user_VBoxManage.xml@ 48257

Last change on this file since 48257 was 47991, checked in by vboxsync, 11 years ago
Main: Made the exclusive HW virtualization use setting global rather than per-VM.
File size: 174.7 KB

Line
1	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2	<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
3	"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd">
4	<chapter id="vboxmanage">
5	<title>VBoxManage</title>
6
7	<sect1>
8	<title>Introduction</title>
9
10	<para>As briefly mentioned in <xref linkend="frontends" />, VBoxManage is
11	the command-line interface to VirtualBox. With it, you can completely
12	control VirtualBox from the command line of your host operating system.
13	VBoxManage supports all the features that the graphical user interface
14	gives you access to, but it supports a lot more than that. It exposes
15	really all the features of the virtualization engine, even those that
16	cannot (yet) be accessed from the GUI.</para>
17
18	<para>You will need to use the command line if you want to</para>
19
20	<para><itemizedlist>
21	<listitem>
22	<para>use a different user interface than the main GUI (for example,
23	VBoxSDL or the VBoxHeadless server);</para>
24	</listitem>
25
26	<listitem>
27	<para>control some of the more advanced and experimental
28	configuration settings for a VM.</para>
29	</listitem>
30	</itemizedlist></para>
31
32	<para>There are two main things to keep in mind when using
33	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>: First,
34	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> must always be used with a
35	specific "subcommand", such as "list" or "createvm" or "startvm". All the
36	subcommands that <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> supports are
37	described in detail in <xref linkend="vboxmanage" />.</para>
38
39	<para>Second, most of these subcommands require that you specify a
40	particular virtual machine after the subcommand. There are two ways you
41	can do this:</para>
42
43	<itemizedlist>
44	<listitem>
45	<para>You can specify the VM name, as it is shown in the VirtualBox
46	GUI. Note that if that name contains spaces, then you must enclose the
47	entire name in double quotes (as it is always required with command
48	line arguments that contain spaces).</para>
49
50	<para>For example:<screen>VBoxManage startvm "Windows XP"</screen></para>
51	</listitem>
52
53	<listitem>
54	<para>You can specify the UUID, which is the internal unique
55	identifier that VirtualBox uses to refer to the virtual machine.
56	Assuming that the aforementioned VM called "Windows XP" has the UUID
57	shown below, the following command has the same effect as the
58	previous:<screen>VBoxManage startvm 670e746d-abea-4ba6-ad02-2a3b043810a5</screen></para>
59	</listitem>
60	</itemizedlist>
61
62	<para>You can type <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms</computeroutput> to
63	have all currently registered VMs listed with all their settings,
64	including their respective names and UUIDs.</para>
65
66	<para>Some typical examples of how to control VirtualBox from the command
67	line are listed below:</para>
68
69	<itemizedlist>
70	<listitem>
71	<para>To create a new virtual machine from the command line and
72	immediately register it with VirtualBox, use
73	<computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> with the
74	<computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option,<footnote>
75	<para>For details, see <xref
76	linkend="vboxmanage-createvm" />.</para>
77	</footnote> like this:</para>
78
79	<screen>$ VBoxManage createvm --name "SUSE 10.2" --register
80	VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
81	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
82	All rights reserved.
83
84	Virtual machine 'SUSE 10.2' is created.
85	UUID: c89fc351-8ec6-4f02-a048-57f4d25288e5
86	Settings file: '/home/username/.config/VirtualBox/Machines/SUSE 10.2/SUSE 10.2.xml'
87	</screen>
88
89	<para>As can be seen from the above output, a new virtual machine has
90	been created with a new UUID and a new XML settings file.</para>
91	</listitem>
92
93	<listitem>
94	<para>To show the configuration of a particular VM, use
95	<computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see <xref
96	linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" /> for details and an example.</para>
97	</listitem>
98
99	<listitem>
100	<para>To change settings while a VM is powered off, use
101	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>, e.g. as
102	follows:<screen>VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --memory "512MB"</screen></para>
103
104	<para>For details, see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm" />.</para>
105	</listitem>
106
107	<listitem>
108	<para>To change the storage configuration (e.g. to add a storage
109	controller and then a virtual disk), use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
110	storagectl</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>VBoxManage
111	storageattach</computeroutput>; see <xref
112	linkend="vboxmanage-storagectl" /> and <xref
113	linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" /> for details.</para>
114	</listitem>
115
116	<listitem>
117	<para>To control VM operation, use one of the following:<itemizedlist>
118	<listitem>
119	<para>To start a VM that is currently powered off, use
120	<computeroutput>VBoxManage startvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
121	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
122	</listitem>
123
124	<listitem>
125	<para>To pause or save a VM that is currently running or change
126	some of its settings, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
127	controlvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
128	linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" /> for details.</para>
129	</listitem>
130	</itemizedlist></para>
131	</listitem>
132	</itemizedlist>
133	</sect1>
134
135	<sect1>
136	<title>Commands overview</title>
137
138	<para>When running VBoxManage without parameters or when supplying an
139	invalid command line, the below syntax diagram will be shown. Note that
140	the output will be slightly different depending on the host platform; when
141	in doubt, check the output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>
142	for the commands available on your particular host.</para>
143
144	<screen>$VBOX_MANAGE_OUTPUT</screen>
145
146	<para>Each time VBoxManage is invoked, only one command can be executed.
147	However, a command might support several subcommands which then can be
148	invoked in one single call. The following sections provide detailed
149	reference information on the different commands.</para>
150	</sect1>
151
152	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-general">
153	<title>General options</title>
154	<para>
155	<itemizedlist>
156	<listitem>
157	<para><computeroutput>--version</computeroutput>: show the version of
158	this tool and exit.</para>
159	</listitem>
160	<listitem>
161	<para><computeroutput>--nologo</computeroutput>: suppress the output
162	of the logo information (useful for scripts)</para>
163	</listitem>
164	<listitem>
165	<para><computeroutput>--settingspw</computeroutput>: specifiy a settings
166	password</para>
167	</listitem>
168	<listitem>
169	<para><computeroutput>--settingspwfile</computeroutput>: specify a file
170	containing the settings password.</para>
171	</listitem>
172	</itemizedlist>
173	The settings password is used for certain settings which need to be
174	stored encrypted for security reasons. At the moment, the only encrypted
175	setting is the iSCSI initiator secret (see
176	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" /> for details). As long as no
177	settings password is specified, this information is stored in
178	<emphasis role="bold">plain text</emphasis>. After using the
179	<computeroutput>--settingspw\|--settingspwfile</computeroutput> option
180	once, it must be always used, otherwise the encrypted setting cannot
181	be unencrypted.
182	</para>
183	</sect1>
184
185	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-list">
186	<title>VBoxManage list</title>
187
188	<para>The <computeroutput>list</computeroutput> command gives relevant
189	information about your system and information about VirtualBox's current
190	settings.</para>
191
192	<para>The following subcommands are available with
193	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list</computeroutput>: <itemizedlist>
194	<listitem>
195	<para><computeroutput>vms</computeroutput> lists all virtual
196	machines currently registered with VirtualBox. By default this
197	displays a compact list with each VM's name and UUID; if you also
198	specify <computeroutput>--long</computeroutput> or
199	<computeroutput>-l</computeroutput>, this will be a detailed list as
200	with the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command (see
201	below).</para>
202	</listitem>
203
204	<listitem>
205	<para><computeroutput>runningvms</computeroutput> lists all
206	currently running virtual machines by their unique identifiers
207	(UUIDs) in the same format as with
208	<computeroutput>vms</computeroutput>.</para>
209	</listitem>
210
211	<listitem>
212	<para><computeroutput>ostypes</computeroutput> lists all guest
213	operating systems presently known to VirtualBox, along with the
214	identifiers used to refer to them with the
215	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command.</para>
216	</listitem>
217
218	<listitem>
219	<para><computeroutput>hostdvds</computeroutput>,
220	<computeroutput>hostfloppies</computeroutput>, respectively, list
221	DVD, floppy, bridged networking and host-only networking interfaces
222	on the host, along with the name used to access them from within
223	VirtualBox.</para>
224	</listitem>
225
226	<listitem>
227	<para><computeroutput>bridgedifs</computeroutput>,
228	<computeroutput>hostonlyifs</computeroutput> and
229	<computeroutput>dhcpservers</computeroutput>, respectively, list
230	bridged network interfaces, host-only network interfaces and DHCP
231	servers currently available on the host. Please see <xref
232	linkend="networkingdetails" /> for details on these.</para>
233	</listitem>
234
235	<listitem>
236	<para><computeroutput>hostinfo</computeroutput> displays information
237	about the host system, such as CPUs, memory size and operating
238	system version.</para>
239	</listitem>
240
241	<listitem>
242	<para><computeroutput>hostcpuids</computeroutput> dumps the CPUID
243	parameters for the host CPUs. This can be used for a more fine
244	grained analyis of the host's virtualization capabilities.</para>
245	</listitem>
246
247	<listitem>
248	<para><computeroutput>hddbackends</computeroutput> lists all known
249	virtual disk back-ends of VirtualBox. For each such format (such as
250	VDI, VMDK or RAW), this lists the back-end's capabilities and
251	configuration.</para>
252	</listitem>
253
254	<listitem>
255	<para><computeroutput>hdds</computeroutput>,
256	<computeroutput>dvds</computeroutput> and
257	<computeroutput>floppies</computeroutput> all give you information
258	about virtual disk images currently in use by VirtualBox, including
259	all their settings, the unique identifiers (UUIDs) associated with
260	them by VirtualBox and all files associated with them. This is the
261	command-line equivalent of the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref
262	linkend="vdis" />.</para>
263	</listitem>
264
265	<listitem>
266	<para><computeroutput>usbhost</computeroutput> supplies information
267	about USB devices attached to the host, notably information useful
268	for constructing USB filters and whether they are currently in use
269	by the host.</para>
270	</listitem>
271
272	<listitem>
273	<para><computeroutput>usbfilters</computeroutput> lists all global
274	USB filters registered with VirtualBox -- that is, filters for
275	devices which are accessible to all virtual machines -- and displays
276	the filter parameters.</para>
277	</listitem>
278
279	<listitem>
280	<para><computeroutput>systemproperties</computeroutput> displays
281	some global VirtualBox settings, such as minimum and maximum guest
282	RAM and virtual hard disk size, folder settings and the current
283	authentication library in use.</para>
284	</listitem>
285
286	<listitem>
287	<para><computeroutput>extpacks</computeroutput> displays all
288	VirtualBox extension packs currently installed; see <xref
289	linkend="intro-installing" /> and <xref
290	linkend="vboxmanage-extpack" /> for more information.</para>
291	</listitem>
292	</itemizedlist></para>
293	</sect1>
294
295	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-showvminfo">
296	<title>VBoxManage showvminfo</title>
297
298	<para>The <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command shows
299	information about a particular virtual machine. This is the same
300	information as <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms --long</computeroutput>
301	would show for all virtual machines.</para>
302
303	<para>You will get information similar to the following:</para>
304
305	<para><screen>$ VBoxManage showvminfo "Windows XP"
306	VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
307	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
308	All rights reserved.
309
310	Name: Windows XP
311	Guest OS: Other/Unknown
312	UUID: 1bf3464d-57c6-4d49-92a9-a5cc3816b7e7
313	Config file: /home/username/.config/VirtualBox/Machines/Windows XP/Windows XP.xml
314	Memory size: 512MB
315	VRAM size: 12MB
316	Number of CPUs: 2
317	Synthetic Cpu: off
318	Boot menu mode: message and menu
319	Boot Device (1): DVD
320	Boot Device (2): HardDisk
321	Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
322	Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
323	ACPI: on
324	IOAPIC: on
325	PAE: on
326	Time offset: 0 ms
327	Hardw. virt.ext: on
328	Nested Paging: on
329	VT-x VPID: off
330	State: powered off (since 2009-10-20T14:52:19.000000000)
331	Monitor count: 1
332	3D Acceleration: off
333	2D Video Acceleration: off
334	Teleporter Enabled: off
335	Teleporter Port: 0
336	Teleporter Address:
337	Teleporter Password:
338	Storage Controller (0): IDE Controller
339	Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
340	Storage Controller (1): Floppy Controller 1
341	Storage Controller Type (1): I82078
342	IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/user/windows.vdi (UUID: 46f6e53a-4557-460a-9b95-68b0f17d744b)
343	IDE Controller (0, 1): /home/user/openbsd-cd46.iso (UUID: 4335e162-59d3-4512-91d5-b63e94eebe0b)
344	Floppy Controller 1 (0, 0): /home/user/floppy.img (UUID: 62ac6ccb-df36-42f2-972e-22f836368137)
345	NIC 1: disabled
346	NIC 2: disabled
347	NIC 3: disabled
348	NIC 4: disabled
349	NIC 5: disabled
350	NIC 6: disabled
351	NIC 7: disabled
352	NIC 8: disabled
353	UART 1: disabled
354	UART 2: disabled
355	Audio: disabled (Driver: Unknown)
356	Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
357	VRDE: disabled
358	USB: disabled
359
360	USB Device Filters:
361	<none>
362
363	Shared folders:
364	<none>
365
366	Statistics update: disabled
367	</screen></para>
368	</sect1>
369
370	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-registervm">
371	<title>VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm</title>
372
373	<para>The <computeroutput>registervm</computeroutput> command allows you
374	to import a virtual machine definition in an XML file into VirtualBox. The
375	machine must not conflict with one already registered in VirtualBox and it
376	may not have any hard or removable disks attached. It is advisable to
377	place the definition file in the machines folder before registering
378	it.<note>
379	<para>When creating a new virtual machine with
380	<computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> (see below), you
381	can directly specify the <computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>
382	option to avoid having to register it separately.</para>
383	</note></para>
384
385	<para>The <computeroutput>unregistervm</computeroutput> command
386	unregisters a virtual machine. If
387	<computeroutput>--delete</computeroutput> is also specified, the following
388	files will automatically be deleted as well:<orderedlist>
389	<listitem>
390	<para>all hard disk image files, including differencing files, which
391	are used by the machine and not shared with other machines;</para>
392	</listitem>
393
394	<listitem>
395	<para>saved state files that the machine created, if any (one if the
396	machine was in "saved" state and one for each online
397	snapshot);</para>
398	</listitem>
399
400	<listitem>
401	<para>the machine XML file and its backups;</para>
402	</listitem>
403
404	<listitem>
405	<para>the machine log files, if any;</para>
406	</listitem>
407
408	<listitem>
409	<para>the machine directory, if it is empty after having deleted all
410	the above.</para>
411	</listitem>
412	</orderedlist></para>
413	</sect1>
414
415	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvm">
416	<title>VBoxManage createvm</title>
417
418	<para>This command creates a new XML virtual machine definition
419	file.</para>
420
421	<para>The <computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput> parameter
422	is required and must specify the name of the machine. Since this name is
423	used by default as the file name of the settings file (with the extension
424	<computeroutput>.xml</computeroutput>) and the machine folder (a subfolder
425	of the <computeroutput>.config/VirtualBox/Machines</computeroutput> folder - this folder name may vary depending on the operating system and the version of VirtualBox which you are using), it
426	must conform to your host operating system's requirements for file name
427	specifications. If the VM is later renamed, the file and folder names will
428	change automatically.</para>
429
430	<para>However, if the <computeroutput>--basefolder
431	<path></computeroutput> option is used, the machine folder will be
432	named <computeroutput><path></computeroutput>. In this case, the
433	names of the file and the folder will not change if the virtual machine is
434	renamed.</para>
435
436	<para>By default, this command only creates the XML file without
437	automatically registering the VM with your VirtualBox installation. To
438	register the VM instantly, use the optional
439	<computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option, or run
440	<computeroutput>VBoxManage registervm</computeroutput> separately
441	afterwards.</para>
442	</sect1>
443
444	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm">
445	<title>VBoxManage modifyvm</title>
446
447	<para>This command changes the properties of a registered virtual machine
448	which is not running. Most of the properties that this command makes
449	available correspond to the VM settings that VirtualBox graphical user
450	interface displays in each VM's "Settings" dialog; these were described in
451	<xref linkend="BasicConcepts" />. Some of the more advanced settings,
452	however, are only available through the
453	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> interface.</para>
454
455	<para>These commands require that the machine is powered off (neither
456	running nor in "saved" state). Some machine settings can also be changed
457	while a machine is running; those settings will then have a corresponding
458	subcommand with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm</computeroutput>
459	subcommand (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" />).</para>
460
461	<sect2>
462	<title>General settings</title>
463
464	<para>The following general settings are available through
465	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
466	<listitem>
467	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: This
468	changes the VM's name and possibly renames the internal virtual
469	machine files, as described with <computeroutput>VBoxManage
470	createvm</computeroutput> above.</para>
471	</listitem>
472
473	<listitem>
474	<para><computeroutput>--ostype <ostype></computeroutput>:
475	This specifies what guest operating system is supposed to run in
476	the VM. To learn about the various identifiers that can be used
477	here, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
478	ostypes</computeroutput>.</para>
479	</listitem>
480
481	<listitem>
482	<para><computeroutput>--memory
483	<memorysize></computeroutput>: This sets the amount of RAM,
484	in MB, that the virtual machine should allocate for itself from
485	the host. See the remarks in <xref linkend="gui-createvm" /> for
486	more information.</para>
487	</listitem>
488
489	<listitem>
490	<para><computeroutput>--vram <vramsize></computeroutput>:
491	This sets the amount of RAM that the virtual graphics card should
492	have. See <xref linkend="settings-display" /> for details.</para>
493	</listitem>
494
495	<listitem>
496	<para><computeroutput>--acpi on\|off</computeroutput>;
497	<computeroutput>--ioapic on\|off</computeroutput>: These two
498	determine whether the VM should have ACPI and I/O APIC support,
499	respectively; see <xref linkend="settings-motherboard" /> for
500	details.</para>
501	</listitem>
502
503	<listitem>
504	<para><computeroutput>--hardwareuuid
505	<uuid></computeroutput>: The UUID presented to the guest via
506	memory tables (DMI/SMBIOS), hardware and guest properties. By
507	default this is the same as the VM uuid. Useful when cloning a VM.
