user_VBoxManage.xml@ 49086

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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>--triplefaultreset on\|off</computeroutput>:
586	This setting allows to reset the guest instead of triggering a
587	Guru Meditation. Some guests raise a triple fault to reset the
588	CPU so sometimes this is desired behavior. Works only for non-SMP
589	guests.</para>
590	</listitem>
591
592	<listitem>
593	<para><computeroutput>--nestedpaging on\|off</computeroutput>: If
594	hardware virtualization is enabled, this additional setting
595	enables or disables the use of the nested paging feature in the
596	processor of your host system; see <xref
597	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
598	</listitem>
599
600	<listitem>
601	<para><computeroutput>--largepages on\|off</computeroutput>: If
602	hardware virtualization <emphasis>and</emphasis> nested paging are
603	enabled, for Intel VT-x only, an additional performance
604	improvement of up to 5% can be obtained by enabling this setting.
605	This causes the hypervisor to use large pages to reduce TLB use
606	and overhead.</para>
607	</listitem>
608
609	<listitem>
610	<para><computeroutput>--vtxvpid on\|off</computeroutput>: If
611	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
612	additional setting enables or disables the use of the tagged TLB
613	(VPID) feature in the processor of your host system; see <xref
614	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
615	</listitem>
616
617	<listitem>
618	<para><computeroutput>--vtxux on\|off</computeroutput>: If
619	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
620	setting enables or disables the use of the unrestricted guest mode
621	feature for executing your guest.</para>
622	</listitem>
623
624	<listitem>
625	<para><computeroutput>--accelerate3d on\|off</computeroutput>: This
626	enables, if the Guest Additions are installed, whether hardware 3D
627	acceleration should be available; see <xref
628	linkend="guestadd-3d" />.</para>
629	</listitem>
630
631	<listitem>
632	<para>You can influence the BIOS logo that is displayed when a
633	virtual machine starts up with a number of settings. Per default,
634	a VirtualBox logo is displayed.</para>
635
636	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogofadein
637	on\|off</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>--bioslogofadeout
638	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can determine whether the logo should
639	fade in and out, respectively.</para>
640
641	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogodisplaytime
642	<msec></computeroutput> you can set how long the logo should
643	be visible, in milliseconds.</para>
644
645	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogoimagepath
646	<imagepath></computeroutput> you can, if you are so
647	inclined, replace the image that is shown, with your own logo. The
648	image must be an uncompressed 256 color BMP file without color
649	space information (Windows 3.0 format). The image must not be
650	bigger than 640 x 480.</para>
651	</listitem>
652
653	<listitem>
654	<para><computeroutput>--biosbootmenu
655	disabled\|menuonly\|messageandmenu</computeroutput>: This specifies
656	whether the BIOS allows the user to select a temporary boot
657	device. <computeroutput>menuonly</computeroutput> suppresses the
658	message, but the user can still press F12 to select a temporary
659	boot device.</para>
660	</listitem>
661
662	<listitem>
663	<para><computeroutput>--nicbootprio<1-N>
664	<priority></computeroutput>: This specifies the order in which
665	NICs are tried for booting over the network (using PXE). The
666	priority is an integer in the 0 to 4 range. Priority 1 is the
667	highest, priority 4 is low. Priority 0, which is the default unless
668	otherwise specified, is the lowest.
669	</para>
670	<para> Note that this option only has effect when the Intel PXE boot
671	ROM is used.
672	</para>
673	</listitem>
674
675	<listitem>
676	<para><computeroutput>--boot<1-4>
677	none\|floppy\|dvd\|disk\|net</computeroutput>: This specifies the boot
678	order for the virtual machine. There are four "slots", which the
679	VM will try to access from 1 to 4, and for each of which you can
680	set a device that the VM should attempt to boot from.</para>
681	</listitem>
682
683	<listitem>
684	<para><computeroutput>--snapshotfolder
685	default\|<path></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
686	the folder in which snapshots will be kept for a virtual
687	machine.</para>
688	</listitem>
689
690	<listitem>
691	<para><computeroutput>--firmware efi\|bios</computeroutput>:
692	Specifies which firmware is used to boot particular virtual
693	machine: EFI or BIOS. Use EFI only if your fully understand what
694	you're doing.</para>
695	</listitem>
696
697	<listitem>
698	<para><computeroutput>--guestmemoryballoon
699	<size></computeroutput> sets the default size of the guest
700	memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest
701	Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the
702	hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines. <size> must
703	be specified in megabytes. The default size is 0 megabytes. For
704	details, see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
705	</listitem>
706
707	<listitem>
708	<para><computeroutput>--lptmode<1-N>
709	<Device></computeroutput>
710	Specifies the Device Name of the parallel port that
711	the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
712	<emphasis>before</emphasis> <computeroutput>--lpt</computeroutput>.
713	This feature is host operating system specific.</para>
714	</listitem>
715
716	<listitem>
717	<para><computeroutput>--lpt<1-N>
718	<I/O base> <IRQ></computeroutput>
719	Specifies the I/O address of the parallel port and the IRQ
720	number that the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
721	<emphasis>after</emphasis>
722	<computeroutput>--lptmod</computeroutput>. I/O base address and IRQ are
723	the values that guest sees i.e. the values avalable under guest Device Manager.</para>
724	</listitem>
725
726	<listitem>
727	<para><computeroutput>--defaultfrontend
728	default\|<name></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
729	the default frontend which will be used when starting this VM; see
730	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
731	</listitem>
732	</itemizedlist></para>
733	</sect2>
734
735	<sect2>
736	<title>Networking settings</title>
737
738	<para>The following networking settings are available through
739	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
740	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
741	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings
742	should be changed.<itemizedlist>
743	<listitem>
744	<para><computeroutput>--nic<1-N>
745	none\|null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic
746	</computeroutput>: With
747	this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards,
748	what type of networking should be available. They can be not
749	present (<computeroutput>none</computeroutput>), not connected to
750	the host (<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network
751	address translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>),
752	bridged networking (<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or
753	communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking
754	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>), host-only networking
755	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>), or access rarely used
756	sub-modes (<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>).
757	These options correspond
758	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
759	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
760	</listitem>
761
762	<listitem>
763	<para><computeroutput>--nictype<1-N>
764	Am79C970A\|Am79C973\|82540EM\|82543GC\|82545EM\|virtio</computeroutput>:
765	This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
766	specify which networking hardware VirtualBox presents to the
767	guest; see <xref linkend="nichardware" />.</para>
768	</listitem>
769
770	<listitem>
771	<para><computeroutput>--cableconnected<1-N>
772	on\|off</computeroutput>: This allows you to temporarily disconnect
773	a virtual network interface, as if a network cable had been pulled
774	from a real network card. This might be useful for resetting
775	certain software components in the VM.</para>
776	</listitem>
777
778	<listitem>
779	<para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
780	network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
781	purposes.</para>
782
783	<para>With <computeroutput>--nictrace<1-N>
784	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
785	particular virtual network card.</para>
786
787	<para>If enabled, you must specify with
788	<computeroutput>--nictracefile<1-N>
789	<filename></computeroutput> what file the trace should be
790	logged to.</para>
791	</listitem>
792
793	<listitem>
794	<para><computeroutput>--bridgeadapter<1-N>
795	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If bridged networking
796	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the
797	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
798	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host
799	interface the given virtual network interface will use. For
800	details, please see <xref linkend="network_bridged" />.</para>
801	</listitem>
802
803	<listitem>
804	<para><computeroutput>--hostonlyadapter<1-N>
805	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If host-only networking
806	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the --nic option
807	above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to
808	specify which host-only networking interface the given virtual
809	network interface will use. For details, please see <xref
810	linkend="network_hostonly" />.</para>
811	</listitem>
812
813	<listitem>
814	<para><computeroutput>--intnet<1-N>
815	network</computeroutput>: If internal networking has been enabled
816	for a virtual network card (see the
817	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
818	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify the name
819	of the internal network (see <xref
820	linkend="network_internal" />).</para>
821	</listitem>
822
823	<listitem>
824	<para><computeroutput>--macaddress<1-N>
825	auto\|<mac></computeroutput>: With this option you can set
826	the MAC address of the virtual network card. Normally, each
827	virtual network card is assigned a random address by VirtualBox at
828	VM creation.</para>
829	</listitem>
830
831	<listitem>
832	<para><computeroutput>--nicgenericdrv<1-N>
833	<backend driver></computeroutput>: If generic networking has been
834	enabled for a virtual network card (see the
835	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
836	this setting has no effect), this mode allows you to access
837	rarely used networking sub-modes, such as VDE network or UDP Tunnel.
838	</para>
839	</listitem>
840
841	<listitem>
842	<para><computeroutput>--nicproperty<1-N>
843	<paramname>="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
844	This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
845	pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
846	Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
847	between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
848	please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
849	</para>
850	</listitem>
851	</itemizedlist></para>
852
853	<sect3>
854	<title>NAT Networking settings.</title>
855
856	<para>The following NAT networking settings are available through
857	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
858	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
859	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose
860	settings should be changed.<itemizedlist>
861	<listitem>
862	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N>
863	[<name>],tcp\|udp,[<hostip>],<hostport>,[<guestip>],
864	<guestport></computeroutput>: This option defines a NAT
865	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
866	for details).</para>
867	</listitem>
868
869	<listitem>
870	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N> delete
871	<name></computeroutput>: This option deletes a NAT
872	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
873	for details).</para>
874	</listitem>
875
876	<listitem>
877	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpprefix<1-N>
878	<prefix></computeroutput>: This option defines a prefix
879	for the built-in TFTP server, i.e. where the boot file is
880	located (please see <xref linkend="nat-tftp" /> and <xref
881	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
882	</listitem>
883
884	<listitem>
885	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpfile<1-N>
886	<bootfile></computeroutput>: This option defines the TFT
887	boot file (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for
888	details).</para>
889	</listitem>
890
891	<listitem>
892	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpserver<1-N>
893	<tftpserver></computeroutput>: This option defines the
894	TFTP server address to boot from (please see <xref
895	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
896	</listitem>
897
898	<listitem>
899	<para><computeroutput>--natdnspassdomain<1-N>
900	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option specifies whether the
901	built-in DHCP server passes the domain name for network name
902	resolution.</para>
903	</listitem>
904
905	<listitem>
906	<para><computeroutput>--natdnsproxy<1-N>
907	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine proxy
908	all guest DNS requests to the host's DNS servers (please see
909	<xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
910	</listitem>
911
912	<listitem>
913	<para><computeroutput>--natdnshostresolver<1-N>
914	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine use
915	the host's resolver mechanisms to handle DNS requests (please
916	see <xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
917	</listitem>
918
919	<listitem>
920	<para><computeroutput>--natnatsettings<1-N>
921	[<mtu>],[<socksnd>],[<sockrcv>],[<tcpsnd>],
922	[<tcprcv>]</computeroutput>: This option controls several
923	NAT settings (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-settings" /> for
924	details).</para>
925	</listitem>
926
927	<listitem>
928	<para><computeroutput>--nataliasmode<1-N>
929	default\|[log],[proxyonly],[sameports]</computeroutput>: This
930	option defines behaviour of NAT engine core: log - enables
931	logging, proxyonly - switches of aliasing mode makes NAT
932	transparent, sameports enforces NAT engine to send packets via
933	the same port as they originated on, default - disable all
934	mentioned modes above . (please see <xref
935	linkend="nat-adv-alias" /> for details).</para>
936	</listitem>
937	</itemizedlist></para>
938	</sect3>
939	</sect2>
940
941	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other">
942	<title>Serial port, audio, clipboard and USB settings</title>
943
944	<para>The following other hardware settings are available through
945	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
946	<listitem>
947	<para><computeroutput>--uart<1-N> off\|<I/O base>
948	<IRQ></computeroutput>: With this option you can configure
949	virtual serial ports for the VM; see <xref
