user_VBoxManage.xml@ 56194

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1	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2	<!--
3	user_VBoxManage.xml:
4	VBoxManage documentation for the user manual.
5
6	This XML document is also be used for generating the help text
7	built into VBoxManage as well as manpages (hacking in progress).
8
9	Copyright (C) 2006-2015 Oracle Corporation
10
11	This file is part of VirtualBox Open Source Edition (OSE), as
12	available from http://www.virtualbox.org. This file is free software;
13	you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
14	General Public License (GPL) as published by the Free Software
15	Foundation, in version 2 as it comes in the "COPYING" file of the
16	VirtualBox OSE distribution. VirtualBox OSE is distributed in the
17	hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY of any kind.
18
19	-->
20	<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
21	"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd">
22	<chapter id="vboxmanage">
23	<title>VBoxManage</title>
24
25	<sect1>
26	<title>Introduction</title>
27
28	<para>As briefly mentioned in <xref linkend="frontends" />, VBoxManage is
29	the command-line interface to VirtualBox. With it, you can completely
30	control VirtualBox from the command line of your host operating system.
31	VBoxManage supports all the features that the graphical user interface
32	gives you access to, but it supports a lot more than that. It exposes
33	really all the features of the virtualization engine, even those that
34	cannot (yet) be accessed from the GUI.</para>
35
36	<para>You will need to use the command line if you want to</para>
37
38	<para><itemizedlist>
39	<listitem>
40	<para>use a different user interface than the main GUI (for example,
41	VBoxSDL or the VBoxHeadless server);</para>
42	</listitem>
43
44	<listitem>
45	<para>control some of the more advanced and experimental
46	configuration settings for a VM.</para>
47	</listitem>
48	</itemizedlist></para>
49
50	<para>There are two main things to keep in mind when using
51	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>: First,
52	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> must always be used with a
53	specific "subcommand", such as "list" or "createvm" or "startvm". All the
54	subcommands that <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> supports are
55	described in detail in <xref linkend="vboxmanage" />.</para>
56
57	<para>Second, most of these subcommands require that you specify a
58	particular virtual machine after the subcommand. There are two ways you
59	can do this:</para>
60
61	<itemizedlist>
62	<listitem>
63	<para>You can specify the VM name, as it is shown in the VirtualBox
64	GUI. Note that if that name contains spaces, then you must enclose the
65	entire name in double quotes (as it is always required with command
66	line arguments that contain spaces).</para>
67
68	<para>For example:<screen>VBoxManage startvm "Windows XP"</screen></para>
69	</listitem>
70
71	<listitem>
72	<para>You can specify the UUID, which is the internal unique
73	identifier that VirtualBox uses to refer to the virtual machine.
74	Assuming that the aforementioned VM called "Windows XP" has the UUID
75	shown below, the following command has the same effect as the
76	previous:<screen>VBoxManage startvm 670e746d-abea-4ba6-ad02-2a3b043810a5</screen></para>
77	</listitem>
78	</itemizedlist>
79
80	<para>You can type <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms</computeroutput> to
81	have all currently registered VMs listed with all their settings,
82	including their respective names and UUIDs.</para>
83
84	<para>Some typical examples of how to control VirtualBox from the command
85	line are listed below:</para>
86
87	<itemizedlist>
88	<listitem>
89	<para>To create a new virtual machine from the command line and
90	immediately register it with VirtualBox, use
91	<computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> with the
92	<computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option,<footnote>
93	<para>For details, see <xref
94	linkend="vboxmanage-createvm" />.</para>
95	</footnote> like this:</para>
96
97	<screen>$ VBoxManage createvm --name "SUSE 10.2" --register
98	VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
99	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
100	All rights reserved.
101
102	Virtual machine 'SUSE 10.2' is created.
103	UUID: c89fc351-8ec6-4f02-a048-57f4d25288e5
104	Settings file: '/home/username/.config/VirtualBox/Machines/SUSE 10.2/SUSE 10.2.xml'</screen>
105
106	<para>As can be seen from the above output, a new virtual machine has
107	been created with a new UUID and a new XML settings file.</para>
108	</listitem>
109
110	<listitem>
111	<para>To show the configuration of a particular VM, use
112	<computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see <xref
113	linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" /> for details and an example.</para>
114	</listitem>
115
116	<listitem>
117	<para>To change settings while a VM is powered off, use
118	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>, e.g. as
119	follows:<screen>VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --memory 512</screen></para>
120
121	<para>For details, see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm" />.</para>
122	</listitem>
123
124	<listitem>
125	<para>To change the storage configuration (e.g. to add a storage
126	controller and then a virtual disk), use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
127	storagectl</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>VBoxManage
128	storageattach</computeroutput>; see <xref
129	linkend="vboxmanage-storagectl" /> and <xref
130	linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" /> for details.</para>
131	</listitem>
132
133	<listitem>
134	<para>To control VM operation, use one of the following:<itemizedlist>
135	<listitem>
136	<para>To start a VM that is currently powered off, use
137	<computeroutput>VBoxManage startvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
138	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
139	</listitem>
140
141	<listitem>
142	<para>To pause or save a VM that is currently running or change
143	some of its settings, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
144	controlvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
145	linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" /> for details.</para>
146	</listitem>
147	</itemizedlist></para>
148	</listitem>
149	</itemizedlist>
150	</sect1>
151
152	<sect1>
153	<title>Commands overview</title>
154
155	<para>When running VBoxManage without parameters or when supplying an
156	invalid command line, the below syntax diagram will be shown. Note that
157	the output will be slightly different depending on the host platform; when
158	in doubt, check the output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>
159	for the commands available on your particular host.</para>
160
161	<screen>$VBOX_MANAGE_OUTPUT</screen>
162
163	<para>Each time VBoxManage is invoked, only one command can be executed.
164	However, a command might support several subcommands which then can be
165	invoked in one single call. The following sections provide detailed
166	reference information on the different commands.</para>
167	</sect1>
168
169	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-general">
170	<title>General options</title>
171	<para>
172	<itemizedlist>
173	<listitem>
174	<para><computeroutput>--version</computeroutput>: show the version of
175	this tool and exit.</para>
176	</listitem>
177	<listitem>
178	<para><computeroutput>--nologo</computeroutput>: suppress the output
179	of the logo information (useful for scripts)</para>
180	</listitem>
181	<listitem>
182	<para><computeroutput>--settingspw</computeroutput>: specifiy a settings
183	password</para>
184	</listitem>
185	<listitem>
186	<para><computeroutput>--settingspwfile</computeroutput>: specify a file
187	containing the settings password.</para>
188	</listitem>
189	</itemizedlist>
190	The settings password is used for certain settings which need to be
191	stored encrypted for security reasons. At the moment, the only encrypted
192	setting is the iSCSI initiator secret (see
193	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" /> for details). As long as no
194	settings password is specified, this information is stored in
195	<emphasis role="bold">plain text</emphasis>. After using the
196	<computeroutput>--settingspw\|--settingspwfile</computeroutput> option
197	once, it must be always used, otherwise the encrypted setting cannot
198	be unencrypted.
199	</para>
200	</sect1>
201
202	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-list">
203	<title>VBoxManage list</title>
204
205	<para>The <computeroutput>list</computeroutput> command gives relevant
206	information about your system and information about VirtualBox's current
207	settings.</para>
208
209	<para>The following subcommands are available with
210	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list</computeroutput>: <itemizedlist>
211	<listitem>
212	<para><computeroutput>vms</computeroutput> lists all virtual
213	machines currently registered with VirtualBox. By default this
214	displays a compact list with each VM's name and UUID; if you also
215	specify <computeroutput>--long</computeroutput> or
216	<computeroutput>-l</computeroutput>, this will be a detailed list as
217	with the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command (see
218	below).</para>
219	</listitem>
220
221	<listitem>
222	<para><computeroutput>runningvms</computeroutput> lists all
223	currently running virtual machines by their unique identifiers
224	(UUIDs) in the same format as with
225	<computeroutput>vms</computeroutput>.</para>
226	</listitem>
227
228	<listitem>
229	<para><computeroutput>ostypes</computeroutput> lists all guest
230	operating systems presently known to VirtualBox, along with the
231	identifiers used to refer to them with the
232	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command.</para>
233	</listitem>
234
235	<listitem>
236	<para><computeroutput>hostdvds</computeroutput>,
237	<computeroutput>hostfloppies</computeroutput>, respectively, list
238	DVD, floppy, bridged networking and host-only networking interfaces
239	on the host, along with the name used to access them from within
240	VirtualBox.</para>
241	</listitem>
242
243	<listitem>
244	<para><computeroutput>bridgedifs</computeroutput>,
245	<computeroutput>hostonlyifs</computeroutput> and
246	<computeroutput>dhcpservers</computeroutput>, respectively, list
247	bridged network interfaces, host-only network interfaces and DHCP
248	servers currently available on the host. Please see <xref
249	linkend="networkingdetails" /> for details on these.</para>
250	</listitem>
251
252	<listitem>
253	<para><computeroutput>hostinfo</computeroutput> displays information
254	about the host system, such as CPUs, memory size and operating
255	system version.</para>
256	</listitem>
257
258	<listitem>
259	<para><computeroutput>hostcpuids</computeroutput> dumps the CPUID
260	parameters for the host CPUs. This can be used for a more fine
261	grained analyis of the host's virtualization capabilities.</para>
262	</listitem>
263
264	<listitem>
265	<para><computeroutput>hddbackends</computeroutput> lists all known
266	virtual disk back-ends of VirtualBox. For each such format (such as
267	VDI, VMDK or RAW), this lists the back-end's capabilities and
268	configuration.</para>
269	</listitem>
270
271	<listitem>
272	<para><computeroutput>hdds</computeroutput>,
273	<computeroutput>dvds</computeroutput> and
274	<computeroutput>floppies</computeroutput> all give you information
275	about virtual disk images currently in use by VirtualBox, including
276	all their settings, the unique identifiers (UUIDs) associated with
277	them by VirtualBox and all files associated with them. This is the
278	command-line equivalent of the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref
279	linkend="vdis" />.</para>
280	</listitem>
281
282	<listitem>
283	<para><computeroutput>usbhost</computeroutput> supplies information
284	about USB devices attached to the host, notably information useful
285	for constructing USB filters and whether they are currently in use
286	by the host.</para>
287	</listitem>
288
289	<listitem>
290	<para><computeroutput>usbfilters</computeroutput> lists all global
291	USB filters registered with VirtualBox -- that is, filters for
292	devices which are accessible to all virtual machines -- and displays
293	the filter parameters.</para>
294	</listitem>
295
296	<listitem>
297	<para><computeroutput>systemproperties</computeroutput> displays
298	some global VirtualBox settings, such as minimum and maximum guest
299	RAM and virtual hard disk size, folder settings and the current
300	authentication library in use.</para>
301	</listitem>
302
303	<listitem>
304	<para><computeroutput>extpacks</computeroutput> displays all
305	VirtualBox extension packs currently installed; see <xref
306	linkend="intro-installing" /> and <xref
307	linkend="vboxmanage-extpack" /> for more information.</para>
308	</listitem>
309	</itemizedlist></para>
310	</sect1>
311
312	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-showvminfo">
313	<title>VBoxManage showvminfo</title>
314
315	<para>The <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command shows
316	information about a particular virtual machine. This is the same
317	information as <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms --long</computeroutput>
318	would show for all virtual machines.</para>
319
320	<para>You will get information similar to the following:</para>
321
322	<para><screen>$ VBoxManage showvminfo "Windows XP"
323	VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
324	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
325	All rights reserved.
326
327	Name: Windows XP
328	Guest OS: Other/Unknown
329	UUID: 1bf3464d-57c6-4d49-92a9-a5cc3816b7e7
330	Config file: /home/username/.config/VirtualBox/Machines/Windows XP/Windows XP.xml
331	Memory size: 512MB
332	VRAM size: 12MB
333	Number of CPUs: 2
334	Synthetic Cpu: off
335	Boot menu mode: message and menu
336	Boot Device (1): DVD
337	Boot Device (2): HardDisk
338	Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
339	Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
340	ACPI: on
341	IOAPIC: on
342	PAE: on
343	Time offset: 0 ms
344	Hardw. virt.ext: on
345	Nested Paging: on
346	VT-x VPID: off
347	State: powered off (since 2009-10-20T14:52:19.000000000)
348	Monitor count: 1
349	3D Acceleration: off
350	2D Video Acceleration: off
351	Teleporter Enabled: off
352	Teleporter Port: 0
353	Teleporter Address:
354	Teleporter Password:
355	Storage Controller (0): IDE Controller
356	Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
357	Storage Controller (1): Floppy Controller 1
358	Storage Controller Type (1): I82078
359	IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/user/windows.vdi (UUID: 46f6e53a-4557-460a-9b95-68b0f17d744b)
360	IDE Controller (0, 1): /home/user/openbsd-cd46.iso (UUID: 4335e162-59d3-4512-91d5-b63e94eebe0b)
361	Floppy Controller 1 (0, 0): /home/user/floppy.img (UUID: 62ac6ccb-df36-42f2-972e-22f836368137)
362	NIC 1: disabled
363	NIC 2: disabled
364	NIC 3: disabled
365	NIC 4: disabled
366	NIC 5: disabled
367	NIC 6: disabled
368	NIC 7: disabled
369	NIC 8: disabled
370	UART 1: disabled
371	UART 2: disabled
372	Audio: disabled (Driver: Unknown)
373	Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
374	VRDE: disabled
375	USB: disabled
376
377	USB Device Filters:
378	<none>
379
380	Shared folders:
381	<none>
382
383	Statistics update: disabled</screen></para>
384	</sect1>
385
386	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-registervm">
387	<title>VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm</title>
388
389	<para>The <computeroutput>registervm</computeroutput> command allows you
390	to import a virtual machine definition in an XML file into VirtualBox. The
391	machine must not conflict with one already registered in VirtualBox and it
392	may not have any hard or removable disks attached. It is advisable to
393	place the definition file in the machines folder before registering
394	it.<note>
395	<para>When creating a new virtual machine with
396	<computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> (see below), you
397	can directly specify the <computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>
398	option to avoid having to register it separately.</para>
399	</note></para>
400
401	<para>The <computeroutput>unregistervm</computeroutput> command
402	unregisters a virtual machine. If
403	<computeroutput>--delete</computeroutput> is also specified, the following
404	files will automatically be deleted as well:<orderedlist>
405	<listitem>
406	<para>all hard disk image files, including differencing files, which
407	are used by the machine and not shared with other machines;</para>
408	</listitem>
409
410	<listitem>
411	<para>saved state files that the machine created, if any (one if the
412	machine was in "saved" state and one for each online
413	snapshot);</para>
414	</listitem>
415
416	<listitem>
417	<para>the machine XML file and its backups;</para>
418	</listitem>
419
420	<listitem>
421	<para>the machine log files, if any;</para>
422	</listitem>
423
424	<listitem>
425	<para>the machine directory, if it is empty after having deleted all
426	the above.</para>
427	</listitem>
428	</orderedlist></para>
429	</sect1>
430
431	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvm">
432	<title>VBoxManage createvm</title>
433
434	<para>This command creates a new XML virtual machine definition
435	file.</para>
436
437	<para>The <computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput> parameter
438	is required and must specify the name of the machine. Since this name is
439	used by default as the file name of the settings file (with the extension
440	<computeroutput>.xml</computeroutput>) and the machine folder (a subfolder
441	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
442	must conform to your host operating system's requirements for file name
443	specifications. If the VM is later renamed, the file and folder names will
444	change automatically.</para>
445
446	<para>However, if the <computeroutput>--basefolder
447	<path></computeroutput> option is used, the machine folder will be
448	named <computeroutput><path></computeroutput>. In this case, the
449	names of the file and the folder will not change if the virtual machine is
450	renamed.</para>
451
452	<para>By default, this command only creates the XML file without
453	automatically registering the VM with your VirtualBox installation. To
454	register the VM instantly, use the optional
455	<computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option, or run
456	<computeroutput>VBoxManage registervm</computeroutput> separately
457	afterwards.</para>
458	</sect1>
459
460	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm">
461	<title>VBoxManage modifyvm</title>
462
463	<para>This command changes the properties of a registered virtual machine
464	which is not running. Most of the properties that this command makes
465	available correspond to the VM settings that VirtualBox graphical user
466	interface displays in each VM's "Settings" dialog; these were described in
467	<xref linkend="BasicConcepts" />. Some of the more advanced settings,
468	however, are only available through the
469	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> interface.</para>
470
471	<para>These commands require that the machine is powered off (neither
472	running nor in "saved" state). Some machine settings can also be changed
473	while a machine is running; those settings will then have a corresponding
474	subcommand with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm</computeroutput>
475	subcommand (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" />).</para>
476
477	<sect2>
478	<title>General settings</title>
479
480	<para>The following general settings are available through
481	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
482	<listitem>
483	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: This
484	changes the VM's name and possibly renames the internal virtual
485	machine files, as described with <computeroutput>VBoxManage
486	createvm</computeroutput> above.</para>
487	</listitem>
488
489	<listitem>
490	<para><computeroutput>--groups <group>, ...</computeroutput>:
491	This changes the group membership of a VM. Groups always start with
492	a <computeroutput>/</computeroutput> and can be nested. By default
493	VMs are in group <computeroutput>/</computeroutput>.</para>
494	</listitem>
495
496	<listitem>
497	<para><computeroutput>--description <desc></computeroutput>:
498	This changes the VM's description, which is a way to record details
499	about the VM in a way which is meaningful for the user. The GUI
500	interprets HTML formatting, the command line allows arbitrary
501	strings potentially containing multiple lines.</para>
502	</listitem>
503
504	<listitem>
505	<para><computeroutput>--ostype <ostype></computeroutput>:
506	This specifies what guest operating system is supposed to run in
507	the VM. To learn about the various identifiers that can be used
508	here, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
509	ostypes</computeroutput>.</para>
510	</listitem>
511
512	<listitem>
513	<para><computeroutput>--memory
514	<memorysize></computeroutput>: This sets the amount of RAM,
515	in MB, that the virtual machine should allocate for itself from
516	the host. See the remarks in <xref linkend="gui-createvm" /> for
517	more information.</para>
518	</listitem>
519
520	<listitem>
521	<para><computeroutput>--vram <vramsize></computeroutput>:
522	This sets the amount of RAM that the virtual graphics card should
523	have. See <xref linkend="settings-display" /> for details.</para>
524	</listitem>
525
526	<listitem>
527	<para><computeroutput>--acpi on\|off</computeroutput>;
528	<computeroutput>--ioapic on\|off</computeroutput>: These two
529	determine whether the VM should have ACPI and I/O APIC support,
530	respectively; see <xref linkend="settings-motherboard" /> for
531	details.</para>
532	</listitem>
533
534	<listitem>
535	<para><computeroutput>--hardwareuuid
536	<uuid></computeroutput>: The UUID presented to the guest via
537	memory tables (DMI/SMBIOS), hardware and guest properties. By
538	default this is the same as the VM uuid. Useful when cloning a VM.
