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1	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2	<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
3	"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd">
4	<chapter id="vboxmanage">
5	<title>VBoxManage</title>
6
7	<sect1>
8	<title>Introduction</title>
9
10	<para>As briefly mentioned in <xref linkend="frontends" />, VBoxManage is
11	the command-line interface to VirtualBox. With it, you can completely
12	control VirtualBox from the command line of your host operating system.
13	VBoxManage supports all the features that the graphical user interface
14	gives you access to, but it supports a lot more than that. It exposes
15	really all the features of the virtualization engine, even those that
16	cannot (yet) be accessed from the GUI.</para>
17
18	<para>You will need to use the command line if you want to</para>
19
20	<para><itemizedlist>
21	<listitem>
22	<para>use a different user interface than the main GUI (for example,
23	VBoxSDL or the VBoxHeadless server);</para>
24	</listitem>
25
26	<listitem>
27	<para>control some of the more advanced and experimental
28	configuration settings for a VM.</para>
29	</listitem>
30	</itemizedlist></para>
31
32	<para>There are two main things to keep in mind when using
33	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>: First,
34	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> must always be used with a
35	specific "subcommand", such as "list" or "createvm" or "startvm". All the
36	subcommands that <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> supports are
37	described in detail in <xref linkend="vboxmanage" />.</para>
38
39	<para>Second, most of these subcommands require that you specify a
40	particular virtual machine after the subcommand. There are two ways you
41	can do this:</para>
42
43	<itemizedlist>
44	<listitem>
45	<para>You can specify the VM name, as it is shown in the VirtualBox
46	GUI. Note that if that name contains spaces, then you must enclose the
47	entire name in double quotes (as it is always required with command
48	line arguments that contain spaces).</para>
49
50	<para>For example:<screen>VBoxManage startvm "Windows XP"</screen></para>
51	</listitem>
52
53	<listitem>
54	<para>You can specify the UUID, which is the internal unique
55	identifier that VirtualBox uses to refer to the virtual machine.
56	Assuming that the aforementioned VM called "Windows XP" has the UUID
57	shown below, the following command has the same effect as the
58	previous:<screen>VBoxManage startvm 670e746d-abea-4ba6-ad02-2a3b043810a5</screen></para>
59	</listitem>
60	</itemizedlist>
61
62	<para>You can type <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms</computeroutput> to
63	have all currently registered VMs listed with all their settings,
64	including their respective names and UUIDs.</para>
65
66	<para>Some typical examples of how to control VirtualBox from the command
67	line are listed below:</para>
68
69	<itemizedlist>
70	<listitem>
71	<para>To create a new virtual machine from the command line and
72	immediately register it with VirtualBox, use
73	<computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> with the
74	<computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option,<footnote>
75	<para>For details, see <xref
76	linkend="vboxmanage-createvm" />.</para>
77	</footnote> like this:</para>
78
79	<screen>$ VBoxManage createvm --name "SUSE 10.2" --register
80	VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
81	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
82	All rights reserved.
83
84	Virtual machine 'SUSE 10.2' is created.
85	UUID: c89fc351-8ec6-4f02-a048-57f4d25288e5
86	Settings file: '/home/username/.config/VirtualBox/Machines/SUSE 10.2/SUSE 10.2.xml'
87	</screen>
88
89	<para>As can be seen from the above output, a new virtual machine has
90	been created with a new UUID and a new XML settings file.</para>
91	</listitem>
92
93	<listitem>
94	<para>To show the configuration of a particular VM, use
95	<computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see <xref
96	linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" /> for details and an example.</para>
97	</listitem>
98
99	<listitem>
100	<para>To change settings while a VM is powered off, use
101	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>, e.g. as
102	follows:<screen>VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --memory "512MB"</screen></para>
103
104	<para>For details, see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm" />.</para>
105	</listitem>
106
107	<listitem>
108	<para>To change the storage configuration (e.g. to add a storage
109	controller and then a virtual disk), use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
110	storagectl</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>VBoxManage
111	storageattach</computeroutput>; see <xref
112	linkend="vboxmanage-storagectl" /> and <xref
113	linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" /> for details.</para>
114	</listitem>
115
116	<listitem>
117	<para>To control VM operation, use one of the following:<itemizedlist>
118	<listitem>
119	<para>To start a VM that is currently powered off, use
120	<computeroutput>VBoxManage startvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
121	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
122	</listitem>
123
124	<listitem>
125	<para>To pause or save a VM that is currently running or change
126	some of its settings, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
127	controlvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
128	linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" /> for details.</para>
129	</listitem>
130	</itemizedlist></para>
131	</listitem>
132	</itemizedlist>
133	</sect1>
134
135	<sect1>
136	<title>Commands overview</title>
137
138	<para>When running VBoxManage without parameters or when supplying an
139	invalid command line, the below syntax diagram will be shown. Note that
140	the output will be slightly different depending on the host platform; when
141	in doubt, check the output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>
142	for the commands available on your particular host.</para>
143
144	<screen>$VBOX_MANAGE_OUTPUT</screen>
145
146	<para>Each time VBoxManage is invoked, only one command can be executed.
147	However, a command might support several subcommands which then can be
148	invoked in one single call. The following sections provide detailed
149	reference information on the different commands.</para>
150	</sect1>
151
152	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-general">
153	<title>General options</title>
154	<para>
155	<itemizedlist>
156	<listitem>
157	<para><computeroutput>--version</computeroutput>: show the version of
158	this tool and exit.</para>
159	</listitem>
160	<listitem>
161	<para><computeroutput>--nologo</computeroutput>: suppress the output
162	of the logo information (useful for scripts)</para>
163	</listitem>
164	<listitem>
165	<para><computeroutput>--settingspw</computeroutput>: specifiy a settings
166	password</para>
167	</listitem>
168	<listitem>
169	<para><computeroutput>--settingspwfile</computeroutput>: specify a file
170	containing the settings password.</para>
171	</listitem>
172	</itemizedlist>
173	The settings password is used for certain settings which need to be
174	stored encrypted for security reasons. At the moment, the only encrypted
175	setting is the iSCSI initiator secret (see
176	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" /> for details). As long as no
177	settings password is specified, this information is stored in
178	<emphasis role="bold">plain text</emphasis>. After using the
179	<computeroutput>--settingspw\|--settingspwfile</computeroutput> option
180	once, it must be always used, otherwise the encrypted setting cannot
181	be unencrypted.
182	</para>
183	</sect1>
184
185	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-list">
186	<title>VBoxManage list</title>
187
188	<para>The <computeroutput>list</computeroutput> command gives relevant
189	information about your system and information about VirtualBox's current
190	settings.</para>
191
192	<para>The following subcommands are available with
193	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list</computeroutput>: <itemizedlist>
194	<listitem>
195	<para><computeroutput>vms</computeroutput> lists all virtual
196	machines currently registered with VirtualBox. By default this
197	displays a compact list with each VM's name and UUID; if you also
198	specify <computeroutput>--long</computeroutput> or
199	<computeroutput>-l</computeroutput>, this will be a detailed list as
200	with the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command (see
201	below).</para>
202	</listitem>
203
204	<listitem>
205	<para><computeroutput>runningvms</computeroutput> lists all
206	currently running virtual machines by their unique identifiers
207	(UUIDs) in the same format as with
208	<computeroutput>vms</computeroutput>.</para>
209	</listitem>
210
211	<listitem>
212	<para><computeroutput>ostypes</computeroutput> lists all guest
213	operating systems presently known to VirtualBox, along with the
214	identifiers used to refer to them with the
215	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command.</para>
216	</listitem>
217
218	<listitem>
219	<para><computeroutput>hostdvds</computeroutput>,
220	<computeroutput>hostfloppies</computeroutput>, respectively, list
221	DVD, floppy, bridged networking and host-only networking interfaces
222	on the host, along with the name used to access them from within
223	VirtualBox.</para>
224	</listitem>
225
226	<listitem>
227	<para><computeroutput>bridgedifs</computeroutput>,
228	<computeroutput>hostonlyifs</computeroutput> and
229	<computeroutput>dhcpservers</computeroutput>, respectively, list
230	bridged network interfaces, host-only network interfaces and DHCP
231	servers currently available on the host. Please see <xref
232	linkend="networkingdetails" /> for details on these.</para>
233	</listitem>
234
235	<listitem>
236	<para><computeroutput>hostinfo</computeroutput> displays information
237	about the host system, such as CPUs, memory size and operating
238	system version.</para>
239	</listitem>
240
241	<listitem>
242	<para><computeroutput>hostcpuids</computeroutput> dumps the CPUID
243	parameters for the host CPUs. This can be used for a more fine
244	grained analyis of the host's virtualization capabilities.</para>
245	</listitem>
246
247	<listitem>
248	<para><computeroutput>hddbackends</computeroutput> lists all known
249	virtual disk back-ends of VirtualBox. For each such format (such as
250	VDI, VMDK or RAW), this lists the back-end's capabilities and
251	configuration.</para>
252	</listitem>
253
254	<listitem>
255	<para><computeroutput>hdds</computeroutput>,
256	<computeroutput>dvds</computeroutput> and
257	<computeroutput>floppies</computeroutput> all give you information
258	about virtual disk images currently in use by VirtualBox, including
259	all their settings, the unique identifiers (UUIDs) associated with
260	them by VirtualBox and all files associated with them. This is the
261	command-line equivalent of the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref
262	linkend="vdis" />.</para>
263	</listitem>
264
265	<listitem>
266	<para><computeroutput>usbhost</computeroutput> supplies information
267	about USB devices attached to the host, notably information useful
268	for constructing USB filters and whether they are currently in use
269	by the host.</para>
270	</listitem>
271
272	<listitem>
273	<para><computeroutput>usbfilters</computeroutput> lists all global
274	USB filters registered with VirtualBox -- that is, filters for
275	devices which are accessible to all virtual machines -- and displays
276	the filter parameters.</para>
277	</listitem>
278
279	<listitem>
280	<para><computeroutput>systemproperties</computeroutput> displays
281	some global VirtualBox settings, such as minimum and maximum guest
282	RAM and virtual hard disk size, folder settings and the current
283	authentication library in use.</para>
284	</listitem>
285
286	<listitem>
287	<para><computeroutput>extpacks</computeroutput> displays all
288	VirtualBox extension packs currently installed; see <xref
289	linkend="intro-installing" /> and <xref
290	linkend="vboxmanage-extpack" /> for more information.</para>
291	</listitem>
292	</itemizedlist></para>
293	</sect1>
294
295	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-showvminfo">
296	<title>VBoxManage showvminfo</title>
297
298	<para>The <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command shows
299	information about a particular virtual machine. This is the same
300	information as <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms --long</computeroutput>
301	would show for all virtual machines.</para>
302
303	<para>You will get information similar to the following:</para>
304
305	<para><screen>$ VBoxManage showvminfo "Windows XP"
306	VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
307	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
308	All rights reserved.
309
310	Name: Windows XP
311	Guest OS: Other/Unknown
312	UUID: 1bf3464d-57c6-4d49-92a9-a5cc3816b7e7
313	Config file: /home/username/.config/VirtualBox/Machines/Windows XP/Windows XP.xml
314	Memory size: 512MB
315	VRAM size: 12MB
316	Number of CPUs: 2
317	Synthetic Cpu: off
318	Boot menu mode: message and menu
319	Boot Device (1): DVD
320	Boot Device (2): HardDisk
321	Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
322	Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
323	ACPI: on
324	IOAPIC: on
325	PAE: on
326	Time offset: 0 ms
327	Hardw. virt.ext: on
328	Nested Paging: on
329	VT-x VPID: off
330	State: powered off (since 2009-10-20T14:52:19.000000000)
331	Monitor count: 1
332	3D Acceleration: off
333	2D Video Acceleration: off
334	Teleporter Enabled: off
335	Teleporter Port: 0
336	Teleporter Address:
337	Teleporter Password:
338	Storage Controller (0): IDE Controller
339	Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
340	Storage Controller (1): Floppy Controller 1
341	Storage Controller Type (1): I82078
342	IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/user/windows.vdi (UUID: 46f6e53a-4557-460a-9b95-68b0f17d744b)
343	IDE Controller (0, 1): /home/user/openbsd-cd46.iso (UUID: 4335e162-59d3-4512-91d5-b63e94eebe0b)
344	Floppy Controller 1 (0, 0): /home/user/floppy.img (UUID: 62ac6ccb-df36-42f2-972e-22f836368137)
345	NIC 1: disabled
346	NIC 2: disabled
347	NIC 3: disabled
348	NIC 4: disabled
349	NIC 5: disabled
350	NIC 6: disabled
351	NIC 7: disabled
352	NIC 8: disabled
353	UART 1: disabled
354	UART 2: disabled
355	Audio: disabled (Driver: Unknown)
356	Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
357	VRDE: disabled
358	USB: disabled
359
360	USB Device Filters:
361	<none>
362
363	Shared folders:
364	<none>
365
366	Statistics update: disabled
367	</screen></para>
368	</sect1>
369
370	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-registervm">
371	<title>VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm</title>
372
373	<para>The <computeroutput>registervm</computeroutput> command allows you
374	to import a virtual machine definition in an XML file into VirtualBox. The
375	machine must not conflict with one already registered in VirtualBox and it
376	may not have any hard or removable disks attached. It is advisable to
377	place the definition file in the machines folder before registering
378	it.<note>
379	<para>When creating a new virtual machine with
380	<computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> (see below), you
381	can directly specify the <computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>
382	option to avoid having to register it separately.</para>
383	</note></para>
384
385	<para>The <computeroutput>unregistervm</computeroutput> command
386	unregisters a virtual machine. If
387	<computeroutput>--delete</computeroutput> is also specified, the following
388	files will automatically be deleted as well:<orderedlist>
389	<listitem>
390	<para>all hard disk image files, including differencing files, which
391	are used by the machine and not shared with other machines;</para>
392	</listitem>
393
394	<listitem>
395	<para>saved state files that the machine created, if any (one if the
396	machine was in "saved" state and one for each online
397	snapshot);</para>
398	</listitem>
399
400	<listitem>
401	<para>the machine XML file and its backups;</para>
402	</listitem>
403
404	<listitem>
405	<para>the machine log files, if any;</para>
406	</listitem>
407
408	<listitem>
409	<para>the machine directory, if it is empty after having deleted all
410	the above.</para>
411	</listitem>
412	</orderedlist></para>
413	</sect1>
414
415	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvm">
416	<title>VBoxManage createvm</title>
417
418	<para>This command creates a new XML virtual machine definition
419	file.</para>
420
421	<para>The <computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput> parameter
422	is required and must specify the name of the machine. Since this name is
423	used by default as the file name of the settings file (with the extension
424	<computeroutput>.xml</computeroutput>) and the machine folder (a subfolder
425	of the <computeroutput>.config/VirtualBox/Machines</computeroutput> folder - this folder name may vary depending on the operating system and the version of VirtualBox which you are using), it
426	must conform to your host operating system's requirements for file name
427	specifications. If the VM is later renamed, the file and folder names will
428	change automatically.</para>
429
430	<para>However, if the <computeroutput>--basefolder
431	<path></computeroutput> option is used, the machine folder will be
432	named <computeroutput><path></computeroutput>. In this case, the
433	names of the file and the folder will not change if the virtual machine is
434	renamed.</para>
435
436	<para>By default, this command only creates the XML file without
437	automatically registering the VM with your VirtualBox installation. To
438	register the VM instantly, use the optional
439	<computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option, or run
440	<computeroutput>VBoxManage registervm</computeroutput> separately
441	afterwards.</para>
442	</sect1>
443
444	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm">
445	<title>VBoxManage modifyvm</title>
446
447	<para>This command changes the properties of a registered virtual machine
448	which is not running. Most of the properties that this command makes
449	available correspond to the VM settings that VirtualBox graphical user
450	interface displays in each VM's "Settings" dialog; these were described in
451	<xref linkend="BasicConcepts" />. Some of the more advanced settings,
452	however, are only available through the
453	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> interface.</para>
454
455	<para>These commands require that the machine is powered off (neither
456	running nor in "saved" state). Some machine settings can also be changed
457	while a machine is running; those settings will then have a corresponding
458	subcommand with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm</computeroutput>
459	subcommand (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" />).</para>
460
461	<sect2>
462	<title>General settings</title>
463
464	<para>The following general settings are available through
465	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
466	<listitem>
467	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: This
468	changes the VM's name and possibly renames the internal virtual
469	machine files, as described with <computeroutput>VBoxManage
470	createvm</computeroutput> above.</para>
471	</listitem>
472
473	<listitem>
474	<para><computeroutput>--ostype <ostype></computeroutput>:
475	This specifies what guest operating system is supposed to run in
476	the VM. To learn about the various identifiers that can be used
477	here, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
478	ostypes</computeroutput>.</para>
479	</listitem>
480
481	<listitem>
482	<para><computeroutput>--memory
483	<memorysize></computeroutput>: This sets the amount of RAM,
484	in MB, that the virtual machine should allocate for itself from
485	the host. See the remarks in <xref linkend="gui-createvm" /> for
486	more information.</para>
487	</listitem>
488
489	<listitem>
490	<para><computeroutput>--vram <vramsize></computeroutput>:
491	This sets the amount of RAM that the virtual graphics card should
492	have. See <xref linkend="settings-display" /> for details.</para>
493	</listitem>
494
495	<listitem>
496	<para><computeroutput>--acpi on\|off</computeroutput>;
497	<computeroutput>--ioapic on\|off</computeroutput>: These two
498	determine whether the VM should have ACPI and I/O APIC support,
499	respectively; see <xref linkend="settings-motherboard" /> for
500	details.</para>
501	</listitem>
502
503	<listitem>
504	<para><computeroutput>--hardwareuuid
505	<uuid></computeroutput>: The UUID presented to the guest via
506	memory tables (DMI/SMBIOS), hardware and guest properties. By
507	default this is the same as the VM uuid. Useful when cloning a VM.