508	Teleporting takes care of this automatically.</para>
509	</listitem>
510
511	<listitem>
512	<para><computeroutput>--cpus <cpucount></computeroutput>:
513	This sets the number of virtual CPUs for the virtual machine (see
514	<xref linkend="settings-processor" />). If CPU hot-plugging is
515	enabled (see below), this then sets the
516	<emphasis>maximum</emphasis> number of virtual CPUs that can be
517	plugged into the virtual machines.</para>
518	</listitem>
519
520	<listitem>
521	<para><computeroutput>--rtcuseutc on\|off</computeroutput>: This
522	option lets the real-time clock (RTC) operate in UTC time (see
523	<xref linkend="settings-motherboard" />).</para>
524	</listitem>
525
526	<listitem>
527	<para><computeroutput>--cpuhotplug on\|off</computeroutput>: This
528	enables CPU hot-plugging. When enabled, virtual CPUs can be added
529	to and removed from a virtual machine while it is running. See
530	<xref linkend="cpuhotplug" /> for more information.</para>
531	</listitem>
532
533	<listitem>
534	<para><computeroutput>--plugcpu\|unplugcpu
535	<id></computeroutput>: If CPU hot-plugging is enabled (see
536	above), this adds a virtual CPU to the virtual machines (or
537	removes one). <computeroutput><id></computeroutput>
538	specifies the index of the virtual CPU to be added or removed and
539	must be a number from 0 to the maximum no. of CPUs configured with
540	the <computeroutput>--cpus</computeroutput> option. CPU 0 can
541	never be removed.</para>
542	</listitem>
543
544	<listitem>
545	<para><computeroutput>--cpuexecutioncap
546	<1-100></computeroutput>: This setting controls how much cpu
547	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual
548	CPU can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
549	</listitem>
550
551	<listitem>
552	<para><computeroutput>--pae on\|off</computeroutput>: This
553	enables/disables PAE (see <xref
554	linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
555	</listitem>
556
557	<listitem>
558	<para><computeroutput>--longmode on\|off</computeroutput>: This
559	enables/disables long mode (see <xref
560	linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
561	</listitem>
562
563	<listitem>
564	<para><computeroutput>--synthcpu on\|off</computeroutput>: This
565	setting determines whether VirtualBox will expose a synthetic CPU
566	to the guest to allow live migration between host systems that
567	differ significantly.</para>
568	</listitem>
569
570	<listitem>
571	<para><computeroutput>--hpet on\|off</computeroutput>: This
572	enables/disables a High Precision Event Timer (HPET) which can
573	replace the legacy system timers. This is turned off by default.
574	Note that Windows supports a HPET only from Vista onwards.</para>
575	</listitem>
576
577	<listitem>
578	<para><computeroutput>--hwvirtex on\|off</computeroutput>: This
579	enables or disables the use of hardware virtualization extensions
580	(Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the processor of your host system; see
581	<xref linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
582	</listitem>
583
584	<listitem>
585	<para><computeroutput>--nestedpaging on\|off</computeroutput>: If
586	hardware virtualization is enabled, this additional setting
587	enables or disables the use of the nested paging feature in the
588	processor of your host system; see <xref
589	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
590	</listitem>
591
592	<listitem>
593	<para><computeroutput>--largepages on\|off</computeroutput>: If
594	hardware virtualization <emphasis>and</emphasis> nested paging are
595	enabled, for Intel VT-x only, an additional performance
596	improvement of up to 5% can be obtained by enabling this setting.
597	This causes the hypervisor to use large pages to reduce TLB use
598	and overhead.</para>
599	</listitem>
600
601	<listitem>
602	<para><computeroutput>--vtxvpid on\|off</computeroutput>: If
603	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
604	additional setting enables or disables the use of the tagged TLB
605	(VPID) feature in the processor of your host system; see <xref
606	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
607	</listitem>
608
609	<listitem>
610	<para><computeroutput>--accelerate3d on\|off</computeroutput>: This
611	enables, if the Guest Additions are installed, whether hardware 3D
612	acceleration should be available; see <xref
613	linkend="guestadd-3d" />.</para>
614	</listitem>
615
616	<listitem>
617	<para>You can influence the BIOS logo that is displayed when a
618	virtual machine starts up with a number of settings. Per default,
619	a VirtualBox logo is displayed.</para>
620
621	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogofadein
622	on\|off</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>--bioslogofadeout
623	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can determine whether the logo should
624	fade in and out, respectively.</para>
625
626	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogodisplaytime
627	<msec></computeroutput> you can set how long the logo should
628	be visible, in milliseconds.</para>
629
630	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogoimagepath
631	<imagepath></computeroutput> you can, if you are so
632	inclined, replace the image that is shown, with your own logo. The
633	image must be an uncompressed 256 color BMP file without color
634	space information (Windows 3.0 format). The image must not be
635	bigger than 640 x 480.</para>
636	</listitem>
637
638	<listitem>
639	<para><computeroutput>--biosbootmenu
640	disabled\|menuonly\|messageandmenu</computeroutput>: This specifies
641	whether the BIOS allows the user to select a temporary boot
642	device. <computeroutput>menuonly</computeroutput> suppresses the
643	message, but the user can still press F12 to select a temporary
644	boot device.</para>
645	</listitem>
646
647	<listitem>
648	<para><computeroutput>--nicbootprio<1-N>
649	<priority></computeroutput>: This specifies the order in which
650	NICs are tried for booting over the network (using PXE). The
651	priority is an integer in the 0 to 4 range. Priority 1 is the
652	highest, priority 4 is low. Priority 0, which is the default unless
653	otherwise specified, is the lowest.
654	</para>
655	<para> Note that this option only has effect when the Intel PXE boot
656	ROM is used.
657	</para>
658	</listitem>
659
660	<listitem>
661	<para><computeroutput>--boot<1-4>
662	none\|floppy\|dvd\|disk\|net</computeroutput>: This specifies the boot
663	order for the virtual machine. There are four "slots", which the
664	VM will try to access from 1 to 4, and for each of which you can
665	set a device that the VM should attempt to boot from.</para>
666	</listitem>
667
668	<listitem>
669	<para><computeroutput>--snapshotfolder
670	default\|<path></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
671	the folder in which snapshots will be kept for a virtual
672	machine.</para>
673	</listitem>
674
675	<listitem>
676	<para><computeroutput>--firmware efi\|bios</computeroutput>:
677	Specifies which firmware is used to boot particular virtual
678	machine: EFI or BIOS. Use EFI only if your fully understand what
679	you're doing.</para>
680	</listitem>
681
682	<listitem>
683	<para><computeroutput>--guestmemoryballoon
684	<size></computeroutput> sets the default size of the guest
685	memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest
686	Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the
687	hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines. <size> must
688	be specified in megabytes. The default size is 0 megabytes. For
689	details, see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
690	</listitem>
691
692	<listitem>
693	<para><computeroutput>--lptmode<1-N>
694	<Device></computeroutput>
695	Specifies the Device Name of the parallel port that
696	the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
697	<emphasis>before</emphasis> <computeroutput>--lpt</computeroutput>.
698	This feature is host operating system specific.</para>
699	</listitem>
700
701	<listitem>
702	<para><computeroutput>--lpt<1-N>
703	<I/O base> <IRQ></computeroutput>
704	Specifies the I/O address of the parallel port and the IRQ
705	number that the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
706	<emphasis>after</emphasis>
707	<computeroutput>--lptmod</computeroutput>. I/O base address and IRQ are
708	the values that guest sees i.e. the values avalable under guest Device Manager.</para>
709	</listitem>
710
711	<listitem>
712	<para><computeroutput>--defaultfrontend
713	default\|<name></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
714	the default frontend which will be used when starting this VM; see
715	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
716	</listitem>
717	</itemizedlist></para>
718	</sect2>
719
720	<sect2>
721	<title>Networking settings</title>
722
723	<para>The following networking settings are available through
724	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
725	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
726	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings
727	should be changed.<itemizedlist>
728	<listitem>
729	<para><computeroutput>--nic<1-N>
730	none\|null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic
731	</computeroutput>: With
732	this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards,
733	what type of networking should be available. They can be not
734	present (<computeroutput>none</computeroutput>), not connected to
735	the host (<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network
736	address translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>),
737	bridged networking (<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or
738	communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking
739	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>), host-only networking
740	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>), or access rarely used
741	sub-modes (<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>).
742	These options correspond
743	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
744	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
745	</listitem>
746
747	<listitem>
748	<para><computeroutput>--nictype<1-N>
749	Am79C970A\|Am79C973\|82540EM\|82543GC\|82545EM\|virtio</computeroutput>:
750	This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
751	specify which networking hardware VirtualBox presents to the
752	guest; see <xref linkend="nichardware" />.</para>
753	</listitem>
754
755	<listitem>
756	<para><computeroutput>--cableconnected<1-N>
757	on\|off</computeroutput>: This allows you to temporarily disconnect
758	a virtual network interface, as if a network cable had been pulled
759	from a real network card. This might be useful for resetting
760	certain software components in the VM.</para>
761	</listitem>
762
763	<listitem>
764	<para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
765	network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
766	purposes.</para>
767
768	<para>With <computeroutput>--nictrace<1-N>
769	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
770	particular virtual network card.</para>
771
772	<para>If enabled, you must specify with
773	<computeroutput>--nictracefile<1-N>
774	<filename></computeroutput> what file the trace should be
775	logged to.</para>
776	</listitem>
777
778	<listitem>
779	<para><computeroutput>--bridgeadapter<1-N>
780	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If bridged networking
781	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the
782	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
783	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host
784	interface the given virtual network interface will use. For
785	details, please see <xref linkend="network_bridged" />.</para>
786	</listitem>
787
788	<listitem>
789	<para><computeroutput>--hostonlyadapter<1-N>
790	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If host-only networking
791	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the --nic option
792	above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to
793	specify which host-only networking interface the given virtual
794	network interface will use. For details, please see <xref
795	linkend="network_hostonly" />.</para>
796	</listitem>
797
798	<listitem>
799	<para><computeroutput>--intnet<1-N>
800	network</computeroutput>: If internal networking has been enabled
801	for a virtual network card (see the
802	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
803	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify the name
804	of the internal network (see <xref
805	linkend="network_internal" />).</para>
806	</listitem>
807
808	<listitem>
809	<para><computeroutput>--macaddress<1-N>
810	auto\|<mac></computeroutput>: With this option you can set
811	the MAC address of the virtual network card. Normally, each
812	virtual network card is assigned a random address by VirtualBox at
813	VM creation.</para>
814	</listitem>
815
816	<listitem>
817	<para><computeroutput>--nicgenericdrv<1-N>
818	<backend driver></computeroutput>: If generic networking has been
819	enabled for a virtual network card (see the
820	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
821	this setting has no effect), this mode allows you to access
822	rarely used networking sub-modes, such as VDE network or UDP Tunnel.