950	linkend="serialports" /> for an introduction.</para>
951	</listitem>
952
953	<listitem>
954	<para><computeroutput>--uartmode<1-N>
955	<arg></computeroutput>: This setting controls how VirtualBox
956	connects a given virtual serial port (previously configured with
957	the <computeroutput>--uartX</computeroutput> setting, see above)
958	to the host on which the virtual machine is running. As described
959	in detail in <xref linkend="serialports" />, for each such port,
960	you can specify <computeroutput><arg></computeroutput> as
961	one of the following options:<itemizedlist>
962	<listitem>
963	<para><computeroutput>disconnected</computeroutput>: Even
964	though the serial port is shown to the guest, it has no
965	"other end" -- like a real COM port without a cable.</para>
966	</listitem>
967
968	<listitem>
969	<para><computeroutput>server
970	<pipename></computeroutput>: On a Windows host, this
971	tells VirtualBox to create a named pipe on the host named
972	<computeroutput><pipename></computeroutput> and
973	connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that Windows
974	requires that the name of a named pipe begin with
975	<computeroutput>\\.\pipe\</computeroutput>.</para>
976
977	<para>On a Linux host, instead of a named pipe, a local
978	domain socket is used.</para>
979	</listitem>
980
981	<listitem>
982	<para><computeroutput>client
983	<pipename></computeroutput>: This operates just like
984	<computeroutput>server ...</computeroutput>, except that the
985	pipe (or local domain socket) is not created by VirtualBox,
986	but assumed to exist already.</para>
987	</listitem>
988
989	<listitem>
990	<para><computeroutput><devicename></computeroutput>:
991	If, instead of the above, the device name of a physical
992	hardware serial port of the host is specified, the virtual
993	serial port is connected to that hardware port. On a Windows
994	host, the device name will be a COM port such as
995	<computeroutput>COM1</computeroutput>; on a Linux host, the
996	device name will look like
997	<computeroutput>/dev/ttyS0</computeroutput>. This allows you
998	to "wire" a real serial port to a virtual machine.</para>
999	</listitem>
1000	</itemizedlist></para>
1001	</listitem>
1002
1003	<listitem>
1004	<para><computeroutput>--audio none\|null\|oss</computeroutput>: With
1005	this option, you can set whether the VM should have audio
1006	support.</para>
1007	</listitem>
1008
1009	<listitem>
1010	<para><computeroutput>--clipboard
1011	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1012	With this setting, you can select whether the guest operating
1013	system's clipboard should be shared with the host; see <xref
1014	linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
1015	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1016	</listitem>
1017
1018	<listitem>
1019	<para><computeroutput>--monitorcount
1020	<count></computeroutput>: This enables multi-monitor
1021	support; see <xref linkend="settings-display" />.</para>
1022	</listitem>
1023
1024	<listitem>
1025	<para><computeroutput>--usb on\|off</computeroutput>: This option
1026	enables or disables the VM's virtual USB controller; see <xref
1027	linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1028	</listitem>
1029
1030	<listitem>
1031	<para><computeroutput>--usbehci on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1032	option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 2.0 controller;
1033	see <xref linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1034	</listitem>
1035	</itemizedlist></para>
1036	</sect2>
1037
1038	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-vrde">
1039	<title>Remote machine settings</title>
1040
1041	<para>The following settings that affect remote machine behavior are
1042	available through <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1043	modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
1044	<listitem>
1045	<para><computeroutput>--vrde on\|off</computeroutput>: With the
1046	VirtualBox graphical user interface, this enables or disables the
1047	VirtualBox remote desktop extension (VRDE) server. Note that if
1048	you are using <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput> (see
1049	<xref linkend="vboxheadless" />), VRDE is enabled by
1050	default.</para>
1051	</listitem>
1052
1053	<listitem>
1054	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeport
1055	default\|<ports></computeroutput>: A port or a range of ports
1056	the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the
1057	standard port for RDP. You can specify a comma-separated list of
1058	ports or ranges of ports. Use a dash between two port numbers to
1059	specify a range. The VRDE server will bind to <emphasis
1060	role="bold">one</emphasis> of available ports from the specified
1061	list. Only one machine can use a given port at a time. For
1062	example, the option <computeroutput> --vrdeport
1063	5000,5010-5012</computeroutput> will tell the server to bind to
1064	one of following ports: 5000, 5010, 5011 or 5012.</para>
1065	</listitem>
1066
1067	<listitem>
1068	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeaddress <IP
1069	address></computeroutput>: The IP address of the host network
1070	interface the VRDE server will bind to. If specified, the server
1071	will accept connections only on the specified host network
1072	interface.</para>
1073	<para>The setting can be used to specify whether the VRDP server
1074	should accept either IPv4 or IPv6 or both connections:
1075	<itemizedlist>
1076	<listitem>
1077	<para>only IPv4: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "0.0.0.0"
1078	</computeroutput></para>
1079	</listitem>
1080	<listitem>
1081	<para>only IPv6: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "::"
1082	</computeroutput></para>
1083	</listitem>
1084	<listitem>
1085	<para>both IPv6 and IPv4 (default): <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress ""
1086	</computeroutput></para>
1087	</listitem>
1088	</itemizedlist></para>
1089	</listitem>
1090
1091	<listitem>
1092	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeauthtype
1093	null\|external\|guest</computeroutput>: This allows you to choose
1094	whether and how authorization will be performed; see <xref
1095	linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
1096	</listitem>
1097
1098	<listitem>
1099	<para><computeroutput>--vrdemulticon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1100	enables multiple connections to the same VRDE server, if the
1101	server supports this feature; see <xref lang=""
1102	linkend="vrde-multiconnection" />.</para>
1103	</listitem>
1104
1105	<listitem>
1106	<para><computeroutput>--vrdereusecon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1107	specifies the VRDE server behavior when multiple connections are
1108	disabled. When this option is enabled, the server will allow a new
1109	client to connect and will drop the existing connection. When this
1110	option is disabled (this is the default setting), a new connection
1111	will not be accepted if there is already a client connected to the
1112	server.</para>
1113	</listitem>
1114
1115	<listitem>
1116	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannel on\|off</computeroutput>:
1117	This enables video redirection, if it is supported by the VRDE
1118	server; see <xref lang="" linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1119	</listitem>
1120
1121	<listitem>
1122	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannelquality
1123	<percent></computeroutput>: Sets the image quality for video
1124	redirection; see <xref lang=""
1125	linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1126	</listitem>
1127	</itemizedlist></para>
1128	</sect2>
1129
1130	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport">
1131	<title>Teleporting settings</title>
1132
1133	<para>With the following commands for <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1134	modifyvm</computeroutput> you can configure a machine to be a target for
1135	teleporting. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an
1136	introduction.<itemizedlist>
1137	<listitem>
1138	<para><computeroutput>--teleporter on\|off</computeroutput>: With
1139	this setting you turn on or off whether a machine waits for a
1140	teleporting request to come in on the network when it is started.
1141	If "on", when the machine is started, it does not boot the virtual
1142	machine as it would normally; instead, it then waits for a
1143	teleporting request to come in on the port and address listed with
1144	the next two parameters.</para>
1145	</listitem>
1146
1147	<listitem>
1148	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterport
1149	<port></computeroutput>, <computeroutput>--teleporteraddress
1150	<address></computeroutput>: these must be used with
1151	--teleporter and tell the virtual machine on which port and
1152	address it should listen for a teleporting request from another
1153	virtual machine. <computeroutput><port></computeroutput> can
1154	be any free TCP/IP port number (e.g. 6000);
1155	<computeroutput><address></computeroutput> can be any IP
1156	address or hostname and specifies the TCP/IP socket to bind to.
1157	The default is "0.0.0.0", which means any address.</para>
1158	</listitem>
1159
1160	<listitem>
1161	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpassword
1162	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1163	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1164	source machine specifies the same password as the one given with
1165	this command.</para>
1166	</listitem>
1167
1168	<listitem>
1169	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpasswordfile
1170	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1171	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1172	source machine specifies the same password as the one specified
1173	in the file give with this command. Use <computeroutput>stdin</computeroutput>
1174	to read the password from stdin.</para>
1175	</listitem>
1176
1177	<listitem>
1178	<para><computeroutput>--cpuid <leaf> <eax> <ebx>
1179	<ecx> <edx></computeroutput>: Advanced users can use
1180	this command before a teleporting operation to restrict the
1181	virtual CPU capabilities that VirtualBox presents to the guest
1182	operating system. This must be run on both the source and the
1183	target machines involved in the teleporting and will then modify
1184	what the guest sees when it executes the
1185	<computeroutput>CPUID</computeroutput> machine instruction. This
1186	might help with misbehaving applications that wrongly assume that
1187	certain CPU capabilities are present. The meaning of the
1188	parameters is hardware dependent; please refer to the AMD or Intel
1189	processor manuals.</para>
1190	</listitem>
1191	</itemizedlist></para>
1192	</sect2>
1193	</sect1>
1194
1195	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevm">
1196	<title>VBoxManage clonevm</title>
1197
1198	<para>This command creates a full or linked copy of an existing virtual
1199	machine.</para>
1200
1201	<para>The <computeroutput>clonevm</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1202	least the name of the virtual machine which should be cloned. The following
1203	additional settings can be used to further configure the clone VM
1204	operation:</para>
1205
1206	<itemizedlist>
1207	<listitem>
1208	<para><computeroutput>--snapshot <uuid>\|<name></computeroutput>:
1209	Select a specific snapshot where the clone operation should refer
1210	to. Default is referring to the current state.</para>
1211	</listitem>
1212	<listitem>
1213	<para><computeroutput>--mode machine\|machineandchildren\|all</computeroutput>:
1214	Selects the cloning mode of the operation. If
1215	<computeroutput>machine</computeroutput> is selected (the default),
1216	the current state of the VM without any snapshots is cloned. In the
1217	<computeroutput>machineandchildren</computeroutput> mode the snapshot
1218	provided by <computeroutput>--snapshot</computeroutput> and all
1219	child snapshots are cloned. If <computeroutput>all</computeroutput>
1220	is the selected mode all snapshots and the current state are cloned.
1221	</para>
1222	</listitem>
1223	<listitem>
1224	<para><computeroutput>--options link\|keepallmacs\|keepnatmacs\|keepdisknames</computeroutput>:
1225	Allows additional fine tuning of the clone operation. The first
1226	option defines that a linked clone should be created, which is
1227	only possible for a machine clone from a snapshot. The next two
1228	options allow to define how the MAC addresses of every virtual
1229	network card should be handled. They can either be reinitialized
1230	(the default), left unchanged
1231	(<computeroutput>keepallmacs</computeroutput>) or left unchanged
1232	when the network type is NAT
1233	(<computeroutput>keepnatmacs</computeroutput>). If you add
1234	<computeroutput>keepdisknames</computeroutput> all new disk images
1235	are called like the original once, otherwise they are
1236	renamed.</para>
1237	</listitem>
1238	<listitem>
1239	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: Select a
1240	new name for the new virtual machine. Default is "Original Name
1241	Clone".</para>
1242	</listitem>
1243	<listitem>
1244	<para><computeroutput>--basefolder <basefolder></computeroutput>:
1245	Select the folder where the new virtual machine configuration should
1246	be saved in.</para>
1247	</listitem>
1248	<listitem>
1249	<para><computeroutput>--uuid <uuid></computeroutput>:
1250	Select the UUID the new VM should have. This id has to be unique in
1251	the VirtualBox instance this clone should be registered. Default is
1252	creating a new UUID.</para>
1253	</listitem>
1254	<listitem>
1255	<para><computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>:
1256	Automatically register the new clone in this VirtualBox
1257	installation. If you manually want register the new VM later, see
1258	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" /> for instructions how to do
1259	so.</para>
1260	</listitem>
1261	</itemizedlist>
1262	</sect1>
1263
1264	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-import">
1265	<title>VBoxManage import</title>
1266
1267	<para>This command imports a virtual appliance in OVF format by copying
1268	the virtual disk images and creating virtual machines in VirtualBox. See
1269	<xref linkend="ovf" /> for an introduction to appliances.</para>
1270
1271	<para>The <computeroutput>import</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1272	least the path name of an OVF file as input and expects the disk images,
1273	if needed, in the same directory as the OVF file. A lot of additional
1274	command-line options are supported to control in detail what is being
1275	imported and modify the import parameters, but the details depend on the
1276	content of the OVF file.</para>
1277
1278	<para>It is therefore recommended to first run the import subcommand with
1279	the <computeroutput>--dry-run</computeroutput> or
1280	<computeroutput>-n</computeroutput> option. This will then print a
1281	description of the appliance's contents to the screen how it would be
1282	imported into VirtualBox, together with the optional command-line options
1283	to influence the import behavior.</para>
1284
1285	<para>As an example, here is the screen output with a sample appliance
1286	containing a Windows XP guest:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf --dry-run