508	Teleporting takes care of this automatically.</para>
509	</listitem>
510
511	<listitem>
512	<para><computeroutput>--cpus <cpucount></computeroutput>:
513	This sets the number of virtual CPUs for the virtual machine (see
514	<xref linkend="settings-processor" />). If CPU hot-plugging is
515	enabled (see below), this then sets the
516	<emphasis>maximum</emphasis> number of virtual CPUs that can be
517	plugged into the virtual machines.</para>
518	</listitem>
519
520	<listitem>
521	<para><computeroutput>--rtcuseutc on\|off</computeroutput>: This
522	option lets the real-time clock (RTC) operate in UTC time (see
523	<xref linkend="settings-motherboard" />).</para>
524	</listitem>
525
526	<listitem>
527	<para><computeroutput>--cpuhotplug on\|off</computeroutput>: This
528	enables CPU hot-plugging. When enabled, virtual CPUs can be added
529	to and removed from a virtual machine while it is running. See
530	<xref linkend="cpuhotplug" /> for more information.</para>
531	</listitem>
532
533	<listitem>
534	<para><computeroutput>--plugcpu\|unplugcpu
535	<id></computeroutput>: If CPU hot-plugging is enabled (see
536	above), this adds a virtual CPU to the virtual machines (or
537	removes one). <computeroutput><id></computeroutput>
538	specifies the index of the virtual CPU to be added or removed and
539	must be a number from 0 to the maximum no. of CPUs configured with
540	the <computeroutput>--cpus</computeroutput> option. CPU 0 can
541	never be removed.</para>
542	</listitem>
543
544	<listitem>
545	<para><computeroutput>--cpuexecutioncap
546	<1-100></computeroutput>: This setting controls how much cpu
547	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual
548	CPU can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
549	</listitem>
550
551	<listitem>
552	<para><computeroutput>--pae on\|off</computeroutput>: This
553	enables/disables PAE (see <xref
554	linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
555	</listitem>
556
557	<listitem>
558	<para><computeroutput>--longmode on\|off</computeroutput>: This
559	enables/disables long mode (see <xref
560	linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
561	</listitem>
562
563	<listitem>
564	<para><computeroutput>--synthcpu on\|off</computeroutput>: This
565	setting determines whether VirtualBox will expose a synthetic CPU
566	to the guest to allow live migration between host systems that
567	differ significantly.</para>
568	</listitem>
569
570	<listitem>
571	<para><computeroutput>--hpet on\|off</computeroutput>: This
572	enables/disables a High Precision Event Timer (HPET) which can
573	replace the legacy system timers. This is turned off by default.
574	Note that Windows supports a HPET only from Vista onwards.</para>
575	</listitem>
576
577	<listitem>
578	<para><computeroutput>--hwvirtex on\|off</computeroutput>: This
579	enables or disables the use of hardware virtualization extensions
580	(Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the processor of your host system; see
581	<xref linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
582	</listitem>
583
584	<listitem>
585	<para><computeroutput>--nestedpaging on\|off</computeroutput>: If
586	hardware virtualization is enabled, this additional setting
587	enables or disables the use of the nested paging feature in the
588	processor of your host system; see <xref
589	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
590	</listitem>
591
592	<listitem>
593	<para><computeroutput>--largepages on\|off</computeroutput>: If
594	hardware virtualization <emphasis>and</emphasis> nested paging are
595	enabled, for Intel VT-x only, an additional performance
596	improvement of up to 5% can be obtained by enabling this setting.
597	This causes the hypervisor to use large pages to reduce TLB use
598	and overhead.</para>
599	</listitem>
600
601	<listitem>
602	<para><computeroutput>--vtxvpid on\|off</computeroutput>: If
603	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
604	additional setting enables or disables the use of the tagged TLB
605	(VPID) feature in the processor of your host system; see <xref
606	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
607	</listitem>
608
609	<listitem>
610	<para><computeroutput>--vtxux on\|off</computeroutput>: If
611	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
612	setting enables or disables the use of the unrestricted guest mode
613	feature for executing your guest.</para>
614	</listitem>
615
616	<listitem>
617	<para><computeroutput>--accelerate3d on\|off</computeroutput>: This
618	enables, if the Guest Additions are installed, whether hardware 3D
619	acceleration should be available; see <xref
620	linkend="guestadd-3d" />.</para>
621	</listitem>
622
623	<listitem>
624	<para>You can influence the BIOS logo that is displayed when a
625	virtual machine starts up with a number of settings. Per default,
626	a VirtualBox logo is displayed.</para>
627
628	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogofadein
629	on\|off</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>--bioslogofadeout
630	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can determine whether the logo should
631	fade in and out, respectively.</para>
632
633	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogodisplaytime
634	<msec></computeroutput> you can set how long the logo should
635	be visible, in milliseconds.</para>
636
637	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogoimagepath
638	<imagepath></computeroutput> you can, if you are so
639	inclined, replace the image that is shown, with your own logo. The
640	image must be an uncompressed 256 color BMP file without color
641	space information (Windows 3.0 format). The image must not be
642	bigger than 640 x 480.</para>
643	</listitem>
644
645	<listitem>
646	<para><computeroutput>--biosbootmenu
647	disabled\|menuonly\|messageandmenu</computeroutput>: This specifies
648	whether the BIOS allows the user to select a temporary boot
649	device. <computeroutput>menuonly</computeroutput> suppresses the
650	message, but the user can still press F12 to select a temporary
651	boot device.</para>
652	</listitem>
653
654	<listitem>
655	<para><computeroutput>--nicbootprio<1-N>
656	<priority></computeroutput>: This specifies the order in which
657	NICs are tried for booting over the network (using PXE). The
658	priority is an integer in the 0 to 4 range. Priority 1 is the
659	highest, priority 4 is low. Priority 0, which is the default unless
660	otherwise specified, is the lowest.
661	</para>
662	<para> Note that this option only has effect when the Intel PXE boot
663	ROM is used.
664	</para>
665	</listitem>
666
667	<listitem>
668	<para><computeroutput>--boot<1-4>
669	none\|floppy\|dvd\|disk\|net</computeroutput>: This specifies the boot
670	order for the virtual machine. There are four "slots", which the
671	VM will try to access from 1 to 4, and for each of which you can
672	set a device that the VM should attempt to boot from.</para>
673	</listitem>
674
675	<listitem>
676	<para><computeroutput>--snapshotfolder
677	default\|<path></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
678	the folder in which snapshots will be kept for a virtual
679	machine.</para>
680	</listitem>
681
682	<listitem>
683	<para><computeroutput>--firmware efi\|bios</computeroutput>:
684	Specifies which firmware is used to boot particular virtual
685	machine: EFI or BIOS. Use EFI only if your fully understand what
686	you're doing.</para>
687	</listitem>
688
689	<listitem>
690	<para><computeroutput>--guestmemoryballoon
691	<size></computeroutput> sets the default size of the guest
692	memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest
693	Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the
694	hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines. <size> must
695	be specified in megabytes. The default size is 0 megabytes. For
696	details, see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
697	</listitem>
698
699	<listitem>
700	<para><computeroutput>--lptmode<1-N>
701	<Device></computeroutput>
702	Specifies the Device Name of the parallel port that
703	the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
704	<emphasis>before</emphasis> <computeroutput>--lpt</computeroutput>.
705	This feature is host operating system specific.</para>
706	</listitem>
707
708	<listitem>
709	<para><computeroutput>--lpt<1-N>
710	<I/O base> <IRQ></computeroutput>
711	Specifies the I/O address of the parallel port and the IRQ
712	number that the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
713	<emphasis>after</emphasis>
714	<computeroutput>--lptmod</computeroutput>. I/O base address and IRQ are
715	the values that guest sees i.e. the values avalable under guest Device Manager.</para>
716	</listitem>
717
718	<listitem>
719	<para><computeroutput>--defaultfrontend
720	default\|<name></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
721	the default frontend which will be used when starting this VM; see
722	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
723	</listitem>
724	</itemizedlist></para>
725	</sect2>
726
727	<sect2>
728	<title>Networking settings</title>
729
730	<para>The following networking settings are available through
731	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
732	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
733	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings
734	should be changed.<itemizedlist>
735	<listitem>
736	<para><computeroutput>--nic<1-N>
737	none\|null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic
738	</computeroutput>: With
739	this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards,
740	what type of networking should be available. They can be not
741	present (<computeroutput>none</computeroutput>), not connected to
742	the host (<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network
743	address translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>),
744	bridged networking (<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or
745	communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking
746	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>), host-only networking
747	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>), or access rarely used
748	sub-modes (<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>).
749	These options correspond
750	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
751	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
752	</listitem>
753
754	<listitem>
755	<para><computeroutput>--nictype<1-N>
756	Am79C970A\|Am79C973\|82540EM\|82543GC\|82545EM\|virtio</computeroutput>:
757	This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
758	specify which networking hardware VirtualBox presents to the
759	guest; see <xref linkend="nichardware" />.</para>
760	</listitem>
761
762	<listitem>
763	<para><computeroutput>--cableconnected<1-N>
764	on\|off</computeroutput>: This allows you to temporarily disconnect
765	a virtual network interface, as if a network cable had been pulled
766	from a real network card. This might be useful for resetting
767	certain software components in the VM.</para>
768	</listitem>
769
770	<listitem>
771	<para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
772	network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
773	purposes.</para>
774
775	<para>With <computeroutput>--nictrace<1-N>
776	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
777	particular virtual network card.</para>
778
779	<para>If enabled, you must specify with
780	<computeroutput>--nictracefile<1-N>
781	<filename></computeroutput> what file the trace should be
782	logged to.</para>
783	</listitem>
784
785	<listitem>
786	<para><computeroutput>--bridgeadapter<1-N>
787	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If bridged networking
788	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the
789	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
790	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host
791	interface the given virtual network interface will use. For
792	details, please see <xref linkend="network_bridged" />.</para>
793	</listitem>
794
795	<listitem>
796	<para><computeroutput>--hostonlyadapter<1-N>
797	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If host-only networking
798	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the --nic option
799	above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to
800	specify which host-only networking interface the given virtual
801	network interface will use. For details, please see <xref
802	linkend="network_hostonly" />.</para>
803	</listitem>
804
805	<listitem>
806	<para><computeroutput>--intnet<1-N>
807	network</computeroutput>: If internal networking has been enabled
808	for a virtual network card (see the
809	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
810	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify the name
811	of the internal network (see <xref
812	linkend="network_internal" />).</para>
813	</listitem>
814
815	<listitem>
816	<para><computeroutput>--macaddress<1-N>
817	auto\|<mac></computeroutput>: With this option you can set
818	the MAC address of the virtual network card. Normally, each
819	virtual network card is assigned a random address by VirtualBox at
820	VM creation.</para>
821	</listitem>
822
823	<listitem>
824	<para><computeroutput>--nicgenericdrv<1-N>
825	<backend driver></computeroutput>: If generic networking has been
826	enabled for a virtual network card (see the
827	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
828	this setting has no effect), this mode allows you to access
829	rarely used networking sub-modes, such as VDE network or UDP Tunnel.