823	</para>
824	</listitem>
825
826	<listitem>
827	<para><computeroutput>--nicproperty<1-N>
828	<paramname>="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
829	This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
830	pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
831	Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
832	between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
833	please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
834	</para>
835	</listitem>
836	</itemizedlist></para>
837
838	<sect3>
839	<title>NAT Networking settings.</title>
840
841	<para>The following NAT networking settings are available through
842	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
843	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
844	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose
845	settings should be changed.<itemizedlist>
846	<listitem>
847	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N>
848	[<name>],tcp\|udp,[<hostip>],<hostport>,[<guestip>],
849	<guestport></computeroutput>: This option defines a NAT
850	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
851	for details).</para>
852	</listitem>
853
854	<listitem>
855	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N> delete
856	<name></computeroutput>: This option deletes a NAT
857	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
858	for details).</para>
859	</listitem>
860
861	<listitem>
862	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpprefix<1-N>
863	<prefix></computeroutput>: This option defines a prefix
864	for the built-in TFTP server, i.e. where the boot file is
865	located (please see <xref linkend="nat-tftp" /> and <xref
866	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
867	</listitem>
868
869	<listitem>
870	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpfile<1-N>
871	<bootfile></computeroutput>: This option defines the TFT
872	boot file (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for
873	details).</para>
874	</listitem>
875
876	<listitem>
877	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpserver<1-N>
878	<tftpserver></computeroutput>: This option defines the
879	TFTP server address to boot from (please see <xref
880	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
881	</listitem>
882
883	<listitem>
884	<para><computeroutput>--natdnspassdomain<1-N>
885	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option specifies whether the
886	built-in DHCP server passes the domain name for network name
887	resolution.</para>
888	</listitem>
889
890	<listitem>
891	<para><computeroutput>--natdnsproxy<1-N>
892	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine proxy
893	all guest DNS requests to the host's DNS servers (please see
894	<xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
895	</listitem>
896
897	<listitem>
898	<para><computeroutput>--natdnshostresolver<1-N>
899	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine use
900	the host's resolver mechanisms to handle DNS requests (please
901	see <xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
902	</listitem>
903
904	<listitem>
905	<para><computeroutput>--natnatsettings<1-N>
906	[<mtu>],[<socksnd>],[<sockrcv>],[<tcpsnd>],
907	[<tcprcv>]</computeroutput>: This option controls several
908	NAT settings (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-settings" /> for
909	details).</para>
910	</listitem>
911
912	<listitem>
913	<para><computeroutput>--nataliasmode<1-N>
914	default\|[log],[proxyonly],[sameports]</computeroutput>: This
915	option defines behaviour of NAT engine core: log - enables
916	logging, proxyonly - switches of aliasing mode makes NAT
917	transparent, sameports enforces NAT engine to send packets via
918	the same port as they originated on, default - disable all
919	mentioned modes above . (please see <xref
920	linkend="nat-adv-alias" /> for details).</para>
921	</listitem>
922	</itemizedlist></para>
923	</sect3>
924	</sect2>
925
926	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other">
927	<title>Serial port, audio, clipboard and USB settings</title>
928
929	<para>The following other hardware settings are available through
930	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
931	<listitem>
932	<para><computeroutput>--uart<1-N> off\|<I/O base>
933	<IRQ></computeroutput>: With this option you can configure
934	virtual serial ports for the VM; see <xref
935	linkend="serialports" /> for an introduction.</para>
936	</listitem>
937
938	<listitem>
939	<para><computeroutput>--uartmode<1-N>
940	<arg></computeroutput>: This setting controls how VirtualBox
941	connects a given virtual serial port (previously configured with
942	the <computeroutput>--uartX</computeroutput> setting, see above)
943	to the host on which the virtual machine is running. As described
944	in detail in <xref linkend="serialports" />, for each such port,
945	you can specify <computeroutput><arg></computeroutput> as
946	one of the following options:<itemizedlist>
947	<listitem>
948	<para><computeroutput>disconnected</computeroutput>: Even
949	though the serial port is shown to the guest, it has no
950	"other end" -- like a real COM port without a cable.</para>
951	</listitem>
952
953	<listitem>
954	<para><computeroutput>server
955	<pipename></computeroutput>: On a Windows host, this
956	tells VirtualBox to create a named pipe on the host named
957	<computeroutput><pipename></computeroutput> and
958	connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that Windows
959	requires that the name of a named pipe begin with
960	<computeroutput>\\.\pipe\</computeroutput>.</para>
961
962	<para>On a Linux host, instead of a named pipe, a local
963	domain socket is used.</para>
964	</listitem>
965
966	<listitem>
967	<para><computeroutput>client
968	<pipename></computeroutput>: This operates just like
969	<computeroutput>server ...</computeroutput>, except that the
970	pipe (or local domain socket) is not created by VirtualBox,
971	but assumed to exist already.</para>
972	</listitem>
973
974	<listitem>
975	<para><computeroutput><devicename></computeroutput>:
976	If, instead of the above, the device name of a physical
977	hardware serial port of the host is specified, the virtual
978	serial port is connected to that hardware port. On a Windows
979	host, the device name will be a COM port such as
980	<computeroutput>COM1</computeroutput>; on a Linux host, the
981	device name will look like
982	<computeroutput>/dev/ttyS0</computeroutput>. This allows you
983	to "wire" a real serial port to a virtual machine.</para>
984	</listitem>
985	</itemizedlist></para>
986	</listitem>
987
988	<listitem>
989	<para><computeroutput>--audio none\|null\|oss</computeroutput>: With
990	this option, you can set whether the VM should have audio
991	support.</para>
992	</listitem>
993
994	<listitem>
995	<para><computeroutput>--clipboard
996	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
997	With this setting, you can select whether the guest operating
998	system's clipboard should be shared with the host; see <xref
999	linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
1000	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1001	</listitem>
1002
1003	<listitem>
1004	<para><computeroutput>--monitorcount
1005	<count></computeroutput>: This enables multi-monitor
1006	support; see <xref linkend="settings-display" />.</para>
1007	</listitem>
1008
1009	<listitem>
1010	<para><computeroutput>--usb on\|off</computeroutput>: This option
1011	enables or disables the VM's virtual USB controller; see <xref
1012	linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1013	</listitem>
1014
1015	<listitem>
1016	<para><computeroutput>--usbehci on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1017	option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 2.0 controller;
1018	see <xref linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1019	</listitem>
1020	</itemizedlist></para>
1021	</sect2>
1022
1023	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-vrde">
1024	<title>Remote machine settings</title>
1025
1026	<para>The following settings that affect remote machine behavior are
1027	available through <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1028	modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
1029	<listitem>
1030	<para><computeroutput>--vrde on\|off</computeroutput>: With the
1031	VirtualBox graphical user interface, this enables or disables the
1032	VirtualBox remote desktop extension (VRDE) server. Note that if
1033	you are using <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput> (see
1034	<xref linkend="vboxheadless" />), VRDE is enabled by
1035	default.</para>
1036	</listitem>
1037
1038	<listitem>
1039	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeport
1040	default\|<ports></computeroutput>: A port or a range of ports
1041	the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the
1042	standard port for RDP. You can specify a comma-separated list of
1043	ports or ranges of ports. Use a dash between two port numbers to
1044	specify a range. The VRDE server will bind to <emphasis
1045	role="bold">one</emphasis> of available ports from the specified
1046	list. Only one machine can use a given port at a time. For
1047	example, the option <computeroutput> --vrdeport
1048	5000,5010-5012</computeroutput> will tell the server to bind to
1049	one of following ports: 5000, 5010, 5011 or 5012.</para>
1050	</listitem>
1051
1052	<listitem>
1053	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeaddress <IP
1054	address></computeroutput>: The IP address of the host network
1055	interface the VRDE server will bind to. If specified, the server
1056	will accept connections only on the specified host network
1057	interface.</para>
1058	<para>The setting can be used to specify whether the VRDP server
1059	should accept either IPv4 or IPv6 or both connections:
1060	<itemizedlist>
1061	<listitem>
1062	<para>only IPv4: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "0.0.0.0"
1063	</computeroutput></para>
1064	</listitem>
1065	<listitem>
1066	<para>only IPv6: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "::"
1067	</computeroutput></para>
1068	</listitem>
1069	<listitem>
1070	<para>both IPv6 and IPv4 (default): <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress ""
1071	</computeroutput></para>
1072	</listitem>
1073	</itemizedlist></para>
1074	</listitem>
1075
1076	<listitem>
1077	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeauthtype
1078	null\|external\|guest</computeroutput>: This allows you to choose
1079	whether and how authorization will be performed; see <xref
1080	linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
1081	</listitem>
1082
1083	<listitem>
1084	<para><computeroutput>--vrdemulticon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1085	enables multiple connections to the same VRDE server, if the
1086	server supports this feature; see <xref lang=""
1087	linkend="vrde-multiconnection" />.</para>
1088	</listitem>
1089
1090	<listitem>
1091	<para><computeroutput>--vrdereusecon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1092	specifies the VRDE server behavior when multiple connections are
1093	disabled. When this option is enabled, the server will allow a new
1094	client to connect and will drop the existing connection. When this
1095	option is disabled (this is the default setting), a new connection
1096	will not be accepted if there is already a client connected to the
1097	server.</para>
1098	</listitem>
1099
1100	<listitem>
1101	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannel on\|off</computeroutput>:
1102	This enables video redirection, if it is supported by the VRDE
1103	server; see <xref lang="" linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1104	</listitem>
1105
1106	<listitem>
1107	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannelquality
1108	<percent></computeroutput>: Sets the image quality for video
1109	redirection; see <xref lang=""
1110	linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1111	</listitem>
1112	</itemizedlist></para>
1113	</sect2>
1114
1115	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport">
1116	<title>Teleporting settings</title>
1117
1118	<para>With the following commands for <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1119	modifyvm</computeroutput> you can configure a machine to be a target for
1120	teleporting. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an
1121	introduction.<itemizedlist>
1122	<listitem>
1123	<para><computeroutput>--teleporter on\|off</computeroutput>: With
1124	this setting you turn on or off whether a machine waits for a
1125	teleporting request to come in on the network when it is started.
1126	If "on", when the machine is started, it does not boot the virtual
1127	machine as it would normally; instead, it then waits for a
1128	teleporting request to come in on the port and address listed with
1129	the next two parameters.</para>
1130	</listitem>
1131
1132	<listitem>
1133	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterport
1134	<port></computeroutput>, <computeroutput>--teleporteraddress
1135	<address></computeroutput>: these must be used with
1136	--teleporter and tell the virtual machine on which port and
1137	address it should listen for a teleporting request from another
1138	virtual machine. <computeroutput><port></computeroutput> can
1139	be any free TCP/IP port number (e.g. 6000);
1140	<computeroutput><address></computeroutput> can be any IP
1141	address or hostname and specifies the TCP/IP socket to bind to.
1142	The default is "0.0.0.0", which means any address.</para>
1143	</listitem>
1144
1145	<listitem>
1146	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpassword
1147	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1148	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1149	source machine specifies the same password as the one given with
1150	this command.</para>
1151	</listitem>
1152
1153	<listitem>
1154	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpasswordfile
1155	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1156	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1157	source machine specifies the same password as the one specified
1158	in the file give with this command. Use <computeroutput>stdin</computeroutput>
1159	to read the password from stdin.</para>
1160	</listitem>
1161
1162	<listitem>
1163	<para><computeroutput>--cpuid <leaf> <eax> <ebx>
1164	<ecx> <edx></computeroutput>: Advanced users can use
1165	this command before a teleporting operation to restrict the
1166	virtual CPU capabilities that VirtualBox presents to the guest
1167	operating system. This must be run on both the source and the
1168	target machines involved in the teleporting and will then modify
1169	what the guest sees when it executes the
1170	<computeroutput>CPUID</computeroutput> machine instruction. This
1171	might help with misbehaving applications that wrongly assume that
1172	certain CPU capabilities are present. The meaning of the
1173	parameters is hardware dependent; please refer to the AMD or Intel
1174	processor manuals.</para>
1175	</listitem>
1176	</itemizedlist></para>
1177	</sect2>
1178	</sect1>
1179
1180	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevm">
1181	<title>VBoxManage clonevm</title>
1182
1183	<para>This command creates a full or linked copy of an existing virtual
1184	machine.</para>
1185
1186	<para>The <computeroutput>clonevm</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1187	least the name of the virtual machine which should be cloned. The following
1188	additional settings can be used to further configure the clone VM
1189	operation:</para>
1190
1191	<itemizedlist>
1192	<listitem>
1193	<para><computeroutput>--snapshot <uuid>\|<name></computeroutput>:
1194	Select a specific snapshot where the clone operation should refer
1195	to. Default is referring to the current state.</para>
1196	</listitem>
1197	<listitem>
1198	<para><computeroutput>--mode machine\|machineandchildren\|all</computeroutput>:
1199	Selects the cloning mode of the operation. If
1200	<computeroutput>machine</computeroutput> is selected (the default),
1201	the current state of the VM without any snapshots is cloned. In the
1202	<computeroutput>machineandchildren</computeroutput> mode the snapshot
1203	provided by <computeroutput>--snapshot</computeroutput> and all
1204	child snapshots are cloned. If <computeroutput>all</computeroutput>
1205	is the selected mode all snapshots and the current state are cloned.
1206	</para>
1207	</listitem>
1208	<listitem>
1209	<para><computeroutput>--options link\|keepallmacs\|keepnatmacs\|keepdisknames</computeroutput>:
1210	Allows additional fine tuning of the clone operation. The first
1211	option defines that a linked clone should be created, which is
1212	only possible for a machine clone from a snapshot. The next two
1213	options allow to define how the MAC addresses of every virtual
1214	network card should be handled. They can either be reinitialized
1215	(the default), left unchanged
1216	(<computeroutput>keepallmacs</computeroutput>) or left unchanged
1217	when the network type is NAT
1218	(<computeroutput>keepnatmacs</computeroutput>). If you add
1219	<computeroutput>keepdisknames</computeroutput> all new disk images
1220	are called like the original once, otherwise they are
1221	renamed.</para>
1222	</listitem>
1223	<listitem>
1224	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: Select a
1225	new name for the new virtual machine. Default is "Original Name
1226	Clone".</para>
1227	</listitem>
1228	<listitem>
1229	<para><computeroutput>--basefolder <basefolder></computeroutput>:
1230	Select the folder where the new virtual machine configuration should
1231	be saved in.</para>
1232	</listitem>
1233	<listitem>
1234	<para><computeroutput>--uuid <uuid></computeroutput>:
1235	Select the UUID the new VM should have. This id has to be unique in
1236	the VirtualBox instance this clone should be registered. Default is
1237	creating a new UUID.</para>
1238	</listitem>
1239	<listitem>
1240	<para><computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>:
1241	Automatically register the new clone in this VirtualBox
1242	installation. If you manually want register the new VM later, see
1243	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" /> for instructions how to do
1244	so.</para>
1245	</listitem>
1246	</itemizedlist>
1247	</sect1>
1248
1249	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-import">
1250	<title>VBoxManage import</title>
1251
1252	<para>This command imports a virtual appliance in OVF format by copying
1253	the virtual disk images and creating virtual machines in VirtualBox. See
1254	<xref linkend="ovf" /> for an introduction to appliances.</para>
1255
1256	<para>The <computeroutput>import</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1257	least the path name of an OVF file as input and expects the disk images,
1258	if needed, in the same directory as the OVF file. A lot of additional
1259	command-line options are supported to control in detail what is being
1260	imported and modify the import parameters, but the details depend on the
1261	content of the OVF file.</para>
1262
1263	<para>It is therefore recommended to first run the import subcommand with
1264	the <computeroutput>--dry-run</computeroutput> or
1265	<computeroutput>-n</computeroutput> option. This will then print a
1266	description of the appliance's contents to the screen how it would be
1267	imported into VirtualBox, together with the optional command-line options
1268	to influence the import behavior.</para>
1269
1270	<para>As an example, here is the screen output with a sample appliance
1271	containing a Windows XP guest:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf --dry-run