1287	Interpreting WindowsXp.ovf...
1288	OK.
1289	Virtual system 0:
1290	0: Suggested OS type: "WindowsXP"
1291	(change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all)
1292	1: Suggested VM name "Windows XP Professional_1"
1293	(change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
1294	3: Number of CPUs: 1
1295	(change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
1296	4: Guest memory: 956 MB (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
1297	5: Sound card (appliance expects "ensoniq1371", can change on import)
1298	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
1299	6: USB controller
1300	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
1301	7: Network adapter: orig bridged, config 2, extra type=bridged
1302	8: Floppy
1303	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
1304	9: SCSI controller, type BusLogic
1305	(change with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --scsitype {BusLogic\|LsiLogic}";
1306	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
1307	10: IDE controller, type PIIX4
1308	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
1309	11: Hard disk image: source image=WindowsXp.vmdk,
1310	target path=/home/user/disks/WindowsXp.vmdk, controller=9;channel=0
1311	(change controller with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --controller <id>";
1312	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")</screen></para>
1313
1314	<para>As you can see, the individual configuration items are numbered, and
1315	depending on their type support different command-line options. The import
1316	subcommand can be directed to ignore many such items with a
1317	<computeroutput>--vsys X --unit Y --ignore</computeroutput> option, where
1318	X is the number of the virtual system (zero unless there are several
1319	virtual system descriptions in the appliance) and Y the item number, as
1320	printed on the screen.</para>
1321
1322	<para>In the above example, Item #1 specifies the name of the target
1323	machine in VirtualBox. Items #9 and #10 specify hard disk controllers,
1324	respectively. Item #11 describes a hard disk image; in this case, the
1325	additional <computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput> option indicates
1326	which item the disk image should be connected to, with the default coming
1327	from the OVF file.</para>
1328
1329	<para>You can combine several items for the same virtual system behind the
1330	same <computeroutput>--vsys</computeroutput> option. For example, to
1331	import a machine as described in the OVF, but without the sound card and
1332	without the USB controller, and with the disk image connected to the IDE
1333	controller instead of the SCSI controller, use this:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf
1334	--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore --unit 6 --ignore --unit 11 --controller 10</screen></para>
1335	</sect1>
1336
1337	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-export">
1338	<title>VBoxManage export</title>
1339
1340	<para>This command exports one or more virtual machines from VirtualBox
1341	into a virtual appliance in OVF format, including copying their virtual
1342	disk images to compressed VMDK. See <xref linkend="ovf" /> for an
1343	introduction to appliances.</para>
1344
1345	<para>The <computeroutput>export</computeroutput> command is simple to
1346	use: list the machine (or the machines) that you would like to export to
1347	the same OVF file and specify the target OVF file after an additional
1348	<computeroutput>--output</computeroutput> or
1349	<computeroutput>-o</computeroutput> option. Note that the directory of the
1350	target OVF file will also receive the exported disk images in the
1351	compressed VMDK format (regardless of the original format) and should have
1352	enough disk space left for them.</para>
1353
1354	<para>Beside a simple export of a given virtual machine, you can append
1355	several product information to the appliance file. Use
1356	<computeroutput>--product</computeroutput>,
1357	<computeroutput>--producturl</computeroutput>,
1358	<computeroutput>--vendor</computeroutput>,
1359	<computeroutput>--vendorurl</computeroutput> and
1360	<computeroutput>--version</computeroutput> to specify this additional
1361	information. For legal reasons you may add a license text or the content
1362	of a license file by using the <computeroutput>--eula</computeroutput> and
1363	<computeroutput>--eulafile</computeroutput> option respectively. As with
1364	OVF import, you must use the <computeroutput>--vsys X</computeroutput>
1365	option to direct the previously mentioned options to the correct virtual
1366	machine.</para>
1367
1368	<para>For virtualization products which aren't fully compatible with the
1369	OVF standard 1.0 you can enable a OVF 0.9 legacy mode with the
1370	<computeroutput>--legacy09</computeroutput> option.</para>
1371	</sect1>
1372
1373	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-startvm">
1374	<title>VBoxManage startvm</title>
1375
1376	<para>This command starts a virtual machine that is currently in the
1377	"Powered off" or "Saved" states.</para>
1378
1379	<para>The optional <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> specifier
1380	determines whether the machine will be started in a window or whether the
1381	output should go through <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>,
1382	with VRDE enabled or not; see <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more
1383	information. The list of types is subject to change, and it's not
1384	guaranteed that all types are accepted by any product variant.</para>
1385
1386	<para>The global or per-VM default value for the VM frontend type will be
1387	taken if the type is not explicitly specified. If none of these are set,
1388	the GUI variant will be started.</para>
1389
1390	<para>The following values are allowed:</para>
1391
1392	<glosslist>
1393	<glossentry>
1394	<glossterm><computeroutput>gui</computeroutput></glossterm>
1395
1396	<glossdef>
1397	<para>Starts a VM showing a GUI window. This is the default.</para>
1398	</glossdef>
1399	</glossentry>
1400
1401	<glossentry>
1402	<glossterm><computeroutput>headless</computeroutput></glossterm>
1403
1404	<glossdef>
1405	<para>Starts a VM without a window for remote display only.</para>
1406	</glossdef>
1407	</glossentry>
1408
1409	<glossentry>
1410	<glossterm><computeroutput>sdl</computeroutput></glossterm>
1411
1412	<glossdef>
1413	<para>Starts a VM with a minimal GUI and limited features.</para>
1414	</glossdef>
1415	</glossentry>
1416	</glosslist>
1417
1418	<note>
1419	<para>If you experience problems with starting virtual machines with
1420	particular frontends and there is no conclusive error information,
1421	consider starting virtual machines directly by running the respective
1422	front-end, as this can give additional error information.</para>
1423	</note>
1424	</sect1>
1425
1426	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-controlvm">
1427	<title>VBoxManage controlvm</title>
1428
1429	<para>The <computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> subcommand allows you
1430	to change the state of a virtual machine that is currently running. The
1431	following can be specified:</para>
1432
1433	<para><itemizedlist>
1434	<listitem>
1435	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1436	pause</computeroutput> temporarily puts a virtual machine on hold,
1437	without changing its state for good. The VM window will be painted
1438	in gray to indicate that the VM is currently paused. (This is
1439	equivalent to selecting the "Pause" item in the "Machine" menu of
1440	the GUI.)</para>
1441	</listitem>
1442
1443	<listitem>
1444	<para>Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1445	resume</computeroutput> to undo a previous
1446	<computeroutput>pause</computeroutput> command. (This is equivalent
1447	to selecting the "Resume" item in the "Machine" menu of the
1448	GUI.)</para>
1449	</listitem>
1450
1451	<listitem>
1452	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1453	reset</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine as
1454	pressing the "Reset" button on a real computer: a cold reboot of the
1455	virtual machine, which will restart and boot the guest operating
1456	system again immediately. The state of the VM is not saved
1457	beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting
1458	the "Reset" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)</para>
1459	</listitem>
1460
1461	<listitem>
1462	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1463	poweroff</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine
1464	as pulling the power cable on a real computer. Again, the state of
1465	the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is
1466	equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of
1467	the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting
1468	"Power off the machine" in the dialog.)</para>
1469
1470	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Powered off". From there,
1471	it can be started again; see <xref
1472	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1473	</listitem>
1474
1475	<listitem>
1476	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1477	savestate</computeroutput> will save the current state of the VM to
1478	disk and then stop the VM. (This is equivalent to selecting the
1479	"Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the
1480	window's close button, and then selecting "Save the machine state"
1481	in the dialog.)</para>
1482
1483	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Saved". From there, it can
1484	be started again; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1485	</listitem>
1486
1487	<listitem>
1488	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm "VM name" teleport
1489	--hostname <name> --port <port> [--passwordfile
1490	<file> \| --password <password>]</computeroutput> makes
1491	the machine the source of a teleporting operation and initiates a
1492	teleport to the given target. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for
1493	an introduction. If the optional password is specified, it must match
1494	the password that was given to the
1495	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command for the target
1496	machine; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport" /> for
1497	details.</para>
1498	</listitem>
1499	</itemizedlist></para>
1500
1501	<para>A few extra options are available with
1502	<computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> that do not directly affect the
1503	VM's running state:</para>
1504
1505	<itemizedlist>
1506	<listitem>
1507	<para>The <computeroutput>setlinkstate<1-N></computeroutput>
1508	operation connects or disconnects virtual network cables from their
1509	network interfaces.</para>
1510	</listitem>
1511
1512	<listitem>
1513	<para><computeroutput>nic<1-N>
1514	null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic</computeroutput>: With this, you can
1515	set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of
1516	networking should be available. They can be not connected to the host
1517	(<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network address
1518	translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>), bridged networking
1519	(<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or communicate with other
1520	virtual machines using internal networking
1521	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>) or host-only networking
1522	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>) or access to rarely used
1523	sub-modes
1524	(<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>). These options correspond
1525	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
1526	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
1527	</listitem>
1528
1529	<listitem>
1530	<para><computeroutput>usbattach</computeroutput> and
1531	<computeroutput>usbdettach</computeroutput> make host USB devices
1532	visible to the virtual machine on the fly, without the need for
1533	creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID
1534	(unique identifier) or by address on the host system.</para>
1535
1536	<para>You can use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
1537	usbhost</computeroutput> to locate this information.</para>
1538	</listitem>
1539
1540	<listitem>
1541	<para><computeroutput>vrde on\|off</computeroutput> lets you enable or
1542	disable the VRDE server, if it is installed.</para>
1543	</listitem>
1544
1545	<listitem>
1546	<para><computeroutput>vrdeport default\|<ports></computeroutput>
1547	changes the port or a range of ports that the VRDE server can bind to;
1548	"default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. For
1549	details, see the description for the
1550	<computeroutput>--vrdeport</computeroutput> option in <xref
1551	linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other" />.</para>
1552	</listitem>
1553
1554	<listitem>
1555	<para><computeroutput>setvideomodehint</computeroutput> requests that
1556	the guest system change to a particular video mode. This requires that
1557	the Guest Additions be installed, and will not work for all guest
1558	systems.</para>
1559	</listitem>
1560
1561	<listitem>
1562	<para><computeroutput>screenshotpng</computeroutput> takes a screenshot
1563	of the guest display and saves it in PNG format.</para>
1564	</listitem>
1565
1566	<listitem>
1567	<para>The <computeroutput>setcredentials</computeroutput> operation is
1568	used for remote logons in Windows guests. For details, please refer to
1569	<xref linkend="autologon" />.</para>
1570	</listitem>
1571
1572	<listitem>
1573	<para>The <computeroutput>guestmemoryballoon</computeroutput>
1574	operation changes the size of the guest memory balloon, that is,
1575	memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest
1576	operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other
1577	virtual machines. This must be specified in megabytes. For details,
1578	see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
1579	</listitem>
1580
1581	<listitem>
1582	<para>The <computeroutput>cpuexecutioncap
1583	<1-100></computeroutput>: This operation controls how much cpu
1584	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU
1585	can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
1586	</listitem>
1587	</itemizedlist>
1588	</sect1>
1589
1590	<sect1>
1591	<title>VBoxManage discardstate</title>
1592
1593	<para>This command discards the saved state of a virtual machine which is
1594	not currently running, which will cause its operating system to restart
1595	next time you start it. This is the equivalent of pulling out the power
1596	cable on a physical machine, and should be avoided if possible.</para>
1597	</sect1>
1598
1599	<sect1>
1600	<title>VBoxManage adoptstate</title>
1601
1602	<para>If you have a saved state file (<computeroutput>.sav</computeroutput>)
1603	that is separate from the VM configuration, you can use this command to
1604	"adopt" the file. This will change the VM to saved state and when you
1605	start it, VirtualBox will attempt to restore it from the saved state file
1606	you indicated. This command should only be used in special setups.</para>
1607	</sect1>
1608
1609	<sect1>
1610	<title>VBoxManage snapshot</title>
1611
1612	<para>This command is used to control snapshots from the command line. A
1613	snapshot consists of a complete copy of the virtual machine settings,
1614	copied at the time when the snapshot was taken, and optionally a virtual
1615	machine saved state file if the snapshot was taken while the machine was
1616	running. After a snapshot has been taken, VirtualBox creates differencing
1617	hard disk for each normal hard disk associated with the machine so that
1618	when a snapshot is restored, the contents of the virtual machine's virtual
1619	hard disks can be quickly reset by simply dropping the pre-existing
1620	differencing files.</para>
1621
1622	<para>The <computeroutput>take</computeroutput> operation takes a snapshot
1623	of the current state of the virtual machine. You must supply a name for
1624	the snapshot and can optionally supply a description. The new snapshot is
1625	inserted into the snapshots tree as a child of the current snapshot and
1626	then becomes the new current snapshot. The
1627	<computeroutput>--description</computeroutput> parameter allows to
1628	describe the snapshot. If <computeroutput>--live</computeroutput>
1629	is specified, the VM will not be stopped during the snapshot creation
1630	(live smapshotting).</para>
1631
1632	<para>The <computeroutput>delete</computeroutput> operation deletes a
1633	snapshot (specified by name or by UUID). This can take a while to finish
1634	since the differencing images associated with the snapshot might need to
1635	be merged with their child differencing images.</para>
1636
1637	<para>The <computeroutput>restore</computeroutput> operation will restore
1638	the given snapshot (specified by name or by UUID) by resetting the virtual
1639	machine's settings and current state to that of the snapshot. The previous
1640	current state of the machine will be lost. After this, the given snapshot
1641	becomes the new "current" snapshot so that subsequent snapshots are
1642	inserted under the snapshot from which was restored.</para>
1643
1644	<para>The <computeroutput>restorecurrent</computeroutput> operation is a
1645	shortcut to restore the current snapshot (i.e. the snapshot from which the
1646	current state is derived). This subcommand is equivalent to using the
1647	"restore" subcommand with the name or UUID of the current snapshot, except
1648	that it avoids the extra step of determining that name or UUID.</para>
1649
1650	<para>With the <computeroutput>edit</computeroutput> operation, you can
1651	change the name or description of an existing snapshot.</para>
1652
1653	<para>With the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> operation, you
1654	can view the virtual machine settings that were stored with an existing
1655	snapshot.</para>
1656	</sect1>
1657
1658	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-closemedium">
1659	<title>VBoxManage closemedium</title>
1660
1661	<para>This commands removes a hard disk, DVD or floppy image from a
1662	VirtualBox media registry.<footnote>
1663	<para>Before VirtualBox 4.0, it was necessary to call VBoxManage
1664	openmedium before a medium could be attached to a virtual machine;
1665	that call "registered" the medium with the global VirtualBox media
1666	registry. With VirtualBox 4.0 this is no longer necessary; media are
1667	added to media registries automatically. The "closemedium" call has
1668	been retained, however, to allow for explicitly removing a medium from
1669	a registry.</para>
1670	</footnote></para>
1671
1672	<para>Optionally, you can request that the image be deleted. You will get
1673	appropriate diagnostics that the deletion failed, however the image will
1674	become unregistered in any case.</para>
1675	</sect1>
1676
1677	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storageattach">
1678	<title>VBoxManage storageattach</title>
1679
1680	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage medium connected to
1681	a storage controller that was previously added with the
1682	<computeroutput>storagectl</computeroutput> command (see the previous
1683	section). The syntax is as follows:</para>
1684
1685	<screen>VBoxManage storageattach <uuid\|vmname>
1686	--storagectl <name>
1687	[--port <number>]
1688	[--device <number>]
1689	[--type dvddrive\|hdd\|fdd]
1690	[--medium none\|emptydrive\|
1691	<uuid>\|<filename>\|host:<drive>\|iscsi]
1692	[--mtype normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable]
1693	[--comment <text>]
1694	[--setuuid <uuid>]
1695	[--setparentuuid <uuid>]
1696	[--passthrough on\|off]
1697	[--tempeject on\|off]
1698	[--nonrotational on\|off]
1699	[--discard on\|off]
1700	[--bandwidthgroup name\|none]
1701	[--forceunmount]
1702	[--server <name>\|<ip>]
1703	[--target <target>]
1704	[--tport <port>]
1705	[--lun <lun>]
1706	[--encodedlun <lun>]
1707	[--username <username>]
1708	[--password <password>]
1709	[--initiator <initiator>]
1710	[--intnet]
1711	</screen>
1712
1713	<para>A number of parameters are commonly required; the ones at the end of
1714	the list are required only for iSCSI targets (see below).</para>
1715
1716	<para>The common parameters are:<glosslist>
1717	<glossentry>
1718	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
1719
1720	<glossdef>
1721	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1722	</glossdef>
1723	</glossentry>
1724
1725	<glossentry>
1726	<glossterm><computeroutput>--storagectl</computeroutput></glossterm>
1727
1728	<glossdef>
1729	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory. The list of the
1730	storage controllers currently attached to a VM can be obtained
1731	with <computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see
1732	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" />.</para>
1733	</glossdef>
1734	</glossentry>
1735
1736	<glossentry>
1737	<glossterm><computeroutput>--port</computeroutput></glossterm>
1738
1739	<glossdef>
1740	<para>The number of the storage controller's port which is to be
1741	modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a
1742	single port.</para>
1743	</glossdef>
1744	</glossentry>
1745
1746	<glossentry>
1747	<glossterm><computeroutput>--device</computeroutput></glossterm>
1748
1749	<glossdef>
1750	<para>The number of the port's device which is to be modified.