830	</para>
831	</listitem>
832
833	<listitem>
834	<para><computeroutput>--nicproperty<1-N>
835	<paramname>="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
836	This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
837	pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
838	Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
839	between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
840	please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
841	</para>
842	</listitem>
843	</itemizedlist></para>
844
845	<sect3>
846	<title>NAT Networking settings.</title>
847
848	<para>The following NAT networking settings are available through
849	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
850	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
851	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose
852	settings should be changed.<itemizedlist>
853	<listitem>
854	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N>
855	[<name>],tcp\|udp,[<hostip>],<hostport>,[<guestip>],
856	<guestport></computeroutput>: This option defines a NAT
857	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
858	for details).</para>
859	</listitem>
860
861	<listitem>
862	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N> delete
863	<name></computeroutput>: This option deletes a NAT
864	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
865	for details).</para>
866	</listitem>
867
868	<listitem>
869	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpprefix<1-N>
870	<prefix></computeroutput>: This option defines a prefix
871	for the built-in TFTP server, i.e. where the boot file is
872	located (please see <xref linkend="nat-tftp" /> and <xref
873	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
874	</listitem>
875
876	<listitem>
877	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpfile<1-N>
878	<bootfile></computeroutput>: This option defines the TFT
879	boot file (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for
880	details).</para>
881	</listitem>
882
883	<listitem>
884	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpserver<1-N>
885	<tftpserver></computeroutput>: This option defines the
886	TFTP server address to boot from (please see <xref
887	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
888	</listitem>
889
890	<listitem>
891	<para><computeroutput>--natdnspassdomain<1-N>
892	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option specifies whether the
893	built-in DHCP server passes the domain name for network name
894	resolution.</para>
895	</listitem>
896
897	<listitem>
898	<para><computeroutput>--natdnsproxy<1-N>
899	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine proxy
900	all guest DNS requests to the host's DNS servers (please see
901	<xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
902	</listitem>
903
904	<listitem>
905	<para><computeroutput>--natdnshostresolver<1-N>
906	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine use
907	the host's resolver mechanisms to handle DNS requests (please
908	see <xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
909	</listitem>
910
911	<listitem>
912	<para><computeroutput>--natnatsettings<1-N>
913	[<mtu>],[<socksnd>],[<sockrcv>],[<tcpsnd>],
914	[<tcprcv>]</computeroutput>: This option controls several
915	NAT settings (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-settings" /> for
916	details).</para>
917	</listitem>
918
919	<listitem>
920	<para><computeroutput>--nataliasmode<1-N>
921	default\|[log],[proxyonly],[sameports]</computeroutput>: This
922	option defines behaviour of NAT engine core: log - enables
923	logging, proxyonly - switches of aliasing mode makes NAT
924	transparent, sameports enforces NAT engine to send packets via
925	the same port as they originated on, default - disable all
926	mentioned modes above . (please see <xref
927	linkend="nat-adv-alias" /> for details).</para>
928	</listitem>
929	</itemizedlist></para>
930	</sect3>
931	</sect2>
932
933	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other">
934	<title>Serial port, audio, clipboard and USB settings</title>
935
936	<para>The following other hardware settings are available through
937	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
938	<listitem>
939	<para><computeroutput>--uart<1-N> off\|<I/O base>
940	<IRQ></computeroutput>: With this option you can configure
941	virtual serial ports for the VM; see <xref
942	linkend="serialports" /> for an introduction.</para>
943	</listitem>
944
945	<listitem>
946	<para><computeroutput>--uartmode<1-N>
947	<arg></computeroutput>: This setting controls how VirtualBox
948	connects a given virtual serial port (previously configured with
949	the <computeroutput>--uartX</computeroutput> setting, see above)
950	to the host on which the virtual machine is running. As described
951	in detail in <xref linkend="serialports" />, for each such port,
952	you can specify <computeroutput><arg></computeroutput> as
953	one of the following options:<itemizedlist>
954	<listitem>
955	<para><computeroutput>disconnected</computeroutput>: Even
956	though the serial port is shown to the guest, it has no
957	"other end" -- like a real COM port without a cable.</para>
958	</listitem>
959
960	<listitem>
961	<para><computeroutput>server
962	<pipename></computeroutput>: On a Windows host, this
963	tells VirtualBox to create a named pipe on the host named
964	<computeroutput><pipename></computeroutput> and
965	connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that Windows
966	requires that the name of a named pipe begin with
967	<computeroutput>\\.\pipe\</computeroutput>.</para>
968
969	<para>On a Linux host, instead of a named pipe, a local
970	domain socket is used.</para>
971	</listitem>
972
973	<listitem>
974	<para><computeroutput>client
975	<pipename></computeroutput>: This operates just like
976	<computeroutput>server ...</computeroutput>, except that the
977	pipe (or local domain socket) is not created by VirtualBox,
978	but assumed to exist already.</para>
979	</listitem>
980
981	<listitem>
982	<para><computeroutput><devicename></computeroutput>:
983	If, instead of the above, the device name of a physical
984	hardware serial port of the host is specified, the virtual
985	serial port is connected to that hardware port. On a Windows
986	host, the device name will be a COM port such as
987	<computeroutput>COM1</computeroutput>; on a Linux host, the
988	device name will look like
989	<computeroutput>/dev/ttyS0</computeroutput>. This allows you
990	to "wire" a real serial port to a virtual machine.</para>
991	</listitem>
992	</itemizedlist></para>
993	</listitem>
994
995	<listitem>
996	<para><computeroutput>--audio none\|null\|oss</computeroutput>: With
997	this option, you can set whether the VM should have audio
998	support.</para>
999	</listitem>
1000
1001	<listitem>
1002	<para><computeroutput>--clipboard
1003	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1004	With this setting, you can select whether the guest operating
1005	system's clipboard should be shared with the host; see <xref
1006	linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
1007	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1008	</listitem>
1009
1010	<listitem>
1011	<para><computeroutput>--monitorcount
1012	<count></computeroutput>: This enables multi-monitor
1013	support; see <xref linkend="settings-display" />.</para>
1014	</listitem>
1015
1016	<listitem>
1017	<para><computeroutput>--usb on\|off</computeroutput>: This option
1018	enables or disables the VM's virtual USB controller; see <xref
1019	linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1020	</listitem>
1021
1022	<listitem>
1023	<para><computeroutput>--usbehci on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1024	option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 2.0 controller;
1025	see <xref linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1026	</listitem>
1027	</itemizedlist></para>
1028	</sect2>
1029
1030	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-vrde">
1031	<title>Remote machine settings</title>
1032
1033	<para>The following settings that affect remote machine behavior are
1034	available through <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1035	modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
1036	<listitem>
1037	<para><computeroutput>--vrde on\|off</computeroutput>: With the
1038	VirtualBox graphical user interface, this enables or disables the
1039	VirtualBox remote desktop extension (VRDE) server. Note that if
1040	you are using <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput> (see
1041	<xref linkend="vboxheadless" />), VRDE is enabled by
1042	default.</para>
1043	</listitem>
1044
1045	<listitem>
1046	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeport
1047	default\|<ports></computeroutput>: A port or a range of ports
1048	the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the
1049	standard port for RDP. You can specify a comma-separated list of
1050	ports or ranges of ports. Use a dash between two port numbers to
1051	specify a range. The VRDE server will bind to <emphasis
1052	role="bold">one</emphasis> of available ports from the specified
1053	list. Only one machine can use a given port at a time. For
1054	example, the option <computeroutput> --vrdeport
1055	5000,5010-5012</computeroutput> will tell the server to bind to
1056	one of following ports: 5000, 5010, 5011 or 5012.</para>
1057	</listitem>
1058
1059	<listitem>
1060	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeaddress <IP
1061	address></computeroutput>: The IP address of the host network
1062	interface the VRDE server will bind to. If specified, the server
1063	will accept connections only on the specified host network
1064	interface.</para>
1065	<para>The setting can be used to specify whether the VRDP server
1066	should accept either IPv4 or IPv6 or both connections:
1067	<itemizedlist>
1068	<listitem>
1069	<para>only IPv4: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "0.0.0.0"
1070	</computeroutput></para>
1071	</listitem>
1072	<listitem>
1073	<para>only IPv6: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "::"
1074	</computeroutput></para>
1075	</listitem>
1076	<listitem>
1077	<para>both IPv6 and IPv4 (default): <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress ""
1078	</computeroutput></para>
1079	</listitem>
1080	</itemizedlist></para>
1081	</listitem>
1082
1083	<listitem>
1084	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeauthtype
1085	null\|external\|guest</computeroutput>: This allows you to choose
1086	whether and how authorization will be performed; see <xref
1087	linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
1088	</listitem>
1089
1090	<listitem>
1091	<para><computeroutput>--vrdemulticon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1092	enables multiple connections to the same VRDE server, if the
1093	server supports this feature; see <xref lang=""
1094	linkend="vrde-multiconnection" />.</para>
1095	</listitem>
1096
1097	<listitem>
1098	<para><computeroutput>--vrdereusecon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1099	specifies the VRDE server behavior when multiple connections are
1100	disabled. When this option is enabled, the server will allow a new
1101	client to connect and will drop the existing connection. When this
1102	option is disabled (this is the default setting), a new connection
1103	will not be accepted if there is already a client connected to the
1104	server.</para>
1105	</listitem>
1106
1107	<listitem>
1108	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannel on\|off</computeroutput>:
1109	This enables video redirection, if it is supported by the VRDE
1110	server; see <xref lang="" linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1111	</listitem>
1112
1113	<listitem>
1114	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannelquality
1115	<percent></computeroutput>: Sets the image quality for video
1116	redirection; see <xref lang=""
1117	linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1118	</listitem>
1119	</itemizedlist></para>
1120	</sect2>
1121
1122	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport">
1123	<title>Teleporting settings</title>
1124
1125	<para>With the following commands for <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1126	modifyvm</computeroutput> you can configure a machine to be a target for
1127	teleporting. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an
1128	introduction.<itemizedlist>
1129	<listitem>
1130	<para><computeroutput>--teleporter on\|off</computeroutput>: With
1131	this setting you turn on or off whether a machine waits for a
1132	teleporting request to come in on the network when it is started.
1133	If "on", when the machine is started, it does not boot the virtual
1134	machine as it would normally; instead, it then waits for a
1135	teleporting request to come in on the port and address listed with
1136	the next two parameters.</para>
1137	</listitem>
1138
1139	<listitem>
1140	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterport
1141	<port></computeroutput>, <computeroutput>--teleporteraddress
1142	<address></computeroutput>: these must be used with
1143	--teleporter and tell the virtual machine on which port and
1144	address it should listen for a teleporting request from another
1145	virtual machine. <computeroutput><port></computeroutput> can
1146	be any free TCP/IP port number (e.g. 6000);
1147	<computeroutput><address></computeroutput> can be any IP
1148	address or hostname and specifies the TCP/IP socket to bind to.
1149	The default is "0.0.0.0", which means any address.</para>
1150	</listitem>
1151
1152	<listitem>
1153	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpassword
1154	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1155	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1156	source machine specifies the same password as the one given with
1157	this command.</para>
1158	</listitem>
1159
1160	<listitem>
1161	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpasswordfile
1162	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1163	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1164	source machine specifies the same password as the one specified
1165	in the file give with this command. Use <computeroutput>stdin</computeroutput>
1166	to read the password from stdin.</para>
1167	</listitem>
1168
1169	<listitem>
1170	<para><computeroutput>--cpuid <leaf> <eax> <ebx>
1171	<ecx> <edx></computeroutput>: Advanced users can use
1172	this command before a teleporting operation to restrict the
1173	virtual CPU capabilities that VirtualBox presents to the guest
1174	operating system. This must be run on both the source and the
1175	target machines involved in the teleporting and will then modify
1176	what the guest sees when it executes the
1177	<computeroutput>CPUID</computeroutput> machine instruction. This
1178	might help with misbehaving applications that wrongly assume that
1179	certain CPU capabilities are present. The meaning of the
1180	parameters is hardware dependent; please refer to the AMD or Intel
1181	processor manuals.</para>
1182	</listitem>
1183	</itemizedlist></para>
1184	</sect2>
1185	</sect1>
1186
1187	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevm">
1188	<title>VBoxManage clonevm</title>
1189
1190	<para>This command creates a full or linked copy of an existing virtual
1191	machine.</para>
1192
1193	<para>The <computeroutput>clonevm</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1194	least the name of the virtual machine which should be cloned. The following
1195	additional settings can be used to further configure the clone VM
1196	operation:</para>
1197
1198	<itemizedlist>
1199	<listitem>
1200	<para><computeroutput>--snapshot <uuid>\|<name></computeroutput>:
1201	Select a specific snapshot where the clone operation should refer
1202	to. Default is referring to the current state.</para>
1203	</listitem>
1204	<listitem>
1205	<para><computeroutput>--mode machine\|machineandchildren\|all</computeroutput>:
1206	Selects the cloning mode of the operation. If
1207	<computeroutput>machine</computeroutput> is selected (the default),
1208	the current state of the VM without any snapshots is cloned. In the
1209	<computeroutput>machineandchildren</computeroutput> mode the snapshot
1210	provided by <computeroutput>--snapshot</computeroutput> and all
1211	child snapshots are cloned. If <computeroutput>all</computeroutput>
1212	is the selected mode all snapshots and the current state are cloned.
1213	</para>
1214	</listitem>
1215	<listitem>
1216	<para><computeroutput>--options link\|keepallmacs\|keepnatmacs\|keepdisknames</computeroutput>:
1217	Allows additional fine tuning of the clone operation. The first
1218	option defines that a linked clone should be created, which is
1219	only possible for a machine clone from a snapshot. The next two
1220	options allow to define how the MAC addresses of every virtual
1221	network card should be handled. They can either be reinitialized
1222	(the default), left unchanged
1223	(<computeroutput>keepallmacs</computeroutput>) or left unchanged
1224	when the network type is NAT
1225	(<computeroutput>keepnatmacs</computeroutput>). If you add
1226	<computeroutput>keepdisknames</computeroutput> all new disk images
1227	are called like the original once, otherwise they are
1228	renamed.</para>
1229	</listitem>
1230	<listitem>
1231	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: Select a
1232	new name for the new virtual machine. Default is "Original Name
1233	Clone".</para>
1234	</listitem>
1235	<listitem>
1236	<para><computeroutput>--basefolder <basefolder></computeroutput>:
1237	Select the folder where the new virtual machine configuration should
1238	be saved in.</para>
1239	</listitem>
1240	<listitem>
1241	<para><computeroutput>--uuid <uuid></computeroutput>:
1242	Select the UUID the new VM should have. This id has to be unique in
1243	the VirtualBox instance this clone should be registered. Default is
1244	creating a new UUID.</para>
1245	</listitem>
1246	<listitem>
1247	<para><computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>:
1248	Automatically register the new clone in this VirtualBox
1249	installation. If you manually want register the new VM later, see
1250	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" /> for instructions how to do
1251	so.</para>
1252	</listitem>
1253	</itemizedlist>
1254	</sect1>
1255
1256	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-import">
1257	<title>VBoxManage import</title>
1258
1259	<para>This command imports a virtual appliance in OVF format by copying
1260	the virtual disk images and creating virtual machines in VirtualBox. See
1261	<xref linkend="ovf" /> for an introduction to appliances.</para>
1262
1263	<para>The <computeroutput>import</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1264	least the path name of an OVF file as input and expects the disk images,
1265	if needed, in the same directory as the OVF file. A lot of additional
1266	command-line options are supported to control in detail what is being
1267	imported and modify the import parameters, but the details depend on the
1268	content of the OVF file.</para>
1269
1270	<para>It is therefore recommended to first run the import subcommand with
1271	the <computeroutput>--dry-run</computeroutput> or
1272	<computeroutput>-n</computeroutput> option. This will then print a
1273	description of the appliance's contents to the screen how it would be
1274	imported into VirtualBox, together with the optional command-line options
1275	to influence the import behavior.</para>
1276
1277	<para>As an example, here is the screen output with a sample appliance
1278	containing a Windows XP guest:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf --dry-run
