user_VBoxManage.xml@ 58474

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

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