user_VBoxManage.xml@ 38099

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FE/Qt4/CLI;Main;Docu: enable MachineAndChildren in clone VM again for ease of testing
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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/.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-list">
153	<title>VBoxManage list</title>
154
155	<para>The <computeroutput>list</computeroutput> command gives relevant
156	information about your system and information about VirtualBox's current
157	settings.</para>
158
159	<para>The following subcommands are available with
160	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list</computeroutput>: <itemizedlist>
161	<listitem>
162	<para><computeroutput>vms</computeroutput> lists all virtual
163	machines currently registered with VirtualBox. By default this
164	displays a compact list with each VM's name and UUID; if you also
165	specify <computeroutput>--long</computeroutput> or
166	<computeroutput>-l</computeroutput>, this will be a detailed list as
167	with the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command (see
168	below).</para>
169	</listitem>
170
171	<listitem>
172	<para><computeroutput>runningvms</computeroutput> lists all
173	currently running virtual machines by their unique identifiers
174	(UUIDs) in the same format as with
175	<computeroutput>vms</computeroutput>.</para>
176	</listitem>
177
178	<listitem>
179	<para><computeroutput>ostypes</computeroutput> lists all guest
180	operating systems presently known to VirtualBox, along with the
181	identifiers used to refer to them with the
182	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command.</para>
183	</listitem>
184
185	<listitem>
186	<para><computeroutput>hostdvds</computeroutput>,
187	<computeroutput>hostfloppies</computeroutput>, respectively, list
188	DVD, floppy, bridged networking and host-only networking interfaces
189	on the host, along with the name used to access them from within
190	VirtualBox.</para>
191	</listitem>
192
193	<listitem>
194	<para><computeroutput>bridgedifs</computeroutput>,
195	<computeroutput>hostonlyifs</computeroutput> and
196	<computeroutput>dhcpservers</computeroutput>, respectively, list
197	bridged network interfaces, host-only network interfaces and DHCP
198	servers currently available on the host. Please see <xref
199	linkend="networkingdetails" /> for details on these.</para>
200	</listitem>
201
202	<listitem>
203	<para><computeroutput>hostinfo</computeroutput> displays information
204	about the host system, such as CPUs, memory size and operating
205	system version.</para>
206	</listitem>
207
208	<listitem>
209	<para><computeroutput>hostcpuids</computeroutput> dumps the CPUID
210	parameters for the host CPUs. This can be used for a more fine
211	grained analyis of the host's virtualization capabilities.</para>
212	</listitem>
213
214	<listitem>
215	<para><computeroutput>hddbackends</computeroutput> lists all known
216	virtual disk back-ends of VirtualBox. For each such format (such as
217	VDI, VMDK or RAW), this lists the back-end's capabilities and
218	configuration.</para>
219	</listitem>
220
221	<listitem>
222	<para><computeroutput>hdds</computeroutput>,
223	<computeroutput>dvds</computeroutput> and
224	<computeroutput>floppies</computeroutput> all give you information
225	about virtual disk images currently in use by VirtualBox, including
226	all their settings, the unique identifiers (UUIDs) associated with
227	them by VirtualBox and all files associated with them. This is the
228	command-line equivalent of the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref
229	linkend="vdis" />.</para>
230	</listitem>
231
232	<listitem>
233	<para><computeroutput>usbhost</computeroutput> supplies information
234	about USB devices attached to the host, notably information useful
235	for constructing USB filters and whether they are currently in use
236	by the host.</para>
237	</listitem>
238
239	<listitem>
240	<para><computeroutput>usbfilters</computeroutput> lists all global
241	USB filters registered with VirtualBox -- that is, filters for
242	devices which are accessible to all virtual machines -- and displays
243	the filter parameters.</para>
244	</listitem>
245
246	<listitem>
247	<para><computeroutput>systemproperties</computeroutput> displays
248	some global VirtualBox settings, such as minimum and maximum guest
249	RAM and virtual hard disk size, folder settings and the current
250	authentication library in use.</para>
251	</listitem>
252
253	<listitem>
254	<para><computeroutput>extpacks</computeroutput> displays all
255	VirtualBox extension packs currently installed; see <xref
256	linkend="intro-installing" /> and <xref
257	linkend="vboxmanage-extpack" /> for more information.</para>
258	</listitem>
259	</itemizedlist></para>
260	</sect1>
261
262	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-showvminfo">
263	<title>VBoxManage showvminfo</title>
264
265	<para>The <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command shows
266	information about a particular virtual machine. This is the same
267	information as <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms --long</computeroutput>
268	would show for all virtual machines.</para>
269
270	<para>You will get information similar to the following:</para>
271
272	<para><screen>$ VBoxManage showvminfo "Windows XP"