1751	Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single device
1752	per port.</para>
1753	</glossdef>
1754	</glossentry>
1755
1756	<glossentry>
1757	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
1758
1759	<glossdef>
1760	<para>Define the type of the drive to which the medium is being
1761	attached/detached/modified. This argument can only be omitted if
1762	the type of medium can be determined from either the medium given
1763	with the <computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> argument or
1764	from a previous medium attachment.</para>
1765	</glossdef>
1766	</glossentry>
1767
1768	<glossentry>
1769	<glossterm><computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput></glossterm>
1770
1771	<glossdef>
1772	<para>Specifies what is to be attached. The following values are
1773	supported:<itemizedlist>
1774	<listitem>
1775	<para>"none": Any existing device should be removed from the
1776	given slot.</para>
1777	</listitem>
1778
1779	<listitem>
1780	<para>"emptydrive": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only,
1781	this makes the device slot behaves like a removeable drive
1782	into which no media has been inserted.</para>
1783	</listitem>
1784
1785	<listitem>
1786	<para>"additions": For a virtual DVD drive only, this
1787	attaches the <emphasis>VirtualBox Guest Additions</emphasis>
1788	image to the given device slot.</para>
1789	</listitem>
1790
1791	<listitem>
1792	<para>If a UUID is specified, it must be the UUID of a
1793	storage medium that is already known to VirtualBox (e.g.
1794	because it has been attached to another virtual machine).
1795	See <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for how to list known
1796	media. This medium is then attached to the given device
1797	slot.</para>
1798	</listitem>
1799
1800	<listitem>
1801	<para>If a filename is specified, it must be the full path
1802	of an existing disk image (ISO, RAW, VDI, VMDK or other),
1803	which is then attached to the given device slot.</para>
1804	</listitem>
1805
1806	<listitem>
1807	<para>"host:<drive>": For a virtual DVD or floppy
1808	drive only, this connects the given device slot to the
1809	specified DVD or floppy drive on the host computer.</para>
1810	</listitem>
1811
1812	<listitem>
1813	<para>"iscsi": For virtual hard disks only, this allows for
1814	specifying an iSCSI target. In this case, more parameters
1815	must be given; see below.</para>
1816	</listitem>
1817	</itemizedlist></para>
1818
1819	<para>Some of the above changes, in particular for removeable
1820	media (floppies and CDs/DVDs), can be effected while a VM is
1821	running. Others (device changes or changes in hard disk device
1822	slots) require the VM to be powered off.</para>
1823	</glossdef>
1824	</glossentry>
1825
1826	<glossentry>
1827	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mtype</computeroutput></glossterm>
1828
1829	<glossdef>
1830	<para>Defines how this medium behaves with respect to snapshots
1831	and write operations. See <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for
1832	details.</para>
1833	</glossdef>
1834	</glossentry>
1835
1836	<glossentry>
1837	<glossterm><computeroutput>--comment</computeroutput></glossterm>
1838
1839	<glossdef>
1840	<para>Any description that you want to have stored with this
1841	medium (optional; for example, for an iSCSI target, "Big storage
1842	server downstairs"). This is purely descriptive and not needed for
1843	the medium to function correctly.</para>
1844	</glossdef>
1845	</glossentry>
1846
1847	<glossentry>
1848	<glossterm><computeroutput>--setuuid, --setparentuuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
1849
1850	<glossdef>
1851	<para>Modifies the UUID or parent UUID of a medium before
1852	attaching it to a VM. This is an expert option. Inappropriate use
1853	can make the medium unusable or lead to broken VM configurations
1854	if any other VM is referring to the same media already. The most
1855	frequently used variant is <code>--setuuid ""</code>, which assigns
1856	a new (random) UUID to an image. This is useful to resolve the
1857	duplicate UUID errors if one duplicated an image using file copy
1858	utilities.</para>
1859	</glossdef>
1860	</glossentry>
1861
1862	<glossentry>
1863	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passthrough</computeroutput></glossterm>
1864
1865	<glossdef>
1866	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can enable DVD writing
1867	support (currently experimental; see <xref
1868	linkend="storage-cds" />).</para>
1869	</glossdef>
1870	</glossentry>
1871
1872	<glossentry>
1873	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tempeject</computeroutput></glossterm>
1874
1875	<glossdef>
1876	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can configure the behavior
1877	for guest-triggered medium eject. If this is set to "on", the eject
1878	has only temporary effects. If the VM is powered off and restarted
1879	the originally configured medium will be still in the drive.</para>
1880	</glossdef>
1881	</glossentry>
1882
1883	<glossentry>
1884	<glossterm><computeroutput>--nonrotational</computeroutput></glossterm>
1885
1886	<glossdef>
1887	<para>This switch allows to enable the non-rotational flag for virtual
1888	hard disks. Some guests (i.e. Windows 7+) treat such disks like SSDs
1889	and don't perform disk fragmentation on such media.
1890	</para>
1891	</glossdef>
1892	</glossentry>
1893
1894	<glossentry>
1895	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bandwidthgroup</computeroutput></glossterm>
1896
1897	<glossdef>
1898	<para>Sets the bandwidth group to use for the given device; see
1899	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" />.</para>
1900	</glossdef>
1901	</glossentry>
1902
1903	<glossentry>
1904	<glossterm><computeroutput>--forceunmount</computeroutput></glossterm>
1905
1906	<glossdef>
1907	<para>For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this forcibly
1908	unmounts the DVD/CD/Floppy or mounts a new DVD/CD/Floppy even if
1909	the previous one is locked down by the guest for reading. Again,
1910	see <xref linkend="storage-cds" /> for details.</para>
1911	</glossdef>
1912	</glossentry>
1913	</glosslist></para>
1914
1915	<para>When "iscsi" is used with the
1916	<computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> parameter for iSCSI support --
1917	see <xref linkend="storage-iscsi" /> --, additional parameters must or can
1918	be used:<glosslist>
1919	<glossentry>
1920	<glossterm><computeroutput>--server</computeroutput></glossterm>
1921
1922	<glossdef>
1923	<para>The host name or IP address of the iSCSI target;
1924	required.</para>
1925	</glossdef>
1926	</glossentry>
1927
1928	<glossentry>
1929	<glossterm><computeroutput>--target</computeroutput></glossterm>
1930
1931	<glossdef>
1932	<para>Target name string. This is determined by the iSCSI target
1933	and used to identify the storage resource; required.</para>
1934	</glossdef>
1935	</glossentry>
1936
1937	<glossentry>
1938	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tport</computeroutput></glossterm>
1939
1940	<glossdef>
1941	<para>TCP/IP port number of the iSCSI service on the target
1942	(optional).</para>
1943	</glossdef>
1944	</glossentry>
1945
1946	<glossentry>
1947	<glossterm><computeroutput>--lun</computeroutput></glossterm>
1948
1949	<glossdef>
1950	<para>Logical Unit Number of the target resource (optional).
1951	Often, this value is zero.</para>
1952	</glossdef>
1953	</glossentry>
1954
1955	<glossentry>
1956	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username, --password</computeroutput></glossterm>
1957
1958	<glossdef>
1959	<para>Username and password (initiator secret) for target
1960	authentication, if required (optional).<note>
1961	<para>Username and password are stored without
1962	encryption (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine
1963	configuration file if no settings password is provided.
1964	When a settings password was specified the first time,
1965	the password is stored encrypted.</para>
1966	</note></para>
1967	</glossdef>
1968	</glossentry>
1969
1970	<glossentry>
1971	<glossterm><computeroutput>--intnet</computeroutput></glossterm>
1972
1973	<glossdef>
1974	<para>If specified, connect to the iSCSI target via Internal
1975	Networking. This needs further configuration which is described in
1976	<xref linkend="iscsi-intnet" />.</para>
1977	</glossdef>
1978	</glossentry>
1979	</glosslist></para>
1980	</sect1>
1981
1982	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storagectl">
1983	<title>VBoxManage storagectl</title>
1984
1985	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage controller. After
1986	this, virtual media can be attached to the controller with the
1987	<computeroutput>storageattach</computeroutput> command (see the next
1988	section).</para>
1989
1990	<para>The syntax is as follows:</para>
1991
1992	<screen>VBoxManage storagectl <uuid\|vmname>
1993	--name <name>
1994	[--add <ide/sata/scsi/floppy>]
1995	[--controller <LsiLogic\|LSILogicSAS\|BusLogic\|
1996	IntelAhci\|PIIX3\|PIIX4\|ICH6\|I82078>]
1997	[--sataportcount <1-30>]
1998	[--hostiocache on\|off]
1999	[--bootable on\|off]
2000	[--remove]</screen>
2001
2002	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2003	<glossentry>
2004	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2005
2006	<glossdef>
2007	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2008	</glossdef>
2009	</glossentry>
2010
2011	<glossentry>
2012	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
2013
2014	<glossdef>
2015	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory.</para>
2016	</glossdef>
2017	</glossentry>
2018
2019	<glossentry>
2020	<glossterm><computeroutput>--add</computeroutput></glossterm>
2021
2022	<glossdef>
2023	<para>Define the type of the system bus to which the storage
2024	controller must be connected.</para>
2025	</glossdef>
2026	</glossentry>
2027
2028	<glossentry>
2029	<glossterm><computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput></glossterm>
2030
2031	<glossdef>
2032	<para>Allows to choose the type of chipset being emulated for the
2033	given storage controller.</para>
2034	</glossdef>
2035	</glossentry>
2036
2037	<glossentry>
2038	<glossterm><computeroutput>--sataportcount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2039
2040	<glossdef>
2041	<para>This determines how many ports the SATA controller should
2042	support.</para>
2043	</glossdef>
2044	</glossentry>
2045
2046	<glossentry>
2047	<glossterm><computeroutput>--hostiocache</computeroutput></glossterm>
2048
2049	<glossdef>
2050	<para>Configures the use of the host I/O cache for all disk images
2051	attached to this storage controller. For details, please see <xref
2052	linkend="iocaching" />.</para>
2053	</glossdef>
2054	</glossentry>
2055
2056	<glossentry>
2057	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bootable</computeroutput></glossterm>
2058
2059	<glossdef>
2060	<para>Selects whether this controller is bootable.</para>
2061	</glossdef>
2062	</glossentry>
2063
2064	<glossentry>
2065	<glossterm><computeroutput>--remove</computeroutput></glossterm>
2066
2067	<glossdef>
2068	<para>Removes the storage controller from the VM config.</para>
2069	</glossdef>
2070	</glossentry>
2071	</glosslist></para>
2072	</sect1>
2073
2074	<sect1>
2075	<title>VBoxManage bandwidthctl</title>
2076
2077	<para>This command creates/deletes/modifies/shows bandwidth groups of the given
2078	virtual machine:<screen>VBoxManage bandwidthctl <uuid\|vmname>
2079	add <name> --type disk\|network --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2080	set <name> --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2081	remove <name> \|
2082	list [--machinereadable]</screen></para>
2083
2084	<para>The following subcommands are available:<itemizedlist>
2085	<listitem>
2086	<para><computeroutput>add</computeroutput>, creates a new bandwidth
2087	group of given type.</para>
2088	</listitem>
2089	<listitem>
2090	<para><computeroutput>set</computeroutput>, modifies the limit for an
2091	existing bandwidth group.</para>
2092	</listitem>
2093	<listitem>
2094	<para><computeroutput>remove</computeroutput>, destroys a bandwidth
2095	group.</para>
2096	</listitem>
2097	<listitem>
2098	<para><computeroutput>list</computeroutput>, shows all bandwidth groups
2099	defined for the given VM.</para>
2100	</listitem>
2101	</itemizedlist>
2102	</para>
2103	<para>The parameters mean:<glosslist>
2104	<glossentry>
2105	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2106
2107	<glossdef>
2108	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2109	</glossdef>
2110	</glossentry>
2111
2112	<glossentry>
2113	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
2114
2115	<glossdef>
2116	<para>Name of the bandwidth group. Mandatory.</para>
2117	</glossdef>
2118	</glossentry>
2119
2120	<glossentry>
2121	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
2122
2123	<glossdef>
2124	<para>Type of the bandwidth group. Mandatory. Two types are
2125	supported: <computeroutput>disk</computeroutput> and
2126	<computeroutput>network</computeroutput>. See
2127	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" /> or
2128	<xref linkend="network_bandwidth_limit" /> for a description of a
2129	particular type.</para>
2130	</glossdef>
2131	</glossentry>
2132
2133	<glossentry>
2134	<glossterm><computeroutput>--limit</computeroutput></glossterm>
2135
2136	<glossdef>
2137	<para>Specifies the limit for the given group. Can be changed
2138	while the VM is running. The default unit is megabytes per
2139	second. The unit can be changed by specifying one of the
2140	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>
2141	</glossdef>
2142	</glossentry>
2143	</glosslist>
2144	<note>
2145	<para>The network bandwidth limits apply only to the traffic being sent by
2146	virtual machines. The traffic being received by VMs is unlimited.</para>
2147	</note>
2148	<note>
2149	<para>To remove a bandwidth group it must not be referenced by any disks
2150	or adapters in running VM.</para>
2151	</note>
2152	</para>
2153	</sect1>
2154
2155	<sect1>
2156	<title>VBoxManage showhdinfo</title>
2157
2158	<para>This command shows information about a virtual hard disk image,
2159	notably its size, its size on disk, its type and the virtual machines
2160	which use it.<note>
2161	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2162	"showvdiinfo" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2163	"showhdinfo" command.</para>
2164	</note></para>
2165	<para>The disk image must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium
2166	is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by
2167	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
2168	for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either
2169	as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current
2170	directory.</para>
2171	</sect1>
2172
2173	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvdi">
2174	<title>VBoxManage createhd</title>
2175
2176	<para>This command creates a new virtual hard disk image. The syntax is as
2177	follows:</para>
2178
2179	<screen>VBoxManage createhd --filename <filename>
2180	--size <megabytes>
2181	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD] (default: VDI)
2182	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>
2183
2184	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2185	<glossentry>
2186	<glossterm><computeroutput>--filename</computeroutput></glossterm>
2187
2188	<glossdef>
2189	<para>Allows to choose a file name. Mandatory.</para>
2190	</glossdef>
2191	</glossentry>
2192
2193	<glossentry>
2194	<glossterm><computeroutput>--size</computeroutput></glossterm>
2195
2196	<glossdef>
2197	<para>Allows to define the image capacity, in 1 MiB units.