1272	Interpreting WindowsXp.ovf...
1273	OK.
1274	Virtual system 0:
1275	0: Suggested OS type: "WindowsXP"
1276	(change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all)
1277	1: Suggested VM name "Windows XP Professional_1"
1278	(change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
1279	3: Number of CPUs: 1
1280	(change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
1281	4: Guest memory: 956 MB (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
1282	5: Sound card (appliance expects "ensoniq1371", can change on import)
1283	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
1284	6: USB controller
1285	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
1286	7: Network adapter: orig bridged, config 2, extra type=bridged
1287	8: Floppy
1288	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
1289	9: SCSI controller, type BusLogic
1290	(change with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --scsitype {BusLogic\|LsiLogic}";
1291	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
1292	10: IDE controller, type PIIX4
1293	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
1294	11: Hard disk image: source image=WindowsXp.vmdk,
1295	target path=/home/user/disks/WindowsXp.vmdk, controller=9;channel=0
1296	(change controller with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --controller <id>";
1297	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")</screen></para>
1298
1299	<para>As you can see, the individual configuration items are numbered, and
1300	depending on their type support different command-line options. The import
1301	subcommand can be directed to ignore many such items with a
1302	<computeroutput>--vsys X --unit Y --ignore</computeroutput> option, where
1303	X is the number of the virtual system (zero unless there are several
1304	virtual system descriptions in the appliance) and Y the item number, as
1305	printed on the screen.</para>
1306
1307	<para>In the above example, Item #1 specifies the name of the target
1308	machine in VirtualBox. Items #9 and #10 specify hard disk controllers,
1309	respectively. Item #11 describes a hard disk image; in this case, the
1310	additional <computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput> option indicates
1311	which item the disk image should be connected to, with the default coming
1312	from the OVF file.</para>
1313
1314	<para>You can combine several items for the same virtual system behind the
1315	same <computeroutput>--vsys</computeroutput> option. For example, to
1316	import a machine as described in the OVF, but without the sound card and
1317	without the USB controller, and with the disk image connected to the IDE
1318	controller instead of the SCSI controller, use this:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf
1319	--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore --unit 6 --ignore --unit 11 --controller 10</screen></para>
1320	</sect1>
1321
1322	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-export">
1323	<title>VBoxManage export</title>
1324
1325	<para>This command exports one or more virtual machines from VirtualBox
1326	into a virtual appliance in OVF format, including copying their virtual
1327	disk images to compressed VMDK. See <xref linkend="ovf" /> for an
1328	introduction to appliances.</para>
1329
1330	<para>The <computeroutput>export</computeroutput> command is simple to
1331	use: list the machine (or the machines) that you would like to export to
1332	the same OVF file and specify the target OVF file after an additional
1333	<computeroutput>--output</computeroutput> or
1334	<computeroutput>-o</computeroutput> option. Note that the directory of the
1335	target OVF file will also receive the exported disk images in the
1336	compressed VMDK format (regardless of the original format) and should have
1337	enough disk space left for them.</para>
1338
1339	<para>Beside a simple export of a given virtual machine, you can append
1340	several product information to the appliance file. Use
1341	<computeroutput>--product</computeroutput>,
1342	<computeroutput>--producturl</computeroutput>,
1343	<computeroutput>--vendor</computeroutput>,
1344	<computeroutput>--vendorurl</computeroutput> and
1345	<computeroutput>--version</computeroutput> to specify this additional
1346	information. For legal reasons you may add a license text or the content
1347	of a license file by using the <computeroutput>--eula</computeroutput> and
1348	<computeroutput>--eulafile</computeroutput> option respectively. As with
1349	OVF import, you must use the <computeroutput>--vsys X</computeroutput>
1350	option to direct the previously mentioned options to the correct virtual
1351	machine.</para>
1352
1353	<para>For virtualization products which aren't fully compatible with the
1354	OVF standard 1.0 you can enable a OVF 0.9 legacy mode with the
1355	<computeroutput>--legacy09</computeroutput> option.</para>
1356	</sect1>
1357
1358	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-startvm">
1359	<title>VBoxManage startvm</title>
1360
1361	<para>This command starts a virtual machine that is currently in the
1362	"Powered off" or "Saved" states.</para>
1363
1364	<para>The optional <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> specifier
1365	determines whether the machine will be started in a window or whether the
1366	output should go through <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>,
1367	with VRDE enabled or not; see <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more
1368	information. The list of types is subject to change, and it's not
1369	guaranteed that all types are accepted by any product variant.</para>
1370
1371	<para>The global or per-VM default value for the VM frontend type will be
1372	taken if the type is not explicitly specified. If none of these are set,
1373	the GUI variant will be started.</para>
1374
1375	<para>The following values are allowed:</para>
1376
1377	<glosslist>
1378	<glossentry>
1379	<glossterm><computeroutput>gui</computeroutput></glossterm>
1380
1381	<glossdef>
1382	<para>Starts a VM showing a GUI window. This is the default.</para>
1383	</glossdef>
1384	</glossentry>
1385
1386	<glossentry>
1387	<glossterm><computeroutput>headless</computeroutput></glossterm>
1388
1389	<glossdef>
1390	<para>Starts a VM without a window for remote display only.</para>
1391	</glossdef>
1392	</glossentry>
1393
1394	<glossentry>
1395	<glossterm><computeroutput>sdl</computeroutput></glossterm>
1396
1397	<glossdef>
1398	<para>Starts a VM with a minimal GUI and limited features.</para>
1399	</glossdef>
1400	</glossentry>
1401	</glosslist>
1402
1403	<note>
1404	<para>If you experience problems with starting virtual machines with
1405	particular frontends and there is no conclusive error information,
1406	consider starting virtual machines directly by running the respective
1407	front-end, as this can give additional error information.</para>
1408	</note>
1409	</sect1>
1410
1411	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-controlvm">
1412	<title>VBoxManage controlvm</title>
1413
1414	<para>The <computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> subcommand allows you
1415	to change the state of a virtual machine that is currently running. The
1416	following can be specified:</para>
1417
1418	<para><itemizedlist>
1419	<listitem>
1420	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1421	pause</computeroutput> temporarily puts a virtual machine on hold,
1422	without changing its state for good. The VM window will be painted
1423	in gray to indicate that the VM is currently paused. (This is
1424	equivalent to selecting the "Pause" item in the "Machine" menu of
1425	the GUI.)</para>
1426	</listitem>
1427
1428	<listitem>
1429	<para>Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1430	resume</computeroutput> to undo a previous
1431	<computeroutput>pause</computeroutput> command. (This is equivalent
1432	to selecting the "Resume" item in the "Machine" menu of the
1433	GUI.)</para>
1434	</listitem>
1435
1436	<listitem>
1437	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1438	reset</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine as
1439	pressing the "Reset" button on a real computer: a cold reboot of the
1440	virtual machine, which will restart and boot the guest operating
1441	system again immediately. The state of the VM is not saved
1442	beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting
1443	the "Reset" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)</para>
1444	</listitem>
1445
1446	<listitem>
1447	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1448	poweroff</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine
1449	as pulling the power cable on a real computer. Again, the state of
1450	the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is
1451	equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of
1452	the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting
1453	"Power off the machine" in the dialog.)</para>
1454
1455	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Powered off". From there,
1456	it can be started again; see <xref
1457	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1458	</listitem>
1459
1460	<listitem>
1461	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1462	savestate</computeroutput> will save the current state of the VM to
1463	disk and then stop the VM. (This is equivalent to selecting the
1464	"Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the
1465	window's close button, and then selecting "Save the machine state"
1466	in the dialog.)</para>
1467
1468	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Saved". From there, it can
1469	be started again; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1470	</listitem>
1471
1472	<listitem>
1473	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm "VM name" teleport
1474	--hostname <name> --port <port> [--passwordfile
1475	<file> \| --password <password>]</computeroutput> makes
1476	the machine the source of a teleporting operation and initiates a
1477	teleport to the given target. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for
1478	an introduction. If the optional password is specified, it must match
1479	the password that was given to the
1480	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command for the target
1481	machine; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport" /> for
1482	details.</para>
1483	</listitem>
1484	</itemizedlist></para>
1485
1486	<para>A few extra options are available with
1487	<computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> that do not directly affect the
1488	VM's running state:</para>
1489
1490	<itemizedlist>
1491	<listitem>
1492	<para>The <computeroutput>setlinkstate<1-N></computeroutput>
1493	operation connects or disconnects virtual network cables from their
1494	network interfaces.</para>
1495	</listitem>
1496
1497	<listitem>
1498	<para><computeroutput>nic<1-N>
1499	null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic</computeroutput>: With this, you can
1500	set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of
1501	networking should be available. They can be not connected to the host
1502	(<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network address
1503	translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>), bridged networking
1504	(<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or communicate with other
1505	virtual machines using internal networking
1506	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>) or host-only networking
1507	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>) or access to rarely used
1508	sub-modes
1509	(<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>). These options correspond
1510	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
1511	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
1512	</listitem>
1513
1514	<listitem>
1515	<para><computeroutput>usbattach</computeroutput> and
1516	<computeroutput>usbdettach</computeroutput> make host USB devices
1517	visible to the virtual machine on the fly, without the need for
1518	creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID
1519	(unique identifier) or by address on the host system.</para>
1520
1521	<para>You can use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
1522	usbhost</computeroutput> to locate this information.</para>
1523	</listitem>
1524
1525	<listitem>
1526	<para><computeroutput>vrde on\|off</computeroutput> lets you enable or
1527	disable the VRDE server, if it is installed.</para>
1528	</listitem>
1529
1530	<listitem>
1531	<para><computeroutput>vrdeport default\|<ports></computeroutput>
1532	changes the port or a range of ports that the VRDE server can bind to;
1533	"default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. For
1534	details, see the description for the
1535	<computeroutput>--vrdeport</computeroutput> option in <xref
1536	linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other" />.</para>
1537	</listitem>
1538
1539	<listitem>
1540	<para><computeroutput>setvideomodehint</computeroutput> requests that
1541	the guest system change to a particular video mode. This requires that
1542	the Guest Additions be installed, and will not work for all guest
1543	systems.</para>
1544	</listitem>
1545
1546	<listitem>
1547	<para><computeroutput>screenshotpng</computeroutput> takes a screenshot
1548	of the guest display and saves it in PNG format.</para>
1549	</listitem>
1550
1551	<listitem>
1552	<para>The <computeroutput>setcredentials</computeroutput> operation is
1553	used for remote logons in Windows guests. For details, please refer to
1554	<xref linkend="autologon" />.</para>
1555	</listitem>
1556
1557	<listitem>
1558	<para>The <computeroutput>guestmemoryballoon</computeroutput>
1559	operation changes the size of the guest memory balloon, that is,
1560	memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest
1561	operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other
1562	virtual machines. This must be specified in megabytes. For details,
1563	see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
1564	</listitem>
1565
1566	<listitem>
1567	<para>The <computeroutput>cpuexecutioncap
1568	<1-100></computeroutput>: This operation controls how much cpu
1569	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU
1570	can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
1571	</listitem>
1572	</itemizedlist>
1573	</sect1>
1574
1575	<sect1>
1576	<title>VBoxManage discardstate</title>
1577
1578	<para>This command discards the saved state of a virtual machine which is
1579	not currently running, which will cause its operating system to restart
1580	next time you start it. This is the equivalent of pulling out the power
1581	cable on a physical machine, and should be avoided if possible.</para>
1582	</sect1>
1583
1584	<sect1>
1585	<title>VBoxManage adoptstate</title>
1586
1587	<para>If you have a saved state file (<computeroutput>.sav</computeroutput>)
1588	that is separate from the VM configuration, you can use this command to
1589	"adopt" the file. This will change the VM to saved state and when you
1590	start it, VirtualBox will attempt to restore it from the saved state file
1591	you indicated. This command should only be used in special setups.</para>
1592	</sect1>
1593
1594	<sect1>
1595	<title>VBoxManage snapshot</title>
1596
1597	<para>This command is used to control snapshots from the command line. A
1598	snapshot consists of a complete copy of the virtual machine settings,
1599	copied at the time when the snapshot was taken, and optionally a virtual
1600	machine saved state file if the snapshot was taken while the machine was
1601	running. After a snapshot has been taken, VirtualBox creates differencing
1602	hard disk for each normal hard disk associated with the machine so that
1603	when a snapshot is restored, the contents of the virtual machine's virtual
1604	hard disks can be quickly reset by simply dropping the pre-existing
1605	differencing files.</para>
1606
1607	<para>The <computeroutput>take</computeroutput> operation takes a snapshot
1608	of the current state of the virtual machine. You must supply a name for
1609	the snapshot and can optionally supply a description. The new snapshot is
1610	inserted into the snapshots tree as a child of the current snapshot and
1611	then becomes the new current snapshot. The
1612	<computeroutput>--description</computeroutput> parameter allows to
1613	describe the snapshot. If <computeroutput>--live</computeroutput>
1614	is specified, the VM will not be stopped during the snapshot creation
1615	(live smapshotting).</para>
1616
1617	<para>The <computeroutput>delete</computeroutput> operation deletes a
1618	snapshot (specified by name or by UUID). This can take a while to finish
1619	since the differencing images associated with the snapshot might need to
1620	be merged with their child differencing images.</para>
1621
1622	<para>The <computeroutput>restore</computeroutput> operation will restore
1623	the given snapshot (specified by name or by UUID) by resetting the virtual
1624	machine's settings and current state to that of the snapshot. The previous
1625	current state of the machine will be lost. After this, the given snapshot
1626	becomes the new "current" snapshot so that subsequent snapshots are
1627	inserted under the snapshot from which was restored.</para>
1628
1629	<para>The <computeroutput>restorecurrent</computeroutput> operation is a
1630	shortcut to restore the current snapshot (i.e. the snapshot from which the
1631	current state is derived). This subcommand is equivalent to using the
1632	"restore" subcommand with the name or UUID of the current snapshot, except
1633	that it avoids the extra step of determining that name or UUID.</para>
1634
1635	<para>With the <computeroutput>edit</computeroutput> operation, you can
1636	change the name or description of an existing snapshot.</para>
1637
1638	<para>With the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> operation, you
1639	can view the virtual machine settings that were stored with an existing
1640	snapshot.</para>
1641	</sect1>
1642
1643	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-closemedium">
1644	<title>VBoxManage closemedium</title>
1645
1646	<para>This commands removes a hard disk, DVD or floppy image from a
1647	VirtualBox media registry.<footnote>
1648	<para>Before VirtualBox 4.0, it was necessary to call VBoxManage
1649	openmedium before a medium could be attached to a virtual machine;
1650	that call "registered" the medium with the global VirtualBox media
1651	registry. With VirtualBox 4.0 this is no longer necessary; media are
1652	added to media registries automatically. The "closemedium" call has
1653	been retained, however, to allow for explicitly removing a medium from
1654	a registry.</para>
1655	</footnote></para>
1656
1657	<para>Optionally, you can request that the image be deleted. You will get
1658	appropriate diagnostics that the deletion failed, however the image will
1659	become unregistered in any case.</para>
1660	</sect1>
1661
1662	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storageattach">
1663	<title>VBoxManage storageattach</title>
1664
1665	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage medium connected to
1666	a storage controller that was previously added with the
1667	<computeroutput>storagectl</computeroutput> command (see the previous
1668	section). The syntax is as follows:</para>
1669
1670	<screen>VBoxManage storageattach <uuid\|vmname>
1671	--storagectl <name>
1672	[--port <number>]
1673	[--device <number>]
1674	[--type dvddrive\|hdd\|fdd]
1675	[--medium none\|emptydrive\|
1676	<uuid>\|<filename>\|host:<drive>\|iscsi]
1677	[--mtype normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable]
1678	[--comment <text>]
1679	[--setuuid <uuid>]
1680	[--setparentuuid <uuid>]
1681	[--passthrough on\|off]
1682	[--tempeject on\|off]
1683	[--nonrotational on\|off]
1684	[--discard on\|off]
1685	[--bandwidthgroup name\|none]
1686	[--forceunmount]
1687	[--server <name>\|<ip>]
1688	[--target <target>]
1689	[--tport <port>]
1690	[--lun <lun>]
1691	[--encodedlun <lun>]
1692	[--username <username>]
1693	[--password <password>]
1694	[--initiator <initiator>]
1695	[--intnet]
1696	</screen>
1697
1698	<para>A number of parameters are commonly required; the ones at the end of
1699	the list are required only for iSCSI targets (see below).</para>
1700
1701	<para>The common parameters are:<glosslist>
1702	<glossentry>
1703	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
1704
1705	<glossdef>
1706	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1707	</glossdef>
1708	</glossentry>
1709
1710	<glossentry>
1711	<glossterm><computeroutput>--storagectl</computeroutput></glossterm>
1712
1713	<glossdef>
1714	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory. The list of the
1715	storage controllers currently attached to a VM can be obtained
1716	with <computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see
1717	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" />.</para>
1718	</glossdef>
1719	</glossentry>
1720
1721	<glossentry>
1722	<glossterm><computeroutput>--port</computeroutput></glossterm>
1723
1724	<glossdef>
1725	<para>The number of the storage controller's port which is to be
1726	modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a
1727	single port.</para>
1728	</glossdef>
1729	</glossentry>
1730
1731	<glossentry>
1732	<glossterm><computeroutput>--device</computeroutput></glossterm>
1733
1734	<glossdef>
1735	<para>The number of the port's device which is to be modified.
1736	Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single device
1737	per port.</para>
1738	</glossdef>
1739	</glossentry>
1740
1741	<glossentry>
1742	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
1743
1744	<glossdef>
1745	<para>Define the type of the drive to which the medium is being
1746	attached/detached/modified. This argument can only be omitted if
1747	the type of medium can be determined from either the medium given
1748	with the <computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> argument or
1749	from a previous medium attachment.</para>
1750	</glossdef>
1751	</glossentry>
1752
1753	<glossentry>
1754	<glossterm><computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput></glossterm>
1755
1756	<glossdef>
1757	<para>Specifies what is to be attached. The following values are
1758	supported:<itemizedlist>
1759	<listitem>
1760	<para>"none": Any existing device should be removed from the
1761	given slot.</para>
1762	</listitem>
1763
1764	<listitem>
1765	<para>"emptydrive": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only,
1766	this makes the device slot behaves like a removeable drive
1767	into which no media has been inserted.</para>
1768	</listitem>
1769
1770	<listitem>
1771	<para>"additions": For a virtual DVD drive only, this
1772	attaches the <emphasis>VirtualBox Guest Additions</emphasis>
1773	image to the given device slot.</para>
1774	</listitem>
1775
1776	<listitem>
1777	<para>If a UUID is specified, it must be the UUID of a
1778	storage medium that is already known to VirtualBox (e.g.
1779	because it has been attached to another virtual machine).
1780	See <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for how to list known
1781	media. This medium is then attached to the given device
1782	slot.</para>
1783	</listitem>
1784
1785	<listitem>
1786	<para>If a filename is specified, it must be the full path
1787	of an existing disk image (ISO, RAW, VDI, VMDK or other),
1788	which is then attached to the given device slot.</para>
1789	</listitem>
1790
1791	<listitem>
1792	<para>"host:<drive>": For a virtual DVD or floppy
1793	drive only, this connects the given device slot to the
1794	specified DVD or floppy drive on the host computer.</para>
1795	</listitem>
1796
1797	<listitem>
1798	<para>"iscsi": For virtual hard disks only, this allows for
1799	specifying an iSCSI target. In this case, more parameters
1800	must be given; see below.</para>
1801	</listitem>
1802	</itemizedlist></para>
1803
1804	<para>Some of the above changes, in particular for removeable
1805	media (floppies and CDs/DVDs), can be effected while a VM is
1806	running. Others (device changes or changes in hard disk device
1807	slots) require the VM to be powered off.</para>
1808	</glossdef>
1809	</glossentry>
1810
1811	<glossentry>
1812	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mtype</computeroutput></glossterm>
1813
1814	<glossdef>
1815	<para>Defines how this medium behaves with respect to snapshots
1816	and write operations. See <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for
1817	details.</para>
1818	</glossdef>
1819	</glossentry>
1820
1821	<glossentry>
1822	<glossterm><computeroutput>--comment</computeroutput></glossterm>
1823
1824	<glossdef>
1825	<para>Any description that you want to have stored with this
1826	medium (optional; for example, for an iSCSI target, "Big storage
1827	server downstairs"). This is purely descriptive and not needed for
1828	the medium to function correctly.</para>
1829	</glossdef>
1830	</glossentry>
1831
1832	<glossentry>
1833	<glossterm><computeroutput>--setuuid, --setparentuuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
1834
1835	<glossdef>
1836	<para>Modifies the UUID or parent UUID of a medium before
1837	attaching it to a VM. This is an expert option. Inappropriate use
1838	can make the medium unusable or lead to broken VM configurations
1839	if any other VM is referring to the same media already. The most
1840	frequently used variant is <code>--setuuid ""</code>, which assigns
1841	a new (random) UUID to an image. This is useful to resolve the
1842	duplicate UUID errors if one duplicated an image using file copy
1843	utilities.</para>
1844	</glossdef>
1845	</glossentry>
1846
1847	<glossentry>
1848	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passthrough</computeroutput></glossterm>
1849
1850	<glossdef>
1851	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can enable DVD writing
1852	support (currently experimental; see <xref
1853	linkend="storage-cds" />).</para>
1854	</glossdef>
1855	</glossentry>
1856
1857	<glossentry>
1858	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tempeject</computeroutput></glossterm>
1859
1860	<glossdef>
1861	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can configure the behavior
1862	for guest-triggered medium eject. If this is set to "on", the eject
1863	has only temporary effects. If the VM is powered off and restarted
1864	the originally configured medium will be still in the drive.</para>
1865	</glossdef>
1866	</glossentry>
1867
1868	<glossentry>
1869	<glossterm><computeroutput>--nonrotational</computeroutput></glossterm>
1870
1871	<glossdef>
1872	<para>This switch allows to enable the non-rotational flag for virtual
1873	hard disks. Some guests (i.e. Windows 7+) treat such disks like SSDs
1874	and don't perform disk fragmentation on such media.