539	Teleporting takes care of this automatically.</para>
540	</listitem>
541
542	<listitem>
543	<para><computeroutput>--cpus <cpucount></computeroutput>:
544	This sets the number of virtual CPUs for the virtual machine (see
545	<xref linkend="settings-processor" />). If CPU hot-plugging is
546	enabled (see below), this then sets the
547	<emphasis>maximum</emphasis> number of virtual CPUs that can be
548	plugged into the virtual machines.</para>
549	</listitem>
550
551	<listitem>
552	<para><computeroutput>--cpuhotplug on\|off</computeroutput>: This
553	enables CPU hot-plugging. When enabled, virtual CPUs can be added
554	to and removed from a virtual machine while it is running. See
555	<xref linkend="cpuhotplug" /> for more information.</para>
556	</listitem>
557
558	<listitem>
559	<para><computeroutput>--plugcpu\|unplugcpu
560	<id></computeroutput>: If CPU hot-plugging is enabled (see
561	above), this adds a virtual CPU to the virtual machines (or
562	removes one). <computeroutput><id></computeroutput>
563	specifies the index of the virtual CPU to be added or removed and
564	must be a number from 0 to the maximum no. of CPUs configured with
565	the <computeroutput>--cpus</computeroutput> option. CPU 0 can
566	never be removed.</para>
567	</listitem>
568
569	<listitem>
570	<para><computeroutput>--cpuexecutioncap
571	<1-100></computeroutput>: This setting controls how much cpu
572	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual
573	CPU can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
574	</listitem>
575
576	<listitem>
577	<para><computeroutput>--pae on\|off</computeroutput>: This
578	enables/disables PAE (see <xref
579	linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
580	</listitem>
581
582	<listitem>
583	<para><computeroutput>--longmode on\|off</computeroutput>: This
584	enables/disables long mode (see <xref
585	linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
586	</listitem>
587
588	<listitem>
589	<para><computeroutput>--synthcpu on\|off</computeroutput>: This
590	setting determines whether VirtualBox will expose a synthetic CPU
591	to the guest to allow live migration between host systems that
592	differ significantly.</para>
593	</listitem>
594
595	<listitem>
596	<para><computeroutput>--hpet on\|off</computeroutput>: This
597	enables/disables a High Precision Event Timer (HPET) which can
598	replace the legacy system timers. This is turned off by default.
599	Note that Windows supports a HPET only from Vista onwards.</para>
600	</listitem>
601
602	<listitem>
603	<para><computeroutput>--hwvirtex on\|off</computeroutput>: This
604	enables or disables the use of hardware virtualization extensions
605	(Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the processor of your host system; see
606	<xref linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
607	</listitem>
608
609	<listitem>
610	<para><computeroutput>--triplefaultreset on\|off</computeroutput>:
611	This setting allows to reset the guest instead of triggering a
612	Guru Meditation. Some guests raise a triple fault to reset the
613	CPU so sometimes this is desired behavior. Works only for non-SMP
614	guests.</para>
615	</listitem>
616
617	<listitem>
618	<para><computeroutput>--paravirtprovider
619	none\|default\|legacy\|minimal\|hyperv\|kvm</computeroutput>: This
620	setting specifies which paravirtualization interface to provide to
621	the guest operating system. Specifying
622	<computeroutput>none</computeroutput> explicitly turns off exposing
623	any paravirtualization interface. The option
624	<computeroutput>default</computeroutput>, will pick an appropriate
625	interface depending on the guest OS type while starting the VM.
626	This is the default option chosen while creating new VMs. The
627	<computeroutput>legacy</computeroutput> option is chosen for VMs
628	which were created with older VirtualBox versions and will pick a
629	paravirtualization interface while starting the VM with VirtualBox
630	5.0 and newer. The <computeroutput>minimal</computeroutput> provider
631	is mandatory for Mac OS X guests, while
632	<computeroutput>kvm</computeroutput> and
633	<computeroutput>hyperv</computeroutput> are recommended for Linux
634	and Windows guests respectively. These options are explained in
635	detail under <xref linkend="gimproviders" />.</para>
636	</listitem>
637
638	<listitem>
639	<para><computeroutput>--nestedpaging on\|off</computeroutput>: If
640	hardware virtualization is enabled, this additional setting
641	enables or disables the use of the nested paging feature in the
642	processor of your host system; see <xref
643	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
644	</listitem>
645
646	<listitem>
647	<para><computeroutput>--largepages on\|off</computeroutput>: If
648	hardware virtualization <emphasis>and</emphasis> nested paging are
649	enabled, for Intel VT-x only, an additional performance
650	improvement of up to 5% can be obtained by enabling this setting.
651	This causes the hypervisor to use large pages to reduce TLB use
652	and overhead.</para>
653	</listitem>
654
655	<listitem>
656	<para><computeroutput>--vtxvpid on\|off</computeroutput>: If
657	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
658	additional setting enables or disables the use of the tagged TLB
659	(VPID) feature in the processor of your host system; see <xref
660	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
661	</listitem>
662
663	<listitem>
664	<para><computeroutput>--vtxux on\|off</computeroutput>: If
665	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
666	setting enables or disables the use of the unrestricted guest mode
667	feature for executing your guest.</para>
668	</listitem>
669
670	<listitem>
671	<para><computeroutput>--accelerate3d on\|off</computeroutput>: This
672	enables, if the Guest Additions are installed, whether hardware 3D
673	acceleration should be available; see <xref
674	linkend="guestadd-3d" />.</para>
675	</listitem>
676
677	<listitem>
678	<para><computeroutput>--accelerate2dvideo on\|off</computeroutput>:
679	This enables, if the Guest Additions are installed, whether 2D video
680	acceleration should be available; see <xref
681	linkend="guestadd-2d" />.</para>
682	</listitem>
683
684	<listitem>
685	<para><computeroutput>--chipset piix3\|ich9</computeroutput>:
686	By default VirtualBox emulates an Intel PIIX3 chipset. Usually there
687	is no reason to change the default setting unless it is required to
688	relax some of its constraints; see <xref
689	linkend="settings-motherboard" />.</para>
690	</listitem>
691
692	<listitem>
693	<para>You can influence the BIOS logo that is displayed when a
694	virtual machine starts up with a number of settings. Per default,
695	a VirtualBox logo is displayed.</para>
696
697	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogofadein
698	on\|off</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>--bioslogofadeout
699	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can determine whether the logo should
700	fade in and out, respectively.</para>
701
702	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogodisplaytime
703	<msec></computeroutput> you can set how long the logo should
704	be visible, in milliseconds.</para>
705
706	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogoimagepath
707	<imagepath></computeroutput> you can, if you are so
708	inclined, replace the image that is shown, with your own logo. The
709	image must be an uncompressed 256 color BMP file without color
710	space information (Windows 3.0 format). The image must not be
711	bigger than 640 x 480.</para>
712	</listitem>
713
714	<listitem>
715	<para><computeroutput>--biosbootmenu
716	disabled\|menuonly\|messageandmenu</computeroutput>: This specifies
717	whether the BIOS allows the user to select a temporary boot
718	device. <computeroutput>menuonly</computeroutput> suppresses the
719	message, but the user can still press F12 to select a temporary
720	boot device.</para>
721	</listitem>
722
723	<listitem>
724	<para><computeroutput>--nicbootprio<1-N>
725	<priority></computeroutput>: This specifies the order in which
726	NICs are tried for booting over the network (using PXE). The
727	priority is an integer in the 0 to 4 range. Priority 1 is the
728	highest, priority 4 is low. Priority 0, which is the default unless
729	otherwise specified, is the lowest.
730	</para>
731	<para> Note that this option only has effect when the Intel PXE boot
732	ROM is used.
733	</para>
734	</listitem>
735
736	<listitem>
737	<para><computeroutput>--biospxedebug on\|off</computeroutput>:
738	This option enables additional debugging output when using the
739	Intel PXE boot ROM. The output will be written to the release log
740	file (<xref linkend="collect-debug-info" />.</para>
741	</listitem>
742
743	<listitem>
744	<para><computeroutput>--boot<1-4>
745	none\|floppy\|dvd\|disk\|net</computeroutput>: This specifies the boot
746	order for the virtual machine. There are four "slots", which the
747	VM will try to access from 1 to 4, and for each of which you can
748	set a device that the VM should attempt to boot from.</para>
749	</listitem>
750
751	<listitem>
752	<para><computeroutput>--rtcuseutc on\|off</computeroutput>: This
753	option lets the real-time clock (RTC) operate in UTC time (see
754	<xref linkend="settings-motherboard" />).</para>
755	</listitem>
756
757	<listitem>
758	<para><computeroutput>--biossystemtimeoffset <ms></computeroutput>:
759	This allows you to set a fixed time offset of the guest relative to
760	the host time. The offset is specified in milliseconds. If the offset
761	is positive the guest time runs ahead the host time.</para>
762	</listitem>
763
764	<listitem>
765	<para><computeroutput>--snapshotfolder
766	default\|<path></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
767	the folder in which snapshots will be kept for a virtual
768	machine.</para>
769	</listitem>
770
771	<listitem>
772	<para><computeroutput>--firmware efi\|bios</computeroutput>:
773	Specifies which firmware is used to boot particular virtual
774	machine: EFI or BIOS. Use EFI only if your fully understand what
775	you're doing.</para>
776	</listitem>
777
778	<listitem>
779	<para><computeroutput>--guestmemoryballoon
780	<size></computeroutput> sets the default size of the guest
781	memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest
782	Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the
783	hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines.
784	<computeroutput><size></computeroutput> must be specified in
785	megabytes. The default size is 0 megabytes. For details,
786	see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
787	</listitem>
788
789	<listitem>
790	<para><computeroutput>--defaultfrontend
791	default\|<name></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
792	the default frontend which will be used when starting this VM; see
793	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
794	</listitem>
795	</itemizedlist></para>
796	</sect2>
797
798	<sect2>
799	<title>Networking settings</title>
800
801	<para>The following networking settings are available through
802	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
803	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
804	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings
805	should be changed.<itemizedlist>
806	<listitem>
807	<para><computeroutput>--nic<1-N>
808	none\|null\|nat\|natnetwork\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic</computeroutput>:
809	With this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards,
810	what type of networking should be available. They can be not
811	present (<computeroutput>none</computeroutput>), not connected to
812	the host (<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network
813	address translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>),
814	use the new network address translation engine
815	(<computeroutput>natnetwork</computeroutput>),
816	bridged networking (<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or
817	communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking
818	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>), host-only networking
819	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>), or access rarely used
820	sub-modes (<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>).
821	These options correspond
822	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
823	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
824	</listitem>
825
826	<listitem>
827	<para><computeroutput>--nicpromisc<1-N>
828	deny\|allow-vms\|allow-all</computeroutput>:
829	This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
830	specify how the promiscious mode is handled. This setting is only
831	relevant for bridged networking.
832	<computeroutput>deny</computeroutput> (default setting) hides
833	any traffic not intended for this VM.
834	<computeroutput>allow-vms</computeroutput> hides all host
835	traffic from this VM but allows the VM to see traffic from/to other
836	VMs.
837	<computeroutput>allow-all</computeroutput> removes this
838	restriction completely.</para>
839	</listitem>
840
841	<listitem>
842	<para><computeroutput>--nictype<1-N>
843	Am79C970A\|Am79C973\|82540EM\|82543GC\|82545EM\|virtio</computeroutput>:
844	This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
845	specify which networking hardware VirtualBox presents to the
846	guest; see <xref linkend="nichardware" />.</para>
847	</listitem>
848
849	<listitem>
850	<para><computeroutput>--cableconnected<1-N>
851	on\|off</computeroutput>: This allows you to temporarily disconnect
852	a virtual network interface, as if a network cable had been pulled
853	from a real network card. This might be useful for resetting
854	certain software components in the VM.</para>
855	</listitem>
856
857	<listitem>
858	<para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
859	network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
860	purposes.</para>
861
862	<para>With <computeroutput>--nictrace<1-N>
863	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
864	particular virtual network card.</para>
865
866	<para>If enabled, you must specify with
867	<computeroutput>--nictracefile<1-N>
868	<filename></computeroutput> what file the trace should be
869	logged to.</para>
870	</listitem>
871
872	<listitem>
873	<para><computeroutput>--natnet<1-N>
874	<network>\|default</computeroutput>:
875	If the networking type is set to <computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>
876	(not <computeroutput>natnetwork</computeroutput>) then this
877	setting specifies the IP address range to be used for
878	this network. See <xref linkend="changenat" /> for an
879	example.</para>
880	</listitem>
881
882	<listitem>
883	<para><computeroutput>--nat-network<1-N> <network
884	name></computeroutput>: If the networking type is set to
885	<computeroutput>natnetwork</computeroutput> (not
886	<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>) then this setting specifies
887	the name of the NAT network this adapter is connected to.</para>
888	</listitem>
889
890	This allows you to change the address range occupied by
891	<listitem>
892	<para><computeroutput>--bridgeadapter<1-N>
893	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If bridged networking
894	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the
895	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
896	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host
897	interface the given virtual network interface will use. For
898	details, please see <xref linkend="network_bridged" />.</para>
899	</listitem>
900
901	<listitem>
902	<para><computeroutput>--hostonlyadapter<1-N>
903	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If host-only networking
904	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the --nic option
905	above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to
906	specify which host-only networking interface the given virtual
907	network interface will use. For details, please see <xref
908	linkend="network_hostonly" />.</para>
909	</listitem>
910
911	<listitem>
912	<para><computeroutput>--intnet<1-N>
913	network</computeroutput>: If internal networking has been enabled
914	for a virtual network card (see the
915	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
916	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify the name
917	of the internal network (see <xref
918	linkend="network_internal" />).</para>
919	</listitem>
920
921	<listitem>
922	<para><computeroutput>--macaddress<1-N>
923	auto\|<mac></computeroutput>: With this option you can set
924	the MAC address of the virtual network card. Normally, each
925	virtual network card is assigned a random address by VirtualBox at
926	VM creation.</para>
927	</listitem>
928
929	<listitem>
930	<para><computeroutput>--nicgenericdrv<1-N>
931	<backend driver></computeroutput>: If generic networking has been
932	enabled for a virtual network card (see the
933	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
934	this setting has no effect), this mode allows you to access
935	rarely used networking sub-modes, such as VDE network or UDP Tunnel.
936	</para>
937	</listitem>
938
939	<listitem>
940	<para><computeroutput>--nicproperty<1-N>
941	<paramname>="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
942	This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
943	pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
944	Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
945	between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
946	please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
947	</para>
948	</listitem>
949	</itemizedlist></para>
950
951	<sect3>
952	<title>NAT Networking settings.</title>
953
954	<para>The following NAT networking settings are available through
955	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
956	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
957	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose
958	settings should be changed.<itemizedlist>
959	<listitem>
960	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N>
961	[<name>],tcp\|udp,[<hostip>],<hostport>,[<guestip>],
962	<guestport></computeroutput>: This option defines a NAT
963	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
964	for details).</para>
965	</listitem>
966
967	<listitem>
968	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N> delete
969	<name></computeroutput>: This option deletes a NAT
970	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
971	for details).</para>
972	</listitem>
973
974	<listitem>
975	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpprefix<1-N>
976	<prefix></computeroutput>: This option defines a prefix
977	for the built-in TFTP server, i.e. where the boot file is
978	located (please see <xref linkend="nat-tftp" /> and <xref
979	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
980	</listitem>
981
982	<listitem>
983	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpfile<1-N>
984	<bootfile></computeroutput>: This option defines the TFT
985	boot file (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for
986	details).</para>
987	</listitem>
988
989	<listitem>
990	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpserver<1-N>
991	<tftpserver></computeroutput>: This option defines the
992	TFTP server address to boot from (please see <xref
993	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
994	</listitem>
995
996	<listitem>
997	<para><computeroutput>--natdnspassdomain<1-N>
998	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option specifies whether the
999	built-in DHCP server passes the domain name for network name
1000	resolution.</para>
1001	</listitem>
1002
1003	<listitem>
1004	<para><computeroutput>--natdnsproxy<1-N>
1005	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine proxy
1006	all guest DNS requests to the host's DNS servers (please see
1007	<xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
1008	</listitem>
1009
1010	<listitem>
1011	<para><computeroutput>--natdnshostresolver<1-N>
1012	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine use
1013	the host's resolver mechanisms to handle DNS requests (please
1014	see <xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
1015	</listitem>
1016
1017	<listitem>
1018	<para><computeroutput>--natsettings<1-N>
1019	[<mtu>],[<socksnd>],[<sockrcv>],[<tcpsnd>],
1020	[<tcprcv>]</computeroutput>: This option controls several
1021	NAT settings (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-settings" /> for
1022	details).</para>
1023	</listitem>
1024
1025	<listitem>
1026	<para><computeroutput>--nataliasmode<1-N>
1027	default\|[log],[proxyonly],[sameports]</computeroutput>: This
1028	option defines behaviour of NAT engine core: log - enables
1029	logging, proxyonly - switches of aliasing mode makes NAT
1030	transparent, sameports enforces NAT engine to send packets via
1031	the same port as they originated on, default - disable all
1032	mentioned modes above . (please see <xref
1033	linkend="nat-adv-alias" /> for details).</para>
1034	</listitem>
1035	</itemizedlist></para>
1036	</sect3>
1037	</sect2>
1038
1039	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other">
1040	<title>Miscellaneous settings</title>
1041
1042	<para>The following other hardware settings, such as serial port, audio,
1043	clipboard, drag'n drop, monitor and USB settings are available through
1044	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
1045	<listitem>
1046	<para><computeroutput>--uart<1-N> off\|<I/O base>
1047	<IRQ></computeroutput>: With this option you can configure
1048	virtual serial ports for the VM; see <xref
1049	linkend="serialports" /> for an introduction.</para>
1050	</listitem>
1051
1052	<listitem>
1053	<para><computeroutput>--uartmode<1-N>
1054	<arg></computeroutput>: This setting controls how VirtualBox
1055	connects a given virtual serial port (previously configured with
1056	the <computeroutput>--uartX</computeroutput> setting, see above)
1057	to the host on which the virtual machine is running. As described
1058	in detail in <xref linkend="serialports" />, for each such port,
1059	you can specify <computeroutput><arg></computeroutput> as
1060	one of the following options:<itemizedlist>
1061	<listitem>
1062	<para><computeroutput>disconnected</computeroutput>: Even
1063	though the serial port is shown to the guest, it has no
1064	"other end" -- like a real COM port without a cable.</para>
1065	</listitem>
1066
1067	<listitem>
1068	<para><computeroutput>server
1069	<pipename></computeroutput>: On a Windows host, this
1070	tells VirtualBox to create a named pipe on the host named
1071	<computeroutput><pipename></computeroutput> and
1072	connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that Windows
1073	requires that the name of a named pipe begin with
1074	<computeroutput>\\.\pipe\</computeroutput>.</para>
1075
1076	<para>On a Linux host, instead of a named pipe, a local
1077	domain socket is used.</para>
1078	</listitem>
1079
1080	<listitem>
1081	<para><computeroutput>client
1082	<pipename></computeroutput>: This operates just like
1083	<computeroutput>server ...</computeroutput>, except that the
1084	pipe (or local domain socket) is not created by VirtualBox,
1085	but assumed to exist already.</para>
1086	</listitem>
1087
1088	<listitem>
1089	<para><computeroutput>tcpserver
1090	<port></computeroutput>: This
1091	tells VirtualBox to create a TCP socket on the host with TCP
1092	<computeroutput><port></computeroutput> and
1093	connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that UNIX-like
1094	systems require ports over 1024 for normal users.</para>
1095	</listitem>
1096
1097	<listitem>
1098	<para><computeroutput>tcpclient
1099	<hostname:port></computeroutput>: This operates just like
1100	<computeroutput>tcpserver ...</computeroutput>, except that the
1101	TCP socket is not created by VirtualBox,
1102	but assumed to exist already.</para>
1103	</listitem>
1104
1105	<listitem>
1106	<para><computeroutput><devicename></computeroutput>:
1107	If, instead of the above, the device name of a physical
1108	hardware serial port of the host is specified, the virtual
1109	serial port is connected to that hardware port. On a Windows
1110	host, the device name will be a COM port such as
1111	<computeroutput>COM1</computeroutput>; on a Linux host, the
1112	device name will look like
1113	<computeroutput>/dev/ttyS0</computeroutput>. This allows you
1114	to "wire" a real serial port to a virtual machine.</para>
1115	</listitem>
1116	</itemizedlist></para>
1117	</listitem>
1118
1119	<listitem>
1120	<para><computeroutput>--lptmode<1-N>
1121	<Device></computeroutput>:
1122	Specifies the Device Name of the parallel port that
1123	the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
1124	<emphasis>before</emphasis> <computeroutput>--lpt</computeroutput>.