273	VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
274	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
275	All rights reserved.
276
277	Name: Windows XP
278	Guest OS: Other/Unknown
279	UUID: 1bf3464d-57c6-4d49-92a9-a5cc3816b7e7
280	Config file: /home/username/.VirtualBox/Machines/Windows XP/Windows XP.xml
281	Memory size: 512MB
282	VRAM size: 12MB
283	Number of CPUs: 2
284	Synthetic Cpu: off
285	Boot menu mode: message and menu
286	Boot Device (1): DVD
287	Boot Device (2): HardDisk
288	Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
289	Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
290	ACPI: on
291	IOAPIC: on
292	PAE: on
293	Time offset: 0 ms
294	Hardw. virt.ext: on
295	Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
296	Nested Paging: on
297	VT-x VPID: off
298	State: powered off (since 2009-10-20T14:52:19.000000000)
299	Monitor count: 1
300	3D Acceleration: off
301	2D Video Acceleration: off
302	Teleporter Enabled: off
303	Teleporter Port: 0
304	Teleporter Address:
305	Teleporter Password:
306	Storage Controller (0): IDE Controller
307	Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
308	Storage Controller (1): Floppy Controller 1
309	Storage Controller Type (1): I82078
310	IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/user/windows.vdi (UUID: 46f6e53a-4557-460a-9b95-68b0f17d744b)
311	IDE Controller (0, 1): /home/user/openbsd-cd46.iso (UUID: 4335e162-59d3-4512-91d5-b63e94eebe0b)
312	Floppy Controller 1 (0, 0): /home/user/floppy.img (UUID: 62ac6ccb-df36-42f2-972e-22f836368137)
313	NIC 1: disabled
314	NIC 2: disabled
315	NIC 3: disabled
316	NIC 4: disabled
317	NIC 5: disabled
318	NIC 6: disabled
319	NIC 7: disabled
320	NIC 8: disabled
321	UART 1: disabled
322	UART 2: disabled
323	Audio: disabled (Driver: Unknown)
324	Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
325	VRDE: disabled
326	USB: disabled
327
328	USB Device Filters:
329	<none>
330
331	Shared folders:
332	<none>
333
334	Statistics update: disabled
335	</screen></para>
336	</sect1>
337
338	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-registervm">
339	<title>VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm</title>
340
341	<para>The <computeroutput>registervm</computeroutput> command allows you
342	to import a virtual machine definition in an XML file into VirtualBox. The
343	machine must not conflict with one already registered in VirtualBox and it
344	may not have any hard or removable disks attached. It is advisable to
345	place the definition file in the machines folder before registering
346	it.<note>
347	<para>When creating a new virtual machine with
348	<computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> (see below), you
349	can directly specify the <computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>
350	option to avoid having to register it separately.</para>
351	</note></para>
352
353	<para>The <computeroutput>unregistervm</computeroutput> command
354	unregisters a virtual machine. If
355	<computeroutput>--delete</computeroutput> is also specified, the following
356	files will automatically be deleted as well:<orderedlist>
357	<listitem>
358	<para>all hard disk image files, including differencing files, which
359	are used by the machine and not shared with other machines;</para>
360	</listitem>
361
362	<listitem>
363	<para>saved state files that the machine created, if any (one if the
364	machine was in "saved" state and one for each online
365	snapshot);</para>
366	</listitem>
367
368	<listitem>
369	<para>the machine XML file and its backups;</para>
370	</listitem>
371
372	<listitem>
373	<para>the machine log files, if any;</para>
374	</listitem>
375
376	<listitem>
377	<para>the machine directory, if it is empty after having deleted all
378	the above.</para>
379	</listitem>
380	</orderedlist></para>
381	</sect1>
382
383	<sect1>
384	<title id="vboxmanage-createvm">VBoxManage createvm</title>
385
386	<para>This command creates a new XML virtual machine definition
387	file.</para>
388
389	<para>The <computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput> parameter
390	is required and must specify the name of the machine. Since this name is
391	used by default as the file name of the settings file (with the extension
392	<computeroutput>.xml</computeroutput>) and the machine folder (a subfolder
393	of the <computeroutput>.VirtualBox/Machines</computeroutput> folder), it
394	must conform to your host operating system's requirements for file name
395	specifications. If the VM is later renamed, the file and folder names will
396	change automatically.</para>
397
398	<para>However, if the <computeroutput>--basefolder
399	<path></computeroutput> option is used, the machine folder will be
400	named <computeroutput><path></computeroutput>. In this case, the
401	names of the file and the folder will not change if the virtual machine is
402	renamed.</para>
403
404	<para>By default, this command only creates the XML file without
405	automatically registering the VM with your VirtualBox installation. To
406	register the VM instantly, use the optional
407	<computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option, or run
408	<computeroutput>VBoxManage registervm</computeroutput> separately
409	afterwards.</para>
410	</sect1>
411
412	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm">
413	<title>VBoxManage modifyvm</title>
414
415	<para>This command changes the properties of a registered virtual machine
416	which is not running. Most of the properties that this command makes
417	available correspond to the VM settings that VirtualBox graphical user
418	interface displays in each VM's "Settings" dialog; these were described in
419	<xref linkend="BasicConcepts" />. Some of the more advanced settings,
420	however, are only available through the
421	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> interface.</para>
422
423	<para>These commands require that the machine is powered off (neither
424	running nor in "saved" state). Some machine settings can also be changed
425	while a machine is running; those settings will then have a corresponding
426	subcommand with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm</computeroutput>
427	subcommand (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" />).</para>
428
429	<sect2>
430	<title>General settings</title>
431
432	<para>The following general settings are available through
433	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
434	<listitem>
435	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: This
436	changes the VM's name and possibly renames the internal virtual
437	machine files, as described with <computeroutput>VBoxManage
438	createvm</computeroutput> above.</para>
439	</listitem>
440
441	<listitem>
442	<para><computeroutput>--ostype <ostype></computeroutput>:
443	This specifies what guest operating system is supposed to run in
444	the VM. To learn about the various identifiers that can be used
445	here, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
446	ostypes</computeroutput>.</para>
447	</listitem>
448
449	<listitem>
450	<para><computeroutput>--memory
451	<memorysize></computeroutput>: This sets the amount of RAM,
452	in MB, that the virtual machine should allocate for itself from
453	the host. See the remarks in <xref linkend="gui-createvm" /> for
454	more information.</para>
455	</listitem>
456
457	<listitem>
458	<para><computeroutput>--vram <vramsize></computeroutput>:
459	This sets the amount of RAM that the virtual graphics card should
460	have. See <xref linkend="settings-display" /> for details.</para>
461	</listitem>
462
463	<listitem>
464	<para><computeroutput>--acpi on\|off</computeroutput>;
465	<computeroutput>--ioapic on\|off</computeroutput>: These two
466	determine whether the VM should have ACPI and I/O APIC support,
467	respectively; see <xref linkend="settings-motherboard" /> for
468	details.</para>
469	</listitem>
470
471	<listitem>
472	<para><computeroutput>--hardwareuuid
473	<uuid></computeroutput>: The UUID presented to the guest via
474	memory tables (DMI/SMBIOS), hardware and guest properties. By
475	default this is the same as the VM uuid. Useful when cloning a VM.
476	Teleporting takes care of this automatically.</para>
477	</listitem>
478
479	<listitem>
480	<para><computeroutput>--cpus <cpucount></computeroutput>:
481	This sets the number of virtual CPUs for the virtual machine (see
482	<xref linkend="settings-processor" />). If CPU hot-plugging is
483	enabled (see below), this then sets the
484	<emphasis>maximum</emphasis> number of virtual CPUs that can be
485	plugged into the virtual machines.</para>
486	</listitem>
487
488	<listitem>
489	<para><computeroutput>--rtcuseutc on\|off</computeroutput>: This
490	option lets the real-time clock (RTC) operate in UTC time (see
491	<xref linkend="settings-motherboard" />).</para>
492	</listitem>
493
494	<listitem>
495	<para><computeroutput>--cpuhotplug on\|off</computeroutput>: This
496	enables CPU hot-plugging. When enabled, virtual CPUs can be added
497	to and removed from a virtual machine while it is running. See
498	<xref linkend="cpuhotplug" /> for more information.</para>
499	</listitem>
500
501	<listitem>
502	<para><computeroutput>--plugcpu\|unplugcpu
503	<id></computeroutput>: If CPU hot-plugging is enabled (see
504	above), this adds a virtual CPU to the virtual machines (or
505	removes one). <computeroutput><id></computeroutput>
506	specifies the index of the virtual CPU to be added or removed and
507	must be a number from 0 to the maximum no. of CPUs configured with
508	the <computeroutput>--cpus</computeroutput> option. CPU 0 can
509	never be removed.</para>
510	</listitem>
511
512	<listitem>
513	<para><computeroutput>--cpuexecutioncap
514	<1-100></computeroutput>: This setting controls how much cpu
515	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual
516	CPU can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
517	</listitem>
518
519	<listitem>
520	<para><computeroutput>--synthcpu on\|off</computeroutput>: This
521	setting determines whether VirtualBox will expose a synthetic CPU
522	to the guest to allow live migration between host systems that
523	differ significantly.</para>
524	</listitem>
525
526	<listitem>
527	<para><computeroutput>--pae on\|off</computeroutput>: This
528	enables/disables PAE (see <xref
529	linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
530	</listitem>
531
532	<listitem>
533	<para><computeroutput>--hpet on\|off</computeroutput>: This
534	enables/disables a High Precision Event Timer (HPET) which can
535	replace the legacy system timers. This is turned off by default.