1875	</para>
1876	</glossdef>
1877	</glossentry>
1878
1879	<glossentry>
1880	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bandwidthgroup</computeroutput></glossterm>
1881
1882	<glossdef>
1883	<para>Sets the bandwidth group to use for the given device; see
1884	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" />.</para>
1885	</glossdef>
1886	</glossentry>
1887
1888	<glossentry>
1889	<glossterm><computeroutput>--forceunmount</computeroutput></glossterm>
1890
1891	<glossdef>
1892	<para>For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this forcibly
1893	unmounts the DVD/CD/Floppy or mounts a new DVD/CD/Floppy even if
1894	the previous one is locked down by the guest for reading. Again,
1895	see <xref linkend="storage-cds" /> for details.</para>
1896	</glossdef>
1897	</glossentry>
1898	</glosslist></para>
1899
1900	<para>When "iscsi" is used with the
1901	<computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> parameter for iSCSI support --
1902	see <xref linkend="storage-iscsi" /> --, additional parameters must or can
1903	be used:<glosslist>
1904	<glossentry>
1905	<glossterm><computeroutput>--server</computeroutput></glossterm>
1906
1907	<glossdef>
1908	<para>The host name or IP address of the iSCSI target;
1909	required.</para>
1910	</glossdef>
1911	</glossentry>
1912
1913	<glossentry>
1914	<glossterm><computeroutput>--target</computeroutput></glossterm>
1915
1916	<glossdef>
1917	<para>Target name string. This is determined by the iSCSI target
1918	and used to identify the storage resource; required.</para>
1919	</glossdef>
1920	</glossentry>
1921
1922	<glossentry>
1923	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tport</computeroutput></glossterm>
1924
1925	<glossdef>
1926	<para>TCP/IP port number of the iSCSI service on the target
1927	(optional).</para>
1928	</glossdef>
1929	</glossentry>
1930
1931	<glossentry>
1932	<glossterm><computeroutput>--lun</computeroutput></glossterm>
1933
1934	<glossdef>
1935	<para>Logical Unit Number of the target resource (optional).
1936	Often, this value is zero.</para>
1937	</glossdef>
1938	</glossentry>
1939
1940	<glossentry>
1941	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username, --password</computeroutput></glossterm>
1942
1943	<glossdef>
1944	<para>Username and password (initiator secret) for target
1945	authentication, if required (optional).<note>
1946	<para>Username and password are stored without
1947	encryption (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine
1948	configuration file if no settings password is provided.
1949	When a settings password was specified the first time,
1950	the password is stored encrypted.</para>
1951	</note></para>
1952	</glossdef>
1953	</glossentry>
1954
1955	<glossentry>
1956	<glossterm><computeroutput>--intnet</computeroutput></glossterm>
1957
1958	<glossdef>
1959	<para>If specified, connect to the iSCSI target via Internal
1960	Networking. This needs further configuration which is described in
1961	<xref linkend="iscsi-intnet" />.</para>
1962	</glossdef>
1963	</glossentry>
1964	</glosslist></para>
1965	</sect1>
1966
1967	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storagectl">
1968	<title>VBoxManage storagectl</title>
1969
1970	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage controller. After
1971	this, virtual media can be attached to the controller with the
1972	<computeroutput>storageattach</computeroutput> command (see the next
1973	section).</para>
1974
1975	<para>The syntax is as follows:</para>
1976
1977	<screen>VBoxManage storagectl <uuid\|vmname>
1978	--name <name>
1979	[--add <ide/sata/scsi/floppy>]
1980	[--controller <LsiLogic\|LSILogicSAS\|BusLogic\|
1981	IntelAhci\|PIIX3\|PIIX4\|ICH6\|I82078>]
1982	[--sataportcount <1-30>]
1983	[--hostiocache on\|off]
1984	[--bootable on\|off]
1985	[--remove]</screen>
1986
1987	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
1988	<glossentry>
1989	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
1990
1991	<glossdef>
1992	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1993	</glossdef>
1994	</glossentry>
1995
1996	<glossentry>
1997	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
1998
1999	<glossdef>
2000	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory.</para>
2001	</glossdef>
2002	</glossentry>
2003
2004	<glossentry>
2005	<glossterm><computeroutput>--add</computeroutput></glossterm>
2006
2007	<glossdef>
2008	<para>Define the type of the system bus to which the storage
2009	controller must be connected.</para>
2010	</glossdef>
2011	</glossentry>
2012
2013	<glossentry>
2014	<glossterm><computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput></glossterm>
2015
2016	<glossdef>
2017	<para>Allows to choose the type of chipset being emulated for the
2018	given storage controller.</para>
2019	</glossdef>
2020	</glossentry>
2021
2022	<glossentry>
2023	<glossterm><computeroutput>--sataportcount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2024
2025	<glossdef>
2026	<para>This determines how many ports the SATA controller should
2027	support.</para>
2028	</glossdef>
2029	</glossentry>
2030
2031	<glossentry>
2032	<glossterm><computeroutput>--hostiocache</computeroutput></glossterm>
2033
2034	<glossdef>
2035	<para>Configures the use of the host I/O cache for all disk images
2036	attached to this storage controller. For details, please see <xref
2037	linkend="iocaching" />.</para>
2038	</glossdef>
2039	</glossentry>
2040
2041	<glossentry>
2042	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bootable</computeroutput></glossterm>
2043
2044	<glossdef>
2045	<para>Selects whether this controller is bootable.</para>
2046	</glossdef>
2047	</glossentry>
2048
2049	<glossentry>
2050	<glossterm><computeroutput>--remove</computeroutput></glossterm>
2051
2052	<glossdef>
2053	<para>Removes the storage controller from the VM config.</para>
2054	</glossdef>
2055	</glossentry>
2056	</glosslist></para>
2057	</sect1>
2058
2059	<sect1>
2060	<title>VBoxManage bandwidthctl</title>
2061
2062	<para>This command creates/deletes/modifies/shows bandwidth groups of the given
2063	virtual machine:<screen>VBoxManage bandwidthctl <uuid\|vmname>
2064	add <name> --type disk\|network --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2065	set <name> --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2066	remove <name> \|
2067	list [--machinereadable]</screen></para>
2068
2069	<para>The following subcommands are available:<itemizedlist>
2070	<listitem>
2071	<para><computeroutput>add</computeroutput>, creates a new bandwidth
2072	group of given type.</para>
2073	</listitem>
2074	<listitem>
2075	<para><computeroutput>set</computeroutput>, modifies the limit for an
2076	existing bandwidth group.</para>
2077	</listitem>
2078	<listitem>
2079	<para><computeroutput>remove</computeroutput>, destroys a bandwidth
2080	group.</para>
2081	</listitem>
2082	<listitem>
2083	<para><computeroutput>list</computeroutput>, shows all bandwidth groups
2084	defined for the given VM.</para>
2085	</listitem>
2086	</itemizedlist>
2087	</para>
2088	<para>The parameters mean:<glosslist>
2089	<glossentry>
2090	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2091
2092	<glossdef>
2093	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2094	</glossdef>
2095	</glossentry>
2096
2097	<glossentry>
2098	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
2099
2100	<glossdef>
2101	<para>Name of the bandwidth group. Mandatory.</para>
2102	</glossdef>
2103	</glossentry>
2104
2105	<glossentry>
2106	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
2107
2108	<glossdef>
2109	<para>Type of the bandwidth group. Mandatory. Two types are
2110	supported: <computeroutput>disk</computeroutput> and
2111	<computeroutput>network</computeroutput>. See
2112	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" /> or
2113	<xref linkend="network_bandwidth_limit" /> for a description of a
2114	particular type.</para>
2115	</glossdef>
2116	</glossentry>
2117
2118	<glossentry>
2119	<glossterm><computeroutput>--limit</computeroutput></glossterm>
2120
2121	<glossdef>
2122	<para>Specifies the limit for the given group. Can be changed
2123	while the VM is running. The default unit is megabytes per
2124	second. The unit can be changed by specifying one of the
2125	following suffixes: <computeroutput>k</computeroutput> for kilobits/s, <computeroutput>m</computeroutput> for megabits/s, <computeroutput>g</computeroutput> for gigabits/s, <computeroutput>K</computeroutput> for kilobytes/s, <computeroutput>M</computeroutput> for megabytes/s, <computeroutput>G</computeroutput> for gigabytes/s.</para>
2126	</glossdef>
2127	</glossentry>
2128	</glosslist>
2129	<note>
2130	<para>The network bandwidth limits apply only to the traffic being sent by
2131	virtual machines. The traffic being received by VMs is unlimited.</para>
2132	</note>
2133	<note>
2134	<para>To remove a bandwidth group it must not be referenced by any disks
2135	or adapters in running VM.</para>
2136	</note>
2137	</para>
2138	</sect1>
2139
2140	<sect1>
2141	<title>VBoxManage showhdinfo</title>
2142
2143	<para>This command shows information about a virtual hard disk image,
2144	notably its size, its size on disk, its type and the virtual machines
2145	which use it.<note>
2146	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2147	"showvdiinfo" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2148	"showhdinfo" command.</para>
2149	</note></para>
2150	<para>The disk image must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium
2151	is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by
2152	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
2153	for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either
2154	as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current
2155	directory.</para>
2156	</sect1>
2157
2158	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvdi">
2159	<title>VBoxManage createhd</title>
2160
2161	<para>This command creates a new virtual hard disk image. The syntax is as
2162	follows:</para>
2163
2164	<screen>VBoxManage createhd --filename <filename>
2165	--size <megabytes>
2166	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD] (default: VDI)
2167	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>
2168
2169	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2170	<glossentry>
2171	<glossterm><computeroutput>--filename</computeroutput></glossterm>
2172
2173	<glossdef>
2174	<para>Allows to choose a file name. Mandatory.</para>
2175	</glossdef>
2176	</glossentry>
2177
2178	<glossentry>
2179	<glossterm><computeroutput>--size</computeroutput></glossterm>
2180
2181	<glossdef>
2182	<para>Allows to define the image capacity, in 1 MiB units.
2183	Mandatory.</para>
2184	</glossdef>
2185	</glossentry>
2186
2187	<glossentry>
2188	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2189
2190	<glossdef>
2191	<para>Allows to choose a file format for the output file different
2192	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2193	</glossdef>
2194	</glossentry>
2195
2196	<glossentry>
2197	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2198
2199	<glossdef>
2200	<para>Allows to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2201	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2202	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2203	result in an error message.</para>
2204	</glossdef>
2205	</glossentry>
2206	</glosslist> <note>
2207	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2208	"createvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2209	"createhd" command.</para>
2210	</note></para>
2211	</sect1>
2212
2213	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvdi">
2214	<title>VBoxManage modifyhd</title>
2215
2216	<para>With the <computeroutput>modifyhd</computeroutput> command, you can
2217	change the characteristics of a disk image after it has been
2218	created:<screen>VBoxManage modifyhd <uuid\|filename>
2219	[--type normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable\|
2220	readonly\|multiattach]
2221	[--autoreset on\|off]
2222	[--compact]
2223	[--resize <megabytes>\|--resizebyte <bytes>]</screen><note>
2224	<para>Despite the "hd" in the subcommand name, the command works with
2225	all disk images, not only hard disks. For compatibility with earlier
2226	versions of VirtualBox, the "modifyvdi" command is also supported and
2227	mapped internally to the "modifyhd" command.</para>
2228	</note></para>
2229
2230	<para>The disk image to modify must be specified either by its UUID
2231	(if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images
2232	can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2233	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2234	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path
2235	or as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2236	<para>The following options are available:<itemizedlist>
2237	<listitem>
2238	<para>With the <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> argument, you
2239	can change the type of an existing image between the normal,
2240	immutable, write-through and other modes; see <xref
2241	linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for details.</para>
2242	</listitem>
2243
2244	<listitem>
2245	<para>For immutable (differencing) hard disks only, the
2246	<computeroutput>--autoreset on\|off</computeroutput> option
2247	determines whether the disk is automatically reset on every VM
2248	startup (again, see <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />). The default
2249	is "on".</para>
2250	</listitem>
2251
2252	<listitem>
2253	<para>With the <computeroutput>--compact</computeroutput> option,
2254	can be used to compact disk images, i.e. remove blocks that only
2255	contains zeroes. This will shrink a dynamically allocated image
2256	again; it will reduce the <emphasis>physical</emphasis> size of the
2257	image without affecting the logical size of the virtual disk.
2258	Compaction works both for base images and for diff images created as
2259	part of a snapshot.</para>
2260
2261	<para>For this operation to be effective, it is required that free
2262	space in the guest system first be zeroed out using a suitable
2263	software tool. For Windows guests, you can use the
2264	<computeroutput>sdelete</computeroutput> tool provided by Microsoft.
2265	Execute <computeroutput>sdelete -z</computeroutput> in the guest to
2266	zero the free disk space before compressing the virtual disk
2267	image. For Linux, use the <code>zerofree</code> utility which
2268	supports ext2/ext3 filesystems. For Mac OS X guests, use the
2269	<emphasis>Erase Free Space</emphasis> feature of the built-in
2270	<emphasis>Disk Utility</emphasis>. Use
2271	<emphasis>Zero Out Data</emphasis> there.</para>
2272
2273	<para>Please note that compacting is currently only available for
2274	VDI images. A similar effect can be achieved by zeroing out free
2275	blocks and then cloning the disk to any other dynamically allocated
2276	format. You can use this workaround until compacting is also
2277	supported for disk formats other than VDI.</para>
2278	</listitem>
2279
2280	<listitem>
2281	<para>The <computeroutput>--resize x</computeroutput> option (where x
2282	is the desired new total space in <emphasis role="bold">megabytes</emphasis>)
2283	allows you to change the capacity of an existing image; this adjusts the
2284	<emphasis>logical</emphasis> size of a virtual disk without affecting
2285	the physical size much.<footnote>
2286	<para>Image resizing was added with VirtualBox 4.0.</para>
2287	</footnote> This currently works only for VDI and VHD formats, and only
2288	for the dynamically allocated variants, and can only be used to expand
2289	(not shrink) the capacity.
2290	For example, if you originally created a 10G disk which is now full,
2291	you can use the <computeroutput>--resize 15360</computeroutput>
2292	command to change the capacity to 15G (15,360MB) without having to create a new
2293	image and copy all data from within a virtual machine. Note however that
2294	this only changes the drive capacity; you will typically next need to use
2295	a partition management tool inside the guest to adjust the main partition
2296	to fill the drive.</para><para>The <computeroutput>--resizebyte x</computeroutput>
2297	option does almost the same thing, except that x is expressed in bytes
2298	instead of megabytes.</para>
2299	</listitem>
2300	</itemizedlist></para>
2301	</sect1>
2302
2303	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevdi">
2304	<title>VBoxManage clonehd</title>
2305
2306	<para>This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a
2307	new image file with a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be
2308	transferred to another host system or imported into VirtualBox again using
2309	the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref linkend="vdis" /> and <xref
2310	linkend="cloningvdis" />. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2311
2312	<screen>VBoxManage clonehd <uuid\|inutfile> <uuid\|outputfile>
2313	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD\|RAW\|<other>]
2314	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2315	[--existing]</screen>
2316
2317	<para>The disk image to clone as well as the target image must be described
2318	either by its UUIDs (if the mediums are registered) or by its filename.