1125	This feature is host operating system specific.</para>
1126	</listitem>
1127
1128	<listitem>
1129	<para><computeroutput>--lpt<1-N>
1130	<I/O base> <IRQ></computeroutput>:
1131	Specifies the I/O address of the parallel port and the IRQ
1132	number that the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
1133	<emphasis>after</emphasis>
1134	<computeroutput>--lptmod</computeroutput>. I/O base address and IRQ are
1135	the values that guest sees i.e. the values avalable under guest Device Manager.</para>
1136	</listitem>
1137
1138	<listitem>
1139	<para><computeroutput>--audio none\|null\|oss</computeroutput>: With
1140	this option, you can set whether the VM should have audio
1141	support.</para>
1142	</listitem>
1143
1144	<listitem>
1145	<para><computeroutput>--clipboard
1146	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1147	With this setting, you can select if and how the guest or host
1148	operating system's clipboard should be shared with the host or guest;
1149	see <xref linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
1150	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1151	</listitem>
1152
1153	<listitem>
1154	<para><computeroutput>--draganddrop
1155	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1156	With this setting, you can select the current drag'n drop mode
1157	being used between the host and the virtual machine;
1158	see <xref linkend="guestadd-dnd" />. This requires that the Guest
1159	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1160	</listitem>
1161
1162	<listitem>
1163	<para><computeroutput>--monitorcount
1164	<count></computeroutput>: This enables multi-monitor
1165	support; see <xref linkend="settings-display" />.</para>
1166	</listitem>
1167
1168	<listitem>
1169	<para><computeroutput>--usb on\|off</computeroutput>: This option
1170	enables or disables the VM's virtual USB controller; see <xref
1171	linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1172	</listitem>
1173
1174	<listitem>
1175	<para><computeroutput>--usbehci on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1176	option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 2.0 controller;
1177	see <xref linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1178	</listitem>
1179
1180	<listitem>
1181	<para><computeroutput>--usbxhci on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1182	option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 3.0 controller;
1183	see <xref linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1184	</listitem>
1185	</itemizedlist></para>
1186
1187	<!-- @todo r=andy Document tracing-* commands -->
1188	</sect2>
1189
1190	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-vrde">
1191	<title>Remote machine settings</title>
1192
1193	<para>The following settings that affect remote machine behavior are
1194	available through <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1195	modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
1196	<listitem>
1197	<para><computeroutput>--vrde on\|off</computeroutput>:
1198	This enables or disables the VirtualBox remote desktop extension
1199	(VRDE) server.</para>
1200	</listitem>
1201
1202	<!-- @todo r=andy Document vrdeproperty -->
1203
1204	<listitem>
1205	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeextpack default\|<name></computeroutput>:
1206	Allows to specify the library to use for to access the VM
1207	remotely. The default is to use the RDP code which is part of the
1208	Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack.</para>
1209	</listitem>
1210
1211	<listitem>
1212	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeport
1213	default\|<ports></computeroutput>: A port or a range of ports
1214	the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the
1215	standard port for RDP. You can specify a comma-separated list of
1216	ports or ranges of ports. Use a dash between two port numbers to
1217	specify a range. The VRDE server will bind to <emphasis
1218	role="bold">one</emphasis> of available ports from the specified
1219	list. Only one machine can use a given port at a time. For
1220	example, the option <computeroutput> --vrdeport
1221	5000,5010-5012</computeroutput> will tell the server to bind to
1222	one of following ports: 5000, 5010, 5011 or 5012.</para>
1223	</listitem>
1224
1225	<listitem>
1226	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeaddress <IP
1227	address></computeroutput>: The IP address of the host network
1228	interface the VRDE server will bind to. If specified, the server
1229	will accept connections only on the specified host network
1230	interface.</para>
1231	<para>The setting can be used to specify whether the VRDP server
1232	should accept either IPv4 or IPv6 or both connections:
1233	<itemizedlist>
1234	<listitem>
1235	<para>only IPv4: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "0.0.0.0"
1236	</computeroutput></para>
1237	</listitem>
1238	<listitem>
1239	<para>only IPv6: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "::"
1240	</computeroutput></para>
1241	</listitem>
1242	<listitem>
1243	<para>both IPv6 and IPv4 (default): <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress ""
1244	</computeroutput></para>
1245	</listitem>
1246	</itemizedlist></para>
1247	</listitem>
1248
1249	<listitem>
1250	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeauthtype
1251	null\|external\|guest</computeroutput>: This allows you to choose
1252	whether and how authorization will be performed; see <xref
1253	linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
1254	</listitem>
1255
1256	<listitem>
1257	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeauthlibrary
1258	default\|<name></computeroutput>: This allos to set the
1259	library used for RDP authentication, see <xref lang=""
1260	linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
1261	</listitem>
1262
1263	<listitem>
1264	<para><computeroutput>--vrdemulticon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1265	enables multiple connections to the same VRDE server, if the
1266	server supports this feature; see <xref lang=""
1267	linkend="vrde-multiconnection" />.</para>
1268	</listitem>
1269
1270	<listitem>
1271	<para><computeroutput>--vrdereusecon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1272	specifies the VRDE server behavior when multiple connections are
1273	disabled. When this option is enabled, the server will allow a new
1274	client to connect and will drop the existing connection. When this
1275	option is disabled (this is the default setting), a new connection
1276	will not be accepted if there is already a client connected to the
1277	server.</para>
1278	</listitem>
1279
1280	<listitem>
1281	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannel on\|off</computeroutput>:
1282	This enables video redirection, if it is supported by the VRDE
1283	server; see <xref lang="" linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1284	</listitem>
1285
1286	<listitem>
1287	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannelquality
1288	<percent></computeroutput>: Sets the image quality for video
1289	redirection; see <xref lang=""
1290	linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1291	</listitem>
1292	</itemizedlist></para>
1293	</sect2>
1294
1295	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport">
1296	<title>Teleporting settings</title>
1297
1298	<para>With the following commands for <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1299	modifyvm</computeroutput> you can configure a machine to be a target for
1300	teleporting. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an
1301	introduction.<itemizedlist>
1302	<listitem>
1303	<para><computeroutput>--teleporter on\|off</computeroutput>: With
1304	this setting you turn on or off whether a machine waits for a
1305	teleporting request to come in on the network when it is started.
1306	If "on", when the machine is started, it does not boot the virtual
1307	machine as it would normally; instead, it then waits for a
1308	teleporting request to come in on the port and address listed with
1309	the next two parameters.</para>
1310	</listitem>
1311
1312	<listitem>
1313	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterport
1314	<port></computeroutput>, <computeroutput>--teleporteraddress
1315	<address></computeroutput>: these must be used with
1316	--teleporter and tell the virtual machine on which port and
1317	address it should listen for a teleporting request from another
1318	virtual machine. <computeroutput><port></computeroutput> can
1319	be any free TCP/IP port number (e.g. 6000);
1320	<computeroutput><address></computeroutput> can be any IP
1321	address or hostname and specifies the TCP/IP socket to bind to.
1322	The default is "0.0.0.0", which means any address.</para>
1323	</listitem>
1324
1325	<listitem>
1326	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpassword
1327	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1328	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1329	source machine specifies the same password as the one given with
1330	this command.</para>
1331	</listitem>
1332
1333	<listitem>
1334	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpasswordfile
1335	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1336	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1337	source machine specifies the same password as the one specified
1338	in the file give with this command. Use <computeroutput>stdin</computeroutput>
1339	to read the password from stdin.</para>
1340	</listitem>
1341
1342	<listitem>
1343	<para><computeroutput>--cpuid <leaf> <eax> <ebx>
1344	<ecx> <edx></computeroutput>: Advanced users can use
1345	this command before a teleporting operation to restrict the
1346	virtual CPU capabilities that VirtualBox presents to the guest
1347	operating system. This must be run on both the source and the
1348	target machines involved in the teleporting and will then modify
1349	what the guest sees when it executes the
1350	<computeroutput>CPUID</computeroutput> machine instruction. This
1351	might help with misbehaving applications that wrongly assume that
1352	certain CPU capabilities are present. The meaning of the
1353	parameters is hardware dependent; please refer to the AMD or Intel
1354	processor manuals.</para>
1355	</listitem>
1356	</itemizedlist></para>
1357	</sect2>
1358
1359	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-debugging">
1360	<title>Debugging settings</title>
1361
1362	<para>The following settings are only relevant for low-level VM
1363	debugging. Regular users will never need these settings.<itemizedlist>
1364	<listitem>
1365	<para><computeroutput>--tracing-enabled on\|off</computeroutput>:
1366	Enable the tracebuffer. This consumes some memory for the tracebuffer
1367	and adds extra overhead.</para>
1368	</listitem>
1369	<listitem>
1370	<para><computeroutput>--tracing-config <config-string></computeroutput>:
1371	Allows to configure tracing. In particular this defines which group of
1372	tracepoints are enabled.</para>
1373	</listitem>
1374	</itemizedlist>
1375	</para>
1376	</sect2>
1377
1378	</sect1>
1379
1380	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevm">
1381	<title>VBoxManage clonevm</title>
1382
1383	<para>This command creates a full or linked copy of an existing virtual
1384	machine.</para>
1385
1386	<para>The <computeroutput>clonevm</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1387	least the name of the virtual machine which should be cloned. The following
1388	additional settings can be used to further configure the clone VM
1389	operation:</para>
1390
1391	<itemizedlist>
1392	<listitem>
1393	<para><computeroutput>--snapshot <uuid>\|<name></computeroutput>:
1394	Select a specific snapshot where the clone operation should refer
1395	to. Default is referring to the current state.</para>
1396	</listitem>
1397	<listitem>
1398	<para><computeroutput>--mode machine\|machineandchildren\|all</computeroutput>:
1399	Selects the cloning mode of the operation. If
1400	<computeroutput>machine</computeroutput> is selected (the default),
1401	the current state of the VM without any snapshots is cloned. In the
1402	<computeroutput>machineandchildren</computeroutput> mode the snapshot
1403	provided by <computeroutput>--snapshot</computeroutput> and all
1404	child snapshots are cloned. If <computeroutput>all</computeroutput>
1405	is the selected mode all snapshots and the current state are cloned.
1406	</para>
1407	</listitem>
1408	<listitem>
1409	<para><computeroutput>--options link\|keepallmacs\|keepnatmacs\|keepdisknames</computeroutput>:
1410	Allows additional fine tuning of the clone operation. The first
1411	option defines that a linked clone should be created, which is
1412	only possible for a machine clone from a snapshot. The next two
1413	options allow to define how the MAC addresses of every virtual
1414	network card should be handled. They can either be reinitialized
1415	(the default), left unchanged
1416	(<computeroutput>keepallmacs</computeroutput>) or left unchanged
1417	when the network type is NAT
1418	(<computeroutput>keepnatmacs</computeroutput>). If you add
1419	<computeroutput>keepdisknames</computeroutput> all new disk images
1420	are called like the original ones, otherwise they are
1421	renamed.</para>
1422	</listitem>
1423	<listitem>
1424	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: Select a
1425	new name for the new virtual machine. Default is "Original Name
1426	Clone".</para>
1427	</listitem>
1428	<listitem>
1429	<para><computeroutput>--basefolder <basefolder></computeroutput>:
1430	Select the folder where the new virtual machine configuration should
1431	be saved in.</para>
1432	</listitem>
1433	<listitem>
1434	<para><computeroutput>--uuid <uuid></computeroutput>:
1435	Select the UUID the new VM should have. This id has to be unique in
1436	the VirtualBox instance this clone should be registered. Default is
1437	creating a new UUID.</para>
1438	</listitem>
1439	<listitem>
1440	<para><computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>:
1441	Automatically register the new clone in this VirtualBox
1442	installation. If you manually want to register the new VM later, see
1443	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" /> for instructions how to do
1444	so.</para>
1445	</listitem>
1446	</itemizedlist>
1447	</sect1>
1448
1449	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-import">
1450	<title>VBoxManage import</title>
1451
1452	<para>This command imports a virtual appliance in OVF format by copying
1453	the virtual disk images and creating virtual machines in VirtualBox. See
1454	<xref linkend="ovf" /> for an introduction to appliances.</para>
1455
1456	<para>The <computeroutput>import</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1457	least the path name of an OVF file as input and expects the disk images,
1458	if needed, in the same directory as the OVF file. A lot of additional
1459	command-line options are supported to control in detail what is being
1460	imported and modify the import parameters, but the details depend on the
1461	content of the OVF file.</para>
1462
1463	<para>It is therefore recommended to first run the import subcommand with
1464	the <computeroutput>--dry-run</computeroutput> or
1465	<computeroutput>-n</computeroutput> option. This will then print a
1466	description of the appliance's contents to the screen how it would be
1467	imported into VirtualBox, together with the optional command-line options
1468	to influence the import behavior.</para>
1469
1470	<para>As an example, here is the screen output with a sample appliance
1471	containing a Windows XP guest:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf --dry-run
1472	Interpreting WindowsXp.ovf...
1473	OK.
1474	Virtual system 0:
1475	0: Suggested OS type: "WindowsXP"
1476	(change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all)
1477	1: Suggested VM name "Windows XP Professional_1"
1478	(change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
1479	3: Number of CPUs: 1
1480	(change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
1481	4: Guest memory: 956 MB (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
1482	5: Sound card (appliance expects "ensoniq1371", can change on import)
1483	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
1484	6: USB controller
1485	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
1486	7: Network adapter: orig bridged, config 2, extra type=bridged
1487	8: Floppy
1488	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
1489	9: SCSI controller, type BusLogic
1490	(change with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --scsitype {BusLogic\|LsiLogic}";
1491	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
1492	10: IDE controller, type PIIX4
1493	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
1494	11: Hard disk image: source image=WindowsXp.vmdk,
1495	target path=/home/user/disks/WindowsXp.vmdk, controller=9;channel=0
1496	(change controller with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --controller <id>";
1497	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")</screen></para>
1498
1499	<para>As you can see, the individual configuration items are numbered, and
1500	depending on their type support different command-line options. The import
1501	subcommand can be directed to ignore many such items with a
1502	<computeroutput>--vsys X --unit Y --ignore</computeroutput> option, where
1503	X is the number of the virtual system (zero unless there are several
1504	virtual system descriptions in the appliance) and Y the item number, as
1505	printed on the screen.</para>
1506
1507	<para>In the above example, Item #1 specifies the name of the target
1508	machine in VirtualBox. Items #9 and #10 specify hard disk controllers,
1509	respectively. Item #11 describes a hard disk image; in this case, the
1510	additional <computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput> option indicates
1511	which item the disk image should be connected to, with the default coming
1512	from the OVF file.</para>
1513
1514	<para>You can combine several items for the same virtual system behind the
1515	same <computeroutput>--vsys</computeroutput> option. For example, to
1516	import a machine as described in the OVF, but without the sound card and
1517	without the USB controller, and with the disk image connected to the IDE
1518	controller instead of the SCSI controller, use this:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf
1519	--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore --unit 6 --ignore --unit 11 --controller 10</screen></para>
1520	</sect1>
1521
1522	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-export">
1523	<title>VBoxManage export</title>
1524
1525	<para>This command exports one or more virtual machines from VirtualBox
1526	into a virtual appliance in OVF format, including copying their virtual
1527	disk images to compressed VMDK. See <xref linkend="ovf" /> for an
1528	introduction to appliances.</para>
1529
1530	<para>The <computeroutput>export</computeroutput> command is simple to
1531	use: list the machine (or the machines) that you would like to export to
1532	the same OVF file and specify the target OVF file after an additional
1533	<computeroutput>--output</computeroutput> or
1534	<computeroutput>-o</computeroutput> option. Note that the directory of the
1535	target OVF file will also receive the exported disk images in the
1536	compressed VMDK format (regardless of the original format) and should have
1537	enough disk space left for them.</para>
1538
1539	<para>Beside a simple export of a given virtual machine, you can append
1540	several product information to the appliance file. Use
1541	<computeroutput>--product</computeroutput>,
1542	<computeroutput>--producturl</computeroutput>,
1543	<computeroutput>--vendor</computeroutput>,
1544	<computeroutput>--vendorurl</computeroutput> and
1545	<computeroutput>--version</computeroutput> to specify this additional
1546	information. For legal reasons you may add a license text or the content
1547	of a license file by using the <computeroutput>--eula</computeroutput> and
1548	<computeroutput>--eulafile</computeroutput> option respectively. As with
1549	OVF import, you must use the <computeroutput>--vsys X</computeroutput>
1550	option to direct the previously mentioned options to the correct virtual
1551	machine.</para>
1552
1553	<para>For virtualization products which aren't fully compatible with the
1554	OVF standard 1.0 you can enable a OVF 0.9 legacy mode with the
1555	<computeroutput>--legacy09</computeroutput> option.</para>
1556
1557	<para>To specify options controlling the exact content of the appliance
1558	file, you can use <computeroutput>--option</computeroutput> to request the
1559	creation of a manifest file (encouraged, allows detection of corrupted
1560	appliances on import), the additional export of DVD images, and the
1561	exclusion of MAC addresses. You can specify a list of options, e.g.