536	Note that Windows supports a HPET only from Vista onwards.</para>
537	</listitem>
538
539	<listitem>
540	<para><computeroutput>--hwvirtex on\|off</computeroutput>: This
541	enables or disables the use of hardware virtualization extensions
542	(Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the processor of your host system; see
543	<xref linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
544	</listitem>
545
546	<listitem>
547	<para><computeroutput>--hwvirtexexcl on\|off</computeroutput>: This
548	specifies whether VirtualBox will make exclusive use of the
549	hardware virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the
550	processor of your host system; see <xref linkend="hwvirt" />. If
551	you wish to simultaneously share these extensions with other
552	hypervisors, then you must disable this setting. Doing so has
553	negative performance implications.</para>
554	</listitem>
555
556	<listitem>
557	<para><computeroutput>--nestedpaging on\|off</computeroutput>: If
558	hardware virtualization is enabled, this additional setting
559	enables or disables the use of the nested paging feature in the
560	processor of your host system; see <xref
561	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
562	</listitem>
563
564	<listitem>
565	<para><computeroutput>--largepages on\|off</computeroutput>: If
566	hardware virtualization <emphasis>and</emphasis> nested paging are
567	enabled, for Intel VT-x only, an additional performance
568	improvement of up to 5% can be obtained by enabling this setting.
569	This causes the hypervisor to use large pages to reduce TLB use
570	and overhead.</para>
571	</listitem>
572
573	<listitem>
574	<para><computeroutput>--vtxvpid on\|off</computeroutput>: If
575	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
576	additional setting enables or disables the use of the tagged TLB
577	(VPID) feature in the processor of your host system; see <xref
578	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
579	</listitem>
580
581	<listitem>
582	<para><computeroutput>--accelerate3d on\|off</computeroutput>: This
583	enables, if the Guest Additions are installed, whether hardware 3D
584	acceleration should be available; see <xref
585	linkend="guestadd-3d" />.</para>
586	</listitem>
587
588	<listitem>
589	<para>You can influence the BIOS logo that is displayed when a
590	virtual machine starts up with a number of settings. Per default,
591	a VirtualBox logo is displayed.</para>
592
593	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogofadein
594	on\|off</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>--bioslogofadeout
595	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can determine whether the logo should
596	fade in and out, respectively.</para>
597
598	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogodisplaytime
599	<msec></computeroutput> you can set how long the logo should
600	be visible, in milliseconds.</para>
601
602	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogoimagepath
603	<imagepath></computeroutput> you can, if you are so
604	inclined, replace the image that is shown, with your own logo. The
605	image must be an uncompressed 256 color BMP file.</para>
606	</listitem>
607
608	<listitem>
609	<para><computeroutput>--biosbootmenu
610	disabled\|menuonly\|messageandmenu</computeroutput>: This specifies
611	whether the BIOS allows the user to select a temporary boot
612	device. <computeroutput>menuonly</computeroutput> suppresses the
613	message, but the user can still press F12 to select a temporary
614	boot device.</para>
615	</listitem>
616
617	<listitem>
618	<para><computeroutput>--boot<1-4>
619	none\|floppy\|dvd\|disk\|net</computeroutput>: This specifies the boot
620	order for the virtual machine. There are four "slots", which the
621	VM will try to access from 1 to 4, and for each of which you can
622	set a device that the VM should attempt to boot from.</para>
623	</listitem>
624
625	<listitem>
626	<para><computeroutput>--snapshotfolder
627	default\|<path></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
628	the folder in which snapshots will be kept for a virtual
629	machine.</para>
630	</listitem>
631
632	<listitem>
633	<para><computeroutput>--firmware efi\|bios</computeroutput>:
634	Specifies which firmware is used to boot particular virtual
635	machine: EFI or BIOS. Use EFI only if your fully understand what
636	you're doing.</para>
637	</listitem>
638
639	<listitem>
640	<para><computeroutput>--guestmemoryballoon
641	<size></computeroutput> sets the default size of the guest
642	memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest
643	Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the
644	hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines. <size> must
645	be specified in megabytes. The default size is 0 megabytes. For
646	details, see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
647	</listitem>
648	</itemizedlist></para>
649	</sect2>
650
651	<sect2>
652	<title>Networking settings</title>
653
654	<para>The following networking settings are available through
655	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
656	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
657	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings
658	should be changed.<itemizedlist>
659	<listitem>
660	<para><computeroutput>--nic<1-N>
661	none\|null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic
662	</computeroutput>: With
663	this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards,
664	what type of networking should be available. They can be not
665	present (<computeroutput>none</computeroutput>), not connected to
666	the host (<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network
667	address translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>),
668	bridged networking (<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or
669	communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking
670	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>), host-only networking
671	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>), or access rarely used
672	sub-modes (<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>).