1279	Interpreting WindowsXp.ovf...
1280	OK.
1281	Virtual system 0:
1282	0: Suggested OS type: "WindowsXP"
1283	(change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all)
1284	1: Suggested VM name "Windows XP Professional_1"
1285	(change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
1286	3: Number of CPUs: 1
1287	(change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
1288	4: Guest memory: 956 MB (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
1289	5: Sound card (appliance expects "ensoniq1371", can change on import)
1290	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
1291	6: USB controller
1292	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
1293	7: Network adapter: orig bridged, config 2, extra type=bridged
1294	8: Floppy
1295	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
1296	9: SCSI controller, type BusLogic
1297	(change with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --scsitype {BusLogic\|LsiLogic}";
1298	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
1299	10: IDE controller, type PIIX4
1300	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
1301	11: Hard disk image: source image=WindowsXp.vmdk,
1302	target path=/home/user/disks/WindowsXp.vmdk, controller=9;channel=0
1303	(change controller with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --controller <id>";
1304	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")</screen></para>
1305
1306	<para>As you can see, the individual configuration items are numbered, and
1307	depending on their type support different command-line options. The import
1308	subcommand can be directed to ignore many such items with a
1309	<computeroutput>--vsys X --unit Y --ignore</computeroutput> option, where
1310	X is the number of the virtual system (zero unless there are several
1311	virtual system descriptions in the appliance) and Y the item number, as
1312	printed on the screen.</para>
1313
1314	<para>In the above example, Item #1 specifies the name of the target
1315	machine in VirtualBox. Items #9 and #10 specify hard disk controllers,
1316	respectively. Item #11 describes a hard disk image; in this case, the
1317	additional <computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput> option indicates
1318	which item the disk image should be connected to, with the default coming
1319	from the OVF file.</para>
1320
1321	<para>You can combine several items for the same virtual system behind the
1322	same <computeroutput>--vsys</computeroutput> option. For example, to
1323	import a machine as described in the OVF, but without the sound card and
1324	without the USB controller, and with the disk image connected to the IDE
1325	controller instead of the SCSI controller, use this:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf
1326	--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore --unit 6 --ignore --unit 11 --controller 10</screen></para>
1327	</sect1>
1328
1329	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-export">
1330	<title>VBoxManage export</title>
1331
1332	<para>This command exports one or more virtual machines from VirtualBox
1333	into a virtual appliance in OVF format, including copying their virtual
1334	disk images to compressed VMDK. See <xref linkend="ovf" /> for an
1335	introduction to appliances.</para>
1336
1337	<para>The <computeroutput>export</computeroutput> command is simple to
1338	use: list the machine (or the machines) that you would like to export to
1339	the same OVF file and specify the target OVF file after an additional
1340	<computeroutput>--output</computeroutput> or
1341	<computeroutput>-o</computeroutput> option. Note that the directory of the
1342	target OVF file will also receive the exported disk images in the
1343	compressed VMDK format (regardless of the original format) and should have
1344	enough disk space left for them.</para>
1345
1346	<para>Beside a simple export of a given virtual machine, you can append
1347	several product information to the appliance file. Use
1348	<computeroutput>--product</computeroutput>,
1349	<computeroutput>--producturl</computeroutput>,
1350	<computeroutput>--vendor</computeroutput>,
1351	<computeroutput>--vendorurl</computeroutput> and
1352	<computeroutput>--version</computeroutput> to specify this additional
1353	information. For legal reasons you may add a license text or the content
1354	of a license file by using the <computeroutput>--eula</computeroutput> and
1355	<computeroutput>--eulafile</computeroutput> option respectively. As with
1356	OVF import, you must use the <computeroutput>--vsys X</computeroutput>
1357	option to direct the previously mentioned options to the correct virtual
1358	machine.</para>
1359
1360	<para>For virtualization products which aren't fully compatible with the
1361	OVF standard 1.0 you can enable a OVF 0.9 legacy mode with the
1362	<computeroutput>--legacy09</computeroutput> option.</para>
1363	</sect1>
1364
1365	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-startvm">
1366	<title>VBoxManage startvm</title>
1367
1368	<para>This command starts a virtual machine that is currently in the
1369	"Powered off" or "Saved" states.</para>
1370
1371	<para>The optional <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> specifier
1372	determines whether the machine will be started in a window or whether the
1373	output should go through <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>,
1374	with VRDE enabled or not; see <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more
1375	information. The list of types is subject to change, and it's not
1376	guaranteed that all types are accepted by any product variant.</para>
1377
1378	<para>The global or per-VM default value for the VM frontend type will be
1379	taken if the type is not explicitly specified. If none of these are set,
1380	the GUI variant will be started.</para>
1381
1382	<para>The following values are allowed:</para>
1383
1384	<glosslist>
1385	<glossentry>
1386	<glossterm><computeroutput>gui</computeroutput></glossterm>
1387
1388	<glossdef>
1389	<para>Starts a VM showing a GUI window. This is the default.</para>
1390	</glossdef>
1391	</glossentry>
1392
1393	<glossentry>
1394	<glossterm><computeroutput>headless</computeroutput></glossterm>
1395
1396	<glossdef>
1397	<para>Starts a VM without a window for remote display only.</para>
1398	</glossdef>
1399	</glossentry>
1400
1401	<glossentry>
1402	<glossterm><computeroutput>sdl</computeroutput></glossterm>
1403
1404	<glossdef>
1405	<para>Starts a VM with a minimal GUI and limited features.</para>
1406	</glossdef>
1407	</glossentry>
1408	</glosslist>
1409
1410	<note>
1411	<para>If you experience problems with starting virtual machines with
1412	particular frontends and there is no conclusive error information,
1413	consider starting virtual machines directly by running the respective
1414	front-end, as this can give additional error information.</para>
1415	</note>
1416	</sect1>
1417
1418	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-controlvm">
1419	<title>VBoxManage controlvm</title>
1420
1421	<para>The <computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> subcommand allows you
1422	to change the state of a virtual machine that is currently running. The
1423	following can be specified:</para>
1424
1425	<para><itemizedlist>
1426	<listitem>
1427	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1428	pause</computeroutput> temporarily puts a virtual machine on hold,
1429	without changing its state for good. The VM window will be painted
1430	in gray to indicate that the VM is currently paused. (This is
1431	equivalent to selecting the "Pause" item in the "Machine" menu of
1432	the GUI.)</para>
1433	</listitem>
1434
1435	<listitem>
1436	<para>Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1437	resume</computeroutput> to undo a previous
1438	<computeroutput>pause</computeroutput> command. (This is equivalent
1439	to selecting the "Resume" item in the "Machine" menu of the
1440	GUI.)</para>
1441	</listitem>
1442
1443	<listitem>
1444	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1445	reset</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine as
1446	pressing the "Reset" button on a real computer: a cold reboot of the
1447	virtual machine, which will restart and boot the guest operating
1448	system again immediately. The state of the VM is not saved
1449	beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting
1450	the "Reset" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)</para>
1451	</listitem>
1452
1453	<listitem>
1454	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1455	poweroff</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine
1456	as pulling the power cable on a real computer. Again, the state of
1457	the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is
1458	equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of
1459	the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting
1460	"Power off the machine" in the dialog.)</para>
1461
1462	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Powered off". From there,
1463	it can be started again; see <xref
1464	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1465	</listitem>
1466
1467	<listitem>
1468	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1469	savestate</computeroutput> will save the current state of the VM to
1470	disk and then stop the VM. (This is equivalent to selecting the
1471	"Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the
1472	window's close button, and then selecting "Save the machine state"
1473	in the dialog.)</para>
1474
1475	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Saved". From there, it can
1476	be started again; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1477	</listitem>
1478
1479	<listitem>
1480	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm "VM name" teleport
1481	--hostname <name> --port <port> [--passwordfile
1482	<file> \| --password <password>]</computeroutput> makes
1483	the machine the source of a teleporting operation and initiates a
1484	teleport to the given target. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for
1485	an introduction. If the optional password is specified, it must match
1486	the password that was given to the
1487	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command for the target
1488	machine; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport" /> for
1489	details.</para>
1490	</listitem>
1491	</itemizedlist></para>
1492
1493	<para>A few extra options are available with
1494	<computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> that do not directly affect the
1495	VM's running state:</para>
1496
1497	<itemizedlist>
1498	<listitem>
1499	<para>The <computeroutput>setlinkstate<1-N></computeroutput>
1500	operation connects or disconnects virtual network cables from their
1501	network interfaces.</para>
1502	</listitem>
1503
1504	<listitem>
1505	<para><computeroutput>nic<1-N>
1506	null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic</computeroutput>: With this, you can
1507	set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of
1508	networking should be available. They can be not connected to the host
1509	(<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network address
1510	translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>), bridged networking
1511	(<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or communicate with other
1512	virtual machines using internal networking
1513	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>) or host-only networking
1514	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>) or access to rarely used
1515	sub-modes
1516	(<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>). These options correspond
1517	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
1518	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
1519	</listitem>
1520
1521	<listitem>
1522	<para><computeroutput>usbattach</computeroutput> and
1523	<computeroutput>usbdettach</computeroutput> make host USB devices
1524	visible to the virtual machine on the fly, without the need for
1525	creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID
1526	(unique identifier) or by address on the host system.</para>
1527
1528	<para>You can use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
1529	usbhost</computeroutput> to locate this information.</para>
1530	</listitem>
1531
1532	<listitem>
1533	<para><computeroutput>vrde on\|off</computeroutput> lets you enable or
1534	disable the VRDE server, if it is installed.</para>
1535	</listitem>
1536
1537	<listitem>
1538	<para><computeroutput>vrdeport default\|<ports></computeroutput>
1539	changes the port or a range of ports that the VRDE server can bind to;
1540	"default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. For
1541	details, see the description for the
1542	<computeroutput>--vrdeport</computeroutput> option in <xref
1543	linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other" />.</para>
1544	</listitem>
1545
1546	<listitem>
1547	<para><computeroutput>setvideomodehint</computeroutput> requests that
1548	the guest system change to a particular video mode. This requires that
1549	the Guest Additions be installed, and will not work for all guest
1550	systems.</para>
1551	</listitem>
1552
1553	<listitem>
1554	<para><computeroutput>screenshotpng</computeroutput> takes a screenshot
1555	of the guest display and saves it in PNG format.</para>
1556	</listitem>
1557
1558	<listitem>
1559	<para>The <computeroutput>setcredentials</computeroutput> operation is
1560	used for remote logons in Windows guests. For details, please refer to
1561	<xref linkend="autologon" />.</para>
1562	</listitem>
1563
1564	<listitem>
1565	<para>The <computeroutput>guestmemoryballoon</computeroutput>
1566	operation changes the size of the guest memory balloon, that is,
1567	memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest
1568	operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other
1569	virtual machines. This must be specified in megabytes. For details,
1570	see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
1571	</listitem>
1572
1573	<listitem>
1574	<para>The <computeroutput>cpuexecutioncap
1575	<1-100></computeroutput>: This operation controls how much cpu
1576	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU
1577	can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
1578	</listitem>
1579	</itemizedlist>
1580	</sect1>
1581
1582	<sect1>
1583	<title>VBoxManage discardstate</title>
1584
1585	<para>This command discards the saved state of a virtual machine which is
1586	not currently running, which will cause its operating system to restart
1587	next time you start it. This is the equivalent of pulling out the power
1588	cable on a physical machine, and should be avoided if possible.</para>
1589	</sect1>
1590
1591	<sect1>
1592	<title>VBoxManage adoptstate</title>
1593
1594	<para>If you have a saved state file (<computeroutput>.sav</computeroutput>)
1595	that is separate from the VM configuration, you can use this command to
1596	"adopt" the file. This will change the VM to saved state and when you
1597	start it, VirtualBox will attempt to restore it from the saved state file
1598	you indicated. This command should only be used in special setups.</para>
1599	</sect1>
1600
1601	<sect1>
1602	<title>VBoxManage snapshot</title>
1603
1604	<para>This command is used to control snapshots from the command line. A
1605	snapshot consists of a complete copy of the virtual machine settings,
1606	copied at the time when the snapshot was taken, and optionally a virtual
1607	machine saved state file if the snapshot was taken while the machine was
1608	running. After a snapshot has been taken, VirtualBox creates differencing
1609	hard disk for each normal hard disk associated with the machine so that
1610	when a snapshot is restored, the contents of the virtual machine's virtual
1611	hard disks can be quickly reset by simply dropping the pre-existing
1612	differencing files.</para>
1613
1614	<para>The <computeroutput>take</computeroutput> operation takes a snapshot
1615	of the current state of the virtual machine. You must supply a name for
1616	the snapshot and can optionally supply a description. The new snapshot is
1617	inserted into the snapshots tree as a child of the current snapshot and
1618	then becomes the new current snapshot. The
1619	<computeroutput>--description</computeroutput> parameter allows to
1620	describe the snapshot. If <computeroutput>--live</computeroutput>
1621	is specified, the VM will not be stopped during the snapshot creation
1622	(live smapshotting).</para>
1623
1624	<para>The <computeroutput>delete</computeroutput> operation deletes a
1625	snapshot (specified by name or by UUID). This can take a while to finish
1626	since the differencing images associated with the snapshot might need to
1627	be merged with their child differencing images.</para>
1628
1629	<para>The <computeroutput>restore</computeroutput> operation will restore
1630	the given snapshot (specified by name or by UUID) by resetting the virtual
1631	machine's settings and current state to that of the snapshot. The previous
1632	current state of the machine will be lost. After this, the given snapshot
1633	becomes the new "current" snapshot so that subsequent snapshots are
1634	inserted under the snapshot from which was restored.</para>
1635
1636	<para>The <computeroutput>restorecurrent</computeroutput> operation is a
1637	shortcut to restore the current snapshot (i.e. the snapshot from which the
1638	current state is derived). This subcommand is equivalent to using the
1639	"restore" subcommand with the name or UUID of the current snapshot, except
1640	that it avoids the extra step of determining that name or UUID.</para>
1641
1642	<para>With the <computeroutput>edit</computeroutput> operation, you can
1643	change the name or description of an existing snapshot.</para>
1644
1645	<para>With the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> operation, you
1646	can view the virtual machine settings that were stored with an existing
1647	snapshot.</para>
1648	</sect1>
1649
1650	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-closemedium">
1651	<title>VBoxManage closemedium</title>
1652
1653	<para>This commands removes a hard disk, DVD or floppy image from a
1654	VirtualBox media registry.<footnote>
1655	<para>Before VirtualBox 4.0, it was necessary to call VBoxManage
1656	openmedium before a medium could be attached to a virtual machine;
1657	that call "registered" the medium with the global VirtualBox media
1658	registry. With VirtualBox 4.0 this is no longer necessary; media are
1659	added to media registries automatically. The "closemedium" call has
1660	been retained, however, to allow for explicitly removing a medium from
1661	a registry.</para>
1662	</footnote></para>
1663
1664	<para>Optionally, you can request that the image be deleted. You will get
1665	appropriate diagnostics that the deletion failed, however the image will
1666	become unregistered in any case.</para>
1667	</sect1>
1668
1669	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storageattach">
1670	<title>VBoxManage storageattach</title>
1671
1672	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage medium connected to
1673	a storage controller that was previously added with the
1674	<computeroutput>storagectl</computeroutput> command (see the previous
1675	section). The syntax is as follows:</para>
1676
1677	<screen>VBoxManage storageattach <uuid\|vmname>
1678	--storagectl <name>
1679	[--port <number>]
1680	[--device <number>]
1681	[--type dvddrive\|hdd\|fdd]
1682	[--medium none\|emptydrive\|
1683	<uuid>\|<filename>\|host:<drive>\|iscsi]
1684	[--mtype normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable]
1685	[--comment <text>]
1686	[--setuuid <uuid>]
1687	[--setparentuuid <uuid>]
1688	[--passthrough on\|off]
1689	[--tempeject on\|off]
1690	[--nonrotational on\|off]
1691	[--discard on\|off]
1692	[--bandwidthgroup name\|none]
1693	[--forceunmount]
1694	[--server <name>\|<ip>]
1695	[--target <target>]
1696	[--tport <port>]
1697	[--lun <lun>]
1698	[--encodedlun <lun>]
1699	[--username <username>]
1700	[--password <password>]
1701	[--initiator <initiator>]
1702	[--intnet]
1703	</screen>
1704
1705	<para>A number of parameters are commonly required; the ones at the end of
1706	the list are required only for iSCSI targets (see below).</para>
1707
1708	<para>The common parameters are:<glosslist>
1709	<glossentry>
1710	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
1711
1712	<glossdef>
1713	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1714	</glossdef>
1715	</glossentry>
1716
1717	<glossentry>
1718	<glossterm><computeroutput>--storagectl</computeroutput></glossterm>
1719
1720	<glossdef>
1721	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory. The list of the
1722	storage controllers currently attached to a VM can be obtained
1723	with <computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see
1724	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" />.</para>
1725	</glossdef>
1726	</glossentry>
1727
1728	<glossentry>
1729	<glossterm><computeroutput>--port</computeroutput></glossterm>
1730
1731	<glossdef>
1732	<para>The number of the storage controller's port which is to be
1733	modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a
1734	single port.</para>
1735	</glossdef>
1736	</glossentry>
1737
1738	<glossentry>
1739	<glossterm><computeroutput>--device</computeroutput></glossterm>
1740
1741	<glossdef>
1742	<para>The number of the port's device which is to be modified.
1743	Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single device
1744	per port.</para>
1745	</glossdef>
1746	</glossentry>
1747
1748	<glossentry>
1749	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
1750
1751	<glossdef>
1752	<para>Define the type of the drive to which the medium is being
1753	attached/detached/modified. This argument can only be omitted if
1754	the type of medium can be determined from either the medium given
1755	with the <computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> argument or
1756	from a previous medium attachment.</para>
1757	</glossdef>
1758	</glossentry>
1759
1760	<glossentry>
1761	<glossterm><computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput></glossterm>
1762
1763	<glossdef>
1764	<para>Specifies what is to be attached. The following values are
1765	supported:<itemizedlist>
1766	<listitem>
1767	<para>"none": Any existing device should be removed from the
1768	given slot.</para>
1769	</listitem>
1770
1771	<listitem>
1772	<para>"emptydrive": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only,
1773	this makes the device slot behaves like a removeable drive
1774	into which no media has been inserted.</para>
1775	</listitem>
1776
1777	<listitem>
1778	<para>"additions": For a virtual DVD drive only, this
1779	attaches the <emphasis>VirtualBox Guest Additions</emphasis>
1780	image to the given device slot.</para>
1781	</listitem>
1782
1783	<listitem>
1784	<para>If a UUID is specified, it must be the UUID of a
1785	storage medium that is already known to VirtualBox (e.g.
1786	because it has been attached to another virtual machine).
1787	See <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for how to list known
1788	media. This medium is then attached to the given device
1789	slot.</para>
1790	</listitem>
1791
1792	<listitem>
1793	<para>If a filename is specified, it must be the full path
1794	of an existing disk image (ISO, RAW, VDI, VMDK or other),
1795	which is then attached to the given device slot.</para>
1796	</listitem>
1797
1798	<listitem>
1799	<para>"host:<drive>": For a virtual DVD or floppy
1800	drive only, this connects the given device slot to the
1801	specified DVD or floppy drive on the host computer.</para>
1802	</listitem>
1803
1804	<listitem>
1805	<para>"iscsi": For virtual hard disks only, this allows for
1806	specifying an iSCSI target. In this case, more parameters
1807	must be given; see below.</para>
1808	</listitem>
1809	</itemizedlist></para>
1810
1811	<para>Some of the above changes, in particular for removeable
1812	media (floppies and CDs/DVDs), can be effected while a VM is
1813	running. Others (device changes or changes in hard disk device
1814	slots) require the VM to be powered off.</para>
1815	</glossdef>
1816	</glossentry>
1817
1818	<glossentry>
1819	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mtype</computeroutput></glossterm>
1820
1821	<glossdef>
1822	<para>Defines how this medium behaves with respect to snapshots
1823	and write operations. See <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for
1824	details.</para>
1825	</glossdef>
1826	</glossentry>
1827
1828	<glossentry>
1829	<glossterm><computeroutput>--comment</computeroutput></glossterm>
1830
1831	<glossdef>
1832	<para>Any description that you want to have stored with this
1833	medium (optional; for example, for an iSCSI target, "Big storage
1834	server downstairs"). This is purely descriptive and not needed for
1835	the medium to function correctly.</para>
1836	</glossdef>
1837	</glossentry>
1838
1839	<glossentry>
1840	<glossterm><computeroutput>--setuuid, --setparentuuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
1841
1842	<glossdef>
1843	<para>Modifies the UUID or parent UUID of a medium before
1844	attaching it to a VM. This is an expert option. Inappropriate use
1845	can make the medium unusable or lead to broken VM configurations
1846	if any other VM is referring to the same media already. The most
1847	frequently used variant is <code>--setuuid ""</code>, which assigns
1848	a new (random) UUID to an image. This is useful to resolve the
1849	duplicate UUID errors if one duplicated an image using file copy
1850	utilities.</para>
1851	</glossdef>
1852	</glossentry>
1853
1854	<glossentry>
1855	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passthrough</computeroutput></glossterm>
1856
1857	<glossdef>
1858	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can enable DVD writing
1859	support (currently experimental; see <xref
1860	linkend="storage-cds" />).</para>
1861	</glossdef>
1862	</glossentry>
1863
1864	<glossentry>
1865	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tempeject</computeroutput></glossterm>
1866
1867	<glossdef>
1868	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can configure the behavior
1869	for guest-triggered medium eject. If this is set to "on", the eject
1870	has only temporary effects. If the VM is powered off and restarted
1871	the originally configured medium will be still in the drive.</para>
1872	</glossdef>
1873	</glossentry>
1874
1875	<glossentry>
1876	<glossterm><computeroutput>--nonrotational</computeroutput></glossterm>
1877
1878	<glossdef>
1879	<para>This switch allows to enable the non-rotational flag for virtual
1880	hard disks. Some guests (i.e. Windows 7+) treat such disks like SSDs
1881	and don't perform disk fragmentation on such media.
