You can create a VM on the command line using VBoxManage. See also .

The following example uses various VBoxManage commands to specify the VM and configure an unattended guest installation for an Oracle Linux VM on a Linux host.

It then shows the use of the VBoxManage unattended install command to install and configure the guest OS.

1. Set a variable for the name of the OS.

   # VM="ol8-autoinstall"
   

2. List the available guest OS types and note the exact name of the one you need. This is required in VBoxManage commands.

   # VBoxManage list ostypes

3. Create the virtual machine.

   # VBoxManage createvm --name $VM --ostype "Oracle_64" --register

   The VM has a unique UUID.

   An XML settings file is generated.

4. Create a 32768 MB virtual hard disk for the VM.

   # VBoxManage createhd --filename /VirtualBox/$VM/$VM.vdi --size 32768

5. Create storage devices for the VM.

   • Create a SATA storage controller and attach the virtual hard disk.

     # VBoxManage storagectl $VM --name "SATA Controller" --add sata --controller IntelAHCI
     # VBoxManage storageattach $VM --storagectl "SATA Controller" --port 0 --device 0 \
     --type hdd --medium /VirtualBox/$VM/$VM.vdi

   • Create an IDE storage controller for a virtual DVD drive and attach an Oracle Linux installation ISO.

     # VBoxManage storagectl $VM --name "IDE Controller" --add ide
     # VBoxManage storageattach $VM --storagectl "IDE Controller" --port 0 --device 0 \
     --type dvddrive --medium /u01/Software/OL/OracleLinux-R7-U6-Server-x86_64-dvd.iso

6. (Optional) Configure some settings for the VM.

   • Enable I/O APIC for the motherboard of the VM.

     # VBoxManage modifyvm $VM --ioapic on

   • Configure the boot device order for the VM.

     # VBoxManage modifyvm $VM --boot1 dvd --boot2 disk --boot3 none --boot4 none

   • Allocate 8192 MB of RAM and 128 MB of video RAM to the VM.

     # VBoxManage modifyvm $VM --memory 8192 --vram 128

7. Specify the Unattended Installation parameters, and then install the OS.

   • Specify an Oracle Linux ISO as the installation ISO.

     # VBoxManage unattended install $VM \
     --iso=/u01/Software/OL/OracleLinux-R7-U6-Server-x86_64-dvd.iso \

   • Specifiy a user name, full name, and password for a default user on the guest OS.

     --user=login --full-user-name=name --user-password password \

     Note that the specified password is also used for the root user account on the guest.

   • Specify that you want to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions on the VM.

     --install-additions \

   • Sets the time zone for the guest OS to Central European Time (CET).

     --time-zone=CET

8. Start the virtual machine.

   # VBoxManage startvm $VM --type headless

   The VM starts in headless mode, which means that it does not have a GUI.