673	These options correspond
674	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
675	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
676	</listitem>
677
678	<listitem>
679	<para><computeroutput>--nictype<1-N>
680	Am79C970A\|Am79C973\|82540EM\|82543GC\|82545EM\|virtio</computeroutput>:
681	This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
682	specify which networking hardware VirtualBox presents to the
683	guest; see <xref linkend="nichardware" />.</para>
684	</listitem>
685
686	<listitem>
687	<para><computeroutput>--cableconnected<1-N>
688	on\|off</computeroutput>: This allows you to temporarily disconnect
689	a virtual network interface, as if a network cable had been pulled
690	from a real network card. This might be useful for resetting
691	certain software components in the VM.</para>
692	</listitem>
693
694	<listitem>
695	<para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
696	network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
697	purposes.</para>
698
699	<para>With <computeroutput>--nictrace<1-N>
700	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
701	particular virtual network card.</para>
702
703	<para>If enabled, you must specify with
704	<computeroutput>--nictracefile<1-N>
705	<filename></computeroutput> what file the trace should be
706	logged to.</para>
707	</listitem>
708
709	<listitem>
710	<para><computeroutput>--bridgeadapter<1-N>
711	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If bridged networking
712	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the
713	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
714	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host
715	interface the given virtual network interface will use. For
716	details, please see <xref linkend="network_bridged" />.</para>
717	</listitem>
718
719	<listitem>
720	<para><computeroutput>--hostonlyadapter<1-N>
721	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If host-only networking
722	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the --nic option
723	above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to
724	specify which host-only networking interface the given virtual
725	network interface will use. For details, please see <xref
726	linkend="network_hostonly" />.</para>
727	</listitem>
728
729	<listitem>
730	<para><computeroutput>--intnet<1-N>
731	network</computeroutput>: If internal networking has been enabled
732	for a virtual network card (see the
733	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
734	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify the name
735	of the internal network (see <xref
736	linkend="network_internal" />).</para>
737	</listitem>
738
739	<listitem>
740	<para><computeroutput>--macaddress<1-N>
741	auto\|<mac></computeroutput>: With this option you can set
742	the MAC address of the virtual network card. Normally, each
743	virtual network card is assigned a random address by VirtualBox at
744	VM creation.</para>
745	</listitem>
746
747	<listitem>
748	<para><computeroutput>--nicgenericdrv<1-N>
749	<backend driver></computeroutput>: If generic networking has been
750	enabled for a virtual network card (see the
751	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
752	this setting has no effect), this mode allows you to access
753	rarely used networking sub-modes, such as VDE network or UDP Tunnel.
754	</para>
755	</listitem>
756
757	<listitem>
758	<para><computeroutput>--nicproperty<1-N>
759	<paramname>="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
760	This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
761	pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
762	Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
763	between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
764	please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
765	</para>
766	</listitem>
767	</itemizedlist></para>
768
769	<sect3>
770	<title>NAT Networking settings.</title>
771
772	<para>The following NAT networking settings are available through
773	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
774	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
775	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose
776	settings should be changed.<itemizedlist>
777	<listitem>
778	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N>
779	[<name>],tcp\|udp,[<hostip>],<hostport>,[<guestip>],
780	<guestport></computeroutput>: This option defines a NAT
781	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
782	for details).</para>
783	</listitem>
784
785	<listitem>
786	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N> delete
787	<name></computeroutput>: This option deletes a NAT
788	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
789	for details).</para>
790	</listitem>
791
792	<listitem>
793	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpprefix<1-N>
794	<prefix></computeroutput>: This option defines a prefix
795	for the built-in TFTP server, i.e. where the boot file is
796	located (please see <xref linkend="nat-tftp" /> and <xref
797	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
798	</listitem>
799
800	<listitem>
801	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpfile<1-N>
802	<bootfile></computeroutput>: This option defines the TFT
803	boot file (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for
804	details).</para>
805	</listitem>
806
807	<listitem>
808	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpserver<1-N>
809	<tftpserver></computeroutput>: This option defines the
810	TFTP server address to boot from (please see <xref
811	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
812	</listitem>
813
814	<listitem>
815	<para><computeroutput>--natdnspassdomain<1-N>
816	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option specifies whether the
817	built-in DHCP server passes the domain name for network name
818	resolution.</para>
819	</listitem>
820
821	<listitem>
822	<para><computeroutput>--natdnsproxy<1-N>
823	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine proxy
824	all guest DNS requests to the host's DNS servers (please see
825	<xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
826	</listitem>
827
828	<listitem>
829	<para><computeroutput>--natdnshostresolver<1-N>
830	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine use
831	the host's resolver mechanisms to handle DNS requests (please
832	see <xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
833	</listitem>
834
835	<listitem>
836	<para><computeroutput>--natnatsettings<1-N>
837	[<mtu>],[<socksnd>],[<sockrcv>],[<tcpsnd>],
838	[<tcprcv>]</computeroutput>: This option controls several
839	NAT settings (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-settings" /> for
840	details).</para>
841	</listitem>
842
843	<listitem>
844	<para><computeroutput>--nataliasmode<1-N>
845	default\|[log],[proxyonly],[sameports]</computeroutput>: This
846	option defines behaviour of NAT engine core: log - enables
847	logging, proxyonly - switches of aliasing mode makes NAT
848	transparent, sameports enforces NAT engine to send packets via
849	the same port as they originated on, default - disable all
850	mentioned modes above . (please see <xref
851	linkend="nat-adv-alias" /> for details).</para>
852	</listitem>
853	</itemizedlist></para>
854	</sect3>
855	</sect2>
856
857	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other">
858	<title>Serial port, audio, clipboard, remote desktop and USB
859	settings</title>
860
861	<para>The following other hardware settings are available through
862	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
863	<listitem>
864	<para><computeroutput>--uart<1-N> off\|<I/O base>
865	<IRQ></computeroutput>: With this option you can configure
866	virtual serial ports for the VM; see <xref
867	linkend="serialports" /> for an introduction.</para>
868	</listitem>
869
870	<listitem>
871	<para><computeroutput>--uartmode<1-N>
872	<arg></computeroutput>: This setting controls how VirtualBox
873	connects a given virtual serial port (previously configured with
874	the <computeroutput>--uartX</computeroutput> setting, see above)
875	to the host on which the virtual machine is running. As described
876	in detail in <xref linkend="serialports" />, for each such port,
877	you can specify <computeroutput><arg></computeroutput> as
878	one of the following options:<itemizedlist>
879	<listitem>
880	<para><computeroutput>disconnected</computeroutput>: Even
881	though the serial port is shown to the guest, it has no
882	"other end" -- like a real COM port without a cable.</para>
883	</listitem>
884
885	<listitem>
886	<para><computeroutput>server
887	<pipename></computeroutput>: On a Windows host, this
888	tells VirtualBox to create a named pipe on the host named
889	<computeroutput><pipename></computeroutput> and
890	connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that Windows
891	requires that the name of a named pipe begin with
892	<computeroutput>\\.\pipe\</computeroutput>.</para>
893
894	<para>On a Linux host, instead of a named pipe, a local
895	domain socket is used.</para>
896	</listitem>
897
898	<listitem>
899	<para><computeroutput>client
900	<pipename></computeroutput>: This operates just like
901	<computeroutput>server ...</computeroutput>, except that the
902	pipe (or local domain socket) is not created by VirtualBox,
903	but assumed to exist already.</para>
904	</listitem>
905
906	<listitem>
