaceable>name</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></option></term>
|
---|
158 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
159 | Specifies a property name and value for the medium.
|
---|
160 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
161 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
162 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
163 | <term><option>--resize=<replaceable>size</replaceable></option></term>
|
---|
164 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
165 | Specifes the new capacity of an existing image in MB. You
|
---|
166 | can use this option only to expand the capacity of an image.
|
---|
167 | You can cannot shrink the capacity of an image.
|
---|
168 | </para><para>
|
---|
169 | Note that you can resize only dynamically allocated disk
|
---|
170 | images that use the VDI and VHD formats. This option adjusts
|
---|
171 | the <emphasis>logical</emphasis> size of a virtual disk and
|
---|
172 | has only a minor affect on the physical size.
|
---|
173 | </para><para>
|
---|
174 | For example, if your dynamically allocated 10 GB disk is
|
---|
175 | full, you can use the <option>--resize 15360</option> option
|
---|
176 | to increase the capacity of the existing disk to 15 GB
|
---|
177 | (15,360 MB). This operation enables you to avoid having to
|
---|
178 | create a new image and copy all data from within a VM.
|
---|
179 | </para><para>
|
---|
180 | Note that using this option only changes the capacity of the
|
---|
181 | drive. So, you might need to subsequently use a partition
|
---|
182 | management tool in the guest to adjust the main partition to
|
---|
183 | fill the drive.
|
---|
184 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
185 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
186 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
187 | <term><option>--resizebyte=<replaceable>size</replaceable></option></term>
|
---|
188 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
189 | Specifes the new capacity of an existing image in bytes.
|
---|
190 | This option is similar to the <option>--resize</option>
|
---|
191 | option, but you specify the size in bytes instead of
|
---|
192 | megabytes.
|
---|
193 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
194 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
195 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
196 | <term><option>--setlocation=<replaceable>pathname</replaceable></option></term>
|
---|
197 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
198 | Specifies the new location of the medium on the host system
|
---|
199 | after the medium has been moved. The path name can be
|
---|
200 | relative to the current directory or be absolute to the
|
---|
201 | root.
|
---|
202 | </para><para>
|
---|
203 | Note that the <command>VBoxManage modifymedium</command>
|
---|
204 | command does not perform any sanity checks on the path name
|
---|
205 | you specify. Ensure that the path name is valid.
|
---|
206 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
207 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
208 | <varlistentry>
|
---|
209 | <term><option>--type</option></term>
|
---|
210 | <listitem><para>
|
---|
211 | Specifies the new mode type of an existing image. Valid
|
---|
212 | values are <literal>normal</literal>,
|
---|
213 | <literal>immutable</literal>,
|
---|
214 | <literal>writethrough</literal>,
|
---|
215 | <literal>multi-attach</literal>,
|
---|
216 | <literal>shareable</literal>, and
|
---|
217 | <literal>readonly</literal>. For descriptions of these mode
|
---|
218 | types, see <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />.
|
---|
219 | </para></listitem>
|
---|
220 | </varlistentry>
|
---|
221 | </variablelist>
|
---|
222 | </refsect1>
|
---|
223 |
|
---|
224 | <refsect1>
|
---|
225 | <title>Examples</title>
|
---|
226 | <remark role="help-scope" condition="GLOBAL" />
|
---|
227 | <para>
|
---|
228 | The following command modifies the description for the disk image
|
---|
229 | file called <filename>disk01.vdi</filename>.
|
---|
230 | </para>
|
---|
231 | <screen>$ VBoxManage modifymedium disk disk01.vdi --description "Oracle Linux 7 image"</screen>
|
---|
232 | <para>
|
---|
233 | The following command modifies the write mode for the disk image
|
---|
234 | file called <filename>disk01.vdi</filename>.
|
---|
235 | </para>
|
---|
236 | <screen>$ VBoxManage modifymedium disk disk01.vdi --type writethrough</screen>
|
---|
237 | </refsect1>
|
---|
238 |
|
---|
239 | <refsect1>
|
---|
240 | <title>See Also</title>
|
---|
241 | <para>
|
---|
242 | <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
|
---|
243 | </para>
|
---|
244 | </refsect1>
|
---|
245 | </refentry>
|
---|