1882	</para>
1883	</glossdef>
1884	</glossentry>
1885
1886	<glossentry>
1887	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bandwidthgroup</computeroutput></glossterm>
1888
1889	<glossdef>
1890	<para>Sets the bandwidth group to use for the given device; see
1891	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" />.</para>
1892	</glossdef>
1893	</glossentry>
1894
1895	<glossentry>
1896	<glossterm><computeroutput>--forceunmount</computeroutput></glossterm>
1897
1898	<glossdef>
1899	<para>For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this forcibly
1900	unmounts the DVD/CD/Floppy or mounts a new DVD/CD/Floppy even if
1901	the previous one is locked down by the guest for reading. Again,
1902	see <xref linkend="storage-cds" /> for details.</para>
1903	</glossdef>
1904	</glossentry>
1905	</glosslist></para>
1906
1907	<para>When "iscsi" is used with the
1908	<computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> parameter for iSCSI support --
1909	see <xref linkend="storage-iscsi" /> --, additional parameters must or can
1910	be used:<glosslist>
1911	<glossentry>
1912	<glossterm><computeroutput>--server</computeroutput></glossterm>
1913
1914	<glossdef>
1915	<para>The host name or IP address of the iSCSI target;
1916	required.</para>
1917	</glossdef>
1918	</glossentry>
1919
1920	<glossentry>
1921	<glossterm><computeroutput>--target</computeroutput></glossterm>
1922
1923	<glossdef>
1924	<para>Target name string. This is determined by the iSCSI target
1925	and used to identify the storage resource; required.</para>
1926	</glossdef>
1927	</glossentry>
1928
1929	<glossentry>
1930	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tport</computeroutput></glossterm>
1931
1932	<glossdef>
1933	<para>TCP/IP port number of the iSCSI service on the target
1934	(optional).</para>
1935	</glossdef>
1936	</glossentry>
1937
1938	<glossentry>
1939	<glossterm><computeroutput>--lun</computeroutput></glossterm>
1940
1941	<glossdef>
1942	<para>Logical Unit Number of the target resource (optional).
1943	Often, this value is zero.</para>
1944	</glossdef>
1945	</glossentry>
1946
1947	<glossentry>
1948	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username, --password</computeroutput></glossterm>
1949
1950	<glossdef>
1951	<para>Username and password (initiator secret) for target
1952	authentication, if required (optional).<note>
1953	<para>Username and password are stored without
1954	encryption (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine
1955	configuration file if no settings password is provided.
1956	When a settings password was specified the first time,
1957	the password is stored encrypted.</para>
1958	</note></para>
1959	</glossdef>
1960	</glossentry>
1961
1962	<glossentry>
1963	<glossterm><computeroutput>--intnet</computeroutput></glossterm>
1964
1965	<glossdef>
1966	<para>If specified, connect to the iSCSI target via Internal
1967	Networking. This needs further configuration which is described in
1968	<xref linkend="iscsi-intnet" />.</para>
1969	</glossdef>
1970	</glossentry>
1971	</glosslist></para>
1972	</sect1>
1973
1974	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storagectl">
1975	<title>VBoxManage storagectl</title>
1976
1977	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage controller. After
1978	this, virtual media can be attached to the controller with the
1979	<computeroutput>storageattach</computeroutput> command (see the next
1980	section).</para>
1981
1982	<para>The syntax is as follows:</para>
1983
1984	<screen>VBoxManage storagectl <uuid\|vmname>
1985	--name <name>
1986	[--add <ide/sata/scsi/floppy>]
1987	[--controller <LsiLogic\|LSILogicSAS\|BusLogic\|
1988	IntelAhci\|PIIX3\|PIIX4\|ICH6\|I82078>]
1989	[--sataportcount <1-30>]
1990	[--hostiocache on\|off]
1991	[--bootable on\|off]
1992	[--remove]</screen>
1993
1994	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
1995	<glossentry>
1996	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
1997
1998	<glossdef>
1999	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2000	</glossdef>
2001	</glossentry>
2002
2003	<glossentry>
2004	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
2005
2006	<glossdef>
2007	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory.</para>
2008	</glossdef>
2009	</glossentry>
2010
2011	<glossentry>
2012	<glossterm><computeroutput>--add</computeroutput></glossterm>
2013
2014	<glossdef>
2015	<para>Define the type of the system bus to which the storage
2016	controller must be connected.</para>
2017	</glossdef>
2018	</glossentry>
2019
2020	<glossentry>
2021	<glossterm><computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput></glossterm>
2022
2023	<glossdef>
2024	<para>Allows to choose the type of chipset being emulated for the
2025	given storage controller.</para>
2026	</glossdef>
2027	</glossentry>
2028
2029	<glossentry>
2030	<glossterm><computeroutput>--sataportcount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2031
2032	<glossdef>
2033	<para>This determines how many ports the SATA controller should
2034	support.</para>
2035	</glossdef>
2036	</glossentry>
2037
2038	<glossentry>
2039	<glossterm><computeroutput>--hostiocache</computeroutput></glossterm>
2040
2041	<glossdef>
2042	<para>Configures the use of the host I/O cache for all disk images
2043	attached to this storage controller. For details, please see <xref
2044	linkend="iocaching" />.</para>
2045	</glossdef>
2046	</glossentry>
2047
2048	<glossentry>
2049	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bootable</computeroutput></glossterm>
2050
2051	<glossdef>
2052	<para>Selects whether this controller is bootable.</para>
2053	</glossdef>
2054	</glossentry>
2055
2056	<glossentry>
2057	<glossterm><computeroutput>--remove</computeroutput></glossterm>
2058
2059	<glossdef>
2060	<para>Removes the storage controller from the VM config.</para>
2061	</glossdef>
2062	</glossentry>
2063	</glosslist></para>
2064	</sect1>
2065
2066	<sect1>
2067	<title>VBoxManage bandwidthctl</title>
2068
2069	<para>This command creates/deletes/modifies/shows bandwidth groups of the given
2070	virtual machine:<screen>VBoxManage bandwidthctl <uuid\|vmname>
2071	add <name> --type disk\|network --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2072	set <name> --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2073	remove <name> \|
2074	list [--machinereadable]</screen></para>
2075
2076	<para>The following subcommands are available:<itemizedlist>
2077	<listitem>
2078	<para><computeroutput>add</computeroutput>, creates a new bandwidth
2079	group of given type.</para>
2080	</listitem>
2081	<listitem>
2082	<para><computeroutput>set</computeroutput>, modifies the limit for an
2083	existing bandwidth group.</para>
2084	</listitem>
2085	<listitem>
2086	<para><computeroutput>remove</computeroutput>, destroys a bandwidth
2087	group.</para>
2088	</listitem>
2089	<listitem>
2090	<para><computeroutput>list</computeroutput>, shows all bandwidth groups
2091	defined for the given VM.</para>
2092	</listitem>
2093	</itemizedlist>
2094	</para>
2095	<para>The parameters mean:<glosslist>
2096	<glossentry>
2097	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2098
2099	<glossdef>
2100	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2101	</glossdef>
2102	</glossentry>
2103
2104	<glossentry>
2105	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
2106
2107	<glossdef>
2108	<para>Name of the bandwidth group. Mandatory.</para>
2109	</glossdef>
2110	</glossentry>
2111
2112	<glossentry>
2113	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
2114
2115	<glossdef>
2116	<para>Type of the bandwidth group. Mandatory. Two types are
2117	supported: <computeroutput>disk</computeroutput> and
2118	<computeroutput>network</computeroutput>. See
2119	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" /> or
2120	<xref linkend="network_bandwidth_limit" /> for a description of a
2121	particular type.</para>
2122	</glossdef>
2123	</glossentry>
2124
2125	<glossentry>
2126	<glossterm><computeroutput>--limit</computeroutput></glossterm>
2127
2128	<glossdef>
2129	<para>Specifies the limit for the given group. Can be changed
2130	while the VM is running. The default unit is megabytes per
2131	second. The unit can be changed by specifying one of the
2132	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>
2133	</glossdef>
2134	</glossentry>
2135	</glosslist>
2136	<note>
2137	<para>The network bandwidth limits apply only to the traffic being sent by
2138	virtual machines. The traffic being received by VMs is unlimited.</para>
2139	</note>
2140	<note>
2141	<para>To remove a bandwidth group it must not be referenced by any disks
2142	or adapters in running VM.</para>
2143	</note>
2144	</para>
2145	</sect1>
2146
2147	<sect1>
2148	<title>VBoxManage showhdinfo</title>
2149
2150	<para>This command shows information about a virtual hard disk image,
2151	notably its size, its size on disk, its type and the virtual machines
2152	which use it.<note>
2153	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2154	"showvdiinfo" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2155	"showhdinfo" command.</para>
2156	</note></para>
2157	<para>The disk image must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium
2158	is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by
2159	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
2160	for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either
2161	as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current
2162	directory.</para>
2163	</sect1>
2164
2165	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvdi">
2166	<title>VBoxManage createhd</title>
2167
2168	<para>This command creates a new virtual hard disk image. The syntax is as
2169	follows:</para>
2170
2171	<screen>VBoxManage createhd --filename <filename>
2172	--size <megabytes>
2173	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD] (default: VDI)
2174	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>
2175
2176	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2177	<glossentry>
2178	<glossterm><computeroutput>--filename</computeroutput></glossterm>
2179
2180	<glossdef>
2181	<para>Allows to choose a file name. Mandatory.</para>
2182	</glossdef>
2183	</glossentry>
2184
2185	<glossentry>
2186	<glossterm><computeroutput>--size</computeroutput></glossterm>
2187
2188	<glossdef>
2189	<para>Allows to define the image capacity, in 1 MiB units.
2190	Mandatory.</para>
2191	</glossdef>
2192	</glossentry>
2193
2194	<glossentry>
2195	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2196
2197	<glossdef>
2198	<para>Allows to choose a file format for the output file different
2199	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2200	</glossdef>
2201	</glossentry>
2202
2203	<glossentry>
2204	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2205
2206	<glossdef>
2207	<para>Allows to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2208	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2209	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2210	result in an error message.</para>
2211	</glossdef>
2212	</glossentry>
2213	</glosslist> <note>
2214	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2215	"createvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2216	"createhd" command.</para>
2217	</note></para>
2218	</sect1>
2219
2220	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvdi">
2221	<title>VBoxManage modifyhd</title>
2222
2223	<para>With the <computeroutput>modifyhd</computeroutput> command, you can
2224	change the characteristics of a disk image after it has been
2225	created:<screen>VBoxManage modifyhd <uuid\|filename>
2226	[--type normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable\|
2227	readonly\|multiattach]
2228	[--autoreset on\|off]
2229	[--compact]
2230	[--resize <megabytes>\|--resizebyte <bytes>]</screen><note>
2231	<para>Despite the "hd" in the subcommand name, the command works with
2232	all disk images, not only hard disks. For compatibility with earlier
2233	versions of VirtualBox, the "modifyvdi" command is also supported and
2234	mapped internally to the "modifyhd" command.</para>
2235	</note></para>
2236
2237	<para>The disk image to modify must be specified either by its UUID
2238	(if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images
2239	can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2240	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2241	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path
2242	or as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2243	<para>The following options are available:<itemizedlist>
2244	<listitem>
2245	<para>With the <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> argument, you
2246	can change the type of an existing image between the normal,
2247	immutable, write-through and other modes; see <xref
2248	linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for details.</para>
2249	</listitem>
2250
2251	<listitem>
2252	<para>For immutable (differencing) hard disks only, the
2253	<computeroutput>--autoreset on\|off</computeroutput> option
2254	determines whether the disk is automatically reset on every VM
2255	startup (again, see <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />). The default
2256	is "on".</para>
2257	</listitem>
2258
2259	<listitem>
2260	<para>With the <computeroutput>--compact</computeroutput> option,
2261	can be used to compact disk images, i.e. remove blocks that only
2262	contains zeroes. This will shrink a dynamically allocated image
2263	again; it will reduce the <emphasis>physical</emphasis> size of the
2264	image without affecting the logical size of the virtual disk.
2265	Compaction works both for base images and for diff images created as
2266	part of a snapshot.</para>
2267
2268	<para>For this operation to be effective, it is required that free
2269	space in the guest system first be zeroed out using a suitable
2270	software tool. For Windows guests, you can use the
2271	<computeroutput>sdelete</computeroutput> tool provided by Microsoft.
2272	Execute <computeroutput>sdelete -z</computeroutput> in the guest to
2273	zero the free disk space before compressing the virtual disk
2274	image. For Linux, use the <code>zerofree</code> utility which
2275	supports ext2/ext3 filesystems. For Mac OS X guests, use the
2276	<emphasis>Erase Free Space</emphasis> feature of the built-in
2277	<emphasis>Disk Utility</emphasis>. Use
2278	<emphasis>Zero Out Data</emphasis> there.</para>
2279
2280	<para>Please note that compacting is currently only available for
2281	VDI images. A similar effect can be achieved by zeroing out free
2282	blocks and then cloning the disk to any other dynamically allocated
2283	format. You can use this workaround until compacting is also
2284	supported for disk formats other than VDI.</para>
2285	</listitem>
2286
2287	<listitem>
2288	<para>The <computeroutput>--resize x</computeroutput> option (where x
2289	is the desired new total space in <emphasis role="bold">megabytes</emphasis>)
2290	allows you to change the capacity of an existing image; this adjusts the
2291	<emphasis>logical</emphasis> size of a virtual disk without affecting
2292	the physical size much.<footnote>
2293	<para>Image resizing was added with VirtualBox 4.0.</para>
2294	</footnote> This currently works only for VDI and VHD formats, and only
2295	for the dynamically allocated variants, and can only be used to expand
2296	(not shrink) the capacity.
2297	For example, if you originally created a 10G disk which is now full,
2298	you can use the <computeroutput>--resize 15360</computeroutput>
2299	command to change the capacity to 15G (15,360MB) without having to create a new
2300	image and copy all data from within a virtual machine. Note however that
2301	this only changes the drive capacity; you will typically next need to use
2302	a partition management tool inside the guest to adjust the main partition
2303	to fill the drive.</para><para>The <computeroutput>--resizebyte x</computeroutput>
2304	option does almost the same thing, except that x is expressed in bytes
2305	instead of megabytes.</para>
2306	</listitem>
2307	</itemizedlist></para>
2308	</sect1>
2309
2310	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevdi">
2311	<title>VBoxManage clonehd</title>
2312
2313	<para>This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a
2314	new image file with a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be
2315	transferred to another host system or imported into VirtualBox again using
2316	the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref linkend="vdis" /> and <xref
2317	linkend="cloningvdis" />. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2318
2319	<screen>VBoxManage clonehd <uuid\|inutfile> <uuid\|outputfile>
2320	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD\|RAW\|<other>]
2321	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2322	[--existing]</screen>
2323
2324	<para>The disk image to clone as well as the target image must be described
2325	either by its UUIDs (if the mediums are registered) or by its filename.