907	<para><computeroutput><devicename></computeroutput>:
908	If, instead of the above, the device name of a physical
909	hardware serial port of the host is specified, the virtual
910	serial port is connected to that hardware port. On a Windows
911	host, the device name will be a COM port such as
912	<computeroutput>COM1</computeroutput>; on a Linux host, the
913	device name will look like
914	<computeroutput>/dev/ttyS0</computeroutput>. This allows you
915	to "wire" a real serial port to a virtual machine.</para>
916	</listitem>
917	</itemizedlist></para>
918	</listitem>
919
920	<listitem>
921	<para><computeroutput>--audio none\|null\|oss</computeroutput>: With
922	this option, you can set whether the VM should have audio
923	support.</para>
924	</listitem>
925
926	<listitem>
927	<para><computeroutput>--clipboard
928	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
929	With this setting, you can select whether the guest operating
930	system's clipboard should be shared with the host; see <xref
931	linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
932	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
933	</listitem>
934
935	<listitem>
936	<para><computeroutput>--monitorcount
937	<count></computeroutput>: This enables multi-monitor
938	support; see <xref linkend="settings-display" />.</para>
939	</listitem>
940
941	<listitem>
942	<para><computeroutput>--usb on\|off</computeroutput>: This option
943	enables or disables the VM's virtual USB controller; see <xref
944	linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
945	</listitem>
946
947	<listitem>
948	<para><computeroutput>--usbehci on\|off</computeroutput>: This
949	option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 2.0 controller;
950	see <xref linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
951	</listitem>
952	</itemizedlist></para>
953	</sect2>
954
955	<sect2>
956	<title>Remote machine settings</title>
957
958	<para>The following settings that affect remote machine behavior are
959	available through <computeroutput>VBoxManage
960	modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
961	<listitem>
962	<para><computeroutput>--vrde on\|off</computeroutput>: With the
963	VirtualBox graphical user interface, this enables or disables the
964	VirtualBox remote desktop extension (VRDE) server. Note that if
965	you are using <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput> (see
966	<xref linkend="vboxheadless" />), VRDE is enabled by
967	default.</para>
968	</listitem>
969
970	<listitem>
971	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeport
972	default\|<ports></computeroutput>: A port or a range of ports
973	the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the
974	standard port for RDP. You can specify a comma-separated list of
975	ports or ranges of ports. Use a dash between two port numbers to
976	specify a range. The VRDE server will bind to <emphasis
977	role="bold">one</emphasis> of available ports from the specified
978	list. Only one machine can use a given port at a time. For
979	example, the option <computeroutput> --vrdeport
980	5000,5010-5012</computeroutput> will tell the server to bind to
981	one of following ports: 5000, 5010, 5011 or 5012.</para>
982	</listitem>
983
984	<listitem>
985	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeaddress <IP
986	address></computeroutput>: The IP address of the host network
987	interface the VRDE server will bind to. If specified, the server
988	will accept connections only on the specified host network
989	interface.</para>
990	</listitem>
991
992	<listitem>
993	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeauthtype
994	null\|external\|guest</computeroutput>: This allows you to choose
995	whether and how authorization will be performed; see <xref
996	linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
997	</listitem>
998
999	<listitem>
1000	<para><computeroutput>--vrdemulticon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1001	enables multiple connections to the same VRDE server, if the
1002	server supports this feature; see <xref lang=""
1003	linkend="vrde-multiconnection" />.</para>
1004	</listitem>
1005
1006	<listitem>
1007	<para><computeroutput>--vrdereusecon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1008	specifies the VRDE server behavior when multiple connections are
1009	disabled. When this option is enabled, the server will allow a new
1010	client to connect and will drop the existing connection. When this
1011	option is disabled (this is the default setting), a new connection
1012	will not be accepted if there is already a client connected to the
1013	server.</para>
1014	</listitem>
1015
1016	<listitem>
1017	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannel on\|off</computeroutput>:
1018	This enables video redirection, if it is supported by the VRDE
1019	server; see <xref lang="" linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1020	</listitem>
1021
1022	<listitem>
1023	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannelquality
1024	<percent></computeroutput>: Sets the image quality for video
1025	redirection; see <xref lang=""
1026	linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1027	</listitem>
1028	</itemizedlist></para>
1029	</sect2>
1030
1031	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport">
1032	<title>Teleporting settings</title>
1033
1034	<para>With the following commands for <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1035	modifyvm</computeroutput> you can configure a machine to be a target for
1036	teleporting. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an
1037	introduction.<itemizedlist>
1038	<listitem>
1039	<para><computeroutput>--teleporter on\|off</computeroutput>: With
1040	this setting you turn on or off whether a machine waits for a
1041	teleporting request to come in on the network when it is started.
1042	If "on", when the machine is started, it does not boot the virtual
1043	machine as it would normally; instead, it then waits for a
1044	teleporting request to come in on the port and address listed with
1045	the next two parameters.</para>
1046	</listitem>
1047
1048	<listitem>
1049	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterport
1050	<port></computeroutput>, <computeroutput>--teleporteraddress
1051	<address></computeroutput>: these must be used with
1052	--teleporter and tell the virtual machine on which port and
1053	address it should listen for a teleporting request from another
1054	virtual machine. <computeroutput><port></computeroutput> can
1055	be any free TCP/IP port number (e.g. 6000);
1056	<computeroutput><address></computeroutput> can be any IP
1057	address or hostname and specifies the TCP/IP socket to bind to.
1058	The default is "0.0.0.0", which means any address.</para>
1059	</listitem>
1060
1061	<listitem>
1062	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpassword
1063	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1064	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1065	source machine specifies the same password as the one given with
1066	this command.<note>
1067	<para>Currently, the password is stored without encryption
1068	(i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine configuration
1069	file.</para>
1070	</note></para>
1071	</listitem>
1072
1073	<listitem>
1074	<para><computeroutput>--cpuid <leaf> <eax> <ebx>
1075	<ecx> <edx></computeroutput>: Advanced users can use
1076	this command before a teleporting operation to restrict the
1077	virtual CPU capabilities that VirtualBox presents to the guest
1078	operating system. This must be run on both the source and the
1079	target machines involved in the teleporting and will then modify
1080	what the guest sees when it executes the
1081	<computeroutput>CPUID</computeroutput> machine instruction. This
1082	might help with misbehaving applications that wrongly assume that
1083	certain CPU capabilities are present. The meaning of the
1084	parameters is hardware dependent; please refer to the AMD or Intel
1085	processor manuals.</para>
1086	</listitem>
1087	</itemizedlist></para>
1088	</sect2>
1089	</sect1>
1090
1091	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevm">
1092	<title>VBoxManage clonevm</title>
1093
1094	<para>This command creates a full or linked copy of an existing virtual
1095	machine.</para>
1096
1097	<para>The <computeroutput>clonevm</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1098	least the name of the virtual machine which should be cloned. The following
1099	additional settings can be used to further configure the clone VM
1100	operation:</para>
1101
1102	<itemizedlist>
1103	<listitem>
1104	<para><computeroutput>--snapshot <uuid>\|<name></computeroutput>:
1105	Select a specific snapshot where the clone operation should refer
1106	to. Default is referring to the current state.</para>
1107	</listitem>
1108	<listitem>
1109	<para><computeroutput>--mode machine\|machineandchildren\|all</computeroutput>:
1110	Selects the cloning mode of the operation. If
1111	<computeroutput>machine</computeroutput> is selected (the default),
1112	the current state of the VM without any snapshots is cloned. In the
1113	<computeroutput>machineandchildren</computeroutput> mode the snapshot
1114	provided by <computeroutput>--snapshot</computeroutput> and all
1115	child snapshots are cloned. If <computeroutput>all</computeroutput>
1116	is the selected mode all snapshots and the current state are cloned.