1562	<computeroutput>--option manifest,nomacs</computeroutput>. For details,
1563	check the help output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage export</computeroutput>.</para>
1564	</sect1>
1565
1566	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-startvm">
1567	<title>VBoxManage startvm</title>
1568
1569	<para>This command starts a virtual machine that is currently in the
1570	"Powered off" or "Saved" states.</para>
1571
1572	<para>The optional <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> specifier
1573	determines whether the machine will be started in a window or whether the
1574	output should go through <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>,
1575	with VRDE enabled or not; see <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more
1576	information. The list of types is subject to change, and it's not
1577	guaranteed that all types are accepted by any product variant.</para>
1578
1579	<para>The global or per-VM default value for the VM frontend type will be
1580	taken if the type is not explicitly specified. If none of these are set,
1581	the GUI variant will be started.</para>
1582
1583	<para>The following values are allowed:</para>
1584
1585	<glosslist>
1586	<glossentry>
1587	<glossterm><computeroutput>gui</computeroutput></glossterm>
1588
1589	<glossdef>
1590	<para>Starts a VM showing a GUI window. This is the default.</para>
1591	</glossdef>
1592	</glossentry>
1593
1594	<glossentry>
1595	<glossterm><computeroutput>headless</computeroutput></glossterm>
1596
1597	<glossdef>
1598	<para>Starts a VM without a window for remote display only.</para>
1599	</glossdef>
1600	</glossentry>
1601
1602	<glossentry>
1603	<glossterm><computeroutput>sdl</computeroutput></glossterm>
1604
1605	<glossdef>
1606	<para>Starts a VM with a minimal GUI and limited features.</para>
1607	</glossdef>
1608	</glossentry>
1609
1610	<glossentry>
1611	<glossterm><computeroutput>separate</computeroutput></glossterm>
1612
1613	<glossdef>
1614	<para>Starts a VM with detachable UI (technically it is a headless VM
1615	with user interface in a separate process). This is an experimental
1616	feature as it lacks certain functionality at the moment (e.g. 3D
1617	acceleration will not work).</para>
1618	</glossdef>
1619	</glossentry>
1620	</glosslist>
1621
1622	<note>
1623	<para>If you experience problems with starting virtual machines with
1624	particular frontends and there is no conclusive error information,
1625	consider starting virtual machines directly by running the respective
1626	front-end, as this can give additional error information.</para>
1627	</note>
1628	</sect1>
1629
1630	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-controlvm">
1631	<title>VBoxManage controlvm</title>
1632
1633	<para>The <computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> subcommand allows you
1634	to change the state of a virtual machine that is currently running. The
1635	following can be specified:</para>
1636
1637	<para><itemizedlist>
1638	<listitem>
1639	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1640	pause</computeroutput> temporarily puts a virtual machine on hold,
1641	without changing its state for good. The VM window will be painted
1642	in gray to indicate that the VM is currently paused. (This is
1643	equivalent to selecting the "Pause" item in the "Machine" menu of
1644	the GUI.)</para>
1645	</listitem>
1646
1647	<listitem>
1648	<para>Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1649	resume</computeroutput> to undo a previous
1650	<computeroutput>pause</computeroutput> command. (This is equivalent
1651	to selecting the "Resume" item in the "Machine" menu of the
1652	GUI.)</para>
1653	</listitem>
1654
1655	<listitem>
1656	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1657	reset</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine as
1658	pressing the "Reset" button on a real computer: a cold reboot of the
1659	virtual machine, which will restart and boot the guest operating
1660	system again immediately. The state of the VM is not saved
1661	beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting
1662	the "Reset" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)</para>
1663	</listitem>
1664
1665	<listitem>
1666	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1667	poweroff</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine
1668	as pulling the power cable on a real computer. Again, the state of
1669	the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is
1670	equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of
1671	the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting
1672	"Power off the machine" in the dialog.)</para>
1673
1674	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Powered off". From there,
1675	it can be started again; see <xref
1676	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1677	</listitem>
1678
1679	<listitem>
1680	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1681	savestate</computeroutput> will save the current state of the VM to
1682	disk and then stop the VM. (This is equivalent to selecting the
1683	"Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the
1684	window's close button, and then selecting "Save the machine state"
1685	in the dialog.)</para>
1686
1687	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Saved". From there, it can
1688	be started again; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1689	</listitem>
1690
1691	<listitem>
1692	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm "VM name" teleport
1693	--hostname <name> --port <port> [--passwordfile
1694	<file> \| --password <password>]</computeroutput> makes
1695	the machine the source of a teleporting operation and initiates a
1696	teleport to the given target. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for
1697	an introduction. If the optional password is specified, it must match
1698	the password that was given to the
1699	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command for the target
1700	machine; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport" /> for
1701	details.</para>
1702	</listitem>
1703	</itemizedlist></para>
1704
1705	<para>A few extra options are available with
1706	<computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> that do not directly affect the
1707	VM's running state:</para>
1708
1709	<itemizedlist>
1710	<!-- @todo r=andy Document keyboardputscancode -->
1711
1712	<listitem>
1713	<para>The <computeroutput>setlinkstate<1-N></computeroutput>
1714	operation connects or disconnects virtual network cables from their
1715	network interfaces.</para>
1716	</listitem>
1717
1718	<listitem>
1719	<para><computeroutput>nic<1-N>
1720	null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic</computeroutput>: With this, you can
1721	set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of
1722	networking should be available. They can be not connected to the host
1723	(<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network address
1724	translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>), bridged networking
1725	(<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or communicate with other
1726	virtual machines using internal networking
1727	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>) or host-only networking
1728	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>) or access to rarely used
1729	sub-modes
1730	(<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>). These options correspond
1731	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
1732	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
1733	</listitem>
1734
1735	<listitem>
1736	<para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
1737	network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
1738	purposes.</para>
1739
1740	<para>With <computeroutput>nictrace<1-N>
1741	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
1742	particular virtual network card.</para>
1743
1744	<para>If enabled, you must specify with
1745	<computeroutput>--nictracefile<1-N>
1746	<filename></computeroutput> what file the trace should be
1747	logged to.</para>
1748	</listitem>
1749
1750	<listitem>
1751	<para><computeroutput>nicpromisc<1-N>
1752	deny\|allow-vms\|allow-all</computeroutput>:
1753	This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
1754	specify how the promiscious mode is handled. This setting is only
1755	relevant for bridged networking.
1756	<computeroutput>deny</computeroutput> (default setting) hides
1757	any traffic not intended for this VM.
1758	<computeroutput>allow-vms</computeroutput> hides all host
1759	traffic from this VM but allows the VM to see traffic from/to other
1760	VMs.
1761	<computeroutput>allow-all</computeroutput> removes this
1762	restriction completely.</para>
1763	</listitem>
1764
1765	<listitem>
1766	<para><computeroutput>nicproperty<1-N>
1767	<paramname>="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
1768	This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
1769	pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
1770	Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
1771	between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
1772	please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
1773	</para>
1774	</listitem>
1775
1776	<listitem>
1777	<para>The <computeroutput>guestmemoryballoon</computeroutput>
1778	operation changes the size of the guest memory balloon, that is,
1779	memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest
1780	operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other
1781	virtual machines. This must be specified in megabytes. For details,
1782	see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
1783	</listitem>
1784
1785	<listitem>
1786	<para><computeroutput>usbattach</computeroutput> and
1787	<computeroutput>usbdettach</computeroutput> make host USB devices
1788	visible to the virtual machine on the fly, without the need for
1789	creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID
1790	(unique identifier) or by address on the host system.</para>
1791
1792	<para>You can use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
1793	usbhost</computeroutput> to locate this information.</para>
1794	</listitem>
1795
1796	<listitem>
1797	<para><computeroutput>clipboard
1798	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1799	With this setting, you can select if and how the guest or host
1800	operating system's clipboard should be shared with the host or guest;
1801	see <xref linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
1802	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1803	</listitem>
1804
1805	<listitem>
1806	<para><computeroutput>draganddrop
1807	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1808	With this setting, you can select the current drag'n drop mode
1809	being used between the host and the virtual machine;
1810	see <xref linkend="guestadd-dnd" />. This requires that the Guest
1811	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1812	</listitem>
1813
1814	<listitem>
1815	<para><computeroutput>vrde on\|off</computeroutput> lets you enable or
1816	disable the VRDE server, if it is installed.</para>
1817	</listitem>
1818
1819	<listitem>
1820	<para><computeroutput>vrdeport default\|<ports></computeroutput>
1821	changes the port or a range of ports that the VRDE server can bind to;
1822	"default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. For
1823	details, see the description for the
1824	<computeroutput>--vrdeport</computeroutput> option in <xref
1825	linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other" />.</para>
1826	</listitem>
1827
1828
1829	<listitem>
1830	<para><computeroutput>setvideomodehint</computeroutput> requests that
1831	the guest system change to a particular video mode. This requires that
1832	the Guest Additions be installed, and will not work for all guest
1833	systems.</para>
1834	</listitem>
1835
1836	<listitem>
1837	<para><computeroutput>screenshotpng</computeroutput> takes a screenshot
1838	of the guest display and saves it in PNG format.</para>
1839	</listitem>
1840
1841	<listitem>
1842	<para><computeroutput>videocap on\|off</computeroutput> enables or disables
1843	recording a VM session into a WebM/VP8 file.</para>
1844	</listitem>
1845
1846	<listitem>
1847	<para><computeroutput>videocapscreens all\|<screen ID> [<screen ID> ...]]</computeroutput>
1848	allows to specify which screens of the VM are being recorded. This setting
1849	cannot be changed while video capturing is enabled. Each screen is recorded
1850	into a separate file.</para>
1851	</listitem>
1852
1853	<listitem>
1854	<para><computeroutput>videocapfile <file></computeroutput> sets the filename
1855	VirtualBox uses to save the recorded content. This setting cannot be changed
1856	while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1857	</listitem>
1858
1859	<listitem>
1860	<para><computeroutput>videocapres <width> <height></computeroutput>
1861	sets the resolution (in pixels) of the recorded video. This setting cannot be
1862	changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1863	</listitem>
1864
1865	<listitem> <!-- @todo r=andy Clarify rate. -->
1866	<para><computeroutput>videocaprate <rate></computeroutput> sets the
1867	bitrate in kilobits (kb) per second. Increasing this value makes the video
1868	look better for the cost of an increased file size. This setting cannot be
1869	changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1870	</listitem>
1871
1872	<listitem>
1873	<para><computeroutput>videocapfps <fps></computeroutput> sets the
1874	maximum number of frames per second (FPS) to be recorded. Frames with a
1875	higher frequency will be skipped. Reducing this value increases the number
1876	of skipped frames and reduces the file size. This setting cannot be changed
1877	while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1878	</listitem>
1879
1880	<listitem> <!-- @todo r=andy Clarify time format. -->
1881	<para><computeroutput>videocapmaxtime <time></computeroutput> sets
1882	the maximum time the video capturing will take place since activation.
1883	The capturing stops when the defined time interval has elapsed. If this
1884	value is zero the capturing is not limited by time. This setting cannot
1885	be changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1886	</listitem>
1887
1888	<listitem>
1889	<para><computeroutput>videocapmaxsize <MB></computeroutput> limits
1890	the maximum size of the captured video file (in MB). The capturing stops
1891	when file size has reached the specified size. If this value is zero
1892	the capturing will not be limited by file size. This setting cannot be
1893	changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1894	</listitem>
1895
1896	<listitem>
1897	<para><computeroutput>videocapopts <key=value> [<key=value> ...]</computeroutput>
1898	can be used to specify additional video capturing options. These options
1899	only are for advanced users and must be specified in a comma-separated
1900	key=value format, e.g. <computeroutput>foo=bar,a=b</computeroutput>.
1901	This setting cannot be changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1902	</listitem>
1903
1904	<listitem>
1905	<para>The <computeroutput>setcredentials</computeroutput> operation is
1906	used for remote logons in Windows guests. For details, please refer to
1907	<xref linkend="autologon" />.</para>
1908	</listitem>
1909
1910	<!-- @todo r=andy Document teleport! -->
1911
1912	<listitem>
1913	<para><computeroutput>--plugcpu\|unplugcpu
1914	<id></computeroutput>: If CPU hot-plugging is enabled, this adds
1915	a virtual CPU to the virtual machines (or removes one).
1916	<computeroutput><id></computeroutput> specifies the index of
1917	the virtual CPU to be added or removed and must be a number from 0
1918	to the maximum no. of CPUs configured. CPU 0 can never be removed.</para>
1919	</listitem>
1920
1921	<listitem>
1922	<para>The <computeroutput>cpuexecutioncap
1923	<1-100></computeroutput>: This operation controls how much cpu
1924	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU
1925	can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
1926	</listitem>
1927
1928	<!-- @todo r=andy Document webcam! -->
1929
1930	</itemizedlist>
1931	</sect1>
1932
1933	<sect1>
1934	<title>VBoxManage discardstate</title>
1935
1936	<para>This command discards the saved state of a virtual machine which is
1937	not currently running, which will cause its operating system to restart
1938	next time you start it. This is the equivalent of pulling out the power
1939	cable on a physical machine, and should be avoided if possible.</para>
1940	</sect1>
1941
1942	<sect1>
1943	<title>VBoxManage adoptstate</title>
1944
1945	<para>If you have a saved state file (<computeroutput>.sav</computeroutput>)
1946	that is separate from the VM configuration, you can use this command to
1947	"adopt" the file. This will change the VM to saved state and when you
1948	start it, VirtualBox will attempt to restore it from the saved state file
1949	you indicated. This command should only be used in special setups.</para>
1950	</sect1>
1951
1952	<sect1>
1953	<title>VBoxManage snapshot</title>
1954
1955	<para>This command is used to control snapshots from the command line. A
1956	snapshot consists of a complete copy of the virtual machine settings,
1957	copied at the time when the snapshot was taken, and optionally a virtual
1958	machine saved state file if the snapshot was taken while the machine was
1959	running. After a snapshot has been taken, VirtualBox creates differencing
1960	hard disk for each normal hard disk associated with the machine so that
1961	when a snapshot is restored, the contents of the virtual machine's virtual
1962	hard disks can be quickly reset by simply dropping the pre-existing
1963	differencing files.</para>
1964
1965	<para>The <computeroutput>take</computeroutput> operation takes a snapshot
1966	of the current state of the virtual machine. You must supply a name for
1967	the snapshot and can optionally supply a description. The new snapshot is
1968	inserted into the snapshots tree as a child of the current snapshot and
1969	then becomes the new current snapshot. The
1970	<computeroutput>--description</computeroutput> parameter allows to
1971	describe the snapshot. If <computeroutput>--live</computeroutput>
1972	is specified, the VM will not be stopped during the snapshot creation
1973	(live smapshotting).</para>
1974
1975	<para>The <computeroutput>delete</computeroutput> operation deletes a
1976	snapshot (specified by name or by UUID). This can take a while to finish
1977	since the differencing images associated with the snapshot might need to
1978	be merged with their child differencing images.</para>
1979
1980	<para>The <computeroutput>restore</computeroutput> operation will restore
1981	the given snapshot (specified by name or by UUID) by resetting the virtual
1982	machine's settings and current state to that of the snapshot. The previous
1983	current state of the machine will be lost. After this, the given snapshot
1984	becomes the new "current" snapshot so that subsequent snapshots are
1985	inserted under the snapshot from which was restored.</para>
1986
1987	<para>The <computeroutput>restorecurrent</computeroutput> operation is a
1988	shortcut to restore the current snapshot (i.e. the snapshot from which the
1989	current state is derived). This subcommand is equivalent to using the
1990	"restore" subcommand with the name or UUID of the current snapshot, except
1991	that it avoids the extra step of determining that name or UUID.</para>
1992
1993	<para>With the <computeroutput>edit</computeroutput> operation, you can
1994	change the name or description of an existing snapshot.</para>
1995
1996	<para>With the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> operation, you
1997	can view the virtual machine settings that were stored with an existing
1998	snapshot.</para>
1999	</sect1>
2000
2001	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-closemedium">
2002	<title>VBoxManage closemedium</title>
2003
2004	<para>This commands removes a hard disk, DVD or floppy image from a
2005	VirtualBox media registry.<footnote>
2006	<para>Before VirtualBox 4.0, it was necessary to call VBoxManage
2007	openmedium before a medium could be attached to a virtual machine;
2008	that call "registered" the medium with the global VirtualBox media
2009	registry. With VirtualBox 4.0 this is no longer necessary; media are
2010	added to media registries automatically. The "closemedium" call has
2011	been retained, however, to allow for explicitly removing a medium from
2012	a registry.</para>
2013	</footnote></para>
2014
2015	<para>Optionally, you can request that the image be deleted. You will get
2016	appropriate diagnostics that the deletion failed, however the image will
2017	become unregistered in any case.</para>
2018	</sect1>
2019
2020	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storageattach">
2021	<title>VBoxManage storageattach</title>
2022
2023	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage medium connected to
2024	a storage controller that was previously added with the
2025	<computeroutput>storagectl</computeroutput> command (see the previous
2026	section). The syntax is as follows:</para>
2027
2028	<screen>VBoxManage storageattach <uuid\|vmname>
2029	--storagectl <name>
2030	[--port <number>]
2031	[--device <number>]
2032	[--type dvddrive\|hdd\|fdd]
2033	[--medium none\|emptydrive\|
2034	<uuid>\|<filename>\|host:<drive>\|iscsi]
2035	[--mtype normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable]
2036	[--comment <text>]
2037	[--setuuid <uuid>]
2038	[--setparentuuid <uuid>]
2039	[--passthrough on\|off]
2040	[--tempeject on\|off]
2041	[--nonrotational on\|off]
2042	[--discard on\|off]
2043	[--bandwidthgroup name\|none]
2044	[--forceunmount]
2045	[--server <name>\|<ip>]
2046	[--target <target>]
2047	[--tport <port>]
2048	[--lun <lun>]
2049	[--encodedlun <lun>]
2050	[--username <username>]
2051	[--password <password>]
2052	[--initiator <initiator>]
2053	[--intnet]</screen>
2054
2055	<para>A number of parameters are commonly required; the ones at the end of
2056	the list are required only for iSCSI targets (see below).</para>
2057
2058	<para>The common parameters are:<glosslist>
2059	<glossentry>
2060	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2061
2062	<glossdef>
2063	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2064	</glossdef>
2065	</glossentry>
2066
2067	<glossentry>
2068	<glossterm><computeroutput>--storagectl</computeroutput></glossterm>
2069
2070	<glossdef>
2071	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory. The list of the
2072	storage controllers currently attached to a VM can be obtained
2073	with <computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see
2074	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" />.</para>
2075	</glossdef>
2076	</glossentry>
2077
2078	<glossentry>
2079	<glossterm><computeroutput>--port</computeroutput></glossterm>
2080
2081	<glossdef>
2082	<para>The number of the storage controller's port which is to be
2083	modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a
2084	single port.</para>
2085	</glossdef>
2086	</glossentry>
2087
2088	<glossentry>
2089	<glossterm><computeroutput>--device</computeroutput></glossterm>
2090
2091	<glossdef>
2092	<para>The number of the port's device which is to be modified.