2198	Mandatory.</para>
2199	</glossdef>
2200	</glossentry>
2201
2202	<glossentry>
2203	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2204
2205	<glossdef>
2206	<para>Allows to choose a file format for the output file different
2207	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2208	</glossdef>
2209	</glossentry>
2210
2211	<glossentry>
2212	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2213
2214	<glossdef>
2215	<para>Allows to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2216	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2217	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2218	result in an error message.</para>
2219	</glossdef>
2220	</glossentry>
2221	</glosslist> <note>
2222	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2223	"createvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2224	"createhd" command.</para>
2225	</note></para>
2226	</sect1>
2227
2228	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvdi">
2229	<title>VBoxManage modifyhd</title>
2230
2231	<para>With the <computeroutput>modifyhd</computeroutput> command, you can
2232	change the characteristics of a disk image after it has been
2233	created:<screen>VBoxManage modifyhd <uuid\|filename>
2234	[--type normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable\|
2235	readonly\|multiattach]
2236	[--autoreset on\|off]
2237	[--compact]
2238	[--resize <megabytes>\|--resizebyte <bytes>]</screen><note>
2239	<para>Despite the "hd" in the subcommand name, the command works with
2240	all disk images, not only hard disks. For compatibility with earlier
2241	versions of VirtualBox, the "modifyvdi" command is also supported and
2242	mapped internally to the "modifyhd" command.</para>
2243	</note></para>
2244
2245	<para>The disk image to modify must be specified either by its UUID
2246	(if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images
2247	can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2248	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2249	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path
2250	or as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2251	<para>The following options are available:<itemizedlist>
2252	<listitem>
2253	<para>With the <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> argument, you
2254	can change the type of an existing image between the normal,
2255	immutable, write-through and other modes; see <xref
2256	linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for details.</para>
2257	</listitem>
2258
2259	<listitem>
2260	<para>For immutable (differencing) hard disks only, the
2261	<computeroutput>--autoreset on\|off</computeroutput> option
2262	determines whether the disk is automatically reset on every VM
2263	startup (again, see <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />). The default
2264	is "on".</para>
2265	</listitem>
2266
2267	<listitem>
2268	<para>With the <computeroutput>--compact</computeroutput> option,
2269	can be used to compact disk images, i.e. remove blocks that only
2270	contains zeroes. This will shrink a dynamically allocated image
2271	again; it will reduce the <emphasis>physical</emphasis> size of the
2272	image without affecting the logical size of the virtual disk.
2273	Compaction works both for base images and for diff images created as
2274	part of a snapshot.</para>
2275
2276	<para>For this operation to be effective, it is required that free
2277	space in the guest system first be zeroed out using a suitable
2278	software tool. For Windows guests, you can use the
2279	<computeroutput>sdelete</computeroutput> tool provided by Microsoft.
2280	Execute <computeroutput>sdelete -z</computeroutput> in the guest to
2281	zero the free disk space before compressing the virtual disk
2282	image. For Linux, use the <code>zerofree</code> utility which
2283	supports ext2/ext3 filesystems. For Mac OS X guests, use the
2284	<emphasis>Erase Free Space</emphasis> feature of the built-in
2285	<emphasis>Disk Utility</emphasis>. Use
2286	<emphasis>Zero Out Data</emphasis> there.</para>
2287
2288	<para>Please note that compacting is currently only available for
2289	VDI images. A similar effect can be achieved by zeroing out free
2290	blocks and then cloning the disk to any other dynamically allocated
2291	format. You can use this workaround until compacting is also
2292	supported for disk formats other than VDI.</para>
2293	</listitem>
2294
2295	<listitem>
2296	<para>The <computeroutput>--resize x</computeroutput> option (where x
2297	is the desired new total space in <emphasis role="bold">megabytes</emphasis>)
2298	allows you to change the capacity of an existing image; this adjusts the
2299	<emphasis>logical</emphasis> size of a virtual disk without affecting
2300	the physical size much.<footnote>
2301	<para>Image resizing was added with VirtualBox 4.0.</para>
2302	</footnote> This currently works only for VDI and VHD formats, and only
2303	for the dynamically allocated variants, and can only be used to expand
2304	(not shrink) the capacity.
2305	For example, if you originally created a 10G disk which is now full,
2306	you can use the <computeroutput>--resize 15360</computeroutput>
2307	command to change the capacity to 15G (15,360MB) without having to create a new
2308	image and copy all data from within a virtual machine. Note however that
2309	this only changes the drive capacity; you will typically next need to use
2310	a partition management tool inside the guest to adjust the main partition
2311	to fill the drive.</para><para>The <computeroutput>--resizebyte x</computeroutput>
2312	option does almost the same thing, except that x is expressed in bytes
2313	instead of megabytes.</para>
2314	</listitem>
2315	</itemizedlist></para>
2316	</sect1>
2317
2318	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevdi">
2319	<title>VBoxManage clonehd</title>
2320
2321	<para>This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a
2322	new image file with a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be
2323	transferred to another host system or imported into VirtualBox again using
2324	the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref linkend="vdis" /> and <xref
2325	linkend="cloningvdis" />. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2326
2327	<screen>VBoxManage clonehd <uuid\|inutfile> <uuid\|outputfile>
2328	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD\|RAW\|<other>]
2329	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2330	[--existing]</screen>
2331
2332	<para>The disk image to clone as well as the target image must be described
2333	either by its UUIDs (if the mediums are registered) or by its filename.
2334	Registered images can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2335	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2336	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or
2337	as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2338	<para>The following options are available:<glosslist>
2339	<glossentry>
2340	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2341
2342	<glossdef>
2343	<para>Allow to choose a file format for the output file different
2344	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2345	</glossdef>
2346	</glossentry>
2347
2348	<glossentry>
2349	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2350
2351	<glossdef>
2352	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2353	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2354	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2355	result in an error message.</para>
2356	</glossdef>
2357	</glossentry>
2358
2359	<glossentry>
2360	<glossterm><computeroutput>--existing</computeroutput></glossterm>
2361
2362	<glossdef>
2363	<para>Perform the clone operation to an already existing
2364	destination medium. Only the portion of the source medium which
2365	fits into the destination medium is copied. This means if the
2366	destination medium is smaller than the source only a part of it is
2367	copied, and if the destination medium is larger than the source
2368	the remaining part of the destination medium is unchanged.</para>
2369	</glossdef>
2370	</glossentry>
2371	</glosslist> <note>
2372	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2373	"clonevdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2374	"clonehd" command.</para>
2375	</note></para>
2376	</sect1>
2377
2378	<sect1>
2379	<title>VBoxManage convertfromraw</title>
2380
2381	<para>This command converts a raw disk image to a VirtualBox Disk Image
2382	(VDI) file. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2383
2384	<screen>VBoxManage convertfromraw <filename> <outputfile>
2385	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2386	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2387	[--uuid <uuid>]
2388	VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin <outputfile> <bytes>
2389	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2390	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2391	[--uuid <uuid>]</screen>
2392
2393	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2394	<glossentry>
2395	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bytes</computeroutput></glossterm>
2396
2397	<glossdef>
2398	<para>The size of the image file, in bytes, provided through
2399	stdin.</para>
2400	</glossdef>
2401	</glossentry>
2402
2403	<glossentry>
2404	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2405
2406	<glossdef>
2407	<para>Select the disk image format to create. Default is
2408	VDI.</para>
2409	</glossdef>
2410	</glossentry>
2411
2412	<glossentry>
2413	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2414
2415	<glossdef>
2416	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2417	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2418	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2419	result in an error message.</para>
2420	</glossdef>
2421	</glossentry>
2422
2423	<glossentry>
2424	<glossterm><computeroutput>--uuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
2425
2426	<glossdef>
2427	<para>Allow to specifiy the UUID of the output file.</para>
2428	</glossdef>
2429	</glossentry>
2430	</glosslist> The second form forces VBoxManage to read the content for
2431	the disk image from standard input (useful for using that command in a
2432	pipe).</para>
2433
2434	<para><note>
2435	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2436	"convertdd" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2437	"convertfromraw" command.</para>
2438	</note></para>
2439	</sect1>
2440
2441	<sect1>
2442	<title>VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata</title>
2443
2444	<para>These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual
2445	machine or to a VirtualBox configuration (by specifying
2446	<computeroutput>global</computeroutput> instead of a virtual machine
2447	name). You must specify a key (as a text string) to associate the data
2448	with, which you can later use to retrieve it. For example:</para>
2449
2450	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate 2006.01.01
2451	VBoxManage setextradata SUSE10 installdate 2006.02.02</screen>
2452
2453	<para>would associate the string "2006.01.01" with the key installdate for
2454	the virtual machine Fedora5, and "2006.02.02" on the machine SUSE10. You
2455	could retrieve the information as follows:</para>
2456
2457	<screen>VBoxManage getextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2458
2459	<para>which would return</para>
2460
2461	<screen>VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
2462	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
2463	All rights reserved.
2464
2465	Value: 2006.01.01</screen>
2466	<para>To remove a key, the <computeroutput>setextradata</computeroutput>
2467	command must be run without specifying data (only the key), for example:
2468	</para>
2469
2470	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2471
2472	</sect1>
2473
2474	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-setproperty">
2475	<title>VBoxManage setproperty</title>
2476
2477	<para>This command is used to change global settings which affect the
2478	entire VirtualBox installation. Some of these correspond to the settings
2479	in the "Global settings" dialog in the graphical user interface. The
2480	following properties are available:<glosslist>
2481	<glossentry>
2482	<glossterm><computeroutput>machinefolder</computeroutput></glossterm>
2483
2484	<glossdef>
2485	<para>This specifies the default folder in which virtual machine
2486	definitions are kept; see <xref linkend="vboxconfigdata" /> for
2487	details.</para>
2488	</glossdef>
2489	</glossentry>
2490
2491	<glossentry>
2492	<glossterm><computeroutput>hwvirtexclusive</computeroutput></glossterm>
2493	<para>This specifies whether VirtualBox will make exclusive use of
2494	the hardware virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) of the
2495	host system's processor; see <xref linkend="hwvirt" />. If you wish to
2496	share these extensions with other hypervisors running at the same time,
2497	you must disable this setting. Doing so has negative performance implications.
2498	</para>
2499	</glossentry>
2500
2501
2502	<glossentry>
2503	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2504
2505	<glossdef>
2506	<para>This specifies which library to use when "external"
2507	authentication has been selected for a particular virtual machine;
2508	see <xref linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
2509	</glossdef>
2510	</glossentry>
2511
2512	<glossentry>
2513	<glossterm><computeroutput>websrvauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2514
2515	<glossdef>
2516	<para>This specifies which library the web service uses to
2517	authenticate users. For details about the VirtualBox web service,
2518	please refer to the separate VirtualBox SDK reference (see <xref
2519	linkend="VirtualBoxAPI" />).</para>
2520	</glossdef>
2521	</glossentry>
2522
2523	<glossentry>
2524	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeextpack</computeroutput></glossterm>
2525
2526	<glossdef>
2527	<para>This specifies which library implements the VirtualBox
2528	Remote Desktop Extension.</para>
2529	</glossdef>
2530	</glossentry>
2531
2532	<glossentry>
2533	<glossterm><computeroutput>loghistorycount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2534
2535	<glossdef>
2536	<para>This selects how many rotated (old) VM logs are kept.</para>
2537	</glossdef>
2538	</glossentry>
2539
2540	<glossentry>
2541	<glossterm><computeroutput>autostartdbpath</computeroutput></glossterm>
2542
2543	<glossdef>
2544	<para>This selects the path to the autostart database. See
2545	<xref linkend="autostart" />.</para>
2546	</glossdef>
2547	</glossentry>
2548
2549	<glossentry>
2550	<glossterm><computeroutput>defaultfrontend</computeroutput></glossterm>
2551
2552	<glossdef>
2553	<para>This selects the global default VM frontend setting. See
2554	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
2555	</glossdef>
2556	</glossentry>
2557	</glosslist></para>
2558	</sect1>
2559
2560	<sect1>
2561	<title>VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove</title>
2562
2563	<para>The <computeroutput>usbfilter</computeroutput> commands are used for
2564	working with USB filters in virtual machines, or global filters which
2565	affect the whole VirtualBox setup. Global filters are applied before
2566	machine-specific filters, and may be used to prevent devices from being
2567	captured by any virtual machine. Global filters are always applied in a
2568	particular order, and only the first filter which fits a device is
2569	applied. So for example, if the first global filter says to hold (make
2570	available) a particular Kingston memory stick device and the second to
2571	ignore all Kingston devices, that memory stick will be available to any
2572	machine with an appropriate filter, but no other Kingston device
2573	will.</para>
2574
2575	<para>When creating a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2576	add</computeroutput>, you must supply three or four mandatory parameters.