1117	</para>
1118	</listitem>
1119	<listitem>
1120	<para><computeroutput>--options link\|keepallmacs\|keepnatmacs\|keepdisknames</computeroutput>:
1121	Allows additional fine tuning of the clone operation. The first
1122	option defines that a linked clone should be created, which is
1123	only possible for a machine clone from a snapshot. The next two
1124	options allow to define how the MAC addresses of every virtual
1125	network card should be handled. They can either be reinitialized
1126	(the default), left unchanged
1127	(<computeroutput>keepallmacs</computeroutput>) or left unchanged
1128	when the network type is NAT
1129	(<computeroutput>keepnatmacs</computeroutput>). If you add
1130	<computeroutput>keepdisknames</computeroutput> all new disk images
1131	are called like the original once, otherwise they are
1132	renamed.</para>
1133	</listitem>
1134	<listitem>
1135	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: Select a
1136	new name for the new virtual machine. Default is "Original Name
1137	Clone".</para>
1138	</listitem>
1139	<listitem>
1140	<para><computeroutput>--basefolder <basefolder></computeroutput>:
1141	Select the folder where the new virtual machine configuration should
1142	be saved in.</para>
1143	</listitem>
1144	<listitem>
1145	<para><computeroutput>--uuid <uuid></computeroutput>:
1146	Select the UUID the new VM should have. This id has to be unique in
1147	the VirtualBox instance this clone should be registered. Default is
1148	creating a new UUID.</para>
1149	</listitem>
1150	<listitem>
1151	<para><computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>:
1152	Automatically register the new clone in this VirtualBox
1153	installation. If you manually want register the new VM later, see
1154	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" /> for instructions how to do
1155	so.</para>
1156	</listitem>
1157	</itemizedlist>
1158	</sect1>
1159
1160	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-import">
1161	<title>VBoxManage import</title>
1162
1163	<para>This command imports a virtual appliance in OVF format by copying
1164	the virtual disk images and creating virtual machines in VirtualBox. See
1165	<xref linkend="ovf" /> for an introduction to appliances.</para>
1166
1167	<para>The <computeroutput>import</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1168	least the path name of an OVF file as input and expects the disk images,
1169	if needed, in the same directory as the OVF file. A lot of additional
1170	command-line options are supported to control in detail what is being
1171	imported and modify the import parameters, but the details depend on the
1172	content of the OVF file.</para>
1173
1174	<para>It is therefore recommended to first run the import subcommand with
1175	the <computeroutput>--dry-run</computeroutput> or
1176	<computeroutput>-n</computeroutput> option. This will then print a
1177	description of the appliance's contents to the screen how it would be
1178	imported into VirtualBox, together with the optional command-line options
1179	to influence the import behavior.</para>
1180
1181	<para>As an example, here is the screen output with a sample appliance
1182	containing a Windows XP guest:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf --dry-run
1183	Interpreting WindowsXp.ovf...
1184	OK.
1185	Virtual system 0:
1186	0: Suggested OS type: "WindowsXP"
1187	(change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all)
1188	1: Suggested VM name "Windows XP Professional_1"
1189	(change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
1190	3: Number of CPUs: 1
1191	(change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
1192	4: Guest memory: 956 MB (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
1193	5: Sound card (appliance expects "ensoniq1371", can change on import)
1194	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
1195	6: USB controller
1196	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
1197	7: Network adapter: orig bridged, config 2, extra type=bridged
1198	8: Floppy
1199	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
1200	9: SCSI controller, type BusLogic
1201	(change with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --scsitype {BusLogic\|LsiLogic}";
1202	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
1203	10: IDE controller, type PIIX4
1204	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
1205	11: Hard disk image: source image=WindowsXp.vmdk,
1206	target path=/home/user/disks/WindowsXp.vmdk, controller=9;channel=0
1207	(change controller with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --controller <id>";
1208	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")</screen></para>
1209
1210	<para>As you can see, the individual configuration items are numbered, and
1211	depending on their type support different command-line options. The import
1212	subcommand can be directed to ignore many such items with a
1213	<computeroutput>--vsys X --unit Y --ignore</computeroutput> option, where
1214	X is the number of the virtual system (zero unless there are several
1215	virtual system descriptions in the appliance) and Y the item number, as
1216	printed on the screen.</para>
1217
1218	<para>In the above example, Item #1 specifies the name of the target
1219	machine in VirtualBox. Items #9 and #10 specify hard disk controllers,
1220	respectively. Item #11 describes a hard disk image; in this case, the
1221	additional <computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput> option indicates
1222	which item the disk image should be connected to, with the default coming
1223	from the OVF file.</para>
1224
1225	<para>You can combine several items for the same virtual system behind the
1226	same <computeroutput>--vsys</computeroutput> option. For example, to
1227	import a machine as described in the OVF, but without the sound card and
1228	without the USB controller, and with the disk image connected to the IDE
1229	controller instead of the SCSI controller, use this:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf
1230	--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore --unit 6 --ignore --unit 11 --controller 10</screen></para>
1231	</sect1>
1232
1233	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-export">
1234	<title>VBoxManage export</title>
1235
1236	<para>This command exports one or more virtual machines from VirtualBox
1237	into a virtual appliance in OVF format, including copying their virtual
1238	disk images to compressed VMDK. See <xref linkend="ovf" /> for an
1239	introduction to appliances.</para>
1240
1241	<para>The <computeroutput>export</computeroutput> command is simple to
1242	use: list the machine (or the machines) that you would like to export to
1243	the same OVF file and specify the target OVF file after an additional
1244	<computeroutput>--output</computeroutput> or
1245	<computeroutput>-o</computeroutput> option. Note that the directory of the
1246	target OVF file will also receive the exported disk images in the
1247	compressed VMDK format (regardless of the original format) and should have
1248	enough disk space left for them.</para>
1249
1250	<para>Beside a simple export of a given virtual machine, you can append
1251	several product information to the appliance file. Use
1252	<computeroutput>--product</computeroutput>,
1253	<computeroutput>--producturl</computeroutput>,
1254	<computeroutput>--vendor</computeroutput>,
1255	<computeroutput>--vendorurl</computeroutput> and
1256	<computeroutput>--version</computeroutput> to specify this additional
1257	information. For legal reasons you may add a license text or the content
1258	of a license file by using the <computeroutput>--eula</computeroutput> and
1259	<computeroutput>--eulafile</computeroutput> option respectively. As with
1260	OVF import, you must use the <computeroutput>--vsys X</computeroutput>
1261	option to direct the previously mentioned options to the correct virtual