2093	Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single device
2094	per port.</para>
2095	</glossdef>
2096	</glossentry>
2097
2098	<glossentry>
2099	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
2100
2101	<glossdef>
2102	<para>Define the type of the drive to which the medium is being
2103	attached/detached/modified. This argument can only be omitted if
2104	the type of medium can be determined from either the medium given
2105	with the <computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> argument or
2106	from a previous medium attachment.</para>
2107	</glossdef>
2108	</glossentry>
2109
2110	<glossentry>
2111	<glossterm><computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput></glossterm>
2112
2113	<glossdef>
2114	<para>Specifies what is to be attached. The following values are
2115	supported:<itemizedlist>
2116	<listitem>
2117	<para>"none": Any existing device should be removed from the
2118	given slot.</para>
2119	</listitem>
2120
2121	<listitem>
2122	<para>"emptydrive": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only,
2123	this makes the device slot behaves like a removeable drive
2124	into which no media has been inserted.</para>
2125	</listitem>
2126
2127	<listitem>
2128	<para>"additions": For a virtual DVD drive only, this
2129	attaches the <emphasis>VirtualBox Guest Additions</emphasis>
2130	image to the given device slot.</para>
2131	</listitem>
2132
2133	<listitem>
2134	<para>If a UUID is specified, it must be the UUID of a
2135	storage medium that is already known to VirtualBox (e.g.
2136	because it has been attached to another virtual machine).
2137	See <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for how to list known
2138	media. This medium is then attached to the given device
2139	slot.</para>
2140	</listitem>
2141
2142	<listitem>
2143	<para>If a filename is specified, it must be the full path
2144	of an existing disk image (ISO, RAW, VDI, VMDK or other),
2145	which is then attached to the given device slot.</para>
2146	</listitem>
2147
2148	<listitem>
2149	<para>"host:<drive>": For a virtual DVD or floppy
2150	drive only, this connects the given device slot to the
2151	specified DVD or floppy drive on the host computer.</para>
2152	</listitem>
2153
2154	<listitem>
2155	<para>"iscsi": For virtual hard disks only, this allows for
2156	specifying an iSCSI target. In this case, more parameters
2157	must be given; see below.</para>
2158	</listitem>
2159	</itemizedlist></para>
2160
2161	<para>Some of the above changes, in particular for removeable
2162	media (floppies and CDs/DVDs), can be effected while a VM is
2163	running. Others (device changes or changes in hard disk device
2164	slots) require the VM to be powered off.</para>
2165	</glossdef>
2166	</glossentry>
2167
2168	<glossentry>
2169	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mtype</computeroutput></glossterm>
2170
2171	<glossdef>
2172	<para>Defines how this medium behaves with respect to snapshots
2173	and write operations. See <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for
2174	details.</para>
2175	</glossdef>
2176	</glossentry>
2177
2178	<glossentry>
2179	<glossterm><computeroutput>--comment</computeroutput></glossterm>
2180
2181	<glossdef>
2182	<para>Any description that you want to have stored with this
2183	medium (optional; for example, for an iSCSI target, "Big storage
2184	server downstairs"). This is purely descriptive and not needed for
2185	the medium to function correctly.</para>
2186	</glossdef>
2187	</glossentry>
2188
2189	<glossentry>
2190	<glossterm><computeroutput>--setuuid, --setparentuuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
2191
2192	<glossdef>
2193	<para>Modifies the UUID or parent UUID of a medium before
2194	attaching it to a VM. This is an expert option. Inappropriate use
2195	can make the medium unusable or lead to broken VM configurations
2196	if any other VM is referring to the same media already. The most
2197	frequently used variant is <code>--setuuid ""</code>, which assigns
2198	a new (random) UUID to an image. This is useful to resolve the
2199	duplicate UUID errors if one duplicated an image using file copy
2200	utilities.</para>
2201	</glossdef>
2202	</glossentry>
2203
2204	<glossentry>
2205	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passthrough</computeroutput></glossterm>
2206
2207	<glossdef>
2208	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can enable DVD writing
2209	support (currently experimental; see <xref
2210	linkend="storage-cds" />).</para>
2211	</glossdef>
2212	</glossentry>
2213
2214	<glossentry>
2215	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tempeject</computeroutput></glossterm>
2216
2217	<glossdef>
2218	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can configure the behavior
2219	for guest-triggered medium eject. If this is set to "on", the eject
2220	has only temporary effects. If the VM is powered off and restarted
2221	the originally configured medium will be still in the drive.</para>
2222	</glossdef>
2223	</glossentry>
2224
2225	<glossentry>
2226	<glossterm><computeroutput>--nonrotational</computeroutput></glossterm>
2227
2228	<glossdef>
2229	<para>This switch allows to enable the non-rotational flag for virtual
2230	hard disks. Some guests (i.e. Windows 7+) treat such disks like SSDs
2231	and don't perform disk fragmentation on such media.
2232	</para>
2233	</glossdef>
2234	</glossentry>
2235
2236	<glossentry>
2237	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bandwidthgroup</computeroutput></glossterm>
2238
2239	<glossdef>
2240	<para>Sets the bandwidth group to use for the given device; see
2241	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" />.</para>
2242	</glossdef>
2243	</glossentry>
2244
2245	<glossentry>
2246	<glossterm><computeroutput>--forceunmount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2247
2248	<glossdef>
2249	<para>For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this forcibly
2250	unmounts the DVD/CD/Floppy or mounts a new DVD/CD/Floppy even if
2251	the previous one is locked down by the guest for reading. Again,
2252	see <xref linkend="storage-cds" /> for details.</para>
2253	</glossdef>
2254	</glossentry>
2255	</glosslist></para>
2256
2257	<para>When "iscsi" is used with the
2258	<computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> parameter for iSCSI support --
2259	see <xref linkend="storage-iscsi" /> --, additional parameters must or can
2260	be used:<glosslist>
2261	<glossentry>
2262	<glossterm><computeroutput>--server</computeroutput></glossterm>
2263
2264	<glossdef>
2265	<para>The host name or IP address of the iSCSI target;
2266	required.</para>
2267	</glossdef>
2268	</glossentry>
2269
2270	<glossentry>
2271	<glossterm><computeroutput>--target</computeroutput></glossterm>
2272
2273	<glossdef>
2274	<para>Target name string. This is determined by the iSCSI target
2275	and used to identify the storage resource; required.</para>
2276	</glossdef>
2277	</glossentry>
2278
2279	<glossentry>
2280	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tport</computeroutput></glossterm>
2281
2282	<glossdef>
2283	<para>TCP/IP port number of the iSCSI service on the target
2284	(optional).</para>
2285	</glossdef>
2286	</glossentry>
2287
2288	<glossentry>
2289	<glossterm><computeroutput>--lun</computeroutput></glossterm>
2290
2291	<glossdef>
2292	<para>Logical Unit Number of the target resource (optional).
2293	Often, this value is zero.</para>
2294	</glossdef>
2295	</glossentry>
2296
2297	<glossentry>
2298	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username, --password</computeroutput></glossterm>
2299
2300	<glossdef>
2301	<para>Username and password (initiator secret) for target
2302	authentication, if required (optional).<note>
2303	<para>Username and password are stored without
2304	encryption (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine
2305	configuration file if no settings password is provided.
2306	When a settings password was specified the first time,
2307	the password is stored encrypted.</para>
2308	</note></para>
2309	</glossdef>
2310	</glossentry>
2311
2312	<glossentry>
2313	<glossterm><computeroutput>--intnet</computeroutput></glossterm>
2314
2315	<glossdef>
2316	<para>If specified, connect to the iSCSI target via Internal
2317	Networking. This needs further configuration which is described in
2318	<xref linkend="iscsi-intnet" />.</para>
2319	</glossdef>
2320	</glossentry>
2321	</glosslist></para>
2322	</sect1>
2323
2324	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storagectl">
2325	<title>VBoxManage storagectl</title>
2326
2327	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage controller. After
2328	this, virtual media can be attached to the controller with the
2329	<computeroutput>storageattach</computeroutput> command (see the next
2330	section).</para>
2331
2332	<para>The syntax is as follows:</para>
2333
2334	<screen>VBoxManage storagectl <uuid\|vmname>
2335	--name <name>
2336	[--add <ide/sata/scsi/floppy>]
2337	[--controller <LsiLogic\|LSILogicSAS\|BusLogic\|
2338	IntelAhci\|PIIX3\|PIIX4\|ICH6\|I82078\|usb>]
2339	[--sataportcount <1-30>]
2340	[--hostiocache on\|off]
2341	[--bootable on\|off]
2342	[--remove]</screen>
2343
2344	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2345	<glossentry>
2346	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2347
2348	<glossdef>
2349	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2350	</glossdef>
2351	</glossentry>
2352
2353	<glossentry>
2354	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
2355
2356	<glossdef>
2357	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory.</para>
2358	</glossdef>
2359	</glossentry>
2360
2361	<glossentry>
2362	<glossterm><computeroutput>--add</computeroutput></glossterm>
2363
2364	<glossdef>
2365	<para>Define the type of the system bus to which the storage
2366	controller must be connected.</para>
2367	</glossdef>
2368	</glossentry>
2369
2370	<glossentry>
2371	<glossterm><computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput></glossterm>
2372
2373	<glossdef>
2374	<para>Allows to choose the type of chipset being emulated for the
2375	given storage controller.</para>
2376	</glossdef>
2377	</glossentry>
2378
2379	<glossentry>
2380	<glossterm><computeroutput>--sataportcount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2381
2382	<glossdef>
2383	<para>This determines how many ports the SATA controller should
2384	support.</para>
2385	</glossdef>
2386	</glossentry>
2387
2388	<glossentry>
2389	<glossterm><computeroutput>--hostiocache</computeroutput></glossterm>
2390
2391	<glossdef>
2392	<para>Configures the use of the host I/O cache for all disk images
2393	attached to this storage controller. For details, please see <xref
2394	linkend="iocaching" />.</para>
2395	</glossdef>
2396	</glossentry>
2397
2398	<glossentry>
2399	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bootable</computeroutput></glossterm>
2400
2401	<glossdef>
2402	<para>Selects whether this controller is bootable.</para>
2403	</glossdef>
2404	</glossentry>
2405
2406	<glossentry>
2407	<glossterm><computeroutput>--remove</computeroutput></glossterm>
2408
2409	<glossdef>
2410	<para>Removes the storage controller from the VM config.</para>
2411	</glossdef>
2412	</glossentry>
2413	</glosslist></para>
2414	</sect1>
2415
2416	<sect1>
2417	<title>VBoxManage bandwidthctl</title>
2418
2419	<para>This command creates/deletes/modifies/shows bandwidth groups of the given
2420	virtual machine:<screen>VBoxManage bandwidthctl <uuid\|vmname>
2421	add <name> --type disk\|network --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2422	set <name> --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2423	remove <name> \|
2424	list [--machinereadable]</screen></para>
2425
2426	<para>The following subcommands are available:<itemizedlist>
2427	<listitem>
2428	<para><computeroutput>add</computeroutput>, creates a new bandwidth
2429	group of given type.</para>
2430	</listitem>
2431	<listitem>
2432	<para><computeroutput>set</computeroutput>, modifies the limit for an
2433	existing bandwidth group.</para>
2434	</listitem>
2435	<listitem>
2436	<para><computeroutput>remove</computeroutput>, destroys a bandwidth
2437	group.</para>
2438	</listitem>
2439	<listitem>
2440	<para><computeroutput>list</computeroutput>, shows all bandwidth groups
2441	defined for the given VM.</para>
2442	</listitem>
2443	</itemizedlist>
2444	</para>
2445	<para>The parameters mean:<glosslist>
2446	<glossentry>
2447	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2448
2449	<glossdef>
2450	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2451	</glossdef>
2452	</glossentry>
2453
2454	<glossentry>
2455	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
2456
2457	<glossdef>
2458	<para>Name of the bandwidth group. Mandatory.</para>
2459	</glossdef>
2460	</glossentry>
2461
2462	<glossentry>
2463	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
2464
2465	<glossdef>
2466	<para>Type of the bandwidth group. Mandatory. Two types are
2467	supported: <computeroutput>disk</computeroutput> and
2468	<computeroutput>network</computeroutput>. See
2469	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" /> or
2470	<xref linkend="network_bandwidth_limit" /> for a description of a
2471	particular type.</para>
2472	</glossdef>
2473	</glossentry>
2474
2475	<glossentry>
2476	<glossterm><computeroutput>--limit</computeroutput></glossterm>
2477
2478	<glossdef>
2479	<para>Specifies the limit for the given group. Can be changed
2480	while the VM is running. The default unit is megabytes per
2481	second. The unit can be changed by specifying one of the
2482	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>
2483	</glossdef>
2484	</glossentry>
2485	</glosslist>
2486	<note>
2487	<para>The network bandwidth limits apply only to the traffic being sent by
2488	virtual machines. The traffic being received by VMs is unlimited.</para>
2489	</note>
2490	<note>
2491	<para>To remove a bandwidth group it must not be referenced by any disks
2492	or adapters in running VM.</para>
2493	</note>
2494	</para>
2495	</sect1>
2496
2497	<sect1>
2498	<title>VBoxManage showhdinfo</title>
2499
2500	<para>This command shows information about a virtual hard disk image,
2501	notably its size, its size on disk, its type and the virtual machines
2502	which use it.<note>
2503	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2504	"showvdiinfo" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2505	"showhdinfo" command.</para>
2506	</note></para>
2507	<para>The disk image must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium
2508	is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by
2509	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
2510	for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either
2511	as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current
2512	directory.</para>
2513	</sect1>
2514
2515	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvdi">
2516	<title>VBoxManage createhd</title>
2517
2518	<para>This command creates a new virtual hard disk image. The syntax is as
2519	follows:</para>
2520
2521	<screen>VBoxManage createhd --filename <filename>
2522	--size <megabytes>
2523	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD] (default: VDI)
2524	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>
2525
2526	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2527	<glossentry>
2528	<glossterm><computeroutput>--filename</computeroutput></glossterm>
2529
2530	<glossdef>
2531	<para>Allows to choose a file name. Mandatory.</para>
2532	</glossdef>
2533	</glossentry>
2534
2535	<glossentry>
2536	<glossterm><computeroutput>--size</computeroutput></glossterm>
2537
2538	<glossdef>
2539	<para>Allows to define the image capacity, in 1 MiB units.
2540	Mandatory.</para>
2541	</glossdef>
2542	</glossentry>
2543
2544	<glossentry>
2545	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2546
2547	<glossdef>
2548	<para>Allows to choose a file format for the output file different
2549	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2550	</glossdef>
2551	</glossentry>
2552
2553	<glossentry>
2554	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2555
2556	<glossdef>
2557	<para>Allows to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2558	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2559	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2560	result in an error message.</para>
2561	</glossdef>
2562	</glossentry>
2563	</glosslist> <note>
2564	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2565	"createvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2566	"createhd" command.</para>
2567	</note></para>
2568	</sect1>
2569
2570	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvdi">
2571	<title>VBoxManage modifyhd</title>
2572
2573	<para>With the <computeroutput>modifyhd</computeroutput> command, you can
2574	change the characteristics of a disk image after it has been
2575	created:<screen>VBoxManage modifyhd <uuid\|filename>
2576	[--type normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable\|
2577	readonly\|multiattach]
2578	[--autoreset on\|off]
2579	[--compact]
2580	[--resize <megabytes>\|--resizebyte <bytes>]</screen><note>
2581	<para>Despite the "hd" in the subcommand name, the command works with
2582	all disk images, not only hard disks. For compatibility with earlier
2583	versions of VirtualBox, the "modifyvdi" command is also supported and
2584	mapped internally to the "modifyhd" command.</para>
2585	</note></para>
2586
2587	<para>The disk image to modify must be specified either by its UUID
2588	(if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images
2589	can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2590	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2591	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path
2592	or as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2593	<para>The following options are available:<itemizedlist>
2594	<listitem>
2595	<para>With the <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> argument, you
2596	can change the type of an existing image between the normal,
2597	immutable, write-through and other modes; see <xref
2598	linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for details.</para>
2599	</listitem>
2600
2601	<listitem>
2602	<para>For immutable (differencing) hard disks only, the
2603	<computeroutput>--autoreset on\|off</computeroutput> option
2604	determines whether the disk is automatically reset on every VM
2605	startup (again, see <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />). The default
2606	is "on".</para>
2607	</listitem>
2608
2609	<listitem>
2610	<para>With the <computeroutput>--compact</computeroutput> option,
2611	can be used to compact disk images, i.e. remove blocks that only
2612	contains zeroes. This will shrink a dynamically allocated image
2613	again; it will reduce the <emphasis>physical</emphasis> size of the
2614	image without affecting the logical size of the virtual disk.
2615	Compaction works both for base images and for diff images created as
2616	part of a snapshot.</para>
2617
2618	<para>For this operation to be effective, it is required that free
2619	space in the guest system first be zeroed out using a suitable
2620	software tool. For Windows guests, you can use the
2621	<computeroutput>sdelete</computeroutput> tool provided by Microsoft.
2622	Execute <computeroutput>sdelete -z</computeroutput> in the guest to
2623	zero the free disk space before compressing the virtual disk
2624	image. For Linux, use the <code>zerofree</code> utility which
2625	supports ext2/ext3 filesystems. For Mac OS X guests, use the
2626	<emphasis>Erase Free Space</emphasis> feature of the built-in
2627	<emphasis>Disk Utility</emphasis>. Use
2628	<emphasis>Zero Out Data</emphasis> there.</para>
2629
2630	<para>Please note that compacting is currently only available for
2631	VDI images. A similar effect can be achieved by zeroing out free
2632	blocks and then cloning the disk to any other dynamically allocated
2633	format. You can use this workaround until compacting is also
2634	supported for disk formats other than VDI.</para>
2635	</listitem>
2636
2637	<listitem>
2638	<para>The <computeroutput>--resize x</computeroutput> option (where x
2639	is the desired new total space in <emphasis role="bold">megabytes</emphasis>)
2640	allows you to change the capacity of an existing image; this adjusts the
2641	<emphasis>logical</emphasis> size of a virtual disk without affecting
2642	the physical size much.<footnote>
2643	<para>Image resizing was added with VirtualBox 4.0.</para>
2644	</footnote> This currently works only for VDI and VHD formats, and only
2645	for the dynamically allocated variants, and can only be used to expand
2646	(not shrink) the capacity.
2647	For example, if you originally created a 10G disk which is now full,
2648	you can use the <computeroutput>--resize 15360</computeroutput>
2649	command to change the capacity to 15G (15,360MB) without having to create a new
2650	image and copy all data from within a virtual machine. Note however that
2651	this only changes the drive capacity; you will typically next need to use
2652	a partition management tool inside the guest to adjust the main partition
2653	to fill the drive.</para><para>The <computeroutput>--resizebyte x</computeroutput>
2654	option does almost the same thing, except that x is expressed in bytes
2655	instead of megabytes.</para>
2656	</listitem>
2657	</itemizedlist></para>
2658	</sect1>
2659
2660	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevdi">
2661	<title>VBoxManage clonehd</title>
2662
2663	<para>This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a
2664	new image file with a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be
2665	transferred to another host system or imported into VirtualBox again using
2666	the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref linkend="vdis" /> and <xref
2667	linkend="cloningvdis" />. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2668
2669	<screen>VBoxManage clonehd <uuid\|inutfile> <uuid\|outputfile>
2670	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD\|RAW\|<other>]
2671	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2672	[--existing]</screen>
2673
2674	<para>The disk image to clone as well as the target image must be described
2675	either by its UUIDs (if the mediums are registered) or by its filename.