2577	The index specifies the position in the list at which the filter should be
2578	placed. If there is already a filter at that position, then it and the
2579	following ones will be shifted back one place. Otherwise the new filter
2580	will be added onto the end of the list. The
2581	<computeroutput>target</computeroutput> parameter selects the virtual
2582	machine that the filter should be attached to or use "global" to apply it
2583	to all virtual machines. <computeroutput>name</computeroutput> is a name
2584	for the new filter and for global filters,
2585	<computeroutput>action</computeroutput> says whether to allow machines
2586	access to devices that fit the filter description ("hold") or not to give
2587	them access ("ignore"). In addition, you should specify parameters to
2588	filter by. You can find the parameters for devices attached to your system
2589	using <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbhost</computeroutput>. Finally,
2590	you can specify whether the filter should be active, and for local
2591	filters, whether they are for local devices, remote (over an RDP
2592	connection) or either.</para>
2593
2594	<para>When you modify a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2595	modify</computeroutput>, you must specify the filter by index (see the
2596	output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbfilters</computeroutput> to
2597	find global filter indexes and that of <computeroutput>VBoxManage
2598	showvminfo</computeroutput> to find indexes for individual machines) and
2599	by target, which is either a virtual machine or "global". The properties
2600	which can be changed are the same as for <computeroutput>usbfilter
2601	add</computeroutput>. To remove a filter, use <computeroutput>usbfilter
2602	remove</computeroutput> and specify the index and the target.</para>
2603	</sect1>
2604
2605	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-sharedfolder">
2606	<title>VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove</title>
2607
2608	<para>This command allows you to share folders on the host computer with
2609	guest operating systems. For this, the guest systems must have a version
2610	of the VirtualBox Guest Additions installed which supports this
2611	functionality.</para>
2612
2613	<para>Shared folders are described in detail in <xref
2614	linkend="sharedfolders" />.</para>
2615	</sect1>
2616
2617	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty">
2618	<title>VBoxManage guestproperty</title>
2619
2620	<para>The "guestproperty" commands allow you to get or set properties of a
2621	running virtual machine. Please see <xref linkend="guestadd-guestprops" />
2622	for an introduction. As explained there, guest properties are arbitrary
2623	key/value string pairs which can be written to and read from by either the
2624	guest or the host, so they can be used as a low-volume communication
2625	channel for strings, provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
2626	Additions installed. In addition, a number of values whose keys begin with
2627	"/VirtualBox/" are automatically set and maintained by the Guest
2628	Additions.</para>
2629
2630	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2631	<computeroutput><vm></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2632	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2633	<listitem>
2634	<para><computeroutput>enumerate <vm> [--patterns
2635	<pattern>]</computeroutput>: This lists all the guest
2636	properties that are available for the given VM, including the value.
2637	This list will be very limited if the guest's service process cannot
2638	be contacted, e.g. because the VM is not running or the Guest
2639	Additions are not installed.</para>
2640
2641	<para>If <computeroutput>--patterns <pattern></computeroutput>
2642	is specified, it acts as a filter to only list properties that match
2643	the given pattern. The pattern can contain the following wildcard
2644	characters:<itemizedlist>
2645	<listitem>
2646	<para><computeroutput>*</computeroutput> (asterisk):
2647	represents any number of characters; for example,
2648	"<computeroutput>/VirtualBox*</computeroutput>" would match
2649	all properties beginning with "/VirtualBox".</para>
2650	</listitem>
2651
2652	<listitem>
2653	<para><computeroutput>?</computeroutput> (question mark):
2654	represents a single arbitrary character; for example,
2655	"<computeroutput>fo?</computeroutput>" would match both "foo"
2656	and "for".</para>
2657	</listitem>
2658
2659	<listitem>
2660	<para><computeroutput>\|</computeroutput> (pipe symbol): can be
2661	used to specify multiple alternative patterns; for example,
2662	"<computeroutput>s\|t</computeroutput>" would match anything
2663	starting with either "s" or "t".</para>
2664	</listitem>
2665	</itemizedlist></para>
2666	</listitem>
2667
2668	<listitem>
2669	<para><computeroutput>get <vm></computeroutput>: This
2670	retrieves the value of a single property only. If the property
2671	cannot be found (e.g. because the guest is not running), this will
2672	print <screen>No value set!</screen></para>
2673	</listitem>
2674
2675	<listitem>
2676	<para><computeroutput>set <vm> <property> [<value>
2677	[--flags <flags>]]</computeroutput>: This allows you to set a
2678	guest property by specifying the key and value. If
2679	<computeroutput><value></computeroutput> is omitted, the
2680	property is deleted. With <computeroutput>--flags</computeroutput>
2681	you can optionally specify additional behavior (you can combine
2682	several by separating them with commas):<itemizedlist>
2683	<listitem>
2684	<para><computeroutput>TRANSIENT</computeroutput>: the value
2685	will not be stored with the VM data when the VM exits;</para>
2686	</listitem>
2687
2688	<listitem>
2689	<para><computeroutput>TRANSRESET</computeroutput>: the value
2690	will be deleted as soon as the VM restarts and/or exits;</para>
2691	</listitem>
2692
2693	<listitem>
2694	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYGUEST</computeroutput>: the value
2695	can only be changed by the host, but the guest can only read
2696	it;</para>
2697	</listitem>
2698
2699	<listitem>
2700	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYHOST</computeroutput>: reversely,
2701	the value can only be changed by the guest, but the host can
2702	only read it;</para>
2703	</listitem>
2704
2705	<listitem>
2706	<para><computeroutput>READONLY</computeroutput>: a combination
2707	of the two, the value cannot be changed at all.</para>
2708	</listitem>
2709	</itemizedlist></para>
2710	</listitem>
2711
2712	<listitem>
2713	<para><computeroutput>wait <vm> <pattern> --timeout
2714	<timeout></computeroutput>: This waits for a particular value
2715	described by "pattern" to change or to be deleted or created. The
2716	pattern rules are the same as for the "enumerate" subcommand
2717	above.</para>
2718	</listitem>
2719
2720	<listitem>
2721	<para><computeroutput>delete <vm> <property>
2722	</computeroutput>: Deletes a formerly set guest property.
2723	</para></listitem>
2724	</itemizedlist></para>
2725	</sect1>
2726
2727	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestcontrol">
2728	<title>VBoxManage guestcontrol</title>
2729
2730	<para>The "guestcontrol" commands allow you to control certain things
2731	inside a guest from the host. Please see <xref
2732	linkend="guestadd-guestcontrol" /> for an introduction.</para>
2733
2734	<para>Generally, the syntax is as follows:</para>
2735
2736	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> <command></screen>
2737
2738	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2739	<computeroutput><uuid\|vmname></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2740	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2741	<listitem>
2742	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>execute</computeroutput></emphasis>,
2743	which allows for
2744	executing a program/script (process) which already is installed and
2745	runnable on the guest. This command only works while a VM is up and
2746	running and has the following syntax:</para>
2747
2748	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> exec[ute]
2749	--image <path to program> --username <name>
2750	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
2751	[--environment "<NAME>=<VALUE> [<NAME>=<VALUE>]"]
2752	[--verbose] [--timeout <msec>]
2753	[--wait-exit] [--wait-stdout] [--wait-stderr]
2754	[--dos2unix] [--unix2dos]
2755	-- [[<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
2756
2757	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2758	<glossentry>
2759	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2760
2761	<glossdef>
2762	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2763	</glossdef>
2764	</glossentry>
2765
2766	<glossentry>
2767	<glossterm><computeroutput>--image "<path to program>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
2768
2769	<glossdef>
2770	<para>Absolute path and process name of process to execute
2771	in the guest, e.g.
2772	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput></para>
2773	</glossdef>
2774	</glossentry>
2775
2776	<glossentry>
2777	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
2778
2779	<glossdef>
2780	<para>Name of the user the process should run under. This
2781	user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2782	</glossdef>
2783	</glossentry>
2784
2785	<glossentry>
2786	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
2787
2788	<glossdef>
2789	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
2790	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
2791	assumed.</para>
2792	</glossdef>
2793	</glossentry>
2794
2795	<glossentry>
2796	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
2797
2798	<glossdef>
2799	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2800	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2801	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2802	</glossdef>
2803	</glossentry>
2804
2805	<glossentry>
2806	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dos2unix</computeroutput></glossterm>
2807
2808	<glossdef>
2809	Converts output from DOS/Windows guests to UNIX-compatible
2810	line endings (CR + LF -> LF). Not implemented yet.
2811	</glossdef>
2812	</glossentry>
2813
2814	<glossentry>
2815	<glossterm><computeroutput>--environment
2816	"<NAME>=<VALUE>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
2817
2818	<glossdef>
2819	<para>One or more environment variables to be set or
2820	unset.</para>
2821
2822	<para>By default, the new process in the guest will be
2823	created with the standard environment of the guest OS. This
2824	option allows for modifying that environment. To set/modify
2825	a variable, a pair of
2826	<computeroutput>NAME=VALUE</computeroutput> must be
2827	specified; to unset a certain variable, the name with no
2828	value must set, e.g.
2829	<computeroutput>NAME=</computeroutput>.</para>
2830
2831	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2832	quotation marks. More than one
2833	<computeroutput>--environment</computeroutput> at a time can
2834	be specified to keep the command line tidy.</para>
2835	</glossdef>
2836	</glossentry>
2837
2838	<glossentry>
2839	<glossterm><computeroutput>--timeout <msec></computeroutput></glossterm>
2840
2841	<glossdef>
2842	<para>Value (in milliseconds) that specifies the time how
2843	long the started process is allowed to run and how long
2844	VBoxManage waits for getting output from that process. If no
2845	timeout is specified, VBoxManage will wait forever until the
2846	started process ends or an error occured.</para>
2847	</glossdef>
2848	</glossentry>
2849
2850	<glossentry>
2851	<glossterm><computeroutput>--unix2dos</computeroutput></glossterm>
2852
2853	<glossdef>
2854	Converts output from a UNIX/Linux guests to DOS-/Windows-compatible
2855	line endings (LF -> CR + LF). Not implemented yet.
2856	</glossdef>
2857	</glossentry>
2858
2859	<glossentry>
2860	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
2861
2862	<glossdef>
2863	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2864	</glossdef>
2865	</glossentry>
2866
2867	<glossentry>
2868	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-exit</computeroutput></glossterm>
2869
2870	<glossdef>
2871	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2872	exit code along with the exit reason/flags.</para>
2873	</glossdef>
2874	</glossentry>
2875
2876	<glossentry>
2877	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stdout</computeroutput></glossterm>
2878
2879	<glossdef>
2880	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2881	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2882	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stdout.</para>
2883	</glossdef>
2884	</glossentry>
2885
2886	<glossentry>
2887	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stderr</computeroutput></glossterm>
2888
2889	<glossdef>
2890	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2891	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2892	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stderr.</para>
2893	</glossdef>
2894	</glossentry>
2895
2896	<glossentry>
2897	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
2898
2899	<glossdef>
2900	<para>One or more arguments to pass to the process being
2901	executed.</para>
2902	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2903	quotation marks.</para>
2904	</glossdef>
2905	</glossentry>
2906
2907	</glosslist></para>
2908
2909	<para><note>
2910	<para>On Windows there are certain limitations for graphical
2911	applications; please see <xref linkend="KnownIssues" /> for more
2912	information.</para>
2913	</note> Examples: <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls"
2914	--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"
2915	--username foo --passwordfile bar.txt --wait-exit --wait-stdout</screen> Note that
2916	the double backslashes in the second example are only required on
2917	Unix hosts.</para>
2918
2919	<para><note>
2920	<para>For certain commands a user name of an existing user account on the guest
2921	must be specified; anonymous executions are not supported for security reasons. A
2922	user account password, however, is optional and depends on the guest's OS security
2923	policy or rules. If no password is specified for a given user name, an empty password
2924	will be used. On certain OSes like Windows the security policy may needs to be adjusted
2925	in order to allow user accounts with an empty password set. Also, global domain rules might
2926	apply and therefore cannot be changed.</para>
2927	</note></para>
2928
2929	<para>Starting at VirtualBox 4.1.2 guest process execution by default is limited
2930	to serve up to 5 guest processes at a time. If a new guest process gets started
2931	which would exceed this limit, the oldest not running guest process will be discarded
2932	in order to be able to run that new process. Also, retrieving output from this
2933	old guest process will not be possible anymore then. If all 5 guest processes
2934	are still active and running, starting a new guest process will result in an
2935	appropriate error message.</para>
2936
2937	<para>To raise or lower the guest process execution limit, either the guest
2938	property <computeroutput>/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
2939	or VBoxService' command line by specifying <computeroutput>--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
2940	needs to be modified. A restart of the guest OS is required afterwards. To serve unlimited
2941	guest processes, a value of <computeroutput>0</computeroutput> needs to be set (not recommended).</para>
2942	</listitem>
2943
2944	<listitem>
2945	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput></emphasis>,
2946	which allows copying
2947	files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
2948	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
2949
2950	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> copyto\|cp
2951	<guest source> <host dest> --username <name>
2952	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
2953	[--dryrun] [--follow] [--recursive] [--verbose]</screen>
2954
2955	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2956	<glossentry>
2957	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2958
2959	<glossdef>
2960	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2961	</glossdef>
2962	</glossentry>
2963
2964	<glossentry>
2965	<glossterm><computeroutput>source on host</computeroutput></glossterm>
2966
2967	<glossdef>
2968	<para>Absolute path of source file(s) on host to copy over
2969	to the guest, e.g.
2970	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput>.
2971	This also can be a wildcard expression, e.g.
2972	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\*.dll</computeroutput></para>
2973	</glossdef>
2974	</glossentry>
2975
2976	<glossentry>
2977	<glossterm><computeroutput>destination on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
2978
2979	<glossdef>
2980	<para>Absolute destination path on the guest, e.g.