2319	Registered images can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2320	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2321	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or
2322	as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2323	<para>The following options are available:<glosslist>
2324	<glossentry>
2325	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2326
2327	<glossdef>
2328	<para>Allow to choose a file format for the output file different
2329	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2330	</glossdef>
2331	</glossentry>
2332
2333	<glossentry>
2334	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2335
2336	<glossdef>
2337	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2338	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2339	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2340	result in an error message.</para>
2341	</glossdef>
2342	</glossentry>
2343
2344	<glossentry>
2345	<glossterm><computeroutput>--existing</computeroutput></glossterm>
2346
2347	<glossdef>
2348	<para>Perform the clone operation to an already existing
2349	destination medium. Only the portion of the source medium which
2350	fits into the destination medium is copied. This means if the
2351	destination medium is smaller than the source only a part of it is
2352	copied, and if the destination medium is larger than the source
2353	the remaining part of the destination medium is unchanged.</para>
2354	</glossdef>
2355	</glossentry>
2356	</glosslist> <note>
2357	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2358	"clonevdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2359	"clonehd" command.</para>
2360	</note></para>
2361	</sect1>
2362
2363	<sect1>
2364	<title>VBoxManage convertfromraw</title>
2365
2366	<para>This command converts a raw disk image to a VirtualBox Disk Image
2367	(VDI) file. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2368
2369	<screen>VBoxManage convertfromraw <filename> <outputfile>
2370	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2371	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2372	[--uuid <uuid>]
2373	VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin <outputfile> <bytes>
2374	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2375	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2376	[--uuid <uuid>]</screen>
2377
2378	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2379	<glossentry>
2380	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bytes</computeroutput></glossterm>
2381
2382	<glossdef>
2383	<para>The size of the image file, in bytes, provided through
2384	stdin.</para>
2385	</glossdef>
2386	</glossentry>
2387
2388	<glossentry>
2389	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2390
2391	<glossdef>
2392	<para>Select the disk image format to create. Default is
2393	VDI.</para>
2394	</glossdef>
2395	</glossentry>
2396
2397	<glossentry>
2398	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2399
2400	<glossdef>
2401	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2402	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2403	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2404	result in an error message.</para>
2405	</glossdef>
2406	</glossentry>
2407
2408	<glossentry>
2409	<glossterm><computeroutput>--uuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
2410
2411	<glossdef>
2412	<para>Allow to specifiy the UUID of the output file.</para>
2413	</glossdef>
2414	</glossentry>
2415	</glosslist> The second form forces VBoxManage to read the content for
2416	the disk image from standard input (useful for using that command in a
2417	pipe).</para>
2418
2419	<para><note>
2420	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2421	"convertdd" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2422	"convertfromraw" command.</para>
2423	</note></para>
2424	</sect1>
2425
2426	<sect1>
2427	<title>VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata</title>
2428
2429	<para>These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual
2430	machine or to a VirtualBox configuration (by specifying
2431	<computeroutput>global</computeroutput> instead of a virtual machine
2432	name). You must specify a key (as a text string) to associate the data
2433	with, which you can later use to retrieve it. For example:</para>
2434
2435	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate 2006.01.01
2436	VBoxManage setextradata SUSE10 installdate 2006.02.02</screen>
2437
2438	<para>would associate the string "2006.01.01" with the key installdate for
2439	the virtual machine Fedora5, and "2006.02.02" on the machine SUSE10. You
2440	could retrieve the information as follows:</para>
2441
2442	<screen>VBoxManage getextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2443
2444	<para>which would return</para>
2445
2446	<screen>VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
2447	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
2448	All rights reserved.
2449
2450	Value: 2006.01.01</screen>
2451	<para>To remove a key, the <computeroutput>setextradata</computeroutput>
2452	command must be run without specifying data (only the key), for example:
2453	</para>
2454
2455	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2456
2457	</sect1>
2458
2459	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-setproperty">
2460	<title>VBoxManage setproperty</title>
2461
2462	<para>This command is used to change global settings which affect the
2463	entire VirtualBox installation. Some of these correspond to the settings
2464	in the "Global settings" dialog in the graphical user interface. The
2465	following properties are available:<glosslist>
2466	<glossentry>
2467	<glossterm><computeroutput>machinefolder</computeroutput></glossterm>
2468
2469	<glossdef>
2470	<para>This specifies the default folder in which virtual machine
2471	definitions are kept; see <xref linkend="vboxconfigdata" /> for
2472	details.</para>
2473	</glossdef>
2474	</glossentry>
2475
2476	<glossentry>
2477	<glossterm><computeroutput>hwvirtexclusive</computeroutput></glossterm>
2478	<para>This specifies whether VirtualBox will make exclusive use of
2479	the hardware virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) of the
2480	host system's processor; see <xref linkend="hwvirt" />. If you wish to
2481	share these extensions with other hypervisors running at the same time,
2482	you must disable this setting. Doing so has negative performance implications.
2483	</para>
2484	</glossentry>
2485
2486
2487	<glossentry>
2488	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2489
2490	<glossdef>
2491	<para>This specifies which library to use when "external"
2492	authentication has been selected for a particular virtual machine;
2493	see <xref linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
2494	</glossdef>
2495	</glossentry>
2496
2497	<glossentry>
2498	<glossterm><computeroutput>websrvauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2499
2500	<glossdef>
2501	<para>This specifies which library the web service uses to
2502	authenticate users. For details about the VirtualBox web service,
2503	please refer to the separate VirtualBox SDK reference (see <xref
2504	linkend="VirtualBoxAPI" />).</para>
2505	</glossdef>
2506	</glossentry>
2507
2508	<glossentry>
2509	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeextpack</computeroutput></glossterm>
2510
2511	<glossdef>
2512	<para>This specifies which library implements the VirtualBox
2513	Remote Desktop Extension.</para>
2514	</glossdef>
2515	</glossentry>
2516
2517	<glossentry>
2518	<glossterm><computeroutput>loghistorycount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2519
2520	<glossdef>
2521	<para>This selects how many rotated (old) VM logs are kept.</para>
2522	</glossdef>
2523	</glossentry>
2524
2525	<glossentry>
2526	<glossterm><computeroutput>autostartdbpath</computeroutput></glossterm>
2527
2528	<glossdef>
2529	<para>This selects the path to the autostart database. See
2530	<xref linkend="autostart" />.</para>
2531	</glossdef>
2532	</glossentry>
2533
2534	<glossentry>
2535	<glossterm><computeroutput>defaultfrontend</computeroutput></glossterm>
2536
2537	<glossdef>
2538	<para>This selects the global default VM frontend setting. See
2539	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
2540	</glossdef>
2541	</glossentry>
2542	</glosslist></para>
2543	</sect1>
2544
2545	<sect1>
2546	<title>VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove</title>
2547
2548	<para>The <computeroutput>usbfilter</computeroutput> commands are used for
2549	working with USB filters in virtual machines, or global filters which
2550	affect the whole VirtualBox setup. Global filters are applied before
2551	machine-specific filters, and may be used to prevent devices from being
2552	captured by any virtual machine. Global filters are always applied in a
2553	particular order, and only the first filter which fits a device is
2554	applied. So for example, if the first global filter says to hold (make
2555	available) a particular Kingston memory stick device and the second to
2556	ignore all Kingston devices, that memory stick will be available to any
2557	machine with an appropriate filter, but no other Kingston device
2558	will.</para>
2559
2560	<para>When creating a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2561	add</computeroutput>, you must supply three or four mandatory parameters.
2562	The index specifies the position in the list at which the filter should be
2563	placed. If there is already a filter at that position, then it and the
2564	following ones will be shifted back one place. Otherwise the new filter
2565	will be added onto the end of the list. The
2566	<computeroutput>target</computeroutput> parameter selects the virtual
2567	machine that the filter should be attached to or use "global" to apply it
2568	to all virtual machines. <computeroutput>name</computeroutput> is a name
2569	for the new filter and for global filters,
2570	<computeroutput>action</computeroutput> says whether to allow machines
2571	access to devices that fit the filter description ("hold") or not to give
2572	them access ("ignore"). In addition, you should specify parameters to
2573	filter by. You can find the parameters for devices attached to your system
2574	using <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbhost</computeroutput>. Finally,
2575	you can specify whether the filter should be active, and for local
2576	filters, whether they are for local devices, remote (over an RDP
2577	connection) or either.</para>
2578
2579	<para>When you modify a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2580	modify</computeroutput>, you must specify the filter by index (see the
2581	output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbfilters</computeroutput> to
2582	find global filter indexes and that of <computeroutput>VBoxManage
2583	showvminfo</computeroutput> to find indexes for individual machines) and
2584	by target, which is either a virtual machine or "global". The properties
2585	which can be changed are the same as for <computeroutput>usbfilter
2586	add</computeroutput>. To remove a filter, use <computeroutput>usbfilter
2587	remove</computeroutput> and specify the index and the target.</para>
2588	</sect1>
2589
2590	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-sharedfolder">
2591	<title>VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove</title>
2592
2593	<para>This command allows you to share folders on the host computer with
2594	guest operating systems. For this, the guest systems must have a version
2595	of the VirtualBox Guest Additions installed which supports this
2596	functionality.</para>
2597
2598	<para>Shared folders are described in detail in <xref
2599	linkend="sharedfolders" />.</para>
2600	</sect1>
2601
2602	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty">
2603	<title>VBoxManage guestproperty</title>
2604
2605	<para>The "guestproperty" commands allow you to get or set properties of a
2606	running virtual machine. Please see <xref linkend="guestadd-guestprops" />
2607	for an introduction. As explained there, guest properties are arbitrary
2608	key/value string pairs which can be written to and read from by either the
2609	guest or the host, so they can be used as a low-volume communication
2610	channel for strings, provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
2611	Additions installed. In addition, a number of values whose keys begin with
2612	"/VirtualBox/" are automatically set and maintained by the Guest
2613	Additions.</para>
2614
2615	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2616	<computeroutput><vm></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2617	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2618	<listitem>
2619	<para><computeroutput>enumerate <vm> [--patterns
2620	<pattern>]</computeroutput>: This lists all the guest
2621	properties that are available for the given VM, including the value.
2622	This list will be very limited if the guest's service process cannot
2623	be contacted, e.g. because the VM is not running or the Guest
2624	Additions are not installed.</para>
2625
2626	<para>If <computeroutput>--patterns <pattern></computeroutput>
2627	is specified, it acts as a filter to only list properties that match
2628	the given pattern. The pattern can contain the following wildcard
2629	characters:<itemizedlist>
2630	<listitem>
2631	<para><computeroutput>*</computeroutput> (asterisk):
2632	represents any number of characters; for example,
2633	"<computeroutput>/VirtualBox*</computeroutput>" would match
2634	all properties beginning with "/VirtualBox".</para>
2635	</listitem>
2636
2637	<listitem>
2638	<para><computeroutput>?</computeroutput> (question mark):
2639	represents a single arbitrary character; for example,
2640	"<computeroutput>fo?</computeroutput>" would match both "foo"
2641	and "for".</para>
2642	</listitem>
2643
2644	<listitem>
2645	<para><computeroutput>\|</computeroutput> (pipe symbol): can be
2646	used to specify multiple alternative patterns; for example,
2647	"<computeroutput>s\|t</computeroutput>" would match anything
2648	starting with either "s" or "t".</para>
2649	</listitem>
2650	</itemizedlist></para>
2651	</listitem>
2652
2653	<listitem>
2654	<para><computeroutput>get <vm></computeroutput>: This
2655	retrieves the value of a single property only. If the property
2656	cannot be found (e.g. because the guest is not running), this will
2657	print <screen>No value set!</screen></para>
2658	</listitem>
2659
2660	<listitem>
2661	<para><computeroutput>set <vm> <property> [<value>
2662	[--flags <flags>]]</computeroutput>: This allows you to set a
2663	guest property by specifying the key and value. If
2664	<computeroutput><value></computeroutput> is omitted, the
2665	property is deleted. With <computeroutput>--flags</computeroutput>
2666	you can optionally specify additional behavior (you can combine
2667	several by separating them with commas):<itemizedlist>
2668	<listitem>
2669	<para><computeroutput>TRANSIENT</computeroutput>: the value
2670	will not be stored with the VM data when the VM exits;</para>
2671	</listitem>
2672
2673	<listitem>
2674	<para><computeroutput>TRANSRESET</computeroutput>: the value
2675	will be deleted as soon as the VM restarts and/or exits;</para>
2676	</listitem>
2677
2678	<listitem>
2679	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYGUEST</computeroutput>: the value
2680	can only be changed by the host, but the guest can only read
2681	it;</para>
2682	</listitem>
2683
2684	<listitem>
2685	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYHOST</computeroutput>: reversely,
2686	the value can only be changed by the guest, but the host can
2687	only read it;</para>
2688	</listitem>
2689
2690	<listitem>
2691	<para><computeroutput>READONLY</computeroutput>: a combination
2692	of the two, the value cannot be changed at all.</para>
2693	</listitem>
2694	</itemizedlist></para>
2695	</listitem>
2696
2697	<listitem>
2698	<para><computeroutput>wait <vm> <pattern> --timeout
2699	<timeout></computeroutput>: This waits for a particular value
2700	described by "pattern" to change or to be deleted or created. The
2701	pattern rules are the same as for the "enumerate" subcommand
2702	above.</para>
2703	</listitem>
2704
2705	<listitem>
2706	<para><computeroutput>delete <vm> <property>
2707	</computeroutput>: Deletes a formerly set guest property.
2708	</para></listitem>
2709	</itemizedlist></para>
2710	</sect1>
2711
2712	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestcontrol">
2713	<title>VBoxManage guestcontrol</title>
2714
2715	<para>The "guestcontrol" commands allow you to control certain things
2716	inside a guest from the host. Please see <xref
2717	linkend="guestadd-guestcontrol" /> for an introduction.</para>
2718
2719	<para>Generally, the syntax is as follows:</para>
2720
2721	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> <command></screen>
2722
2723	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2724	<computeroutput><uuid\|vmname></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2725	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2726	<listitem>
2727	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>execute</computeroutput></emphasis>,
2728	which allows for
2729	executing a program/script (process) which already is installed and
2730	runnable on the guest. This command only works while a VM is up and
2731	running and has the following syntax:</para>
2732
2733	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> exec[ute]
2734	--image <path to program> --username <name>
2735	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
2736	[--environment "<NAME>=<VALUE> [<NAME>=<VALUE>]"]
2737	[--verbose] [--timeout <msec>]
2738	[--wait-exit] [--wait-stdout] [--wait-stderr]
2739	[--dos2unix] [--unix2dos]
2740	-- [[<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
2741
2742	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2743	<glossentry>
2744	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2745
2746	<glossdef>
2747	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2748	</glossdef>
2749	</glossentry>
2750
2751	<glossentry>
2752	<glossterm><computeroutput>--image "<path to program>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
2753
2754	<glossdef>
2755	<para>Absolute path and process name of process to execute
2756	in the guest, e.g.
2757	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput></para>
2758	</glossdef>
2759	</glossentry>
2760
2761	<glossentry>
2762	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
2763
2764	<glossdef>
2765	<para>Name of the user the process should run under. This
2766	user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2767	</glossdef>
2768	</glossentry>
2769
2770	<glossentry>
2771	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
2772
2773	<glossdef>
2774	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
2775	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
2776	assumed.</para>
2777	</glossdef>
2778	</glossentry>
2779
2780	<glossentry>
2781	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
2782
2783	<glossdef>
2784	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2785	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2786	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2787	</glossdef>
2788	</glossentry>
2789
2790	<glossentry>
2791	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dos2unix</computeroutput></glossterm>
2792
2793	<glossdef>
2794	Converts output from DOS/Windows guests to UNIX-compatible
2795	line endings (CR + LF -> LF). Not implemented yet.
2796	</glossdef>
2797	</glossentry>
2798
2799	<glossentry>
2800	<glossterm><computeroutput>--environment
2801	"<NAME>=<VALUE>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
2802
2803	<glossdef>
2804	<para>One or more environment variables to be set or
2805	unset.</para>
2806
2807	<para>By default, the new process in the guest will be
2808	created with the standard environment of the guest OS. This
2809	option allows for modifying that environment. To set/modify
2810	a variable, a pair of
2811	<computeroutput>NAME=VALUE</computeroutput> must be
2812	specified; to unset a certain variable, the name with no
2813	value must set, e.g.
2814	<computeroutput>NAME=</computeroutput>.</para>
2815
2816	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2817	quotation marks. More than one
2818	<computeroutput>--environment</computeroutput> at a time can
2819	be specified to keep the command line tidy.</para>
2820	</glossdef>
2821	</glossentry>
2822
2823	<glossentry>
2824	<glossterm><computeroutput>--timeout <msec></computeroutput></glossterm>
2825
2826	<glossdef>
2827	<para>Value (in milliseconds) that specifies the time how
2828	long the started process is allowed to run and how long
2829	VBoxManage waits for getting output from that process. If no
2830	timeout is specified, VBoxManage will wait forever until the
2831	started process ends or an error occured.</para>
2832	</glossdef>
2833	</glossentry>
2834
2835	<glossentry>
2836	<glossterm><computeroutput>--unix2dos</computeroutput></glossterm>
2837
2838	<glossdef>
2839	Converts output from a UNIX/Linux guests to DOS-/Windows-compatible
2840	line endings (LF -> CR + LF). Not implemented yet.