2676	Registered images can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2677	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2678	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or
2679	as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2680	<para>The following options are available:<glosslist>
2681	<glossentry>
2682	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2683
2684	<glossdef>
2685	<para>Allow to choose a file format for the output file different
2686	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2687	</glossdef>
2688	</glossentry>
2689
2690	<glossentry>
2691	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2692
2693	<glossdef>
2694	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2695	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2696	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2697	result in an error message.</para>
2698	</glossdef>
2699	</glossentry>
2700
2701	<glossentry>
2702	<glossterm><computeroutput>--existing</computeroutput></glossterm>
2703
2704	<glossdef>
2705	<para>Perform the clone operation to an already existing
2706	destination medium. Only the portion of the source medium which
2707	fits into the destination medium is copied. This means if the
2708	destination medium is smaller than the source only a part of it is
2709	copied, and if the destination medium is larger than the source
2710	the remaining part of the destination medium is unchanged.</para>
2711	</glossdef>
2712	</glossentry>
2713	</glosslist> <note>
2714	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2715	"clonevdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2716	"clonehd" command.</para>
2717	</note></para>
2718	</sect1>
2719
2720	<sect1>
2721	<title>VBoxManage convertfromraw</title>
2722
2723	<para>This command converts a raw disk image to a VirtualBox Disk Image
2724	(VDI) file. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2725
2726	<screen>VBoxManage convertfromraw <filename> <outputfile>
2727	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2728	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2729	[--uuid <uuid>]
2730	VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin <outputfile> <bytes>
2731	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2732	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2733	[--uuid <uuid>]</screen>
2734
2735	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2736	<glossentry>
2737	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bytes</computeroutput></glossterm>
2738
2739	<glossdef>
2740	<para>The size of the image file, in bytes, provided through
2741	stdin.</para>
2742	</glossdef>
2743	</glossentry>
2744
2745	<glossentry>
2746	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2747
2748	<glossdef>
2749	<para>Select the disk image format to create. Default is
2750	VDI.</para>
2751	</glossdef>
2752	</glossentry>
2753
2754	<glossentry>
2755	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2756
2757	<glossdef>
2758	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2759	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2760	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2761	result in an error message.</para>
2762	</glossdef>
2763	</glossentry>
2764
2765	<glossentry>
2766	<glossterm><computeroutput>--uuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
2767
2768	<glossdef>
2769	<para>Allow to specifiy the UUID of the output file.</para>
2770	</glossdef>
2771	</glossentry>
2772	</glosslist> The second form forces VBoxManage to read the content for
2773	the disk image from standard input (useful for using that command in a
2774	pipe).</para>
2775
2776	<para><note>
2777	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2778	"convertdd" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2779	"convertfromraw" command.</para>
2780	</note></para>
2781	</sect1>
2782
2783	<sect1>
2784	<title>VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata</title>
2785
2786	<para>These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual
2787	machine or to a VirtualBox configuration (by specifying
2788	<computeroutput>global</computeroutput> instead of a virtual machine
2789	name). You must specify a key (as a text string) to associate the data
2790	with, which you can later use to retrieve it. For example:</para>
2791
2792	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate 2006.01.01
2793	VBoxManage setextradata SUSE10 installdate 2006.02.02</screen>
2794
2795	<para>would associate the string "2006.01.01" with the key installdate for
2796	the virtual machine Fedora5, and "2006.02.02" on the machine SUSE10. You
2797	could retrieve the information as follows:</para>
2798
2799	<screen>VBoxManage getextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2800
2801	<para>which would return</para>
2802
2803	<screen>VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
2804	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
2805	All rights reserved.
2806
2807	Value: 2006.01.01</screen>
2808	<para>To remove a key, the <computeroutput>setextradata</computeroutput>
2809	command must be run without specifying data (only the key), for example:
2810	</para>
2811
2812	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2813
2814	</sect1>
2815
2816	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-setproperty">
2817	<title>VBoxManage setproperty</title>
2818
2819	<para>This command is used to change global settings which affect the
2820	entire VirtualBox installation. Some of these correspond to the settings
2821	in the "Global settings" dialog in the graphical user interface. The
2822	following properties are available:<glosslist>
2823	<glossentry>
2824	<glossterm><computeroutput>machinefolder</computeroutput></glossterm>
2825
2826	<glossdef>
2827	<para>This specifies the default folder in which virtual machine
2828	definitions are kept; see <xref linkend="vboxconfigdata" /> for
2829	details.</para>
2830	</glossdef>
2831	</glossentry>
2832
2833	<glossentry>
2834	<glossterm><computeroutput>hwvirtexclusive</computeroutput></glossterm>
2835	<glossdef><para>This specifies whether VirtualBox will make exclusive use of
2836	the hardware virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) of the
2837	host system's processor; see <xref linkend="hwvirt" />. If you wish to
2838	share these extensions with other hypervisors running at the same time,
2839	you must disable this setting. Doing so has negative performance implications.
2840	</para></glossdef>
2841	</glossentry>
2842
2843
2844	<glossentry>
2845	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2846
2847	<glossdef>
2848	<para>This specifies which library to use when "external"
2849	authentication has been selected for a particular virtual machine;
2850	see <xref linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
2851	</glossdef>
2852	</glossentry>
2853
2854	<glossentry>
2855	<glossterm><computeroutput>websrvauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2856
2857	<glossdef>
2858	<para>This specifies which library the web service uses to
2859	authenticate users. For details about the VirtualBox web service,
2860	please refer to the separate VirtualBox SDK reference (see <xref
2861	linkend="VirtualBoxAPI" />).</para>
2862	</glossdef>
2863	</glossentry>
2864
2865	<glossentry>
2866	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeextpack</computeroutput></glossterm>
2867
2868	<glossdef>
2869	<para>This specifies which library implements the VirtualBox
2870	Remote Desktop Extension.</para>
2871	</glossdef>
2872	</glossentry>
2873
2874	<glossentry>
2875	<glossterm><computeroutput>loghistorycount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2876
2877	<glossdef>
2878	<para>This selects how many rotated (old) VM logs are kept.</para>
2879	</glossdef>
2880	</glossentry>
2881
2882	<glossentry>
2883	<glossterm><computeroutput>autostartdbpath</computeroutput></glossterm>
2884
2885	<glossdef>
2886	<para>This selects the path to the autostart database. See
2887	<xref linkend="autostart" />.</para>
2888	</glossdef>
2889	</glossentry>
2890
2891	<glossentry>
2892	<glossterm><computeroutput>defaultfrontend</computeroutput></glossterm>
2893
2894	<glossdef>
2895	<para>This selects the global default VM frontend setting. See
2896	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
2897	</glossdef>
2898	</glossentry>
2899
2900	<glossentry>
2901	<glossterm><computeroutput>logginglevel</computeroutput></glossterm>
2902
2903	<glossdef>
2904	<para>This configures the VBoxSVC release logging details.<footnote>
2905	<para><ulink url="http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VBoxLogging">http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VBoxLogging</ulink>.</para>
2906	</footnote>
2907	</para>
2908	</glossdef>
2909	</glossentry>
2910	</glosslist></para>
2911	</sect1>
2912
2913	<sect1>
2914	<title>VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove</title>
2915
2916	<para>The <computeroutput>usbfilter</computeroutput> commands are used for
2917	working with USB filters in virtual machines, or global filters which
2918	affect the whole VirtualBox setup. Global filters are applied before
2919	machine-specific filters, and may be used to prevent devices from being
2920	captured by any virtual machine. Global filters are always applied in a
2921	particular order, and only the first filter which fits a device is
2922	applied. So for example, if the first global filter says to hold (make
2923	available) a particular Kingston memory stick device and the second to
2924	ignore all Kingston devices, that memory stick will be available to any
2925	machine with an appropriate filter, but no other Kingston device
2926	will.</para>
2927
2928	<para>When creating a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2929	add</computeroutput>, you must supply three or four mandatory parameters.
2930	The index specifies the position in the list at which the filter should be
2931	placed. If there is already a filter at that position, then it and the
2932	following ones will be shifted back one place. Otherwise the new filter
2933	will be added onto the end of the list. The
2934	<computeroutput>target</computeroutput> parameter selects the virtual
2935	machine that the filter should be attached to or use "global" to apply it
2936	to all virtual machines. <computeroutput>name</computeroutput> is a name
2937	for the new filter and for global filters,
2938	<computeroutput>action</computeroutput> says whether to allow machines
2939	access to devices that fit the filter description ("hold") or not to give
2940	them access ("ignore"). In addition, you should specify parameters to
2941	filter by. You can find the parameters for devices attached to your system
2942	using <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbhost</computeroutput>. Finally,
2943	you can specify whether the filter should be active, and for local
2944	filters, whether they are for local devices, remote (over an RDP
2945	connection) or either.</para>
2946
2947	<para>When you modify a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2948	modify</computeroutput>, you must specify the filter by index (see the
2949	output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbfilters</computeroutput> to
2950	find global filter indexes and that of <computeroutput>VBoxManage
2951	showvminfo</computeroutput> to find indexes for individual machines) and
2952	by target, which is either a virtual machine or "global". The properties
2953	which can be changed are the same as for <computeroutput>usbfilter
2954	add</computeroutput>. To remove a filter, use <computeroutput>usbfilter
2955	remove</computeroutput> and specify the index and the target.</para>
2956	</sect1>
2957
2958	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-sharedfolder">
2959	<title>VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove</title>
2960
2961	<para>This command allows you to share folders on the host computer with
2962	guest operating systems. For this, the guest systems must have a version
2963	of the VirtualBox Guest Additions installed which supports this
2964	functionality.</para>
2965
2966	<para>Shared folders are described in detail in <xref
2967	linkend="sharedfolders" />.</para>
2968	</sect1>
2969
2970	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty">
2971	<title>VBoxManage guestproperty</title>
2972
2973	<para>The "guestproperty" commands allow you to get or set properties of a
2974	running virtual machine. Please see <xref linkend="guestadd-guestprops" />
2975	for an introduction. As explained there, guest properties are arbitrary
2976	key/value string pairs which can be written to and read from by either the
2977	guest or the host, so they can be used as a low-volume communication
2978	channel for strings, provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
2979	Additions installed. In addition, a number of values whose keys begin with
2980	"/VirtualBox/" are automatically set and maintained by the Guest
2981	Additions.</para>
2982
2983	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2984	<computeroutput><vm></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2985	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2986	<listitem>
2987	<para><computeroutput>enumerate <vm> [--patterns
2988	<pattern>]</computeroutput>: This lists all the guest
2989	properties that are available for the given VM, including the value.
2990	This list will be very limited if the guest's service process cannot
2991	be contacted, e.g. because the VM is not running or the Guest
2992	Additions are not installed.</para>
2993
2994	<para>If <computeroutput>--patterns <pattern></computeroutput>
2995	is specified, it acts as a filter to only list properties that match
2996	the given pattern. The pattern can contain the following wildcard
2997	characters:<itemizedlist>
2998	<listitem>
2999	<para><computeroutput>*</computeroutput> (asterisk):
3000	represents any number of characters; for example,
3001	"<computeroutput>/VirtualBox*</computeroutput>" would match
3002	all properties beginning with "/VirtualBox".</para>
3003	</listitem>
3004
3005	<listitem>
3006	<para><computeroutput>?</computeroutput> (question mark):
3007	represents a single arbitrary character; for example,
3008	"<computeroutput>fo?</computeroutput>" would match both "foo"
3009	and "for".</para>
3010	</listitem>
3011
3012	<listitem>
3013	<para><computeroutput>\|</computeroutput> (pipe symbol): can be
3014	used to specify multiple alternative patterns; for example,
3015	"<computeroutput>s\|t</computeroutput>" would match anything
3016	starting with either "s" or "t".</para>
3017	</listitem>
3018	</itemizedlist></para>
3019	</listitem>
3020
3021	<listitem>
3022	<para><computeroutput>get <vm> <property>
3023	</computeroutput>: This
3024	retrieves the value of a single property only. If the property
3025	cannot be found (e.g. because the guest is not running), this will
3026	print <screen>No value set!</screen></para>
3027	</listitem>
3028
3029	<listitem>
3030	<para><computeroutput>set <vm> <property> [<value>
3031	[--flags <flags>]]</computeroutput>: This allows you to set a
3032	guest property by specifying the key and value. If
3033	<computeroutput><value></computeroutput> is omitted, the
3034	property is deleted. With <computeroutput>--flags</computeroutput>
3035	you can optionally specify additional behavior (you can combine
3036	several by separating them with commas):<itemizedlist>
3037	<listitem>
3038	<para><computeroutput>TRANSIENT</computeroutput>: the value
3039	will not be stored with the VM data when the VM exits;</para>
3040	</listitem>
3041
3042	<listitem>
3043	<para><computeroutput>TRANSRESET</computeroutput>: the value
3044	will be deleted as soon as the VM restarts and/or exits;</para>
3045	</listitem>
3046
3047	<listitem>
3048	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYGUEST</computeroutput>: the value
3049	can only be changed by the host, but the guest can only read
3050	it;</para>
3051	</listitem>
3052
3053	<listitem>
3054	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYHOST</computeroutput>: reversely,
3055	the value can only be changed by the guest, but the host can
3056	only read it;</para>
3057	</listitem>
3058
3059	<listitem>
3060	<para><computeroutput>READONLY</computeroutput>: a combination
3061	of the two, the value cannot be changed at all.</para>
3062	</listitem>
3063	</itemizedlist></para>
3064	</listitem>
3065
3066	<listitem>
3067	<para><computeroutput>wait <vm> <pattern> --timeout
3068	<timeout></computeroutput>: This waits for a particular value
3069	described by "pattern" to change or to be deleted or created. The
3070	pattern rules are the same as for the "enumerate" subcommand
3071	above.</para>
3072	</listitem>
3073
3074	<listitem>
3075	<para><computeroutput>delete <vm> <property>
3076	</computeroutput>: Deletes a formerly set guest property.
3077	</para></listitem>
3078	</itemizedlist></para>
3079	</sect1>
3080
3081	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestcontrol">
3082	<title>VBoxManage guestcontrol</title>
3083
3084	<para>The <computeroutput>guestcontrol</computeroutput> commands allow you
3085	to control certain things inside a guest from the host. Please see <xref
3086	linkend="guestadd-guestcontrol" /> for an introduction.</para>
3087
3088	<para>There are two sets of subcommands here. The first set requires guest
3089	credentials to be specified, the second set does not.</para>
3090
3091	<para>The first set of subcommands are on the following form:</para>
3092
3093	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> <sub-command>
3094	[-v\|--verbose] [-q\|quiet] [--username <name>] [--domain <domain> ]
3095	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>] ...
3096	</screen>
3097
3098	<para>and the second set are on the following form:</para>
3099
3100	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> <sub-command>
3101	[-v\|--verbose] [-q\|quiet] ...
3102	</screen>
3103
3104	<para>where the common parameters are:
3105	<glosslist>
3106	<glossentry>
3107	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3108	<glossdef><para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para></glossdef>
3109	</glossentry>
3110	<glossentry>
3111	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3112	<glossdef><para>Name of the user the process should run under. This
3113	user must exist on the guest OS. If not specified the host user
3114	name is used.</para>
3115	</glossdef>
3116	</glossentry>
3117	<glossentry>
3118	<glossterm><computeroutput>--domain <domain></computeroutput></glossterm>
3119	<glossdef><para>User domain for windows guests, optional.</para></glossdef>
3120	</glossentry>
3121	<glossentry>
3122	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3123	<glossdef><para>Password of the specified user account to be read from
3124	the given file. If not given, an empty password is assumed.</para></glossdef>
3125	</glossentry>
3126	<glossentry>
3127	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3128	<glossdef><para>Password of the specified user account. If not given,
3129	an empty password is assumed.</para></glossdef>
3130	</glossentry>
3131	<glossentry>
3132	<glossterm><computeroutput>-v\|--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3133	<glossdef><para>Makes the sub-command execution more noisy.</para></glossdef>
3134	</glossentry>
3135	<glossentry>
3136	<glossterm><computeroutput>-q\|--quiet</computeroutput></glossterm>
3137	<glossdef><para>Makes the sub-command execution more quiet.</para></glossdef>
3138	</glossentry>
3139	</glosslist>
3140	</para>
3141
3142	<para>The first set of subcommands:<itemizedlist>
3143	<listitem>
3144	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>run</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3145	allows you to execute a guest program waiting for it to complete and
3146	forwarding stdout, stderr and stdin to/from the host.</para>
3147
3148	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> run [common-options]
3149	[--exe <path to executable>] [--timeout <msec>]
3150	[-E\|--putenv <NAME>[=<VALUE>]] [--unquoted-args]
3151	[--ignore-operhaned-processes] [--no-profile]
3152	[--no-wait-stdout\|--wait-stdout]
3153	[--no-wait-stderr\|--wait-stderr]
3154	[--dos2unix] [--unix2dos]
3155	-- <program/arg0> [argument1] ... [argumentN]]
3156	</screen>
3157
3158	<para>where the options are: <glosslist>
3159	<glossentry>
3160	<glossterm><computeroutput>--exe "<path to program>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
3161	<glossdef><para>Guest path to the guest executable that should be executed.
3162	in the guest, e.g.
3163	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput></para>
3164	</glossdef>
3165	</glossentry>
3166
3167	<glossentry>
3168	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3169
3170	<glossdef>
3171	<para>Name of the user the process should run under. This
3172	user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3173	</glossdef>
3174	</glossentry>
3175
3176	<glossentry>
3177	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3178
3179	<glossdef>
3180	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3181	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3182	assumed.</para>
3183	</glossdef>
3184	</glossentry>
3185
3186	<glossentry>
3187	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3188
3189	<glossdef>
3190	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3191	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3192	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3193	</glossdef>
3194	</glossentry>
3195
3196	<glossentry>
3197	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dos2unix</computeroutput></glossterm>
3198
3199	<glossdef><para>
3200	Converts output from DOS/Windows guests to UNIX-compatible
3201	line endings (CR + LF -> LF). Not implemented yet.</para>
3202	</glossdef>
3203	</glossentry>
3204
3205	<glossentry>
3206	<glossterm><computeroutput>--environment
3207	"<NAME>=<VALUE>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
3208
3209	<glossdef>
3210	<para>One or more environment variables to be set or
3211	unset.</para>
3212
3213	<para>By default, the new process in the guest will be
3214	created with the standard environment of the guest OS. This
3215	option allows for modifying that environment. To set/modify
3216	a variable, a pair of
3217	<computeroutput>NAME=VALUE</computeroutput> must be
3218	specified; to unset a certain variable, the name with no
3219	value must set, e.g.