2981	<computeroutput>C:\Temp</computeroutput></para>
2982	</glossdef>
2983	</glossentry>
2984
2985	<glossentry>
2986	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
2987
2988	<glossdef>
2989	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
2990	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2991	</glossdef>
2992	</glossentry>
2993
2994	<glossentry>
2995	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
2996
2997	<glossdef>
2998	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
2999	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3000	assumed.</para>
3001	</glossdef>
3002	</glossentry>
3003
3004	<glossentry>
3005	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3006
3007	<glossdef>
3008	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3009	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3010	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3011	</glossdef>
3012	</glossentry>
3013
3014	<glossentry>
3015	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dryrun</computeroutput></glossterm>
3016
3017	<glossdef>
3018	<para>Tells VBoxManage to only perform a dry run instead of
3019	really copying files to the guest.</para>
3020	</glossdef>
3021	</glossentry>
3022
3023	<glossentry>
3024	<glossterm><computeroutput>--follow</computeroutput></glossterm>
3025
3026	<glossdef>
3027	<para>Enables following symlinks on the host's
3028	source.</para>
3029	</glossdef>
3030	</glossentry>
3031
3032	<glossentry>
3033	<glossterm><computeroutput>--recursive</computeroutput></glossterm>
3034
3035	<glossdef>
3036	<para>Recursively copies files/directories of the specified
3037	source.</para>
3038	</glossdef>
3039	</glossentry>
3040
3041	<glossentry>
3042	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3043
3044	<glossdef>
3045	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3046	</glossdef>
3047	</glossentry>
3048
3049	<glossentry>
3050	<glossterm><computeroutput>--flags <flags></computeroutput></glossterm>
3051
3052	<glossdef>
3053	<para>Additional flags to set. This is not used at the
3054	moment.</para>
3055	</glossdef>
3056	</glossentry>
3057	</glosslist></para>
3058	</listitem>
3059
3060	<listitem>
3061	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyfrom</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3062	which allows copying
3063	files from the guest to the host (only with installed Guest
3064	Additions 4.0 and later). It has the same parameters as
3065	<computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput> above.</para>
3066	</listitem>
3067
3068	<listitem>
3069	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createdirectory</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3070	which allows
3071	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3072	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3073
3074	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createdir[ectory]\|mkdir\|md
3075	<guest directory>... --username <name>
3076	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3077	[--parents] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3078
3079	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3080	<glossentry>
3081	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3082
3083	<glossdef>
3084	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3085	</glossdef>
3086	</glossentry>
3087
3088	<glossentry>
3089	<glossterm><computeroutput>directory to create on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3090
3091	<glossdef>
3092	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to create on
3093	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>.
3094	Parent directories need to exist (e.g. in this example
3095	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput>) when switch
3096	<computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput> is omitted. The
3097	specified user must have appropriate rights to create the
3098	specified directory.</para>
3099	</glossdef>
3100	</glossentry>
3101
3102	<glossentry>
3103	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3104
3105	<glossdef>
3106	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3107	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3108	</glossdef>
3109	</glossentry>
3110
3111	<glossentry>
3112	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3113
3114	<glossdef>
3115	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3116	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3117	assumed.</para>
3118	</glossdef>
3119	</glossentry>
3120
3121	<glossentry>
3122	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3123
3124	<glossdef>
3125	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3126	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3127	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3128	</glossdef>
3129	</glossentry>
3130
3131	<glossentry>
3132	<glossterm><computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput></glossterm>
3133
3134	<glossdef>
3135	<para>Also creates not yet existing parent directories of
3136	the specified directory, e.g. if the directory
3137	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput> of
3138	<computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput> does not exist
3139	yet it will be created. Without specifying
3140	<computeroutput>--parent</computeroutput> the action would
3141	have failed.</para>
3142	</glossdef>
3143	</glossentry>
3144
3145	<glossentry>
3146	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3147
3148	<glossdef>
3149	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3150	Only octal modes (e.g.
3151	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3152	now.</para>
3153	</glossdef>
3154	</glossentry>
3155
3156	<glossentry>
3157	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3158
3159	<glossdef>
3160	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3161	</glossdef>
3162	</glossentry>
3163	</glosslist></para>
3164	</listitem>
3165
3166	<listitem>
3167	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createtemporary</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3168	which allows
3169	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3170	Additions 4.2 and later).</para>
3171
3172	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createtemp[orary]\|mktemp
3173	<template> --username <name>
3174	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3175	[--directory] [--secure] [--tmpdir <directory>]
3176	[--domain <domain>] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3177
3178	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3179	<glossentry>
3180	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3181
3182	<glossdef>
3183	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3184	</glossdef>
3185	</glossentry>
3186
3187	<glossentry>
3188	<glossterm><computeroutput>template</computeroutput></glossterm>
3189
3190	<glossdef>
3191	<para>A file name without a path and with at least three consecutive 'X'
3192	characters or ending in 'X'
3193	</para>
3194	</glossdef>
3195	</glossentry>
3196
3197	<glossentry>
3198	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3199
3200	<glossdef>
3201	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3202	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3203	</glossdef>
3204	</glossentry>
3205
3206	<glossentry>
3207	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3208
3209	<glossdef>
3210	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3211	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3212	assumed.</para>
3213	</glossdef>
3214	</glossentry>
3215
3216	<glossentry>
3217	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3218
3219	<glossdef>
3220	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3221	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3222	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3223	</glossdef>
3224	</glossentry>
3225
3226	<glossentry>
3227	<glossterm><computeroutput>--directory</computeroutput></glossterm>
3228
3229	<glossdef>
3230	<para>Create a temporary directory instead of a file.</para>
3231	</glossdef>
3232	</glossentry>
3233
3234	<glossentry>
3235	<glossterm><computeroutput>--secure</computeroutput></glossterm>
3236
3237	<glossdef>
3238	<para>
3239	Secure creation. The file mode is fixed to
3240	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>. And the operation
3241	will fail if it cannot performed securely.
3242	</para>
3243	</glossdef>
3244	</glossentry>
3245
3246	<glossentry>
3247	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tmpdir <directory></computeroutput></glossterm>
3248
3249	<glossdef>
3250	<para>
3251	Directory where the file / directory is created. If not
3252	specified, the platform-specific temp directory is used.
3253	</para>
3254	</glossdef>
3255	</glossentry>
3256
3257	<glossentry>
3258	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3259
3260	<glossdef>
3261	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3262	Only octal modes (e.g.
3263	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3264	now.</para>
3265	</glossdef>
3266	</glossentry>
3267
3268	<glossentry>
3269	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3270
3271	<glossdef>
3272	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3273	</glossdef>
3274	</glossentry>
3275	</glosslist></para>
3276	</listitem>
3277
3278	<listitem>
3279	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3280	which lists various guest control information such as open guest sessions,
3281	guest processes and guest files.</para>
3282
3283	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> list
3284	<all\|sessions\|processes\|files> [--verbose]</screen>
3285
3286	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3287	<glossentry>
3288	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3289
3290	<glossdef>
3291	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3292	</glossdef>
3293	</glossentry>
3294
3295	<glossentry>
3296	<glossterm><computeroutput>all\|sessions\|processes\|files</computeroutput></glossterm>
3297
3298	<glossdef>
3299	<para>Whether to list guest sessions, guest processes, guest files
3300	or all information available. Mandatory.</para>
3301	</glossdef>
3302	</glossentry>
3303
3304	<glossentry>
3305	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3306
3307	<glossdef>
3308	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3309	</glossdef>
3310	</glossentry>
3311	</glosslist></para>
3312	</listitem>
3313
3314	<listitem>
3315	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>process kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3316	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3317	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3318
3319	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3320	--session-id <ID>
3321	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3322	[--verbose]
3323	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3324
3325	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3326	<glossentry>
3327	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3328
3329	<glossdef>
3330	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3331	</glossdef>
3332	</glossentry>
3333
3334	<glossentry>
3335	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3336
3337	<glossdef>
3338	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
3339	</glossdef>
3340	</glossentry>
3341
3342	<glossentry>
3343	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3344
3345	<glossdef>
3346	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
3347	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3348	</glossdef>
3349	</glossentry>
3350
3351	<glossentry>
3352	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3353
3354	<glossdef>
3355	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3356	</glossdef>
3357	</glossentry>
3358
3359	<glossentry>
3360	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
3361
3362	<glossdef>
3363	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
3364	</glossdef>
3365	</glossentry>
3366	</glosslist></para>
3367	</listitem>
3368
3369	<listitem>
3370	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>[p[s]]kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3371	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3372	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3373
3374	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3375	--session-id <ID>
3376	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3377	[--verbose]
3378	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3379
3380	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3381	<glossentry>
3382	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3383
3384	<glossdef>
3385	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3386	</glossdef>
3387	</glossentry>
3388
3389	<glossentry>
3390	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3391
3392	<glossdef>
3393	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
3394	</glossdef>
3395	</glossentry>
3396
3397	<glossentry>
3398	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3399
3400	<glossdef>
3401	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
3402	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3403	</glossdef>
3404	</glossentry>
3405
3406	<glossentry>
3407	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3408
3409	<glossdef>
3410	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3411	</glossdef>
3412	</glossentry>
3413
3414	<glossentry>
3415	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
3416
3417	<glossdef>
3418	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
3419	</glossdef>
3420	</glossentry>
3421	</glosslist></para>
3422	</listitem>
3423
3424	<listitem>
3425	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>session close</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3426	which closes specific guest sessions, based on either the session's ID or the
3427	session's name.</para>
3428
3429	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> session close
3430	--session-id <ID>
3431	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3432	\| --all
3433	[--verbose]</screen>
3434
3435	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3436	<glossentry>
3437	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3438
3439	<glossdef>
3440	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3441	</glossdef>
3442	</glossentry>
3443
3444	<glossentry>
3445	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3446
3447	<glossdef>
3448	<para>Close a guest session specified by its ID.</para>
3449	</glossdef>
3450	</glossentry>
3451
3452	<glossentry>
3453	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3454
3455	<glossdef>
3456	<para>Close a guest session specified by its name. Multiple sessions
3457	can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3458	</glossdef>
3459	</glossentry>
3460
3461	<glossentry>
3462	<glossterm><computeroutput>--all</computeroutput></glossterm>
3463
3464	<glossdef>
3465	<para>Close all guest sessions.</para>
3466	</glossdef>
3467	</glossentry>
3468
3469	<glossentry>
3470	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3471
3472	<glossdef>
3473	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3474	</glossdef>
3475	</glossentry>
3476	</glosslist></para>
3477	</listitem>
3478
3479	<listitem>
3480	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>stat</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3481	which displays file
3482	or file system status on the guest.</para>
3483
3484	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> stat
3485	<file>... --username <name>
3486	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3487	[--verbose]</screen>
3488
3489	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3490	<glossentry>
3491	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3492
3493	<glossdef>
3494	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3495	</glossdef>
3496	</glossentry>
3497
3498	<glossentry>
3499	<glossterm><computeroutput>file element(s) to check on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3500
3501	<glossdef>
3502	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to check on
3503	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>/home/foo/a.out</computeroutput>.
3504	The specified user must have appropriate rights to access
3505	the given file element(s).</para>
3506	</glossdef>
3507	</glossentry>
3508
3509	<glossentry>
3510	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3511
3512	<glossdef>
3513	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3514	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3515	</glossdef>
3516	</glossentry>
3517
3518	<glossentry>
3519	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3520
3521	<glossdef>
3522	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3523	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3524	assumed.</para>
3525	</glossdef>
3526	</glossentry>
3527
3528	<glossentry>
3529	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3530
3531	<glossdef>
3532	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3533	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3534	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3535	</glossdef>
3536	</glossentry>
3537
3538	<glossentry>
3539	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3540
3541	<glossdef>
3542	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3543	</glossdef>
3544	</glossentry>
3545	</glosslist></para>
3546	</listitem>
3547
3548	<listitem>
3549	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>updateadditions</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3550	which allows
3551	for updating an already installed Guest Additions version on the
3552	guest (only already installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3553
3554	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> updateadditions
3555	[--source "<guest additions .ISO file to use>"] [--verbose]
3556	[--wait-start] [-- [<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
3557
3558	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3559	<glossentry>
3560	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3561
3562	<glossdef>
3563	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3564	</glossdef>
3565	</glossentry>
3566
3567	<glossentry>
3568	<glossterm><computeroutput>--source</computeroutput> "<guest additions .ISO file to
3569	use>"</glossterm>
3570
3571	<glossdef>
3572	<para>Full path to an alternative VirtualBox Guest Additions
3573	.ISO file to use for the Guest Additions update.</para>
3574	</glossdef>
3575	</glossentry>
3576
3577	<glossentry>
3578	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3579
3580	<glossdef>
3581	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3582	</glossdef>
3583	</glossentry>
3584
3585	<glossentry>
3586	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-start</computeroutput></glossterm>
3587	<glossdef>
3588	<para>Starts the regular updating process and waits until the
3589	actual Guest Additions update inside the guest was started.
3590	This can be necessary due to needed interaction with the
3591	guest OS during the installation phase.</para>
3592	<para>When omitting this flag VBoxManage will wait for the
3593	whole Guest Additions update to complete.</para>
3594	</glossdef>
3595	</glossentry>
3596
3597	<glossentry>
3598	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
3599
3600	<glossdef>
3601	<para>Optional command line arguments to use for the Guest Additions
3602	installer. Useful for retrofitting features which weren't installed
3603	before on the guest.</para>
3604	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
3605	quotation marks.</para>
3606	</glossdef>
3607	</glossentry>
3608	</glosslist></para>
3609	</listitem>
3610	<listitem>
3611	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>watch</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3612	which prints current guest control activity.</para>
3613
3614	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> watch
3615	[--verbose]</screen>
3616
3617	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3618	<glossentry>
3619	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3620
3621	<glossdef>
3622	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3623	</glossdef>
3624	</glossentry>
3625
3626	<glossentry>
3627	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3628
3629	<glossdef>
3630	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3631	</glossdef>
3632	</glossentry>
3633	</glosslist></para>
3634	</listitem>
3635	</itemizedlist></para>
3636	</sect1>
3637
3638	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-debugvm">
3639	<title>VBoxManage debugvm</title>
3640
3641	<para>The "debugvm" commands are for experts who want to tinker with the
3642	exact details of virtual machine execution. Like the VM debugger described
3643	in <xref linkend="ts_debugger" />, these commands are only useful if you are
3644	very familiar with the details of the PC architecture and how to debug
3645	software.</para>
3646
3647	<para>The subcommands of "debugvm" all operate on a running virtual
3648	machine. The following are available:<itemizedlist>
3649	<listitem>
3650	<para>With <computeroutput>dumpguestcore --filename
3651	<name></computeroutput>, you can create a system dump of the
3652	running VM, which will be written into the given file. This file
3653	will have the standard ELF core format (with custom sections); see
3654	<xref linkend="ts_guest-core-format" />.</para>
3655
3656	<para>This corresponds to the
3657	<computeroutput>writecore</computeroutput> command in the debugger.
3658	</para>
3659	</listitem>
3660
3661	<listitem>
3662	<para>The <computeroutput>info</computeroutput> command is used to
3663	display info items relating to the VMM, device emulations and
3664	associated drivers. This command takes one or two arguments: the
3665	name of the info item, optionally followed by a string containing
3666	arguments specific to the info item.