2841	</glossdef>
2842	</glossentry>
2843
2844	<glossentry>
2845	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
2846
2847	<glossdef>
2848	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2849	</glossdef>
2850	</glossentry>
2851
2852	<glossentry>
2853	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-exit</computeroutput></glossterm>
2854
2855	<glossdef>
2856	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2857	exit code along with the exit reason/flags.</para>
2858	</glossdef>
2859	</glossentry>
2860
2861	<glossentry>
2862	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stdout</computeroutput></glossterm>
2863
2864	<glossdef>
2865	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2866	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2867	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stdout.</para>
2868	</glossdef>
2869	</glossentry>
2870
2871	<glossentry>
2872	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stderr</computeroutput></glossterm>
2873
2874	<glossdef>
2875	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2876	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2877	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stderr.</para>
2878	</glossdef>
2879	</glossentry>
2880
2881	<glossentry>
2882	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
2883
2884	<glossdef>
2885	<para>One or more arguments to pass to the process being
2886	executed.</para>
2887	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2888	quotation marks.</para>
2889	</glossdef>
2890	</glossentry>
2891
2892	</glosslist></para>
2893
2894	<para><note>
2895	<para>On Windows there are certain limitations for graphical
2896	applications; please see <xref linkend="KnownIssues" /> for more
2897	information.</para>
2898	</note> Examples: <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls"
2899	--username foo --passwordfile bar.txt --wait-exit --wait-stdout -- -l /usr</screen> <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "c:\\windows\\system32\\ipconfig.exe"
2900	--username foo --passwordfile bar.txt --wait-exit --wait-stdout</screen> Note that
2901	the double backslashes in the second example are only required on
2902	Unix hosts.</para>
2903
2904	<para><note>
2905	<para>For certain commands a user name of an existing user account on the guest
2906	must be specified; anonymous executions are not supported for security reasons. A
2907	user account password, however, is optional and depends on the guest's OS security
2908	policy or rules. If no password is specified for a given user name, an empty password
2909	will be used. On certain OSes like Windows the security policy may needs to be adjusted
2910	in order to allow user accounts with an empty password set. Also, global domain rules might
2911	apply and therefore cannot be changed.</para>
2912	</note></para>
2913
2914	<para>Starting at VirtualBox 4.1.2 guest process execution by default is limited
2915	to serve up to 5 guest processes at a time. If a new guest process gets started
2916	which would exceed this limit, the oldest not running guest process will be discarded
2917	in order to be able to run that new process. Also, retrieving output from this
2918	old guest process will not be possible anymore then. If all 5 guest processes
2919	are still active and running, starting a new guest process will result in an
2920	appropriate error message.</para>
2921
2922	<para>To raise or lower the guest process execution limit, either the guest
2923	property <computeroutput>/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
2924	or VBoxService' command line by specifying <computeroutput>--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
2925	needs to be modified. A restart of the guest OS is required afterwards. To serve unlimited
2926	guest processes, a value of <computeroutput>0</computeroutput> needs to be set (not recommended).</para>
2927	</listitem>
2928
2929	<listitem>
2930	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput></emphasis>,
2931	which allows copying
2932	files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
2933	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
2934
2935	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> copyto\|cp
2936	<guest source> <host dest> --username <name>
2937	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
2938	[--dryrun] [--follow] [--recursive] [--verbose]</screen>
2939
2940	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2941	<glossentry>
2942	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2943
2944	<glossdef>
2945	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2946	</glossdef>
2947	</glossentry>
2948
2949	<glossentry>
2950	<glossterm><computeroutput>source on host</computeroutput></glossterm>
2951
2952	<glossdef>
2953	<para>Absolute path of source file(s) on host to copy over
2954	to the guest, e.g.
2955	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput>.
2956	This also can be a wildcard expression, e.g.
2957	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\*.dll</computeroutput></para>
2958	</glossdef>
2959	</glossentry>
2960
2961	<glossentry>
2962	<glossterm><computeroutput>destination on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
2963
2964	<glossdef>
2965	<para>Absolute destination path on the guest, e.g.
2966	<computeroutput>C:\Temp</computeroutput></para>
2967	</glossdef>
2968	</glossentry>
2969
2970	<glossentry>
2971	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
2972
2973	<glossdef>
2974	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
2975	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2976	</glossdef>
2977	</glossentry>
2978
2979	<glossentry>
2980	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
2981
2982	<glossdef>
2983	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
2984	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
2985	assumed.</para>
2986	</glossdef>
2987	</glossentry>
2988
2989	<glossentry>
2990	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
2991
2992	<glossdef>
2993	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2994	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2995	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2996	</glossdef>
2997	</glossentry>
2998
2999	<glossentry>
3000	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dryrun</computeroutput></glossterm>
3001
3002	<glossdef>
3003	<para>Tells VBoxManage to only perform a dry run instead of
3004	really copying files to the guest.</para>
3005	</glossdef>
3006	</glossentry>
3007
3008	<glossentry>
3009	<glossterm><computeroutput>--follow</computeroutput></glossterm>
3010
3011	<glossdef>
3012	<para>Enables following symlinks on the host's
3013	source.</para>
3014	</glossdef>
3015	</glossentry>
3016
3017	<glossentry>
3018	<glossterm><computeroutput>--recursive</computeroutput></glossterm>
3019
3020	<glossdef>
3021	<para>Recursively copies files/directories of the specified
3022	source.</para>
3023	</glossdef>
3024	</glossentry>
3025
3026	<glossentry>
3027	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3028
3029	<glossdef>
3030	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3031	</glossdef>
3032	</glossentry>
3033
3034	<glossentry>
3035	<glossterm><computeroutput>--flags <flags></computeroutput></glossterm>
3036
3037	<glossdef>
3038	<para>Additional flags to set. This is not used at the
3039	moment.</para>
3040	</glossdef>
3041	</glossentry>
3042	</glosslist></para>
3043	</listitem>
3044
3045	<listitem>
3046	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyfrom</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3047	which allows copying
3048	files from the guest to the host (only with installed Guest
3049	Additions 4.0 and later). It has the same parameters as
3050	<computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput> above.</para>
3051	</listitem>
3052
3053	<listitem>
3054	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createdirectory</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3055	which allows
3056	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3057	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3058
3059	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createdir[ectory]\|mkdir\|md
3060	<guest directory>... --username <name>
3061	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3062	[--parents] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3063
3064	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3065	<glossentry>
3066	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3067
3068	<glossdef>
3069	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3070	</glossdef>
3071	</glossentry>
3072
3073	<glossentry>
3074	<glossterm><computeroutput>directory to create on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3075
3076	<glossdef>
3077	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to create on
3078	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>.
3079	Parent directories need to exist (e.g. in this example
3080	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput>) when switch
3081	<computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput> is omitted. The
3082	specified user must have appropriate rights to create the
3083	specified directory.</para>
3084	</glossdef>
3085	</glossentry>
3086
3087	<glossentry>
3088	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3089
3090	<glossdef>
3091	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3092	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3093	</glossdef>
3094	</glossentry>
3095
3096	<glossentry>
3097	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3098
3099	<glossdef>
3100	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3101	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3102	assumed.</para>
3103	</glossdef>
3104	</glossentry>
3105
3106	<glossentry>
3107	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3108
3109	<glossdef>
3110	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3111	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3112	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3113	</glossdef>
3114	</glossentry>
3115
3116	<glossentry>
3117	<glossterm><computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput></glossterm>
3118
3119	<glossdef>
3120	<para>Also creates not yet existing parent directories of
3121	the specified directory, e.g. if the directory
3122	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput> of
3123	<computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput> does not exist
3124	yet it will be created. Without specifying
3125	<computeroutput>--parent</computeroutput> the action would
3126	have failed.</para>
3127	</glossdef>
3128	</glossentry>
3129
3130	<glossentry>
3131	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3132
3133	<glossdef>
3134	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3135	Only octal modes (e.g.
3136	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3137	now.</para>
3138	</glossdef>
3139	</glossentry>
3140
3141	<glossentry>
3142	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3143
3144	<glossdef>
3145	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3146	</glossdef>
3147	</glossentry>
3148	</glosslist></para>
3149	</listitem>
3150
3151	<listitem>
3152	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createtemporary</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3153	which allows
3154	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3155	Additions 4.2 and later).</para>
3156
3157	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createtemp[orary]\|mktemp
3158	<template> --username <name>
3159	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3160	[--directory] [--secure] [--tmpdir <directory>]
3161	[--domain <domain>] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3162
3163	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3164	<glossentry>
3165	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3166
3167	<glossdef>
3168	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3169	</glossdef>
3170	</glossentry>
3171
3172	<glossentry>
3173	<glossterm><computeroutput>template</computeroutput></glossterm>
3174
3175	<glossdef>
3176	<para>A file name without a path and with at least three consecutive 'X'
3177	characters or ending in 'X'
3178	</para>
3179	</glossdef>
3180	</glossentry>
3181
3182	<glossentry>
3183	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3184
3185	<glossdef>
3186	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3187	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3188	</glossdef>
3189	</glossentry>
3190
3191	<glossentry>
3192	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3193
3194	<glossdef>
3195	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3196	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3197	assumed.</para>
3198	</glossdef>
3199	</glossentry>
3200
3201	<glossentry>
3202	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3203
3204	<glossdef>
3205	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3206	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3207	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3208	</glossdef>
3209	</glossentry>
3210
3211	<glossentry>
3212	<glossterm><computeroutput>--directory</computeroutput></glossterm>
3213
3214	<glossdef>
3215	<para>Create a temporary directory instead of a file.</para>
3216	</glossdef>
3217	</glossentry>
3218
3219	<glossentry>
3220	<glossterm><computeroutput>--secure</computeroutput></glossterm>
3221
3222	<glossdef>
3223	<para>
3224	Secure creation. The file mode is fixed to
3225	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>. And the operation
3226	will fail if it cannot performed securely.
3227	</para>
3228	</glossdef>
3229	</glossentry>
3230
3231	<glossentry>
3232	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tmpdir <directory></computeroutput></glossterm>
3233
3234	<glossdef>
3235	<para>
3236	Directory where the file / directory is created. If not
3237	specified, the platform-specific temp directory is used.
3238	</para>
3239	</glossdef>
3240	</glossentry>
3241
3242	<glossentry>
3243	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3244
3245	<glossdef>
3246	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3247	Only octal modes (e.g.
3248	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3249	now.</para>
3250	</glossdef>
3251	</glossentry>
3252
3253	<glossentry>
3254	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3255
3256	<glossdef>
3257	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3258	</glossdef>
3259	</glossentry>
3260	</glosslist></para>
3261	</listitem>
3262
3263	<listitem>
3264	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3265	which lists various guest control information such as open guest sessions,
3266	guest processes and guest files.</para>
3267
3268	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> list
3269	<all\|sessions\|processes\|files> [--verbose]</screen>
3270
3271	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3272	<glossentry>
3273	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3274
3275	<glossdef>
3276	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3277	</glossdef>
3278	</glossentry>
3279
3280	<glossentry>
3281	<glossterm><computeroutput>all\|sessions\|processes\|files</computeroutput></glossterm>
3282
3283	<glossdef>
3284	<para>Whether to list guest sessions, guest processes, guest files
3285	or all information available. Mandatory.</para>
3286	</glossdef>
3287	</glossentry>
3288
3289	<glossentry>
3290	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3291
3292	<glossdef>
3293	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3294	</glossdef>
3295	</glossentry>
3296	</glosslist></para>
3297	</listitem>
3298
3299	<listitem>
3300	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>process kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3301	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3302	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3303
3304	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3305	--session-id <ID>
3306	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3307	[--verbose]
3308	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3309
3310	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3311	<glossentry>
3312	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3313
3314	<glossdef>
3315	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3316	</glossdef>
3317	</glossentry>
3318
3319	<glossentry>
3320	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3321
3322	<glossdef>
3323	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
3324	</glossdef>
3325	</glossentry>
3326
3327	<glossentry>
3328	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3329
3330	<glossdef>
3331	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
3332	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3333	</glossdef>
3334	</glossentry>
3335
3336	<glossentry>
3337	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3338
3339	<glossdef>
3340	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3341	</glossdef>
3342	</glossentry>
3343
3344	<glossentry>
3345	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
3346
3347	<glossdef>
3348	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
3349	</glossdef>
3350	</glossentry>
3351	</glosslist></para>
3352	</listitem>
3353
3354	<listitem>
3355	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>[p[s]]kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3356	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3357	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3358
3359	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3360	--session-id <ID>
3361	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3362	[--verbose]
3363	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3364
3365	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3366	<glossentry>
3367	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3368
3369	<glossdef>
3370	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3371	</glossdef>
3372	</glossentry>
3373
3374	<glossentry>
3375	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3376
3377	<glossdef>
3378	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
3379	</glossdef>
3380	</glossentry>
3381
3382	<glossentry>
3383	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3384
3385	<glossdef>
3386	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
3387	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3388	</glossdef>
3389	</glossentry>
3390
3391	<glossentry>
3392	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3393
3394	<glossdef>
3395	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3396	</glossdef>
3397	</glossentry>
3398
3399	<glossentry>
3400	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
3401
3402	<glossdef>
3403	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
3404	</glossdef>
3405	</glossentry>
3406	</glosslist></para>
3407	</listitem>
3408
3409	<listitem>
3410	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>session close</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3411	which closes specific guest sessions, based on either the session's ID or the
3412	session's name.</para>
3413
3414	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> session close
3415	--session-id <ID>
3416	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3417	\| --all
3418	[--verbose]</screen>
3419
3420	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3421	<glossentry>
3422	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3423
3424	<glossdef>
3425	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3426	</glossdef>
3427	</glossentry>
3428
3429	<glossentry>
3430	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3431
3432	<glossdef>
3433	<para>Close a guest session specified by its ID.</para>
3434	</glossdef>
3435	</glossentry>
3436
3437	<glossentry>
3438	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3439
3440	<glossdef>
3441	<para>Close a guest session specified by its name. Multiple sessions
3442	can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3443	</glossdef>
3444	</glossentry>
3445
3446	<glossentry>
3447	<glossterm><computeroutput>--all</computeroutput></glossterm>
3448
3449	<glossdef>
3450	<para>Close all guest sessions.</para>
3451	</glossdef>
3452	</glossentry>
3453
3454	<glossentry>
3455	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3456
3457	<glossdef>
3458	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3459	</glossdef>
3460	</glossentry>
3461	</glosslist></para>
3462	</listitem>
3463
3464	<listitem>
3465	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>stat</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3466	which displays file
3467	or file system status on the guest.</para>
3468
3469	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> stat
3470	<file>... --username <name>
3471	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3472	[--verbose]</screen>
3473
3474	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3475	<glossentry>
3476	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3477
3478	<glossdef>
3479	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3480	</glossdef>
3481	</glossentry>
3482
3483	<glossentry>
3484	<glossterm><computeroutput>file element(s) to check on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3485
3486	<glossdef>
3487	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to check on
3488	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>/home/foo/a.out</computeroutput>.
3489	The specified user must have appropriate rights to access
3490	the given file element(s).</para>
3491	</glossdef>
3492	</glossentry>
3493
3494	<glossentry>
3495	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3496
3497	<glossdef>
3498	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3499	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3500	</glossdef>
3501	</glossentry>
3502
3503	<glossentry>
3504	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3505
3506	<glossdef>
3507	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3508	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3509	assumed.</para>
3510	</glossdef>
3511	</glossentry>
3512
3513	<glossentry>
3514	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3515
3516	<glossdef>
3517	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3518	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3519	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3520	</glossdef>
3521	</glossentry>
3522
3523	<glossentry>
3524	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3525
3526	<glossdef>
3527	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3528	</glossdef>
3529	</glossentry>
3530	</glosslist></para>
3531	</listitem>
3532
3533	<listitem>
3534	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>updateadditions</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3535	which allows
3536	for updating an already installed Guest Additions version on the
3537	guest (only already installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3538
3539	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> updateadditions
3540	[--source "<guest additions .ISO file to use>"] [--verbose]
3541	[--wait-start] [-- [<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
3542
3543	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3544	<glossentry>
3545	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3546
3547	<glossdef>
3548	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3549	</glossdef>
3550	</glossentry>
3551
3552	<glossentry>
3553	<glossterm><computeroutput>--source</computeroutput> "<guest additions .ISO file to
3554	use>"</glossterm>
3555
3556	<glossdef>
3557	<para>Full path to an alternative VirtualBox Guest Additions
3558	.ISO file to use for the Guest Additions update.</para>
3559	</glossdef>
3560	</glossentry>
3561
3562	<glossentry>
3563	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3564
3565	<glossdef>
3566	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3567	</glossdef>
3568	</glossentry>
3569
3570	<glossentry>
3571	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-start</computeroutput></glossterm>
3572	<glossdef>
3573	<para>Starts the regular updating process and waits until the
3574	actual Guest Additions update inside the guest was started.