2326	Registered images can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2327	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2328	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or
2329	as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2330	<para>The following options are available:<glosslist>
2331	<glossentry>
2332	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2333
2334	<glossdef>
2335	<para>Allow to choose a file format for the output file different
2336	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2337	</glossdef>
2338	</glossentry>
2339
2340	<glossentry>
2341	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2342
2343	<glossdef>
2344	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2345	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2346	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2347	result in an error message.</para>
2348	</glossdef>
2349	</glossentry>
2350
2351	<glossentry>
2352	<glossterm><computeroutput>--existing</computeroutput></glossterm>
2353
2354	<glossdef>
2355	<para>Perform the clone operation to an already existing
2356	destination medium. Only the portion of the source medium which
2357	fits into the destination medium is copied. This means if the
2358	destination medium is smaller than the source only a part of it is
2359	copied, and if the destination medium is larger than the source
2360	the remaining part of the destination medium is unchanged.</para>
2361	</glossdef>
2362	</glossentry>
2363	</glosslist> <note>
2364	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2365	"clonevdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2366	"clonehd" command.</para>
2367	</note></para>
2368	</sect1>
2369
2370	<sect1>
2371	<title>VBoxManage convertfromraw</title>
2372
2373	<para>This command converts a raw disk image to a VirtualBox Disk Image
2374	(VDI) file. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2375
2376	<screen>VBoxManage convertfromraw <filename> <outputfile>
2377	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2378	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2379	[--uuid <uuid>]
2380	VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin <outputfile> <bytes>
2381	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2382	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2383	[--uuid <uuid>]</screen>
2384
2385	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2386	<glossentry>
2387	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bytes</computeroutput></glossterm>
2388
2389	<glossdef>
2390	<para>The size of the image file, in bytes, provided through
2391	stdin.</para>
2392	</glossdef>
2393	</glossentry>
2394
2395	<glossentry>
2396	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2397
2398	<glossdef>
2399	<para>Select the disk image format to create. Default is
2400	VDI.</para>
2401	</glossdef>
2402	</glossentry>
2403
2404	<glossentry>
2405	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2406
2407	<glossdef>
2408	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2409	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2410	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2411	result in an error message.</para>
2412	</glossdef>
2413	</glossentry>
2414
2415	<glossentry>
2416	<glossterm><computeroutput>--uuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
2417
2418	<glossdef>
2419	<para>Allow to specifiy the UUID of the output file.</para>
2420	</glossdef>
2421	</glossentry>
2422	</glosslist> The second form forces VBoxManage to read the content for
2423	the disk image from standard input (useful for using that command in a
2424	pipe).</para>
2425
2426	<para><note>
2427	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2428	"convertdd" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2429	"convertfromraw" command.</para>
2430	</note></para>
2431	</sect1>
2432
2433	<sect1>
2434	<title>VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata</title>
2435
2436	<para>These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual
2437	machine or to a VirtualBox configuration (by specifying
2438	<computeroutput>global</computeroutput> instead of a virtual machine
2439	name). You must specify a key (as a text string) to associate the data
2440	with, which you can later use to retrieve it. For example:</para>
2441
2442	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate 2006.01.01
2443	VBoxManage setextradata SUSE10 installdate 2006.02.02</screen>
2444
2445	<para>would associate the string "2006.01.01" with the key installdate for
2446	the virtual machine Fedora5, and "2006.02.02" on the machine SUSE10. You
2447	could retrieve the information as follows:</para>
2448
2449	<screen>VBoxManage getextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2450
2451	<para>which would return</para>
2452
2453	<screen>VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
2454	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
2455	All rights reserved.
2456
2457	Value: 2006.01.01</screen>
2458	<para>To remove a key, the <computeroutput>setextradata</computeroutput>
2459	command must be run without specifying data (only the key), for example:
2460	</para>
2461
2462	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2463
2464	</sect1>
2465
2466	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-setproperty">
2467	<title>VBoxManage setproperty</title>
2468
2469	<para>This command is used to change global settings which affect the
2470	entire VirtualBox installation. Some of these correspond to the settings
2471	in the "Global settings" dialog in the graphical user interface. The
2472	following properties are available:<glosslist>
2473	<glossentry>
2474	<glossterm><computeroutput>machinefolder</computeroutput></glossterm>
2475
2476	<glossdef>
2477	<para>This specifies the default folder in which virtual machine
2478	definitions are kept; see <xref linkend="vboxconfigdata" /> for
2479	details.</para>
2480	</glossdef>
2481	</glossentry>
2482
2483	<glossentry>
2484	<glossterm><computeroutput>hwvirtexclusive</computeroutput></glossterm>
2485	<para>This specifies whether VirtualBox will make exclusive use of
2486	the hardware virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) of the
2487	host system's processor; see <xref linkend="hwvirt" />. If you wish to
2488	share these extensions with other hypervisors running at the same time,
2489	you must disable this setting. Doing so has negative performance implications.
2490	</para>
2491	</glossentry>
2492
2493
2494	<glossentry>
2495	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2496
2497	<glossdef>
2498	<para>This specifies which library to use when "external"
2499	authentication has been selected for a particular virtual machine;
2500	see <xref linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
2501	</glossdef>
2502	</glossentry>
2503
2504	<glossentry>
2505	<glossterm><computeroutput>websrvauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2506
2507	<glossdef>
2508	<para>This specifies which library the web service uses to
2509	authenticate users. For details about the VirtualBox web service,
2510	please refer to the separate VirtualBox SDK reference (see <xref
2511	linkend="VirtualBoxAPI" />).</para>
2512	</glossdef>
2513	</glossentry>
2514
2515	<glossentry>
2516	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeextpack</computeroutput></glossterm>
2517
2518	<glossdef>
2519	<para>This specifies which library implements the VirtualBox
2520	Remote Desktop Extension.</para>
2521	</glossdef>
2522	</glossentry>
2523
2524	<glossentry>
2525	<glossterm><computeroutput>loghistorycount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2526
2527	<glossdef>
2528	<para>This selects how many rotated (old) VM logs are kept.</para>
2529	</glossdef>
2530	</glossentry>
2531
2532	<glossentry>
2533	<glossterm><computeroutput>autostartdbpath</computeroutput></glossterm>
2534
2535	<glossdef>
2536	<para>This selects the path to the autostart database. See
2537	<xref linkend="autostart" />.</para>
2538	</glossdef>
2539	</glossentry>
2540
2541	<glossentry>
2542	<glossterm><computeroutput>defaultfrontend</computeroutput></glossterm>
2543
2544	<glossdef>
2545	<para>This selects the global default VM frontend setting. See
2546	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
2547	</glossdef>
2548	</glossentry>
2549	</glosslist></para>
2550	</sect1>
2551
2552	<sect1>
2553	<title>VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove</title>
2554
2555	<para>The <computeroutput>usbfilter</computeroutput> commands are used for
2556	working with USB filters in virtual machines, or global filters which
2557	affect the whole VirtualBox setup. Global filters are applied before
2558	machine-specific filters, and may be used to prevent devices from being
2559	captured by any virtual machine. Global filters are always applied in a
2560	particular order, and only the first filter which fits a device is
2561	applied. So for example, if the first global filter says to hold (make
2562	available) a particular Kingston memory stick device and the second to
2563	ignore all Kingston devices, that memory stick will be available to any
2564	machine with an appropriate filter, but no other Kingston device
2565	will.</para>
2566
2567	<para>When creating a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2568	add</computeroutput>, you must supply three or four mandatory parameters.
2569	The index specifies the position in the list at which the filter should be
2570	placed. If there is already a filter at that position, then it and the
2571	following ones will be shifted back one place. Otherwise the new filter
2572	will be added onto the end of the list. The
2573	<computeroutput>target</computeroutput> parameter selects the virtual
2574	machine that the filter should be attached to or use "global" to apply it
2575	to all virtual machines. <computeroutput>name</computeroutput> is a name
2576	for the new filter and for global filters,
2577	<computeroutput>action</computeroutput> says whether to allow machines
2578	access to devices that fit the filter description ("hold") or not to give
2579	them access ("ignore"). In addition, you should specify parameters to
2580	filter by. You can find the parameters for devices attached to your system
2581	using <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbhost</computeroutput>. Finally,
2582	you can specify whether the filter should be active, and for local
2583	filters, whether they are for local devices, remote (over an RDP
2584	connection) or either.</para>
2585
2586	<para>When you modify a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2587	modify</computeroutput>, you must specify the filter by index (see the
2588	output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbfilters</computeroutput> to
2589	find global filter indexes and that of <computeroutput>VBoxManage
2590	showvminfo</computeroutput> to find indexes for individual machines) and
2591	by target, which is either a virtual machine or "global". The properties
2592	which can be changed are the same as for <computeroutput>usbfilter
2593	add</computeroutput>. To remove a filter, use <computeroutput>usbfilter
2594	remove</computeroutput> and specify the index and the target.</para>
2595	</sect1>
2596
2597	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-sharedfolder">
2598	<title>VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove</title>
2599
2600	<para>This command allows you to share folders on the host computer with
2601	guest operating systems. For this, the guest systems must have a version
2602	of the VirtualBox Guest Additions installed which supports this
2603	functionality.</para>
2604
2605	<para>Shared folders are described in detail in <xref
2606	linkend="sharedfolders" />.</para>
2607	</sect1>
2608
2609	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty">
2610	<title>VBoxManage guestproperty</title>
2611
2612	<para>The "guestproperty" commands allow you to get or set properties of a
2613	running virtual machine. Please see <xref linkend="guestadd-guestprops" />
2614	for an introduction. As explained there, guest properties are arbitrary
2615	key/value string pairs which can be written to and read from by either the
2616	guest or the host, so they can be used as a low-volume communication
2617	channel for strings, provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
2618	Additions installed. In addition, a number of values whose keys begin with
2619	"/VirtualBox/" are automatically set and maintained by the Guest
2620	Additions.</para>
2621
2622	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2623	<computeroutput><vm></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2624	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2625	<listitem>
2626	<para><computeroutput>enumerate <vm> [--patterns
2627	<pattern>]</computeroutput>: This lists all the guest
2628	properties that are available for the given VM, including the value.
2629	This list will be very limited if the guest's service process cannot
2630	be contacted, e.g. because the VM is not running or the Guest
2631	Additions are not installed.</para>
2632
2633	<para>If <computeroutput>--patterns <pattern></computeroutput>
2634	is specified, it acts as a filter to only list properties that match
2635	the given pattern. The pattern can contain the following wildcard
2636	characters:<itemizedlist>
2637	<listitem>
2638	<para><computeroutput>*</computeroutput> (asterisk):
2639	represents any number of characters; for example,
2640	"<computeroutput>/VirtualBox*</computeroutput>" would match
2641	all properties beginning with "/VirtualBox".</para>
2642	</listitem>
2643
2644	<listitem>
2645	<para><computeroutput>?</computeroutput> (question mark):
2646	represents a single arbitrary character; for example,
2647	"<computeroutput>fo?</computeroutput>" would match both "foo"
2648	and "for".</para>
2649	</listitem>
2650
2651	<listitem>
2652	<para><computeroutput>\|</computeroutput> (pipe symbol): can be
2653	used to specify multiple alternative patterns; for example,
2654	"<computeroutput>s\|t</computeroutput>" would match anything
2655	starting with either "s" or "t".</para>
2656	</listitem>
2657	</itemizedlist></para>
2658	</listitem>
2659
2660	<listitem>
2661	<para><computeroutput>get <vm></computeroutput>: This
2662	retrieves the value of a single property only. If the property
2663	cannot be found (e.g. because the guest is not running), this will
2664	print <screen>No value set!</screen></para>
2665	</listitem>
2666
2667	<listitem>
2668	<para><computeroutput>set <vm> <property> [<value>
2669	[--flags <flags>]]</computeroutput>: This allows you to set a
2670	guest property by specifying the key and value. If
2671	<computeroutput><value></computeroutput> is omitted, the
2672	property is deleted. With <computeroutput>--flags</computeroutput>
2673	you can optionally specify additional behavior (you can combine
2674	several by separating them with commas):<itemizedlist>
2675	<listitem>
2676	<para><computeroutput>TRANSIENT</computeroutput>: the value
2677	will not be stored with the VM data when the VM exits;</para>
2678	</listitem>
2679
2680	<listitem>
2681	<para><computeroutput>TRANSRESET</computeroutput>: the value
2682	will be deleted as soon as the VM restarts and/or exits;</para>
2683	</listitem>
2684
2685	<listitem>
2686	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYGUEST</computeroutput>: the value
2687	can only be changed by the host, but the guest can only read
2688	it;</para>
2689	</listitem>
2690
2691	<listitem>
2692	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYHOST</computeroutput>: reversely,
2693	the value can only be changed by the guest, but the host can
2694	only read it;</para>
2695	</listitem>
2696
2697	<listitem>
2698	<para><computeroutput>READONLY</computeroutput>: a combination
2699	of the two, the value cannot be changed at all.</para>
2700	</listitem>
2701	</itemizedlist></para>
2702	</listitem>
2703
2704	<listitem>
2705	<para><computeroutput>wait <vm> <pattern> --timeout
2706	<timeout></computeroutput>: This waits for a particular value
2707	described by "pattern" to change or to be deleted or created. The
2708	pattern rules are the same as for the "enumerate" subcommand
2709	above.</para>
2710	</listitem>
2711
2712	<listitem>
2713	<para><computeroutput>delete <vm> <property>
2714	</computeroutput>: Deletes a formerly set guest property.
2715	</para></listitem>
2716	</itemizedlist></para>
2717	</sect1>
2718
2719	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestcontrol">
2720	<title>VBoxManage guestcontrol</title>
2721
2722	<para>The "guestcontrol" commands allow you to control certain things
2723	inside a guest from the host. Please see <xref
2724	linkend="guestadd-guestcontrol" /> for an introduction.</para>
2725
2726	<para>Generally, the syntax is as follows:</para>
2727
2728	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> <command></screen>
2729
2730	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2731	<computeroutput><uuid\|vmname></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2732	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2733	<listitem>
2734	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>execute</computeroutput></emphasis>,
2735	which allows for
2736	executing a program/script (process) which already is installed and
2737	runnable on the guest. This command only works while a VM is up and
2738	running and has the following syntax:</para>
2739
2740	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> exec[ute]
2741	--image <path to program> --username <name>
2742	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
2743	[--environment "<NAME>=<VALUE> [<NAME>=<VALUE>]"]
2744	[--verbose] [--timeout <msec>]
2745	[--wait-exit] [--wait-stdout] [--wait-stderr]
2746	[--dos2unix] [--unix2dos]
2747	-- [[<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
2748
2749	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2750	<glossentry>
2751	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2752
2753	<glossdef>
2754	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2755	</glossdef>
2756	</glossentry>
2757
2758	<glossentry>
2759	<glossterm><computeroutput>--image "<path to program>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
2760
2761	<glossdef>
2762	<para>Absolute path and process name of process to execute
2763	in the guest, e.g.
2764	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput></para>
2765	</glossdef>
2766	</glossentry>
2767
2768	<glossentry>
2769	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
2770
2771	<glossdef>
2772	<para>Name of the user the process should run under. This
2773	user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2774	</glossdef>
2775	</glossentry>
2776
2777	<glossentry>
2778	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
2779
2780	<glossdef>
2781	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
2782	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
2783	assumed.</para>
2784	</glossdef>
2785	</glossentry>
2786
2787	<glossentry>
2788	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
2789
2790	<glossdef>
2791	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2792	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2793	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2794	</glossdef>
2795	</glossentry>
2796
2797	<glossentry>
2798	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dos2unix</computeroutput></glossterm>
2799
2800	<glossdef>
2801	Converts output from DOS/Windows guests to UNIX-compatible
2802	line endings (CR + LF -> LF). Not implemented yet.
2803	</glossdef>
2804	</glossentry>
2805
2806	<glossentry>
2807	<glossterm><computeroutput>--environment
2808	"<NAME>=<VALUE>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
2809
2810	<glossdef>
2811	<para>One or more environment variables to be set or
2812	unset.</para>
2813
2814	<para>By default, the new process in the guest will be
2815	created with the standard environment of the guest OS. This
2816	option allows for modifying that environment. To set/modify
2817	a variable, a pair of
2818	<computeroutput>NAME=VALUE</computeroutput> must be
2819	specified; to unset a certain variable, the name with no
2820	value must set, e.g.
2821	<computeroutput>NAME=</computeroutput>.</para>
2822
2823	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2824	quotation marks. More than one
2825	<computeroutput>--environment</computeroutput> at a time can
2826	be specified to keep the command line tidy.</para>
2827	</glossdef>
2828	</glossentry>
2829
2830	<glossentry>
2831	<glossterm><computeroutput>--timeout <msec></computeroutput></glossterm>
2832
2833	<glossdef>
2834	<para>Value (in milliseconds) that specifies the time how
2835	long the started process is allowed to run and how long
2836	VBoxManage waits for getting output from that process. If no
2837	timeout is specified, VBoxManage will wait forever until the
2838	started process ends or an error occured.</para>
2839	</glossdef>
2840	</glossentry>
2841
2842	<glossentry>
2843	<glossterm><computeroutput>--unix2dos</computeroutput></glossterm>
2844
2845	<glossdef>
2846	Converts output from a UNIX/Linux guests to DOS-/Windows-compatible
2847	line endings (LF -> CR + LF). Not implemented yet.