3220	<computeroutput>NAME=</computeroutput>.</para>
3221
3222	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
3223	quotation marks. More than one
3224	<computeroutput>--environment</computeroutput> at a time can
3225	be specified to keep the command line tidy.</para>
3226	</glossdef>
3227	</glossentry>
3228
3229	<glossentry>
3230	<glossterm><computeroutput>--timeout <msec></computeroutput></glossterm>
3231
3232	<glossdef>
3233	<para>Value (in milliseconds) that specifies the time how
3234	long the started process is allowed to run and how long
3235	VBoxManage waits for getting output from that process. If no
3236	timeout is specified, VBoxManage will wait forever until the
3237	started process ends or an error occured.</para>
3238	</glossdef>
3239	</glossentry>
3240
3241	<glossentry>
3242	<glossterm><computeroutput>--unix2dos</computeroutput></glossterm>
3243
3244	<glossdef><para>
3245	Converts output from a UNIX/Linux guests to DOS-/Windows-compatible
3246	line endings (LF -> CR + LF). Not implemented yet.</para></glossdef>
3247	</glossentry>
3248
3249	<glossentry>
3250	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3251
3252	<glossdef>
3253	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3254	</glossdef>
3255	</glossentry>
3256
3257	<glossentry>
3258	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-exit</computeroutput></glossterm>
3259
3260	<glossdef>
3261	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
3262	exit code along with the exit reason/flags.</para>
3263	</glossdef>
3264	</glossentry>
3265
3266	<glossentry>
3267	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stdout</computeroutput></glossterm>
3268
3269	<glossdef>
3270	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
3271	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
3272	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stdout.</para>
3273	</glossdef>
3274	</glossentry>
3275
3276	<glossentry>
3277	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stderr</computeroutput></glossterm>
3278
3279	<glossdef>
3280	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
3281	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
3282	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stderr.</para>
3283	</glossdef>
3284	</glossentry>
3285
3286	<glossentry>
3287	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
3288
3289	<glossdef>
3290	<para>One or more arguments to pass to the process being
3291	executed.</para>
3292	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
3293	quotation marks.</para>
3294	</glossdef>
3295	</glossentry>
3296
3297	</glosslist></para>
3298
3299	<para><note>
3300	<para>On Windows there are certain limitations for graphical
3301	applications; please see <xref linkend="KnownIssues" /> for more
3302	information.</para>
3303	</note> Examples: <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls"
3304	--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"
3305	--username foo --passwordfile bar.txt --wait-exit --wait-stdout</screen> Note that
3306	the double backslashes in the second example are only required on
3307	Unix hosts.</para>
3308
3309	<para><note>
3310	<para>For certain commands a user name of an existing user account on the guest
3311	must be specified; anonymous executions are not supported for security reasons. A
3312	user account password, however, is optional and depends on the guest's OS security
3313	policy or rules. If no password is specified for a given user name, an empty password
3314	will be used. On certain OSes like Windows the security policy may needs to be adjusted
3315	in order to allow user accounts with an empty password set. Also, global domain rules might
3316	apply and therefore cannot be changed.</para>
3317	</note></para>
3318
3319	<para>Starting at VirtualBox 4.1.2 guest process execution by default is limited
3320	to serve up to 5 guest processes at a time. If a new guest process gets started
3321	which would exceed this limit, the oldest not running guest process will be discarded
3322	in order to be able to run that new process. Also, retrieving output from this
3323	old guest process will not be possible anymore then. If all 5 guest processes
3324	are still active and running, starting a new guest process will result in an
3325	appropriate error message.</para>
3326
3327	<para>To raise or lower the guest process execution limit, either the guest
3328	property <computeroutput>/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
3329	or VBoxService' command line by specifying <computeroutput>--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
3330	needs to be modified. A restart of the guest OS is required afterwards. To serve unlimited
3331	guest processes, a value of <computeroutput>0</computeroutput> needs to be set (not recommended).</para>
3332	</listitem>
3333
3334	<listitem>
3335	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3336	which allows copying
3337	files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3338	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3339
3340	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> copyto\|cp
3341	<guest source> <host dest> --username <name>
3342	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3343	[--dryrun] [--follow] [--recursive] [--verbose]</screen>
3344
3345	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3346	<glossentry>
3347	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3348
3349	<glossdef>
3350	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3351	</glossdef>
3352	</glossentry>
3353
3354	<glossentry>
3355	<glossterm><computeroutput>source on host</computeroutput></glossterm>
3356
3357	<glossdef>
3358	<para>Absolute path of source file(s) on host to copy over
3359	to the guest, e.g.
3360	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput>.
3361	This also can be a wildcard expression, e.g.
3362	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\*.dll</computeroutput></para>
3363	</glossdef>
3364	</glossentry>
3365
3366	<glossentry>
3367	<glossterm><computeroutput>destination on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3368
3369	<glossdef>
3370	<para>Absolute destination path on the guest, e.g.
3371	<computeroutput>C:\Temp</computeroutput></para>
3372	</glossdef>
3373	</glossentry>
3374
3375	<glossentry>
3376	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3377
3378	<glossdef>
3379	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3380	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3381	</glossdef>
3382	</glossentry>
3383
3384	<glossentry>
3385	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3386
3387	<glossdef>
3388	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3389	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3390	assumed.</para>
3391	</glossdef>
3392	</glossentry>
3393
3394	<glossentry>
3395	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3396
3397	<glossdef>
3398	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3399	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3400	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3401	</glossdef>
3402	</glossentry>
3403
3404	<glossentry>
3405	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dryrun</computeroutput></glossterm>
3406
3407	<glossdef>
3408	<para>Tells VBoxManage to only perform a dry run instead of
3409	really copying files to the guest.</para>
3410	</glossdef>
3411	</glossentry>
3412
3413	<glossentry>
3414	<glossterm><computeroutput>--follow</computeroutput></glossterm>
3415
3416	<glossdef>
3417	<para>Enables following symlinks on the host's
3418	source.</para>
3419	</glossdef>
3420	</glossentry>
3421
3422	<glossentry>
3423	<glossterm><computeroutput>--recursive</computeroutput></glossterm>
3424
3425	<glossdef>
3426	<para>Recursively copies files/directories of the specified
3427	source.</para>
3428	</glossdef>
3429	</glossentry>
3430
3431	<glossentry>
3432	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3433
3434	<glossdef>
3435	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3436	</glossdef>
3437	</glossentry>
3438
3439	<glossentry>
3440	<glossterm><computeroutput>--flags <flags></computeroutput></glossterm>
3441
3442	<glossdef>
3443	<para>Additional flags to set. This is not used at the
3444	moment.</para>
3445	</glossdef>
3446	</glossentry>
3447	</glosslist></para>
3448	</listitem>
3449
3450	<listitem>
3451	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyfrom</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3452	which allows copying
3453	files from the guest to the host (only with installed Guest
3454	Additions 4.0 and later). It has the same parameters as
3455	<computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput> above.</para>
3456	</listitem>
3457
3458	<listitem>
3459	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createdirectory</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3460	which allows
3461	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3462	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3463
3464	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createdir[ectory]\|mkdir\|md
3465	<guest directory>... --username <name>
3466	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3467	[--parents] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3468
3469	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3470	<glossentry>
3471	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3472
3473	<glossdef>
3474	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3475	</glossdef>
3476	</glossentry>
3477
3478	<glossentry>
3479	<glossterm><computeroutput>directory to create on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3480
3481	<glossdef>
3482	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to create on
3483	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>.
3484	Parent directories need to exist (e.g. in this example
3485	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput>) when switch
3486	<computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput> is omitted. The
3487	specified user must have appropriate rights to create the
3488	specified directory.</para>
3489	</glossdef>
3490	</glossentry>
3491
3492	<glossentry>
3493	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3494
3495	<glossdef>
3496	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3497	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3498	</glossdef>
3499	</glossentry>
3500
3501	<glossentry>
3502	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3503
3504	<glossdef>
3505	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3506	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3507	assumed.</para>
3508	</glossdef>
3509	</glossentry>
3510
3511	<glossentry>
3512	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3513
3514	<glossdef>
3515	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3516	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3517	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3518	</glossdef>
3519	</glossentry>
3520
3521	<glossentry>
3522	<glossterm><computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput></glossterm>
3523
3524	<glossdef>
3525	<para>Also creates not yet existing parent directories of
3526	the specified directory, e.g. if the directory
3527	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput> of
3528	<computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput> does not exist
3529	yet it will be created. Without specifying
3530	<computeroutput>--parent</computeroutput> the action would
3531	have failed.</para>
3532	</glossdef>
3533	</glossentry>
3534
3535	<glossentry>
3536	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3537
3538	<glossdef>
3539	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3540	Only octal modes (e.g.
3541	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3542	now.</para>
3543	</glossdef>
3544	</glossentry>
3545
3546	<glossentry>
3547	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3548
3549	<glossdef>
3550	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3551	</glossdef>
3552	</glossentry>
3553	</glosslist></para>
3554	</listitem>
3555
3556	<listitem>
3557	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>removedirectory</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3558	which allows deletion of guest directories (only with installed Guest
3559	Additions 4.3.2 and later).</para>
3560
3561	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> removedir[ectory]\|rmdir
3562	<guest directory>... --username <name>
3563	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3564	[--recursive\|-R\|-r] [--verbose]</screen>
3565
3566	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3567	<glossentry>
3568	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3569
3570	<glossdef>
3571	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3572	</glossdef>
3573	</glossentry>
3574
3575	<glossentry>
3576	<glossterm><computeroutput>directory to remove on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3577
3578	<glossdef>
3579	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to remove on
3580	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>. The
3581	specified user must have appropriate rights to delete the
3582	specified guest directories.</para>
3583	</glossdef>
3584	</glossentry>
3585
3586	<glossentry>
3587	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3588
3589	<glossdef>
3590	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3591	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3592	</glossdef>
3593	</glossentry>
3594
3595	<glossentry>
3596	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3597
3598	<glossdef>
3599	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3600	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3601	assumed.</para>
3602	</glossdef>
3603	</glossentry>
3604
3605	<glossentry>
3606	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3607
3608	<glossdef>
3609	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3610	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3611	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3612	</glossdef>
3613	</glossentry>
3614
3615	<glossentry>
3616	<glossterm><computeroutput>--recursive</computeroutput></glossterm>
3617
3618	<glossdef>
3619	<para>Remove directories and their contents recursively.</para>
3620	</glossdef>
3621	</glossentry>
3622
3623	<glossentry>
3624	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3625
3626	<glossdef>
3627	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3628	</glossdef>
3629	</glossentry>
3630	</glosslist></para>
3631	</listitem>
3632
3633	<listitem>
3634	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>removefile</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3635	which allows deletion of guest files (only with installed Guest
3636	Additions 4.3.2 and later).</para>
3637
3638	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> removefile\|rm
3639	<guest file>... --username <name>
3640	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3641	[--verbose]</screen>
3642
3643	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3644	<glossentry>
3645	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3646
3647	<glossdef>
3648	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3649	</glossdef>
3650	</glossentry>
3651
3652	<glossentry>
3653	<glossterm><computeroutput>file to remove on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3654
3655	<glossdef>
3656	<para>Absolute path of a file/files to remove on
3657	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar\text.txt</computeroutput>. The
3658	specified user must have appropriate rights to delete the
3659	specified guest files.</para>
3660	</glossdef>
3661	</glossentry>
3662
3663	<glossentry>
3664	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3665
3666	<glossdef>
3667	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3668	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3669	</glossdef>
3670	</glossentry>
3671
3672	<glossentry>
3673	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3674
3675	<glossdef>
3676	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3677	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3678	assumed.</para>
3679	</glossdef>
3680	</glossentry>
3681
3682	<glossentry>
3683	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3684
3685	<glossdef>
3686	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3687	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3688	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3689	</glossdef>
3690	</glossentry>
3691
3692	<glossentry>
3693	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3694
3695	<glossdef>
3696	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3697	</glossdef>
3698	</glossentry>
3699	</glosslist></para>
3700	</listitem>
3701
3702	<listitem>
3703	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>ren[ame]\|mv</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3704	which allows renaming of guest files and/or directories (only with installed Guest
3705	Additions 4.3.2 and later).</para>
3706
3707	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> ren[ame]\|mv
3708	<source>... <dest> --username <name>
3709	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3710	[--verbose]</screen>
3711
3712	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3713	<glossentry>
3714	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3715
3716	<glossdef>
3717	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3718	</glossdef>
3719	</glossentry>
3720
3721	<glossentry>
3722	<glossterm><computeroutput>source</computeroutput></glossterm>
3723
3724	<glossdef>
3725	<para>Absolute path of one or more source(s) to move to
3726	destination. If more than one source is specified, destination
3727	must be an existing directory on the guest. The specified user
3728	must have appropriate rights to access source and destination
3729	files and directories.</para>
3730	</glossdef>
3731	</glossentry>
3732
3733	<glossentry>
3734	<glossterm><computeroutput>dest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3735
3736	<glossdef>
3737	<para>Absolute path of the destination to move the source(s)
3738	to. This can be a directory or a file, depending if one or more
3739	sources have been specified. The specified user
3740	must have appropriate rights to access the destination
3741	file and directory.</para>
3742	</glossdef>
3743	</glossentry>
3744
3745	<glossentry>
3746	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3747
3748	<glossdef>
3749	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3750	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3751	</glossdef>
3752	</glossentry>
3753
3754	<glossentry>
3755	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3756
3757	<glossdef>
3758	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3759	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3760	assumed.</para>
3761	</glossdef>
3762	</glossentry>
3763
3764	<glossentry>
3765	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3766
3767	<glossdef>
3768	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3769	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3770	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3771	</glossdef>
3772	</glossentry>
3773
3774	<glossentry>
3775	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3776
3777	<glossdef>
3778	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3779	</glossdef>
3780	</glossentry>
3781	</glosslist></para>
3782	</listitem>
3783
3784	<listitem>
3785	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createtemporary</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3786	which allows
3787	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3788	Additions 4.2 and later).</para>
3789
3790	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createtemp[orary]\|mktemp
3791	<template> --username <name>
3792	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3793	[--directory] [--secure] [--tmpdir <directory>]
3794	[--domain <domain>] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3795
3796	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3797	<glossentry>
3798	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3799
3800	<glossdef>
3801	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3802	</glossdef>
3803	</glossentry>
3804
3805	<glossentry>
3806	<glossterm><computeroutput>template</computeroutput></glossterm>
3807
3808	<glossdef>
3809	<para>A file name without a path and with at least three consecutive 'X'
3810	characters or ending in 'X'
3811	</para>
3812	</glossdef>
3813	</glossentry>
3814
3815	<glossentry>
3816	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3817
3818	<glossdef>
3819	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3820	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3821	</glossdef>
3822	</glossentry>
3823
3824	<glossentry>
3825	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3826
3827	<glossdef>
3828	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3829	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3830	assumed.</para>
3831	</glossdef>
3832	</glossentry>
3833
3834	<glossentry>
3835	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3836
3837	<glossdef>
3838	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3839	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3840	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3841	</glossdef>
3842	</glossentry>
3843
3844	<glossentry>
3845	<glossterm><computeroutput>--directory</computeroutput></glossterm>
3846
3847	<glossdef>
3848	<para>Create a temporary directory instead of a file.</para>
3849	</glossdef>
3850	</glossentry>
3851
3852	<glossentry>
3853	<glossterm><computeroutput>--secure</computeroutput></glossterm>
3854
3855	<glossdef>
3856	<para>
3857	Secure creation. The file mode is fixed to
3858	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>. And the operation
3859	will fail if it cannot performed securely.
3860	</para>
3861	</glossdef>
3862	</glossentry>
3863
3864	<glossentry>
3865	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tmpdir <directory></computeroutput></glossterm>
3866
3867	<glossdef>
3868	<para>
3869	Directory where the file / directory is created. If not
3870	specified, the platform-specific temp directory is used.
3871	</para>
3872	</glossdef>
3873	</glossentry>
3874
3875	<glossentry>
3876	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3877
3878	<glossdef>
3879	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3880	Only octal modes (e.g.
3881	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3882	now.</para>
3883	</glossdef>
3884	</glossentry>
3885
3886	<glossentry>
3887	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3888
3889	<glossdef>
3890	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3891	</glossdef>
3892	</glossentry>
3893	</glosslist></para>
3894	</listitem>
3895
3896	<listitem>
3897	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3898	which lists various guest control information such as open guest sessions,
3899	guest processes and guest files.</para>
3900
3901	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> list
3902	<all\|sessions\|processes\|files> [--verbose]</screen>
3903
3904	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3905	<glossentry>
3906	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3907
3908	<glossdef>
3909	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3910	</glossdef>
3911	</glossentry>
3912
3913	<glossentry>
3914	<glossterm><computeroutput>all\|sessions\|processes\|files</computeroutput></glossterm>
3915
3916	<glossdef>
3917	<para>Whether to list guest sessions, guest processes, guest files
3918	or all information available. Mandatory.</para>
3919	</glossdef>
3920	</glossentry>
3921
3922	<glossentry>
3923	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3924
3925	<glossdef>
3926	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3927	</glossdef>
3928	</glossentry>
3929	</glosslist></para>
3930	</listitem>
3931
3932	<listitem>
3933	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>process kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3934	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3935	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3936
3937	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3938	--session-id <ID>
3939	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3940	[--verbose]
3941	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3942
3943	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3944	<glossentry>
3945	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3946
3947	<glossdef>
3948	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3949	</glossdef>
3950	</glossentry>
3951
3952	<glossentry>
3953	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3954
3955	<glossdef>
3956	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
3957	</glossdef>
3958	</glossentry>
3959
3960	<glossentry>
3961	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3962
3963	<glossdef>
3964	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
3965	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3966	</glossdef>
3967	</glossentry>
3968
3969	<glossentry>
3970	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3971
3972	<glossdef>
3973	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3974	</glossdef>
3975	</glossentry>
3976
3977	<glossentry>
3978	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
3979
3980	<glossdef>
3981	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
3982	</glossdef>
3983	</glossentry>
3984	</glosslist></para>
3985	</listitem>
3986
3987	<listitem>
3988	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>[p[s]]kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3989	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3990	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3991
3992	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3993	--session-id <ID>
3994	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3995	[--verbose]
3996	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3997
3998	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3999	<glossentry>
4000	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
4001
4002	<glossdef>
4003	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
4004	</glossdef>
4005	</glossentry>
4006
4007	<glossentry>
4008	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
4009
4010	<glossdef>
4011	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
4012	</glossdef>
4013	</glossentry>
4014
4015	<glossentry>
4016	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
4017
4018	<glossdef>
4019	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
4020	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
4021	</glossdef>
4022	</glossentry>
4023
4024	<glossentry>
4025	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
4026
4027	<glossdef>
4028	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
4029	</glossdef>
4030	</glossentry>
4031
4032	<glossentry>
4033	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
4034
4035	<glossdef>
4036	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
4037	</glossdef>
4038	</glossentry>
4039	</glosslist></para>
4040	</listitem>
4041
4042	<listitem>
4043	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>session close</computeroutput></emphasis>,
4044	which closes specific guest sessions, based on either the session's ID or the
4045	session's name.</para>
4046
4047	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> session close
4048	--session-id <ID>
4049	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
4050	\| --all
4051	[--verbose]</screen>
4052
4053	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
4054	<glossentry>
4055	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
4056
4057	<glossdef>
4058	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
4059	</glossdef>
4060	</glossentry>
4061
4062	<glossentry>
4063	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
4064
4065	<glossdef>
4066	<para>Close a guest session specified by its ID.</para>
4067	</glossdef>
4068	</glossentry>
4069
4070	<glossentry>
4071	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
4072
4073	<glossdef>
4074	<para>Close a guest session specified by its name. Multiple sessions
4075	can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
4076	</glossdef>
4077	</glossentry>
4078
4079	<glossentry>
4080	<glossterm><computeroutput>--all</computeroutput></glossterm>
4081
4082	<glossdef>
4083	<para>Close all guest sessions.</para>
4084	</glossdef>
4085	</glossentry>
4086
4087	<glossentry>
4088	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
4089
4090	<glossdef>
4091	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
4092	</glossdef>
4093	</glossentry>
4094	</glosslist></para>
4095	</listitem>
4096
4097	<listitem>
4098	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>stat</computeroutput></emphasis>,
4099	which displays file
4100	or file system status on the guest.</para>
4101
4102	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> stat
4103	<file>... --username <name>
4104	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
4105	[--verbose]</screen>
4106
4107	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
4108	<glossentry>
4109	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
4110
4111	<glossdef>
4112	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
4113	</glossdef>
4114	</glossentry>
4115
4116	<glossentry>
4117	<glossterm><computeroutput>file element(s) to check on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
4118
4119	<glossdef>
4120	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to check on
4121	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>/home/foo/a.out</computeroutput>.