3667	The <computeroutput>help</computeroutput> info item provides a
3668	listning of the available items and hints about any optional
3669	arguments.</para>
3670
3671	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>info</computeroutput>
3672	command in the debugger.</para>
3673	</listitem>
3674
3675	<listitem>
3676	<para>The <computeroutput>injectnmi</computeroutput> command causes
3677	a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) in the guest, which might be useful
3678	for certain debugging scenarios. What happens exactly is dependent
3679	on the guest operating system, but an NMI can crash the whole guest
3680	operating system. Do not use unless you know what you're
3681	doing.</para>
3682	</listitem>
3683
3684	<listitem>
3685	<para>The <computeroutput>osdetect</computeroutput> command makes the
3686	VMM's debugger facility (re-)detection the guest operation
3687	system.</para>
3688
3689	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>detect</computeroutput>
3690	command in the debugger.</para>
3691	</listitem>
3692
3693	<listitem>
3694	<para>The <computeroutput>osinfo</computeroutput> command is used to
3695	display info about the operating system (OS) detected by the VMM's
3696	debugger facility.</para>
3697	</listitem>
3698
3699	<listitem>
3700	<para>The <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command is
3701	used to display CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3702	of registers, each having one of the following forms:
3703	<itemizedlist>
3704	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3705	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3706	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3707	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3708	<listitem><computeroutput>all</computeroutput></listitem>
3709	</itemizedlist>
3710	The <computeroutput>all</computeroutput> form will cause all
3711	registers to be shown (no sub-fields). The registers names are
3712	case-insensitive. When requesting a CPU register the register set
3713	can be omitted, it will be selected using the value of the
3714	<computeroutput>--cpu</computeroutput> option (defaulting to 0).
3715	</para>
3716	</listitem>
3717
3718	<listitem>
3719	<para>The <computeroutput>setregisters</computeroutput> command is
3720	used to change CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3721	of register assignments, each having one of the following forms:
3722	<itemizedlist>
3723	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3724	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3725	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3726	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3727	</itemizedlist>
3728	The value format should be in the same style as what
3729	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> displays, with the
3730	exception that both octal and decimal can be used instead of
3731	hexadecimal. The register naming and the default CPU register set
3732	are handled the same way as with the
3733	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command.</para>
3734	</listitem>
3735
3736	<listitem>
3737	<para>The <computeroutput>statistics</computeroutput> command can be
3738	used to display VMM statistics on the command line. The
3739	<computeroutput>--reset</computeroutput> option will reset
3740	statistics. The affected statistics can be filtered with the
3741	<computeroutput>--pattern</computeroutput> option, which accepts
3742	DOS/NT-style wildcards (<computeroutput>?</computeroutput> and
3743	<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>).</para>
3744	</listitem>
3745	</itemizedlist></para>
3746	</sect1>
3747
3748	<sect1 id="metrics">
3749	<title>VBoxManage metrics</title>
3750
3751	<para>This command supports monitoring the usage of system resources.
3752	Resources are represented by various metrics associated with the host
3753	system or a particular VM. For example, the host system has a
3754	<computeroutput>CPU/Load/User</computeroutput> metric that shows the
3755	percentage of time CPUs spend executing in user mode over a specific
3756	sampling period.</para>
3757
3758	<para>Metric data is collected and retained internally; it may be
3759	retrieved at any time with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3760	query</computeroutput> subcommand. The data is available as long as the
3761	background <computeroutput>VBoxSVC</computeroutput> process is alive. That
3762	process terminates shortly after all VMs and frontends have been
3763	closed.</para>
3764
3765	<para>By default no metrics are collected at all. Metrics collection does
3766	not start until <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics setup</computeroutput>
3767	is invoked with a proper sampling interval and the number of metrics to be
3768	retained. The interval is measured in seconds. For example, to enable
3769	collecting the host processor and memory usage metrics every second and
3770	keeping the 5 most current samples, the following command can be
3771	used:</para>
3772
3773	<screen>VBoxManage metrics setup --period 1 --samples 5 host CPU/Load,RAM/Usage</screen>
3774
3775	<para>Metric collection can only be enabled for started VMs. Collected
3776	data and collection settings for a particular VM will disappear as soon as
3777	it shuts down. Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics list
3778	</computeroutput> subcommand to see which metrics are currently available.
3779	You can also use <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option with any
3780	subcommand that modifies metric settings to find out which metrics were
3781	affected.</para>
3782
3783	<para>Note that the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3784	setup</computeroutput> subcommand discards all samples that may have been
3785	previously collected for the specified set of objects and metrics.</para>
3786
3787	<para>To enable or disable metrics collection without discarding the data
3788	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics enable</computeroutput> and
3789	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics disable</computeroutput> subcommands
3790	can be used. Note that these subcommands expect metrics, not submetrics,
3791	like <code>CPU/Load</code> or <code>RAM/Usage</code> as parameters. In
3792	other words enabling <code>CPU/Load/User</code> while disabling
3793	<code>CPU/Load/Kernel</code> is not supported.</para>
3794
3795	<para>The host and VMs have different sets of associated metrics.
3796	Available metrics can be listed with <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3797	list</computeroutput> subcommand.</para>
3798
3799	<para>A complete metric name may include an aggregate function. The name
3800	has the following form:
3801	<computeroutput>Category/Metric[/SubMetric][:aggregate]</computeroutput>.
3802	For example, <computeroutput>RAM/Usage/Free:min</computeroutput> stands
3803	for the minimum amount of available memory over all retained data if
3804	applied to the host object.</para>
3805
3806	<para>Subcommands may apply to all objects and metrics or can be limited
3807	to one object or/and a list of metrics. If no objects or metrics are given
3808	in the parameters, the subcommands will apply to all available metrics of
3809	all objects. You may use an asterisk
3810	("<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>") to explicitly specify that the
3811	command should be applied to all objects or metrics. Use "host" as the
3812	object name to limit the scope of the command to host-related metrics. To
3813	limit the scope to a subset of metrics, use a metric list with names
3814	separated by commas.</para>
3815
3816	<para>For example, to query metric data on the CPU time spent in user and
3817	kernel modes by the virtual machine named "test", you can use the
3818	following command:</para>
3819
3820	<screen>VBoxManage metrics query test CPU/Load/User,CPU/Load/Kernel</screen>
3821
3822	<para>The following list summarizes the available subcommands:</para>
3823
3824	<glosslist>
3825	<glossentry>
3826	<glossterm><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></glossterm>
3827
3828	<glossdef>
3829	<para>This subcommand shows the parameters of the currently existing
3830	metrics. Note that VM-specific metrics are only available when a
3831	particular VM is running.</para>
3832	</glossdef>
3833	</glossentry>
3834
3835	<glossentry>
3836	<glossterm><computeroutput>setup</computeroutput></glossterm>
3837
3838	<glossdef>
3839	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3840	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3841	retained data is available for displaying with the
3842	<code>query</code> subcommand. The <computeroutput>--list
3843	</computeroutput> option shows which metrics have been modified as
3844	the result of the command execution.</para>
3845	</glossdef>
3846	</glossentry>
3847
3848	<glossentry>
3849	<glossterm><computeroutput>enable</computeroutput></glossterm>
3850
3851	<glossdef>
3852	<para>This subcommand "resumes" data collection after it has been
3853	stopped with <code>disable</code> subcommand. Note that specifying
3854	submetrics as parameters will not enable underlying metrics. Use
3855	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3856	did what was expected.</para>
3857	</glossdef>
3858	</glossentry>
3859
3860	<glossentry>
3861	<glossterm><computeroutput>disable</computeroutput></glossterm>
3862
3863	<glossdef>
3864	<para>This subcommand "suspends" data collection without affecting
3865	collection parameters or collected data. Note that specifying
3866	submetrics as parameters will not disable underlying metrics. Use
3867	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3868	did what was expected.</para>
3869	</glossdef>
3870	</glossentry>
3871
3872	<glossentry>
3873	<glossterm><computeroutput>query</computeroutput></glossterm>
3874
3875	<glossdef>
3876	<para>This subcommand retrieves and displays the currently retained
3877	metric data.<note>
3878	<para>The <code>query</code> subcommand does not remove or
3879	"flush" retained data. If you query often enough you will see
3880	how old samples are gradually being "phased out" by new
3881	samples.</para>
3882	</note></para>
3883	</glossdef>
3884	</glossentry>
3885
3886	<glossentry>
3887	<glossterm><computeroutput>collect</computeroutput></glossterm>
3888
3889	<glossdef>
3890	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3891	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3892	collected data is displayed periodically until Ctrl-C is pressed
3893	unless the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput> option is
3894	specified. With the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput>
3895	option, this subcommand operates the same way as <code>setup</code>
3896	does. The <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option shows which
3897	metrics match the specified filter.</para>
3898	</glossdef>
3899	</glossentry>
3900	</glosslist>
3901	</sect1>
3902
3903	<sect1>
3904	<title>VBoxManage hostonlyif</title>
3905
3906	<para>With "hostonlyif" you can change the IP configuration of a host-only
3907	network interface. For a description of host-only networking, please
3908	refer to <xref linkend="network_hostonly" />. Each host-only interface is
3909	identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a
3910	manual IP configuration (both IP4 and IP6).</para>
3911	</sect1>
3912
3913	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-dhcpserver">
3914	<title>VBoxManage dhcpserver</title>
3915
3916	<para>The "dhcpserver" commands allow you to control the DHCP server that
3917	is built into VirtualBox. You may find this useful when using internal or
3918	host-only networking. (Theoretically, you can enable it for a bridged
3919	network as well, but that will likely cause conflicts with other DHCP
3920	servers in your physical network.)</para>
3921
3922	<para>Use the following command line options:<itemizedlist>
3923	<listitem>
3924	<para>If you use internal networking for a virtual network adapter
3925	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3926	--netname <network_name></computeroutput>, where
3927	<computeroutput><network_name></computeroutput> is the same
3928	network name you used with <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm
3929	<vmname> --intnet<X>
3930	<network_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3931	</listitem>
3932
3933	<listitem>
3934	<para>If you use host-only networking for a virtual network adapter
3935	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3936	--ifname <hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> instead, where
3937	<computeroutput><hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> is the
3938	same host-only interface name you used with
3939	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname>
3940	--hostonlyadapter<X>
3941	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3942
3943	<para>Alternatively, you can also use the --netname option as with
3944	internal networks if you know the host-only network's name; you can
3945	see the names with <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
3946	hostonlyifs</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
3947	above).</para>
3948	</listitem>
3949	</itemizedlist></para>
3950
3951	<para>The following additional parameters are required when first adding a
3952	DHCP server:<itemizedlist>
3953	<listitem>
3954	<para>With <computeroutput>--ip</computeroutput>, specify the IP
3955	address of the DHCP server itself.</para>
3956	</listitem>
3957
3958	<listitem>
3959	<para>With <computeroutput>--netmask</computeroutput>, specify the
3960	netmask of the network.</para>
3961	</listitem>
3962
3963	<listitem>
3964	<para>With <computeroutput>--lowerip</computeroutput> and
3965	<computeroutput>--upperip</computeroutput>, you can specify the
3966	lowest and highest IP address, respectively, that the DHCP server
3967	will hand out to clients.</para>
3968	</listitem>
3969	</itemizedlist></para>
3970
3971	<para>Finally, you must specify <computeroutput>--enable</computeroutput>
3972	or the DHCP server will be created in the disabled state, doing
3973	nothing.</para>
3974
3975	<para>After this, VirtualBox will automatically start the DHCP server for
3976	given internal or host-only network as soon as the first virtual machine
3977	which uses that network is started.</para>
3978
3979	<para>Reversely, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver
3980	remove</computeroutput> with the given <computeroutput>--netname
3981	<network_name></computeroutput> or <computeroutput>--ifname
3982	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> to remove the DHCP server again
3983	for the given internal or host-only network.</para>
3984
3985	<para>To modify the settings of a DHCP server created earlier with
3986	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add</computeroutput>, you can use
3987	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver modify</computeroutput> for a given
3988	network or host-only interface name.</para>
3989	</sect1>
3990
3991	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-extpack">
3992	<title>VBoxManage extpack</title>
3993
3994	<para>The "extpack" command allows you to add or remove VirtualBox
3995	extension packs, as described in <xref
3996	linkend="intro-installing" />.<itemizedlist>
3997	<listitem>
3998	<para>To add a new extension pack, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
3999	extpack install <.vbox-extpack></computeroutput>. This command
4000	will fail if an older version of the same extension pack is already
4001	installed. The optional <computeroutput>--replace</computeroutput>
4002	parameter can be used to uninstall the old package before the new
4003	package is installed.</para>
4004	</listitem>
4005
4006	<listitem>
4007	<para>To remove a previously installed extension pack, use
4008	<computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack uninstall
4009	<name></computeroutput>. You can use
4010	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list extpacks</computeroutput> to show
4011	the names of the extension packs which are currently installed;
4012	please see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> also. The optional
4013	<computeroutput>--force</computeroutput> parameter can be used to
4014	override the refusal of an extension pack to be uninstalled.</para>
4015	</listitem>
4016
4017	<listitem>
4018	<para>The <computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack
4019	cleanup</computeroutput> command can be used to remove temporary
4020	files and directories that may have been left behind if a previous
4021	install or uninstall command failed.</para>
4022	</listitem>
4023	</itemizedlist></para>
4024	<para>The following commands show examples how to list extension packs and
4025	remove one:<screen>
4026	$ VBoxManage list extpacks
4027	Extension Packs: 1
4028	Pack no. 0: Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
4029	Version: 4.1.12
4030	Revision: 77218
4031	Edition:
4032	Description: USB 2.0 Host Controller, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM with E1000 support.
4033	VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP
4034	Usable: true
4035	Why unusable:
4036	$ VBoxManage extpack uninstall "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack"
4037	0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
4038	Successfully uninstalled "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack".</screen></para>
4039	</sect1>
4040	</chapter>

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