2848	</glossdef>
2849	</glossentry>
2850
2851	<glossentry>
2852	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
2853
2854	<glossdef>
2855	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2856	</glossdef>
2857	</glossentry>
2858
2859	<glossentry>
2860	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-exit</computeroutput></glossterm>
2861
2862	<glossdef>
2863	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2864	exit code along with the exit reason/flags.</para>
2865	</glossdef>
2866	</glossentry>
2867
2868	<glossentry>
2869	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stdout</computeroutput></glossterm>
2870
2871	<glossdef>
2872	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2873	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2874	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stdout.</para>
2875	</glossdef>
2876	</glossentry>
2877
2878	<glossentry>
2879	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stderr</computeroutput></glossterm>
2880
2881	<glossdef>
2882	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2883	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2884	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stderr.</para>
2885	</glossdef>
2886	</glossentry>
2887
2888	<glossentry>
2889	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
2890
2891	<glossdef>
2892	<para>One or more arguments to pass to the process being
2893	executed.</para>
2894	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2895	quotation marks.</para>
2896	</glossdef>
2897	</glossentry>
2898
2899	</glosslist></para>
2900
2901	<para><note>
2902	<para>On Windows there are certain limitations for graphical
2903	applications; please see <xref linkend="KnownIssues" /> for more
2904	information.</para>
2905	</note> Examples: <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls"
2906	--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"
2907	--username foo --passwordfile bar.txt --wait-exit --wait-stdout</screen> Note that
2908	the double backslashes in the second example are only required on
2909	Unix hosts.</para>
2910
2911	<para><note>
2912	<para>For certain commands a user name of an existing user account on the guest
2913	must be specified; anonymous executions are not supported for security reasons. A
2914	user account password, however, is optional and depends on the guest's OS security
2915	policy or rules. If no password is specified for a given user name, an empty password
2916	will be used. On certain OSes like Windows the security policy may needs to be adjusted
2917	in order to allow user accounts with an empty password set. Also, global domain rules might
2918	apply and therefore cannot be changed.</para>
2919	</note></para>
2920
2921	<para>Starting at VirtualBox 4.1.2 guest process execution by default is limited
2922	to serve up to 5 guest processes at a time. If a new guest process gets started
2923	which would exceed this limit, the oldest not running guest process will be discarded
2924	in order to be able to run that new process. Also, retrieving output from this
2925	old guest process will not be possible anymore then. If all 5 guest processes
2926	are still active and running, starting a new guest process will result in an
2927	appropriate error message.</para>
2928
2929	<para>To raise or lower the guest process execution limit, either the guest
2930	property <computeroutput>/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
2931	or VBoxService' command line by specifying <computeroutput>--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
2932	needs to be modified. A restart of the guest OS is required afterwards. To serve unlimited
2933	guest processes, a value of <computeroutput>0</computeroutput> needs to be set (not recommended).</para>
2934	</listitem>
2935
2936	<listitem>
2937	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput></emphasis>,
2938	which allows copying
2939	files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
2940	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
2941
2942	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> copyto\|cp
2943	<guest source> <host dest> --username <name>
2944	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
2945	[--dryrun] [--follow] [--recursive] [--verbose]</screen>
2946
2947	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2948	<glossentry>
2949	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2950
2951	<glossdef>
2952	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2953	</glossdef>
2954	</glossentry>
2955
2956	<glossentry>
2957	<glossterm><computeroutput>source on host</computeroutput></glossterm>
2958
2959	<glossdef>
2960	<para>Absolute path of source file(s) on host to copy over
2961	to the guest, e.g.
2962	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput>.
2963	This also can be a wildcard expression, e.g.
2964	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\*.dll</computeroutput></para>
2965	</glossdef>
2966	</glossentry>
2967
2968	<glossentry>
2969	<glossterm><computeroutput>destination on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
2970
2971	<glossdef>
2972	<para>Absolute destination path on the guest, e.g.
2973	<computeroutput>C:\Temp</computeroutput></para>
2974	</glossdef>
2975	</glossentry>
2976
2977	<glossentry>
2978	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
2979
2980	<glossdef>
2981	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
2982	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2983	</glossdef>
2984	</glossentry>
2985
2986	<glossentry>
2987	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
2988
2989	<glossdef>
2990	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
2991	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
2992	assumed.</para>
2993	</glossdef>
2994	</glossentry>
2995
2996	<glossentry>
2997	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
2998
2999	<glossdef>
3000	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3001	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3002	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3003	</glossdef>
3004	</glossentry>
3005
3006	<glossentry>
3007	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dryrun</computeroutput></glossterm>
3008
3009	<glossdef>
3010	<para>Tells VBoxManage to only perform a dry run instead of
3011	really copying files to the guest.</para>
3012	</glossdef>
3013	</glossentry>
3014
3015	<glossentry>
3016	<glossterm><computeroutput>--follow</computeroutput></glossterm>
3017
3018	<glossdef>
3019	<para>Enables following symlinks on the host's
3020	source.</para>
3021	</glossdef>
3022	</glossentry>
3023
3024	<glossentry>
3025	<glossterm><computeroutput>--recursive</computeroutput></glossterm>
3026
3027	<glossdef>
3028	<para>Recursively copies files/directories of the specified
3029	source.</para>
3030	</glossdef>
3031	</glossentry>
3032
3033	<glossentry>
3034	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3035
3036	<glossdef>
3037	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3038	</glossdef>
3039	</glossentry>
3040
3041	<glossentry>
3042	<glossterm><computeroutput>--flags <flags></computeroutput></glossterm>
3043
3044	<glossdef>
3045	<para>Additional flags to set. This is not used at the
3046	moment.</para>
3047	</glossdef>
3048	</glossentry>
3049	</glosslist></para>
3050	</listitem>
3051
3052	<listitem>
3053	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyfrom</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3054	which allows copying
3055	files from the guest to the host (only with installed Guest
3056	Additions 4.0 and later). It has the same parameters as
3057	<computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput> above.</para>
3058	</listitem>
3059
3060	<listitem>
3061	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createdirectory</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3062	which allows
3063	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3064	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3065
3066	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createdir[ectory]\|mkdir\|md
3067	<guest directory>... --username <name>
3068	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3069	[--parents] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3070
3071	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3072	<glossentry>
3073	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3074
3075	<glossdef>
3076	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3077	</glossdef>
3078	</glossentry>
3079
3080	<glossentry>
3081	<glossterm><computeroutput>directory to create on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3082
3083	<glossdef>
3084	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to create on
3085	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>.
3086	Parent directories need to exist (e.g. in this example
3087	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput>) when switch
3088	<computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput> is omitted. The
3089	specified user must have appropriate rights to create the
3090	specified directory.</para>
3091	</glossdef>
3092	</glossentry>
3093
3094	<glossentry>
3095	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3096
3097	<glossdef>
3098	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3099	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3100	</glossdef>
3101	</glossentry>
3102
3103	<glossentry>
3104	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3105
3106	<glossdef>
3107	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3108	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3109	assumed.</para>
3110	</glossdef>
3111	</glossentry>
3112
3113	<glossentry>
3114	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3115
3116	<glossdef>
3117	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3118	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3119	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3120	</glossdef>
3121	</glossentry>
3122
3123	<glossentry>
3124	<glossterm><computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput></glossterm>
3125
3126	<glossdef>
3127	<para>Also creates not yet existing parent directories of
3128	the specified directory, e.g. if the directory
3129	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput> of
3130	<computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput> does not exist
3131	yet it will be created. Without specifying
3132	<computeroutput>--parent</computeroutput> the action would
3133	have failed.</para>
3134	</glossdef>
3135	</glossentry>
3136
3137	<glossentry>
3138	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3139
3140	<glossdef>
3141	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3142	Only octal modes (e.g.
3143	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3144	now.</para>
3145	</glossdef>
3146	</glossentry>
3147
3148	<glossentry>
3149	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3150
3151	<glossdef>
3152	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3153	</glossdef>
3154	</glossentry>
3155	</glosslist></para>
3156	</listitem>
3157
3158	<listitem>
3159	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createtemporary</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3160	which allows
3161	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3162	Additions 4.2 and later).</para>
3163
3164	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createtemp[orary]\|mktemp
3165	<template> --username <name>
3166	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3167	[--directory] [--secure] [--tmpdir <directory>]
3168	[--domain <domain>] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3169
3170	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3171	<glossentry>
3172	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3173
3174	<glossdef>
3175	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3176	</glossdef>
3177	</glossentry>
3178
3179	<glossentry>
3180	<glossterm><computeroutput>template</computeroutput></glossterm>
3181
3182	<glossdef>
3183	<para>A file name without a path and with at least three consecutive 'X'
3184	characters or ending in 'X'
3185	</para>
3186	</glossdef>
3187	</glossentry>
3188
3189	<glossentry>
3190	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3191
3192	<glossdef>
3193	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3194	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3195	</glossdef>
3196	</glossentry>
3197
3198	<glossentry>
3199	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3200
3201	<glossdef>
3202	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3203	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3204	assumed.</para>
3205	</glossdef>
3206	</glossentry>
3207
3208	<glossentry>
3209	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3210
3211	<glossdef>
3212	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3213	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3214	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3215	</glossdef>
3216	</glossentry>
3217
3218	<glossentry>
3219	<glossterm><computeroutput>--directory</computeroutput></glossterm>
3220
3221	<glossdef>
3222	<para>Create a temporary directory instead of a file.</para>
3223	</glossdef>
3224	</glossentry>
3225
3226	<glossentry>
3227	<glossterm><computeroutput>--secure</computeroutput></glossterm>
3228
3229	<glossdef>
3230	<para>
3231	Secure creation. The file mode is fixed to
3232	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>. And the operation
3233	will fail if it cannot performed securely.
3234	</para>
3235	</glossdef>
3236	</glossentry>
3237
3238	<glossentry>
3239	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tmpdir <directory></computeroutput></glossterm>
3240
3241	<glossdef>
3242	<para>
3243	Directory where the file / directory is created. If not
3244	specified, the platform-specific temp directory is used.
3245	</para>
3246	</glossdef>
3247	</glossentry>
3248
3249	<glossentry>
3250	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3251
3252	<glossdef>
3253	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3254	Only octal modes (e.g.
3255	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3256	now.</para>
3257	</glossdef>
3258	</glossentry>
3259
3260	<glossentry>
3261	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3262
3263	<glossdef>
3264	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3265	</glossdef>
3266	</glossentry>
3267	</glosslist></para>
3268	</listitem>
3269
3270	<listitem>
3271	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3272	which lists various guest control information such as open guest sessions,
3273	guest processes and guest files.</para>
3274
3275	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> list
3276	<all\|sessions\|processes\|files> [--verbose]</screen>
3277
3278	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3279	<glossentry>
3280	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3281
3282	<glossdef>
3283	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3284	</glossdef>
3285	</glossentry>
3286
3287	<glossentry>
3288	<glossterm><computeroutput>all\|sessions\|processes\|files</computeroutput></glossterm>
3289
3290	<glossdef>
3291	<para>Whether to list guest sessions, guest processes, guest files
3292	or all information available. Mandatory.</para>
3293	</glossdef>
3294	</glossentry>
3295
3296	<glossentry>
3297	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3298
3299	<glossdef>
3300	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3301	</glossdef>
3302	</glossentry>
3303	</glosslist></para>
3304	</listitem>
3305
3306	<listitem>
3307	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>process kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3308	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3309	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3310
3311	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3312	--session-id <ID>
3313	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3314	[--verbose]
3315	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3316
3317	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3318	<glossentry>
3319	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3320
3321	<glossdef>
3322	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3323	</glossdef>
3324	</glossentry>
3325
3326	<glossentry>
3327	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3328
3329	<glossdef>
3330	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
3331	</glossdef>
3332	</glossentry>
3333
3334	<glossentry>
3335	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3336
3337	<glossdef>
3338	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
3339	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3340	</glossdef>
3341	</glossentry>
3342
3343	<glossentry>
3344	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3345
3346	<glossdef>
3347	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3348	</glossdef>
3349	</glossentry>
3350
3351	<glossentry>
3352	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
3353
3354	<glossdef>
3355	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
3356	</glossdef>
3357	</glossentry>
3358	</glosslist></para>
3359	</listitem>
3360
3361	<listitem>
3362	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>[p[s]]kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3363	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3364	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3365
3366	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3367	--session-id <ID>
3368	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3369	[--verbose]
3370	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3371
3372	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3373	<glossentry>
3374	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3375
3376	<glossdef>
3377	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3378	</glossdef>
3379	</glossentry>
3380
3381	<glossentry>
3382	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3383
3384	<glossdef>
3385	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
3386	</glossdef>
3387	</glossentry>
3388
3389	<glossentry>
3390	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3391
3392	<glossdef>
3393	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
3394	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3395	</glossdef>
3396	</glossentry>
3397
3398	<glossentry>
3399	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3400
3401	<glossdef>
3402	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3403	</glossdef>
3404	</glossentry>
3405
3406	<glossentry>
3407	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
3408
3409	<glossdef>
3410	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
3411	</glossdef>
3412	</glossentry>
3413	</glosslist></para>
3414	</listitem>
3415
3416	<listitem>
3417	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>session close</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3418	which closes specific guest sessions, based on either the session's ID or the
3419	session's name.</para>
3420
3421	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> session close
3422	--session-id <ID>
3423	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3424	\| --all
3425	[--verbose]</screen>
3426
3427	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3428	<glossentry>
3429	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3430
3431	<glossdef>
3432	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3433	</glossdef>
3434	</glossentry>
3435
3436	<glossentry>
3437	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3438
3439	<glossdef>
3440	<para>Close a guest session specified by its ID.</para>
3441	</glossdef>
3442	</glossentry>
3443
3444	<glossentry>
3445	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3446
3447	<glossdef>
3448	<para>Close a guest session specified by its name. Multiple sessions
3449	can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3450	</glossdef>
3451	</glossentry>
3452
3453	<glossentry>
3454	<glossterm><computeroutput>--all</computeroutput></glossterm>
3455
3456	<glossdef>
3457	<para>Close all guest sessions.</para>
3458	</glossdef>
3459	</glossentry>
3460
3461	<glossentry>
3462	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3463
3464	<glossdef>
3465	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3466	</glossdef>
3467	</glossentry>
3468	</glosslist></para>
3469	</listitem>
3470
3471	<listitem>
3472	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>stat</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3473	which displays file
3474	or file system status on the guest.</para>
3475
3476	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> stat
3477	<file>... --username <name>
3478	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3479	[--verbose]</screen>
3480
3481	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3482	<glossentry>
3483	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3484
3485	<glossdef>
3486	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3487	</glossdef>
3488	</glossentry>
3489
3490	<glossentry>
3491	<glossterm><computeroutput>file element(s) to check on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3492
3493	<glossdef>
3494	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to check on
3495	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>/home/foo/a.out</computeroutput>.
3496	The specified user must have appropriate rights to access
3497	the given file element(s).</para>
3498	</glossdef>
3499	</glossentry>
3500
3501	<glossentry>
3502	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3503
3504	<glossdef>
3505	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3506	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3507	</glossdef>
3508	</glossentry>
3509
3510	<glossentry>
3511	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3512
3513	<glossdef>
3514	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3515	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3516	assumed.</para>
3517	</glossdef>
3518	</glossentry>
3519
3520	<glossentry>
3521	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3522
3523	<glossdef>
3524	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3525	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3526	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3527	</glossdef>
3528	</glossentry>
3529
3530	<glossentry>
3531	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3532
3533	<glossdef>
3534	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3535	</glossdef>
3536	</glossentry>
3537	</glosslist></para>
3538	</listitem>
3539
3540	<listitem>
3541	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>updateadditions</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3542	which allows
3543	for updating an already installed Guest Additions version on the
3544	guest (only already installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3545
3546	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> updateadditions
3547	[--source "<guest additions .ISO file to use>"] [--verbose]
3548	[--wait-start] [-- [<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
3549
3550	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3551	<glossentry>
3552	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3553
3554	<glossdef>
3555	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3556	</glossdef>
3557	</glossentry>
3558
3559	<glossentry>
3560	<glossterm><computeroutput>--source</computeroutput> "<guest additions .ISO file to
3561	use>"</glossterm>
3562
3563	<glossdef>
3564	<para>Full path to an alternative VirtualBox Guest Additions
3565	.ISO file to use for the Guest Additions update.</para>
3566	</glossdef>
3567	</glossentry>
3568
3569	<glossentry>
3570	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3571
3572	<glossdef>
3573	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3574	</glossdef>
3575	</glossentry>
3576
3577	<glossentry>
3578	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-start</computeroutput></glossterm>
3579	<glossdef>
3580	<para>Starts the regular updating process and waits until the
3581	actual Guest Additions update inside the guest was started.