1262	machine.</para>
1263
1264	<para>For virtualization products which aren't fully compatible with the
1265	OVF standard 1.0 you can enable a OVF 0.9 legacy mode with the
1266	<computeroutput>--legacy09</computeroutput> option.</para>
1267	</sect1>
1268
1269	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-startvm">
1270	<title>VBoxManage startvm</title>
1271
1272	<para>This command starts a virtual machine that is currently in the
1273	"Powered off" or "Saved" states.</para>
1274
1275	<note>
1276	<para>This is provided for backwards compatibility only. We recommend to
1277	start virtual machines directly by running the respective front-end, as
1278	you might otherwise miss important error and state information that
1279	VirtualBox may display on the console. This is especially important for
1280	front-ends other than <computeroutput>VirtualBox</computeroutput>, our
1281	graphical user interface, because those cannot display error messages in
1282	a popup window. See <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more
1283	information.</para>
1284	</note>
1285
1286	<para>The optional <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> specifier
1287	determines whether the machine will be started in a window (GUI mode,
1288	which is the default) or whether the output should go through
1289	<computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>, with VRDE enabled or not;
1290	see <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more information. The list of
1291	types is subject to change, and it's not guaranteed that all types are
1292	accepted by any product variant.</para>
1293
1294	<para>The following values are allowed:</para>
1295
1296	<glosslist>
1297	<glossentry>
1298	<glossterm>gui</glossterm>
1299
1300	<glossdef>
1301	<para>Starts a VM showing a GUI window. This is the default.</para>
1302	</glossdef>
1303	</glossentry>
1304
1305	<glossentry>
1306	<glossterm>headless</glossterm>
1307
1308	<glossdef>
1309	<para>Starts a VM without a window for remote display only.</para>
1310	</glossdef>
1311	</glossentry>
1312	</glosslist>
1313	</sect1>
1314
1315	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-controlvm">
1316	<title>VBoxManage controlvm</title>
1317
1318	<para>The <computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> subcommand allows you
1319	to change the state of a virtual machine that is currently running. The
1320	following can be specified:</para>
1321
1322	<para><itemizedlist>
1323	<listitem>
1324	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1325	pause</computeroutput> temporarily puts a virtual machine on hold,
1326	without changing its state for good. The VM window will be painted
1327	in gray to indicate that the VM is currently paused. (This is
1328	equivalent to selecting the "Pause" item in the "Machine" menu of
1329	the GUI.)</para>
1330	</listitem>
1331
1332	<listitem>
1333	<para>Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1334	resume</computeroutput> to undo a previous
1335	<computeroutput>pause</computeroutput> command. (This is equivalent
1336	to selecting the "Resume" item in the "Machine" menu of the
1337	GUI.)</para>
1338	</listitem>
1339
1340	<listitem>
1341	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1342	reset</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine as
1343	pressing the "Reset" button on a real computer: a cold reboot of the
1344	virtual machine, which will restart and boot the guest operating
1345	system again immediately. The state of the VM is not saved
1346	beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting
1347	the "Reset" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)</para>
1348	</listitem>
1349
1350	<listitem>
1351	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1352	poweroff</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine
1353	as pulling the power cable on a real computer. Again, the state of
1354	the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is
1355	equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of
1356	the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting
1357	"Power off the machine" in the dialog.)</para>
1358
1359	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Powered off". From there,
1360	it can be started again; see <xref
1361	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1362	</listitem>
1363
1364	<listitem>
1365	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1366	savestate</computeroutput> will save the current state of the VM to
1367	disk and then stop the VM. (This is equivalent to selecting the
1368	"Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the
1369	window's close button, and then selecting "Save the machine state"
1370	in the dialog.)</para>
1371
1372	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Saved". From there, it can
1373	be started again; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1374	</listitem>
1375
1376	<listitem>
1377	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm> teleport
1378	--hostname <name> --port <port> [--password
1379	<password>]</computeroutput> makes the machine the source of a
1380	teleporting operation and initiates a teleport to the given target.
1381	See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an introduction. If the
1382	optional password is specified, it must match the password that was
1383	given to the <computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command for
1384	the target machine; see <xref
1385	linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport" /> for details.</para>
1386	</listitem>
1387	</itemizedlist></para>
1388
1389	<para>A few extra options are available with
1390	<computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> that do not directly affect the
1391	VM's running state:</para>
1392
1393	<itemizedlist>
1394	<listitem>
1395	<para>The <computeroutput>setlinkstate<1-N></computeroutput>
1396	operation connects or disconnects virtual network cables from their
1397	network interfaces.</para>
1398	</listitem>
1399
1400	<listitem>
1401	<para><computeroutput>nic<1-N>
1402	null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic</computeroutput>: With this, you can
1403	set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of
1404	networking should be available. They can be not connected to the host
1405	(<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network address
1406	translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>), bridged networking
1407	(<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or communicate with other
1408	virtual machines using internal networking
1409	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>) or host-only networking
1410	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>) or access to rarely used
1411	sub-modes
1412	(<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>). These options correspond
1413	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
1414	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
1415	</listitem>
1416
1417	<listitem>
1418	<para><computeroutput>usbattach</computeroutput> and
1419	<computeroutput>usbdettach</computeroutput> make host USB devices
1420	visible to the virtual machine on the fly, without the need for
1421	creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID
1422	(unique identifier) or by address on the host system.</para>
1423
1424	<para>You can use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
1425	usbhost</computeroutput> to locate this information.</para>
1426	</listitem>
1427
1428	<listitem>
1429	<para><computeroutput>vrde on\|off</computeroutput> lets you enable or
1430	disable the VRDE server, if it is installed.</para>
1431	</listitem>
1432
1433	<listitem>
1434	<para><computeroutput>vrdeport default\|<ports></computeroutput>
1435	changes the port or a range of ports that the VRDE server can bind to;
1436	"default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. For