3575	This can be necessary due to needed interaction with the
3576	guest OS during the installation phase.</para>
3577	<para>When omitting this flag VBoxManage will wait for the
3578	whole Guest Additions update to complete.</para>
3579	</glossdef>
3580	</glossentry>
3581
3582	<glossentry>
3583	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
3584
3585	<glossdef>
3586	<para>Optional command line arguments to use for the Guest Additions
3587	installer. Useful for retrofitting features which weren't installed
3588	before on the guest.</para>
3589	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
3590	quotation marks.</para>
3591	</glossdef>
3592	</glossentry>
3593	</glosslist></para>
3594	</listitem>
3595	<listitem>
3596	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>watch</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3597	which prints current guest control activity.</para>
3598
3599	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> watch
3600	[--verbose]</screen>
3601
3602	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3603	<glossentry>
3604	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3605
3606	<glossdef>
3607	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3608	</glossdef>
3609	</glossentry>
3610
3611	<glossentry>
3612	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3613
3614	<glossdef>
3615	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3616	</glossdef>
3617	</glossentry>
3618	</glosslist></para>
3619	</listitem>
3620	</itemizedlist></para>
3621	</sect1>
3622
3623	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-debugvm">
3624	<title>VBoxManage debugvm</title>
3625
3626	<para>The "debugvm" commands are for experts who want to tinker with the
3627	exact details of virtual machine execution. Like the VM debugger described
3628	in <xref linkend="ts_debugger" />, these commands are only useful if you are
3629	very familiar with the details of the PC architecture and how to debug
3630	software.</para>
3631
3632	<para>The subcommands of "debugvm" all operate on a running virtual
3633	machine. The following are available:<itemizedlist>
3634	<listitem>
3635	<para>With <computeroutput>dumpguestcore --filename
3636	<name></computeroutput>, you can create a system dump of the
3637	running VM, which will be written into the given file. This file
3638	will have the standard ELF core format (with custom sections); see
3639	<xref linkend="ts_guest-core-format" />.</para>
3640
3641	<para>This corresponds to the
3642	<computeroutput>writecore</computeroutput> command in the debugger.
3643	</para>
3644	</listitem>
3645
3646	<listitem>
3647	<para>The <computeroutput>info</computeroutput> command is used to
3648	display info items relating to the VMM, device emulations and
3649	associated drivers. This command takes one or two arguments: the
3650	name of the info item, optionally followed by a string containing
3651	arguments specific to the info item.
3652	The <computeroutput>help</computeroutput> info item provides a
3653	listning of the available items and hints about any optional
3654	arguments.</para>
3655
3656	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>info</computeroutput>
3657	command in the debugger.</para>
3658	</listitem>
3659
3660	<listitem>
3661	<para>The <computeroutput>injectnmi</computeroutput> command causes
3662	a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) in the guest, which might be useful
3663	for certain debugging scenarios. What happens exactly is dependent
3664	on the guest operating system, but an NMI can crash the whole guest
3665	operating system. Do not use unless you know what you're
3666	doing.</para>
3667	</listitem>
3668
3669	<listitem>
3670	<para>The <computeroutput>osdetect</computeroutput> command makes the
3671	VMM's debugger facility (re-)detection the guest operation
3672	system.</para>
3673
3674	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>detect</computeroutput>
3675	command in the debugger.</para>
3676	</listitem>
3677
3678	<listitem>
3679	<para>The <computeroutput>osinfo</computeroutput> command is used to
3680	display info about the operating system (OS) detected by the VMM's
3681	debugger facility.</para>
3682	</listitem>
3683
3684	<listitem>
3685	<para>The <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command is
3686	used to display CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3687	of registers, each having one of the following forms:
3688	<itemizedlist>
3689	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3690	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3691	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3692	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3693	<listitem><computeroutput>all</computeroutput></listitem>
3694	</itemizedlist>
3695	The <computeroutput>all</computeroutput> form will cause all
3696	registers to be shown (no sub-fields). The registers names are
3697	case-insensitive. When requesting a CPU register the register set
3698	can be omitted, it will be selected using the value of the
3699	<computeroutput>--cpu</computeroutput> option (defaulting to 0).
3700	</para>
3701	</listitem>
3702
3703	<listitem>
3704	<para>The <computeroutput>setregisters</computeroutput> command is
3705	used to change CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3706	of register assignments, each having one of the following forms:
3707	<itemizedlist>
3708	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3709	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3710	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3711	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3712	</itemizedlist>
3713	The value format should be in the same style as what
3714	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> displays, with the
3715	exception that both octal and decimal can be used instead of
3716	hexadecimal. The register naming and the default CPU register set
3717	are handled the same way as with the
3718	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command.</para>
3719	</listitem>
3720
3721	<listitem>
3722	<para>The <computeroutput>statistics</computeroutput> command can be
3723	used to display VMM statistics on the command line. The
3724	<computeroutput>--reset</computeroutput> option will reset
3725	statistics. The affected statistics can be filtered with the
3726	<computeroutput>--pattern</computeroutput> option, which accepts
3727	DOS/NT-style wildcards (<computeroutput>?</computeroutput> and
3728	<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>).</para>
3729	</listitem>
3730	</itemizedlist></para>
3731	</sect1>
3732
3733	<sect1 id="metrics">
3734	<title>VBoxManage metrics</title>
3735
3736	<para>This command supports monitoring the usage of system resources.
3737	Resources are represented by various metrics associated with the host
3738	system or a particular VM. For example, the host system has a
3739	<computeroutput>CPU/Load/User</computeroutput> metric that shows the
3740	percentage of time CPUs spend executing in user mode over a specific
3741	sampling period.</para>
3742
3743	<para>Metric data is collected and retained internally; it may be
3744	retrieved at any time with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3745	query</computeroutput> subcommand. The data is available as long as the
3746	background <computeroutput>VBoxSVC</computeroutput> process is alive. That
3747	process terminates shortly after all VMs and frontends have been
3748	closed.</para>
3749
3750	<para>By default no metrics are collected at all. Metrics collection does
3751	not start until <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics setup</computeroutput>
3752	is invoked with a proper sampling interval and the number of metrics to be
3753	retained. The interval is measured in seconds. For example, to enable
3754	collecting the host processor and memory usage metrics every second and
3755	keeping the 5 most current samples, the following command can be
3756	used:</para>
3757
3758	<screen>VBoxManage metrics setup --period 1 --samples 5 host CPU/Load,RAM/Usage</screen>
3759
3760	<para>Metric collection can only be enabled for started VMs. Collected
3761	data and collection settings for a particular VM will disappear as soon as
3762	it shuts down. Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics list
3763	</computeroutput> subcommand to see which metrics are currently available.
3764	You can also use <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option with any
3765	subcommand that modifies metric settings to find out which metrics were
3766	affected.</para>
3767
3768	<para>Note that the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3769	setup</computeroutput> subcommand discards all samples that may have been
3770	previously collected for the specified set of objects and metrics.</para>
3771
3772	<para>To enable or disable metrics collection without discarding the data
3773	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics enable</computeroutput> and
3774	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics disable</computeroutput> subcommands
3775	can be used. Note that these subcommands expect metrics, not submetrics,
3776	like <code>CPU/Load</code> or <code>RAM/Usage</code> as parameters. In
3777	other words enabling <code>CPU/Load/User</code> while disabling
3778	<code>CPU/Load/Kernel</code> is not supported.</para>
3779
3780	<para>The host and VMs have different sets of associated metrics.
3781	Available metrics can be listed with <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3782	list</computeroutput> subcommand.</para>
3783
3784	<para>A complete metric name may include an aggregate function. The name
3785	has the following form:
3786	<computeroutput>Category/Metric[/SubMetric][:aggregate]</computeroutput>.
3787	For example, <computeroutput>RAM/Usage/Free:min</computeroutput> stands
3788	for the minimum amount of available memory over all retained data if
3789	applied to the host object.</para>
3790
3791	<para>Subcommands may apply to all objects and metrics or can be limited
3792	to one object or/and a list of metrics. If no objects or metrics are given
3793	in the parameters, the subcommands will apply to all available metrics of
3794	all objects. You may use an asterisk
3795	("<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>") to explicitly specify that the
3796	command should be applied to all objects or metrics. Use "host" as the
3797	object name to limit the scope of the command to host-related metrics. To
3798	limit the scope to a subset of metrics, use a metric list with names
3799	separated by commas.</para>
3800
3801	<para>For example, to query metric data on the CPU time spent in user and
3802	kernel modes by the virtual machine named "test", you can use the
3803	following command:</para>
3804
3805	<screen>VBoxManage metrics query test CPU/Load/User,CPU/Load/Kernel</screen>
3806
3807	<para>The following list summarizes the available subcommands:</para>
3808
3809	<glosslist>
3810	<glossentry>
3811	<glossterm><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></glossterm>
3812
3813	<glossdef>
3814	<para>This subcommand shows the parameters of the currently existing
3815	metrics. Note that VM-specific metrics are only available when a
3816	particular VM is running.</para>
3817	</glossdef>
3818	</glossentry>
3819
3820	<glossentry>
3821	<glossterm><computeroutput>setup</computeroutput></glossterm>
3822
3823	<glossdef>
3824	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3825	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3826	retained data is available for displaying with the
3827	<code>query</code> subcommand. The <computeroutput>--list
3828	</computeroutput> option shows which metrics have been modified as
3829	the result of the command execution.</para>
3830	</glossdef>
3831	</glossentry>
3832
3833	<glossentry>
3834	<glossterm><computeroutput>enable</computeroutput></glossterm>
3835
3836	<glossdef>
3837	<para>This subcommand "resumes" data collection after it has been
3838	stopped with <code>disable</code> subcommand. Note that specifying
3839	submetrics as parameters will not enable underlying metrics. Use
3840	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3841	did what was expected.</para>
3842	</glossdef>
3843	</glossentry>
3844
3845	<glossentry>
3846	<glossterm><computeroutput>disable</computeroutput></glossterm>
3847
3848	<glossdef>
3849	<para>This subcommand "suspends" data collection without affecting
3850	collection parameters or collected data. Note that specifying
3851	submetrics as parameters will not disable underlying metrics. Use
3852	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3853	did what was expected.</para>
3854	</glossdef>
3855	</glossentry>
3856
3857	<glossentry>
3858	<glossterm><computeroutput>query</computeroutput></glossterm>
3859
3860	<glossdef>
3861	<para>This subcommand retrieves and displays the currently retained
3862	metric data.<note>
3863	<para>The <code>query</code> subcommand does not remove or
3864	"flush" retained data. If you query often enough you will see
3865	how old samples are gradually being "phased out" by new
3866	samples.</para>
3867	</note></para>
3868	</glossdef>
3869	</glossentry>
3870
3871	<glossentry>
3872	<glossterm><computeroutput>collect</computeroutput></glossterm>
3873
3874	<glossdef>
3875	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3876	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3877	collected data is displayed periodically until Ctrl-C is pressed
3878	unless the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput> option is
3879	specified. With the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput>
3880	option, this subcommand operates the same way as <code>setup</code>
3881	does. The <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option shows which
3882	metrics match the specified filter.</para>
3883	</glossdef>
3884	</glossentry>
3885	</glosslist>
3886	</sect1>
3887
3888	<sect1>
3889	<title>VBoxManage hostonlyif</title>
3890
3891	<para>With "hostonlyif" you can change the IP configuration of a host-only
3892	network interface. For a description of host-only networking, please
3893	refer to <xref linkend="network_hostonly" />. Each host-only interface is
3894	identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a
3895	manual IP configuration (both IP4 and IP6).</para>
3896	</sect1>
3897
3898	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-dhcpserver">
3899	<title>VBoxManage dhcpserver</title>
3900
3901	<para>The "dhcpserver" commands allow you to control the DHCP server that
3902	is built into VirtualBox. You may find this useful when using internal or
3903	host-only networking. (Theoretically, you can enable it for a bridged
3904	network as well, but that will likely cause conflicts with other DHCP
3905	servers in your physical network.)</para>
3906
3907	<para>Use the following command line options:<itemizedlist>
3908	<listitem>
3909	<para>If you use internal networking for a virtual network adapter
3910	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3911	--netname <network_name></computeroutput>, where
3912	<computeroutput><network_name></computeroutput> is the same
3913	network name you used with <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm
3914	<vmname> --intnet<X>
3915	<network_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3916	</listitem>
3917
3918	<listitem>
3919	<para>If you use host-only networking for a virtual network adapter
3920	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3921	--ifname <hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> instead, where
3922	<computeroutput><hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> is the
3923	same host-only interface name you used with
3924	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname>
3925	--hostonlyadapter<X>
3926	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3927
3928	<para>Alternatively, you can also use the --netname option as with
3929	internal networks if you know the host-only network's name; you can
3930	see the names with <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
3931	hostonlyifs</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
3932	above).</para>
3933	</listitem>
3934	</itemizedlist></para>
3935
3936	<para>The following additional parameters are required when first adding a
3937	DHCP server:<itemizedlist>
3938	<listitem>
3939	<para>With <computeroutput>--ip</computeroutput>, specify the IP
3940	address of the DHCP server itself.</para>
3941	</listitem>
3942
3943	<listitem>
3944	<para>With <computeroutput>--netmask</computeroutput>, specify the
3945	netmask of the network.</para>
3946	</listitem>
3947
3948	<listitem>
3949	<para>With <computeroutput>--lowerip</computeroutput> and
3950	<computeroutput>--upperip</computeroutput>, you can specify the
3951	lowest and highest IP address, respectively, that the DHCP server
3952	will hand out to clients.</para>
3953	</listitem>
3954	</itemizedlist></para>
3955
3956	<para>Finally, you must specify <computeroutput>--enable</computeroutput>
3957	or the DHCP server will be created in the disabled state, doing
3958	nothing.</para>
3959
3960	<para>After this, VirtualBox will automatically start the DHCP server for
3961	given internal or host-only network as soon as the first virtual machine
3962	which uses that network is started.</para>
3963
3964	<para>Reversely, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver
3965	remove</computeroutput> with the given <computeroutput>--netname
3966	<network_name></computeroutput> or <computeroutput>--ifname
3967	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> to remove the DHCP server again
3968	for the given internal or host-only network.</para>
3969
3970	<para>To modify the settings of a DHCP server created earlier with
3971	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add</computeroutput>, you can use
3972	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver modify</computeroutput> for a given
3973	network or host-only interface name.</para>
3974	</sect1>
3975
3976	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-extpack">
3977	<title>VBoxManage extpack</title>
3978
3979	<para>The "extpack" command allows you to add or remove VirtualBox
3980	extension packs, as described in <xref
3981	linkend="intro-installing" />.<itemizedlist>
3982	<listitem>
3983	<para>To add a new extension pack, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
3984	extpack install <.vbox-extpack></computeroutput>. This command
3985	will fail if an older version of the same extension pack is already
3986	installed. The optional <computeroutput>--replace</computeroutput>
3987	parameter can be used to uninstall the old package before the new
3988	package is installed.</para>
3989	</listitem>
3990
3991	<listitem>
3992	<para>To remove a previously installed extension pack, use
3993	<computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack uninstall
3994	<name></computeroutput>. You can use
3995	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list extpacks</computeroutput> to show
3996	the names of the extension packs which are currently installed;
3997	please see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> also. The optional
3998	<computeroutput>--force</computeroutput> parameter can be used to
3999	override the refusal of an extension pack to be uninstalled.</para>
4000	</listitem>
4001
4002	<listitem>
4003	<para>The <computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack
4004	cleanup</computeroutput> command can be used to remove temporary
4005	files and directories that may have been left behind if a previous
4006	install or uninstall command failed.</para>
4007	</listitem>
4008	</itemizedlist></para>
4009	<para>The following commands show examples how to list extension packs and
4010	remove one:<screen>
4011	$ VBoxManage list extpacks
4012	Extension Packs: 1
4013	Pack no. 0: Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
4014	Version: 4.1.12
4015	Revision: 77218
4016	Edition:
4017	Description: USB 2.0 Host Controller, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM with E1000 support.
4018	VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP
4019	Usable: true
4020	Why unusable:
4021	$ VBoxManage extpack uninstall "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack"
4022	0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
4023	Successfully uninstalled "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack".</screen></para>
4024	</sect1>
4025	</chapter>

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