3582	This can be necessary due to needed interaction with the
3583	guest OS during the installation phase.</para>
3584	<para>When omitting this flag VBoxManage will wait for the
3585	whole Guest Additions update to complete.</para>
3586	</glossdef>
3587	</glossentry>
3588
3589	<glossentry>
3590	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
3591
3592	<glossdef>
3593	<para>Optional command line arguments to use for the Guest Additions
3594	installer. Useful for retrofitting features which weren't installed
3595	before on the guest.</para>
3596	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
3597	quotation marks.</para>
3598	</glossdef>
3599	</glossentry>
3600	</glosslist></para>
3601	</listitem>
3602	<listitem>
3603	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>watch</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3604	which prints current guest control activity.</para>
3605
3606	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> watch
3607	[--verbose]</screen>
3608
3609	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3610	<glossentry>
3611	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3612
3613	<glossdef>
3614	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3615	</glossdef>
3616	</glossentry>
3617
3618	<glossentry>
3619	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3620
3621	<glossdef>
3622	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3623	</glossdef>
3624	</glossentry>
3625	</glosslist></para>
3626	</listitem>
3627	</itemizedlist></para>
3628	</sect1>
3629
3630	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-debugvm">
3631	<title>VBoxManage debugvm</title>
3632
3633	<para>The "debugvm" commands are for experts who want to tinker with the
3634	exact details of virtual machine execution. Like the VM debugger described
3635	in <xref linkend="ts_debugger" />, these commands are only useful if you are
3636	very familiar with the details of the PC architecture and how to debug
3637	software.</para>
3638
3639	<para>The subcommands of "debugvm" all operate on a running virtual
3640	machine. The following are available:<itemizedlist>
3641	<listitem>
3642	<para>With <computeroutput>dumpguestcore --filename
3643	<name></computeroutput>, you can create a system dump of the
3644	running VM, which will be written into the given file. This file
3645	will have the standard ELF core format (with custom sections); see
3646	<xref linkend="ts_guest-core-format" />.</para>
3647
3648	<para>This corresponds to the
3649	<computeroutput>writecore</computeroutput> command in the debugger.
3650	</para>
3651	</listitem>
3652
3653	<listitem>
3654	<para>The <computeroutput>info</computeroutput> command is used to
3655	display info items relating to the VMM, device emulations and
3656	associated drivers. This command takes one or two arguments: the
3657	name of the info item, optionally followed by a string containing
3658	arguments specific to the info item.
3659	The <computeroutput>help</computeroutput> info item provides a
3660	listning of the available items and hints about any optional
3661	arguments.</para>
3662
3663	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>info</computeroutput>
3664	command in the debugger.</para>
3665	</listitem>
3666
3667	<listitem>
3668	<para>The <computeroutput>injectnmi</computeroutput> command causes
3669	a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) in the guest, which might be useful
3670	for certain debugging scenarios. What happens exactly is dependent
3671	on the guest operating system, but an NMI can crash the whole guest
3672	operating system. Do not use unless you know what you're
3673	doing.</para>
3674	</listitem>
3675
3676	<listitem>
3677	<para>The <computeroutput>osdetect</computeroutput> command makes the
3678	VMM's debugger facility (re-)detection the guest operation
3679	system.</para>
3680
3681	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>detect</computeroutput>
3682	command in the debugger.</para>
3683	</listitem>
3684
3685	<listitem>
3686	<para>The <computeroutput>osinfo</computeroutput> command is used to
3687	display info about the operating system (OS) detected by the VMM's
3688	debugger facility.</para>
3689	</listitem>
3690
3691	<listitem>
3692	<para>The <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command is
3693	used to display CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3694	of registers, each having one of the following forms:
3695	<itemizedlist>
3696	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3697	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3698	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3699	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3700	<listitem><computeroutput>all</computeroutput></listitem>
3701	</itemizedlist>
3702	The <computeroutput>all</computeroutput> form will cause all
3703	registers to be shown (no sub-fields). The registers names are
3704	case-insensitive. When requesting a CPU register the register set
3705	can be omitted, it will be selected using the value of the
3706	<computeroutput>--cpu</computeroutput> option (defaulting to 0).
3707	</para>
3708	</listitem>
3709
3710	<listitem>
3711	<para>The <computeroutput>setregisters</computeroutput> command is
3712	used to change CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3713	of register assignments, each having one of the following forms:
3714	<itemizedlist>
3715	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3716	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3717	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3718	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3719	</itemizedlist>
3720	The value format should be in the same style as what
3721	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> displays, with the
3722	exception that both octal and decimal can be used instead of
3723	hexadecimal. The register naming and the default CPU register set
3724	are handled the same way as with the
3725	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command.</para>
3726	</listitem>
3727
3728	<listitem>
3729	<para>The <computeroutput>statistics</computeroutput> command can be
3730	used to display VMM statistics on the command line. The
3731	<computeroutput>--reset</computeroutput> option will reset
3732	statistics. The affected statistics can be filtered with the
3733	<computeroutput>--pattern</computeroutput> option, which accepts
3734	DOS/NT-style wildcards (<computeroutput>?</computeroutput> and
3735	<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>).</para>
3736	</listitem>
3737	</itemizedlist></para>
3738	</sect1>
3739
3740	<sect1 id="metrics">
3741	<title>VBoxManage metrics</title>
3742
3743	<para>This command supports monitoring the usage of system resources.
3744	Resources are represented by various metrics associated with the host
3745	system or a particular VM. For example, the host system has a
3746	<computeroutput>CPU/Load/User</computeroutput> metric that shows the
3747	percentage of time CPUs spend executing in user mode over a specific
3748	sampling period.</para>
3749
3750	<para>Metric data is collected and retained internally; it may be
3751	retrieved at any time with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3752	query</computeroutput> subcommand. The data is available as long as the
3753	background <computeroutput>VBoxSVC</computeroutput> process is alive. That
3754	process terminates shortly after all VMs and frontends have been
3755	closed.</para>
3756
3757	<para>By default no metrics are collected at all. Metrics collection does
3758	not start until <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics setup</computeroutput>
3759	is invoked with a proper sampling interval and the number of metrics to be
3760	retained. The interval is measured in seconds. For example, to enable
3761	collecting the host processor and memory usage metrics every second and
3762	keeping the 5 most current samples, the following command can be
3763	used:</para>
3764
3765	<screen>VBoxManage metrics setup --period 1 --samples 5 host CPU/Load,RAM/Usage</screen>
3766
3767	<para>Metric collection can only be enabled for started VMs. Collected
3768	data and collection settings for a particular VM will disappear as soon as
3769	it shuts down. Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics list
3770	</computeroutput> subcommand to see which metrics are currently available.
3771	You can also use <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option with any
3772	subcommand that modifies metric settings to find out which metrics were
3773	affected.</para>
3774
3775	<para>Note that the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3776	setup</computeroutput> subcommand discards all samples that may have been
3777	previously collected for the specified set of objects and metrics.</para>
3778
3779	<para>To enable or disable metrics collection without discarding the data
3780	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics enable</computeroutput> and
3781	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics disable</computeroutput> subcommands
3782	can be used. Note that these subcommands expect metrics, not submetrics,
3783	like <code>CPU/Load</code> or <code>RAM/Usage</code> as parameters. In
3784	other words enabling <code>CPU/Load/User</code> while disabling
3785	<code>CPU/Load/Kernel</code> is not supported.</para>
3786
3787	<para>The host and VMs have different sets of associated metrics.
3788	Available metrics can be listed with <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3789	list</computeroutput> subcommand.</para>
3790
3791	<para>A complete metric name may include an aggregate function. The name
3792	has the following form:
3793	<computeroutput>Category/Metric[/SubMetric][:aggregate]</computeroutput>.
3794	For example, <computeroutput>RAM/Usage/Free:min</computeroutput> stands
3795	for the minimum amount of available memory over all retained data if
3796	applied to the host object.</para>
3797
3798	<para>Subcommands may apply to all objects and metrics or can be limited
3799	to one object or/and a list of metrics. If no objects or metrics are given
3800	in the parameters, the subcommands will apply to all available metrics of
3801	all objects. You may use an asterisk
3802	("<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>") to explicitly specify that the
3803	command should be applied to all objects or metrics. Use "host" as the
3804	object name to limit the scope of the command to host-related metrics. To
3805	limit the scope to a subset of metrics, use a metric list with names
3806	separated by commas.</para>
3807
3808	<para>For example, to query metric data on the CPU time spent in user and
3809	kernel modes by the virtual machine named "test", you can use the
3810	following command:</para>
3811
3812	<screen>VBoxManage metrics query test CPU/Load/User,CPU/Load/Kernel</screen>
3813
3814	<para>The following list summarizes the available subcommands:</para>
3815
3816	<glosslist>
3817	<glossentry>
3818	<glossterm><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></glossterm>
3819
3820	<glossdef>
3821	<para>This subcommand shows the parameters of the currently existing
3822	metrics. Note that VM-specific metrics are only available when a
3823	particular VM is running.</para>
3824	</glossdef>
3825	</glossentry>
3826
3827	<glossentry>
3828	<glossterm><computeroutput>setup</computeroutput></glossterm>
3829
3830	<glossdef>
3831	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3832	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3833	retained data is available for displaying with the
3834	<code>query</code> subcommand. The <computeroutput>--list
3835	</computeroutput> option shows which metrics have been modified as
3836	the result of the command execution.</para>
3837	</glossdef>
3838	</glossentry>
3839
3840	<glossentry>
3841	<glossterm><computeroutput>enable</computeroutput></glossterm>
3842
3843	<glossdef>
3844	<para>This subcommand "resumes" data collection after it has been
3845	stopped with <code>disable</code> subcommand. Note that specifying
3846	submetrics as parameters will not enable underlying metrics. Use
3847	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3848	did what was expected.</para>
3849	</glossdef>
3850	</glossentry>
3851
3852	<glossentry>
3853	<glossterm><computeroutput>disable</computeroutput></glossterm>
3854
3855	<glossdef>
3856	<para>This subcommand "suspends" data collection without affecting
3857	collection parameters or collected data. Note that specifying
3858	submetrics as parameters will not disable underlying metrics. Use
3859	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3860	did what was expected.</para>
3861	</glossdef>
3862	</glossentry>
3863
3864	<glossentry>
3865	<glossterm><computeroutput>query</computeroutput></glossterm>
3866
3867	<glossdef>
3868	<para>This subcommand retrieves and displays the currently retained
3869	metric data.<note>
3870	<para>The <code>query</code> subcommand does not remove or
3871	"flush" retained data. If you query often enough you will see
3872	how old samples are gradually being "phased out" by new
3873	samples.</para>
3874	</note></para>
3875	</glossdef>
3876	</glossentry>
3877
3878	<glossentry>
3879	<glossterm><computeroutput>collect</computeroutput></glossterm>
3880
3881	<glossdef>
3882	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3883	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3884	collected data is displayed periodically until Ctrl-C is pressed
3885	unless the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput> option is
3886	specified. With the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput>
3887	option, this subcommand operates the same way as <code>setup</code>
3888	does. The <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option shows which
3889	metrics match the specified filter.</para>
3890	</glossdef>
3891	</glossentry>
3892	</glosslist>
3893	</sect1>
3894
3895	<sect1>
3896	<title>VBoxManage hostonlyif</title>
3897
3898	<para>With "hostonlyif" you can change the IP configuration of a host-only
3899	network interface. For a description of host-only networking, please
3900	refer to <xref linkend="network_hostonly" />. Each host-only interface is
3901	identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a
3902	manual IP configuration (both IP4 and IP6).</para>
3903	</sect1>
3904
3905	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-dhcpserver">
3906	<title>VBoxManage dhcpserver</title>
3907
3908	<para>The "dhcpserver" commands allow you to control the DHCP server that
3909	is built into VirtualBox. You may find this useful when using internal or
3910	host-only networking. (Theoretically, you can enable it for a bridged
3911	network as well, but that will likely cause conflicts with other DHCP
3912	servers in your physical network.)</para>
3913
3914	<para>Use the following command line options:<itemizedlist>
3915	<listitem>
3916	<para>If you use internal networking for a virtual network adapter
3917	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3918	--netname <network_name></computeroutput>, where
3919	<computeroutput><network_name></computeroutput> is the same
3920	network name you used with <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm
3921	<vmname> --intnet<X>
3922	<network_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3923	</listitem>
3924
3925	<listitem>
3926	<para>If you use host-only networking for a virtual network adapter
3927	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3928	--ifname <hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> instead, where
3929	<computeroutput><hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> is the
3930	same host-only interface name you used with
3931	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname>
3932	--hostonlyadapter<X>
3933	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3934
3935	<para>Alternatively, you can also use the --netname option as with
3936	internal networks if you know the host-only network's name; you can
3937	see the names with <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
3938	hostonlyifs</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
3939	above).</para>
3940	</listitem>
3941	</itemizedlist></para>
3942
3943	<para>The following additional parameters are required when first adding a
3944	DHCP server:<itemizedlist>
3945	<listitem>
3946	<para>With <computeroutput>--ip</computeroutput>, specify the IP
3947	address of the DHCP server itself.</para>
3948	</listitem>
3949
3950	<listitem>
3951	<para>With <computeroutput>--netmask</computeroutput>, specify the
3952	netmask of the network.</para>
3953	</listitem>
3954
3955	<listitem>
3956	<para>With <computeroutput>--lowerip</computeroutput> and
3957	<computeroutput>--upperip</computeroutput>, you can specify the
3958	lowest and highest IP address, respectively, that the DHCP server
3959	will hand out to clients.</para>
3960	</listitem>
3961	</itemizedlist></para>
3962
3963	<para>Finally, you must specify <computeroutput>--enable</computeroutput>
3964	or the DHCP server will be created in the disabled state, doing
3965	nothing.</para>
3966
3967	<para>After this, VirtualBox will automatically start the DHCP server for
3968	given internal or host-only network as soon as the first virtual machine
3969	which uses that network is started.</para>
3970
3971	<para>Reversely, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver
3972	remove</computeroutput> with the given <computeroutput>--netname
3973	<network_name></computeroutput> or <computeroutput>--ifname
3974	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> to remove the DHCP server again
3975	for the given internal or host-only network.</para>
3976
3977	<para>To modify the settings of a DHCP server created earlier with
3978	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add</computeroutput>, you can use
3979	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver modify</computeroutput> for a given
3980	network or host-only interface name.</para>
3981	</sect1>
3982
3983	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-extpack">
3984	<title>VBoxManage extpack</title>
3985
3986	<para>The "extpack" command allows you to add or remove VirtualBox
3987	extension packs, as described in <xref
3988	linkend="intro-installing" />.<itemizedlist>
3989	<listitem>
3990	<para>To add a new extension pack, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
3991	extpack install <.vbox-extpack></computeroutput>. This command
3992	will fail if an older version of the same extension pack is already
3993	installed. The optional <computeroutput>--replace</computeroutput>
3994	parameter can be used to uninstall the old package before the new
3995	package is installed.</para>
3996	</listitem>
3997
3998	<listitem>
3999	<para>To remove a previously installed extension pack, use
4000	<computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack uninstall
4001	<name></computeroutput>. You can use
4002	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list extpacks</computeroutput> to show
4003	the names of the extension packs which are currently installed;
4004	please see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> also. The optional
4005	<computeroutput>--force</computeroutput> parameter can be used to
4006	override the refusal of an extension pack to be uninstalled.</para>
4007	</listitem>
4008
4009	<listitem>
4010	<para>The <computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack
4011	cleanup</computeroutput> command can be used to remove temporary
4012	files and directories that may have been left behind if a previous
4013	install or uninstall command failed.</para>
4014	</listitem>
4015	</itemizedlist></para>
4016	<para>The following commands show examples how to list extension packs and
4017	remove one:<screen>
4018	$ VBoxManage list extpacks
4019	Extension Packs: 1
4020	Pack no. 0: Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
4021	Version: 4.1.12
4022	Revision: 77218
4023	Edition:
4024	Description: USB 2.0 Host Controller, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM with E1000 support.
4025	VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP
4026	Usable: true
4027	Why unusable:
4028	$ VBoxManage extpack uninstall "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack"
4029	0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
4030	Successfully uninstalled "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack".</screen></para>
4031	</sect1>
4032	</chapter>

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