4122	The specified user must have appropriate rights to access
4123	the given file element(s).</para>
4124	</glossdef>
4125	</glossentry>
4126
4127	<glossentry>
4128	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
4129
4130	<glossdef>
4131	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
4132	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
4133	</glossdef>
4134	</glossentry>
4135
4136	<glossentry>
4137	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
4138
4139	<glossdef>
4140	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
4141	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
4142	assumed.</para>
4143	</glossdef>
4144	</glossentry>
4145
4146	<glossentry>
4147	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
4148
4149	<glossdef>
4150	<para>Password of the user account specified with
4151	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
4152	an empty password is assumed.</para>
4153	</glossdef>
4154	</glossentry>
4155
4156	<glossentry>
4157	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
4158
4159	<glossdef>
4160	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
4161	</glossdef>
4162	</glossentry>
4163	</glosslist></para>
4164	</listitem>
4165
4166	<listitem>
4167	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>updateadditions</computeroutput></emphasis>,
4168	which allows
4169	for updating an already installed Guest Additions version on the
4170	guest (only already installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
4171
4172	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> updateadditions
4173	[--source "<guest additions .ISO file to use>"] [--verbose]
4174	[--wait-start] [-- [<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
4175
4176	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
4177	<glossentry>
4178	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
4179
4180	<glossdef>
4181	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
4182	</glossdef>
4183	</glossentry>
4184
4185	<glossentry>
4186	<glossterm><computeroutput>--source</computeroutput> "<guest additions .ISO file to
4187	use>"</glossterm>
4188
4189	<glossdef>
4190	<para>Full path to an alternative VirtualBox Guest Additions
4191	.ISO file to use for the Guest Additions update.</para>
4192	</glossdef>
4193	</glossentry>
4194
4195	<glossentry>
4196	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
4197
4198	<glossdef>
4199	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
4200	</glossdef>
4201	</glossentry>
4202
4203	<glossentry>
4204	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-start</computeroutput></glossterm>
4205	<glossdef>
4206	<para>Starts the regular updating process and waits until the
4207	actual Guest Additions update inside the guest was started.
4208	This can be necessary due to needed interaction with the
4209	guest OS during the installation phase.</para>
4210	<para>When omitting this flag VBoxManage will wait for the
4211	whole Guest Additions update to complete.</para>
4212	</glossdef>
4213	</glossentry>
4214
4215	<glossentry>
4216	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
4217
4218	<glossdef>
4219	<para>Optional command line arguments to use for the Guest Additions
4220	installer. Useful for retrofitting features which weren't installed
4221	before on the guest.</para>
4222	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
4223	quotation marks.</para>
4224	</glossdef>
4225	</glossentry>
4226	</glosslist></para>
4227	</listitem>
4228	<listitem>
4229	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>watch</computeroutput></emphasis>,
4230	which prints current guest control activity.</para>
4231
4232	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> watch
4233	[--verbose]</screen>
4234
4235	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
4236	<glossentry>
4237	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
4238
4239	<glossdef>
4240	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
4241	</glossdef>
4242	</glossentry>
4243
4244	<glossentry>
4245	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
4246
4247	<glossdef>
4248	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
4249	</glossdef>
4250	</glossentry>
4251	</glosslist></para>
4252	</listitem>
4253	</itemizedlist></para>
4254	</sect1>
4255
4256	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-debugvm">
4257	<title>VBoxManage debugvm</title>
4258
4259	<para>The "debugvm" commands are for experts who want to tinker with the
4260	exact details of virtual machine execution. Like the VM debugger described
4261	in <xref linkend="ts_debugger" />, these commands are only useful if you are
4262	very familiar with the details of the PC architecture and how to debug
4263	software.</para>
4264
4265	<para>The subcommands of "debugvm" all operate on a running virtual
4266	machine. The following are available:<itemizedlist>
4267	<listitem>
4268	<para>With <computeroutput>dumpguestcore --filename
4269	<name></computeroutput>, you can create a system dump of the
4270	running VM, which will be written into the given file. This file
4271	will have the standard ELF core format (with custom sections); see
4272	<xref linkend="ts_guest-core-format" />.</para>
4273
4274	<para>This corresponds to the
4275	<computeroutput>writecore</computeroutput> command in the debugger.
4276	</para>
4277	</listitem>
4278
4279	<listitem>
4280	<para>The <computeroutput>info</computeroutput> command is used to
4281	display info items relating to the VMM, device emulations and
4282	associated drivers. This command takes one or two arguments: the
4283	name of the info item, optionally followed by a string containing
4284	arguments specific to the info item.
4285	The <computeroutput>help</computeroutput> info item provides a
4286	listning of the available items and hints about any optional
4287	arguments.</para>
4288
4289	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>info</computeroutput>
4290	command in the debugger.</para>
4291	</listitem>
4292
4293	<listitem>
4294	<para>The <computeroutput>injectnmi</computeroutput> command causes
4295	a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) in the guest, which might be useful
4296	for certain debugging scenarios. What happens exactly is dependent
4297	on the guest operating system, but an NMI can crash the whole guest
4298	operating system. Do not use unless you know what you're
4299	doing.</para>
4300	</listitem>
4301
4302	<listitem>
4303	<para>The <computeroutput>osdetect</computeroutput> command makes the
4304	VMM's debugger facility (re-)detection the guest operation
4305	system.</para>
4306
4307	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>detect</computeroutput>
4308	command in the debugger.</para>
4309	</listitem>
4310
4311	<listitem>
4312	<para>The <computeroutput>osinfo</computeroutput> command is used to
4313	display info about the operating system (OS) detected by the VMM's
4314	debugger facility.</para>
4315	</listitem>
4316
4317	<listitem>
4318	<para>The <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command is
4319	used to display CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
4320	of registers, each having one of the following forms:
4321	<itemizedlist>
4322	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
4323	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
4324	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
4325	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
4326	<listitem><computeroutput>all</computeroutput></listitem>
4327	</itemizedlist>
4328	The <computeroutput>all</computeroutput> form will cause all
4329	registers to be shown (no sub-fields). The registers names are
4330	case-insensitive. When requesting a CPU register the register set
4331	can be omitted, it will be selected using the value of the
4332	<computeroutput>--cpu</computeroutput> option (defaulting to 0).
4333	</para>
4334	</listitem>
4335
4336	<listitem>
4337	<para>The <computeroutput>setregisters</computeroutput> command is
4338	used to change CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
4339	of register assignments, each having one of the following forms:
4340	<itemizedlist>
4341	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
4342	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
4343	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
4344	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
4345	</itemizedlist>
4346	The value format should be in the same style as what
4347	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> displays, with the
4348	exception that both octal and decimal can be used instead of
4349	hexadecimal. The register naming and the default CPU register set
4350	are handled the same way as with the
4351	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command.</para>
4352	</listitem>
4353
4354	<listitem>
4355	<para>The <computeroutput>statistics</computeroutput> command can be
4356	used to display VMM statistics on the command line. The
4357	<computeroutput>--reset</computeroutput> option will reset
4358	statistics. The affected statistics can be filtered with the
4359	<computeroutput>--pattern</computeroutput> option, which accepts
4360	DOS/NT-style wildcards (<computeroutput>?</computeroutput> and
4361	<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>).</para>
4362	</listitem>
4363	</itemizedlist></para>
4364	</sect1>
4365
4366	<sect1 id="metrics">
4367	<title>VBoxManage metrics</title>
4368
4369	<para>This command supports monitoring the usage of system resources.
4370	Resources are represented by various metrics associated with the host
4371	system or a particular VM. For example, the host system has a
4372	<computeroutput>CPU/Load/User</computeroutput> metric that shows the
4373	percentage of time CPUs spend executing in user mode over a specific
4374	sampling period.</para>
4375
4376	<para>Metric data is collected and retained internally; it may be
4377	retrieved at any time with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
4378	query</computeroutput> subcommand. The data is available as long as the
4379	background <computeroutput>VBoxSVC</computeroutput> process is alive. That
4380	process terminates shortly after all VMs and frontends have been
4381	closed.</para>
4382
4383	<para>By default no metrics are collected at all. Metrics collection does
4384	not start until <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics setup</computeroutput>
4385	is invoked with a proper sampling interval and the number of metrics to be
4386	retained. The interval is measured in seconds. For example, to enable
4387	collecting the host processor and memory usage metrics every second and
4388	keeping the 5 most current samples, the following command can be
4389	used:</para>
4390
4391	<screen>VBoxManage metrics setup --period 1 --samples 5 host CPU/Load,RAM/Usage</screen>
4392
4393	<para>Metric collection can only be enabled for started VMs. Collected
4394	data and collection settings for a particular VM will disappear as soon as
4395	it shuts down. Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics list
4396	</computeroutput> subcommand to see which metrics are currently available.
4397	You can also use <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option with any
4398	subcommand that modifies metric settings to find out which metrics were
4399	affected.</para>
4400
4401	<para>Note that the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
4402	setup</computeroutput> subcommand discards all samples that may have been
4403	previously collected for the specified set of objects and metrics.</para>
4404
4405	<para>To enable or disable metrics collection without discarding the data
4406	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics enable</computeroutput> and
4407	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics disable</computeroutput> subcommands
4408	can be used. Note that these subcommands expect metrics, not submetrics,
4409	like <code>CPU/Load</code> or <code>RAM/Usage</code> as parameters. In
4410	other words enabling <code>CPU/Load/User</code> while disabling
4411	<code>CPU/Load/Kernel</code> is not supported.</para>
4412
4413	<para>The host and VMs have different sets of associated metrics.
4414	Available metrics can be listed with <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
4415	list</computeroutput> subcommand.</para>
4416
4417	<para>A complete metric name may include an aggregate function. The name
4418	has the following form:
4419	<computeroutput>Category/Metric[/SubMetric][:aggregate]</computeroutput>.
4420	For example, <computeroutput>RAM/Usage/Free:min</computeroutput> stands
4421	for the minimum amount of available memory over all retained data if
4422	applied to the host object.</para>
4423
4424	<para>Subcommands may apply to all objects and metrics or can be limited
4425	to one object or/and a list of metrics. If no objects or metrics are given
4426	in the parameters, the subcommands will apply to all available metrics of
4427	all objects. You may use an asterisk
4428	("<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>") to explicitly specify that the
4429	command should be applied to all objects or metrics. Use "host" as the
4430	object name to limit the scope of the command to host-related metrics. To
4431	limit the scope to a subset of metrics, use a metric list with names
4432	separated by commas.</para>
4433
4434	<para>For example, to query metric data on the CPU time spent in user and
4435	kernel modes by the virtual machine named "test", you can use the
4436	following command:</para>
4437
4438	<screen>VBoxManage metrics query test CPU/Load/User,CPU/Load/Kernel</screen>
4439
4440	<para>The following list summarizes the available subcommands:</para>
4441
4442	<glosslist>
4443	<glossentry>
4444	<glossterm><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></glossterm>
4445
4446	<glossdef>
4447	<para>This subcommand shows the parameters of the currently existing
4448	metrics. Note that VM-specific metrics are only available when a
4449	particular VM is running.</para>
4450	</glossdef>
4451	</glossentry>
4452
4453	<glossentry>
4454	<glossterm><computeroutput>setup</computeroutput></glossterm>
4455
4456	<glossdef>
4457	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
4458	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
4459	retained data is available for displaying with the
4460	<code>query</code> subcommand. The <computeroutput>--list
4461	</computeroutput> option shows which metrics have been modified as
4462	the result of the command execution.</para>
4463	</glossdef>
4464	</glossentry>
4465
4466	<glossentry>
4467	<glossterm><computeroutput>enable</computeroutput></glossterm>
4468
4469	<glossdef>
4470	<para>This subcommand "resumes" data collection after it has been
4471	stopped with <code>disable</code> subcommand. Note that specifying
4472	submetrics as parameters will not enable underlying metrics. Use
4473	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
4474	did what was expected.</para>
4475	</glossdef>
4476	</glossentry>
4477
4478	<glossentry>
4479	<glossterm><computeroutput>disable</computeroutput></glossterm>
4480
4481	<glossdef>
4482	<para>This subcommand "suspends" data collection without affecting
4483	collection parameters or collected data. Note that specifying
4484	submetrics as parameters will not disable underlying metrics. Use
4485	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
4486	did what was expected.</para>
4487	</glossdef>
4488	</glossentry>
4489
4490	<glossentry>
4491	<glossterm><computeroutput>query</computeroutput></glossterm>
4492
4493	<glossdef>
4494	<para>This subcommand retrieves and displays the currently retained
4495	metric data.<note>
4496	<para>The <code>query</code> subcommand does not remove or
4497	"flush" retained data. If you query often enough you will see
4498	how old samples are gradually being "phased out" by new
4499	samples.</para>
4500	</note></para>
4501	</glossdef>
4502	</glossentry>
4503
4504	<glossentry>
4505	<glossterm><computeroutput>collect</computeroutput></glossterm>
4506
4507	<glossdef>
4508	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
4509	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
4510	collected data is displayed periodically until Ctrl-C is pressed
4511	unless the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput> option is
4512	specified. With the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput>
4513	option, this subcommand operates the same way as <code>setup</code>
4514	does. The <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option shows which
4515	metrics match the specified filter.</para>
4516	</glossdef>
4517	</glossentry>
4518	</glosslist>
4519	</sect1>
4520
4521	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-hostonlyif">
4522	<title>VBoxManage hostonlyif</title>
4523
4524	<para>With "hostonlyif" you can change the IP configuration of a host-only
4525	network interface. For a description of host-only networking, please
4526	refer to <xref linkend="network_hostonly" />. Each host-only interface is
4527	identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a
4528	manual IP configuration (both IP4 and IP6).</para>
4529
4530	<para>The following list summarizes the available subcommands:</para>
4531
4532	<glosslist>
4533	<glossentry>
4534	<glossterm><computeroutput>ipconfig "<name>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
4535	<glossdef>
4536	<para>Configure a hostonly interface</para>
4537	</glossdef>
4538	</glossentry>
4539	<glossentry>
4540	<glossterm><computeroutput>create</computeroutput></glossterm>
4541	<glossdef>
4542	<para>Ceates a new vboxnet<N> interface on the host OS.
4543	This command is essential before you can attach VMs to host-only network.</para>
4544	</glossdef>
4545	</glossentry>
4546	<glossentry>
4547	<glossterm><computeroutput>remove vboxnet<N></computeroutput></glossterm>
4548	<glossdef>
4549	<para>Removes a vboxnet<N> interface from the host OS.</para>
4550	</glossdef>
4551	</glossentry>
4552	</glosslist>
4553
4554	</sect1>
4555
4556	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-dhcpserver">
4557	<title>VBoxManage dhcpserver</title>
4558
4559	<para>The "dhcpserver" commands allow you to control the DHCP server that
4560	is built into VirtualBox. You may find this useful when using internal or
4561	host-only networking. (Theoretically, you can enable it for a bridged
4562	network as well, but that will likely cause conflicts with other DHCP
4563	servers in your physical network.)</para>
4564
4565	<para>Use the following command line options:<itemizedlist>
4566	<listitem>
4567	<para>If you use internal networking for a virtual network adapter
4568	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
4569	--netname <network_name></computeroutput>, where
4570	<computeroutput><network_name></computeroutput> is the same
4571	network name you used with <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm
4572	<vmname> --intnet<X>
4573	<network_name></computeroutput>.</para>
4574	</listitem>
4575
4576	<listitem>
4577	<para>If you use host-only networking for a virtual network adapter
4578	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
4579	--ifname <hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> instead, where
4580	<computeroutput><hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> is the
4581	same host-only interface name you used with
4582	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname>
4583	--hostonlyadapter<X>
4584	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput>.</para>
4585
4586	<para>Alternatively, you can also use the --netname option as with
4587	internal networks if you know the host-only network's name; you can
4588	see the names with <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
4589	hostonlyifs</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
4590	above).</para>
4591	</listitem>
4592	</itemizedlist></para>
4593
4594	<para>The following additional parameters are required when first adding a
4595	DHCP server:<itemizedlist>
4596	<listitem>
4597	<para>With <computeroutput>--ip</computeroutput>, specify the IP
4598	address of the DHCP server itself.</para>
4599	</listitem>
4600
4601	<listitem>
4602	<para>With <computeroutput>--netmask</computeroutput>, specify the
4603	netmask of the network.</para>
4604	</listitem>
4605
4606	<listitem>
4607	<para>With <computeroutput>--lowerip</computeroutput> and
4608	<computeroutput>--upperip</computeroutput>, you can specify the
4609	lowest and highest IP address, respectively, that the DHCP server
4610	will hand out to clients.</para>
4611	</listitem>
4612	</itemizedlist></para>
4613
4614	<para>Finally, you must specify <computeroutput>--enable</computeroutput>
4615	or the DHCP server will be created in the disabled state, doing
4616	nothing.</para>
4617
4618	<para>After this, VirtualBox will automatically start the DHCP server for
4619	given internal or host-only network as soon as the first virtual machine
4620	which uses that network is started.</para>
4621
4622	<para>Reversely, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver
4623	remove</computeroutput> with the given <computeroutput>--netname
4624	<network_name></computeroutput> or <computeroutput>--ifname
4625	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> to remove the DHCP server again
4626	for the given internal or host-only network.</para>
4627
4628	<para>To modify the settings of a DHCP server created earlier with
4629	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add</computeroutput>, you can use
4630	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver modify</computeroutput> for a given
4631	network or host-only interface name.</para>
4632	</sect1>
4633
4634	<xi:include href="man_VBoxManage_extpack.xml" xpointer="element(/1)"
4635	xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
4636	</chapter>

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