1437	details, see the description for the
1438	<computeroutput>--vrdeport</computeroutput> option in <xref
1439	linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other" />.</para>
1440	</listitem>
1441
1442	<listitem>
1443	<para><computeroutput>setvideomodehint</computeroutput> requests that
1444	the guest system change to a particular video mode. This requires that
1445	the Guest Additions be installed, and will not work for all guest
1446	systems.</para>
1447	</listitem>
1448
1449	<listitem>
1450	<para><computeroutput>screenshotpng</computeroutput> takes a screenshot
1451	of the guest display and saves it in PNG format.</para>
1452	</listitem>
1453
1454	<listitem>
1455	<para>The <computeroutput>setcredentials</computeroutput> operation is
1456	used for remote logons in Windows guests. For details, please refer to
1457	<xref linkend="autologon" />.</para>
1458	</listitem>
1459
1460	<listitem>
1461	<para>The <computeroutput>guestmemoryballoon</computeroutput>
1462	operation changes the size of the guest memory balloon, that is,
1463	memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest
1464	operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other
1465	virtual machines. This must be specified in megabytes. For details,
1466	see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
1467	</listitem>
1468
1469	<listitem>
1470	<para>The <computeroutput>cpuexecutioncap
1471	<1-100></computeroutput>: This operation controls how much cpu
1472	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU
1473	can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
1474	</listitem>
1475	</itemizedlist>
1476	</sect1>
1477
1478	<sect1>
1479	<title>VBoxManage discardstate</title>
1480
1481	<para>This command discards the saved state of a virtual machine which is
1482	not currently running, which will cause its operating system to restart
1483	next time you start it. This is the equivalent of pulling out the power
1484	cable on a physical machine, and should be avoided if possible.</para>
1485	</sect1>
1486
1487	<sect1>
1488	<title>VBoxManage adoptstate</title>
1489
1490	<para>If you have a saved state file (<computeroutput>.sav</computeroutput>)
1491	that is seperate from the VM configuration, you can use this command to
1492	"adopt" the file. This will change the VM to saved state and when you
1493	start it, VirtualBox will attempt to restore it from the saved state file
1494	you indicated. This command should only be used in special setups.</para>
1495	</sect1>
1496
1497	<sect1>
1498	<title>VBoxManage snapshot</title>
1499
1500	<para>This command is used to control snapshots from the command line. A
1501	snapshot consists of a complete copy of the virtual machine settings,
1502	copied at the time when the snapshot was taken, and optionally a virtual
1503	machine saved state file if the snapshot was taken while the machine was
1504	running. After a snapshot has been taken, VirtualBox creates differencing
1505	hard disk for each normal hard disk associated with the machine so that
1506	when a snapshot is restored, the contents of the virtual machine's virtual
1507	hard disks can be quickly reset by simply dropping the pre-existing
1508	differencing files.</para>
1509
1510	<para>The <computeroutput>take</computeroutput> operation takes a snapshot
1511	of the current state of the virtual machine. You must supply a name for
1512	the snapshot and can optionally supply a description. The new snapshot is
1513	inserted into the snapshots tree as a child of the current snapshot and
1514	then becomes the new current snapshot.</para>
1515
1516	<para>The <computeroutput>delete</computeroutput> operation deletes a
1517	snapshot (specified by name or by UUID). This can take a while to finish
1518	since the differencing images associated with the snapshot might need to
1519	be merged with their child differencing images.</para>
1520
1521	<para>The <computeroutput>restore</computeroutput> operation will restore
1522	the given snapshot (specified by name or by UUID) by resetting the virtual
1523	machine's settings and current state to that of the snapshot. The previous
1524	current state of the machine will be lost. After this, the given snapshot
1525	becomes the new "current" snapshot so that subsequent snapshots are
1526	inserted under the snapshot from which was restored.</para>
1527
1528	<para>The <computeroutput>restorecurrent</computeroutput> operation is a
1529	shortcut to restore the current snapshot (i.e. the snapshot from which the
1530	current state is derived). This subcommand is equivalent to using the
1531	"restore" subcommand with the name or UUID of the current snapshot, except
1532	that it avoids the extra step of determining that name or UUID.</para>
1533
1534	<para>With the <computeroutput>edit</computeroutput> operation, you can
1535	change the name or description of an existing snapshot.</para>
1536
1537	<para>With the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> operation, you
1538	can view the virtual machine settings that were stored with an existing
1539	snapshot.</para>
1540	</sect1>
1541
1542	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-closemedium">
1543	<title>VBoxManage closemedium</title>
1544
1545	<para>This commands removes a hard disk, DVD or floppy image from a
1546	VirtualBox media registry.<footnote>
1547	<para>Before VirtualBox 4.0, it was necessary to call VBoxManage
1548	openmedium before a medium could be attached to a virtual machine;
1549	that call "registered" the medium with the global VirtualBox media
1550	registry. With VirtualBox 4.0 this is no longer necessary; media are
1551	added to media registries automatically. The "closemedium" call has
1552	been retained, however, to allow for explicitly removing a medium from
1553	a registry.</para>
1554	</footnote></para>
1555
1556	<para>Optionally, you can request that the image be deleted. You will get
1557	appropriate diagnostics that the deletion failed, however the image will
1558	become unregistered in any case.</para>
1559	</sect1>
1560
1561	<sect1>
1562	<title id="vboxmanage-storageattach">VBoxManage storageattach</title>
1563
1564	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage medium connected to
1565	a storage controller that was previously added with the
1566	<computeroutput>storagectl</computeroutput> command (see the previous
1567	section). The syntax is as follows:</para>
1568
1569	<screen>VBoxManage storageattach <uuid\|vmname>
1570	--storagectl <name>
1571	[--port <number>]
1572	[--device <number>]
1573	[--type dvddrive\|hdd\|fdd]
1574	[--medium none\|emptydrive\|
1575	<uuid>\|<filename>\|host:<drive>\|iscsi]
1576	[--mtype normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable]
1577	[--comment <text>]
1578	[--setuuid <uuid>]
1579	[--setparentuuid <uuid>]
1580	[--passthrough on\|off]
1581	[--tempeject on\|off]
1582	[--bandwidthgroup name\|none]
1583	[--forceunmount]
1584	[--server <name>\|<ip>]
1585	[--target <target>]
1586	[--tport <port>]
1587	[--lun <lun>]
1588	[--encodedlun <lun>]
1589	[--username <username>]
1590	[--password <password>]
1591	[--intnet]
1592	</screen>
1593
1594	<para>A number of parameters are commonly required; the ones at the end of
1595	the list are required only for iSCSI targets (see below).</para>
1596
1597	<para>The common parameters are:<glosslist>
1598	<glossentry>
1599	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
1600
1601	<glossdef>
1602	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1603	</glossdef>
1604	</glossentry>
1605
1606	<glossentry>
1607	<glossterm>storagectl</glossterm>
1608
1609	<glossdef>
1610	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory. The list of the
1611	storage controllers currently attached to a VM can be obtained
1612	with <computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see
1613	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" />.</para>
1614	</glossdef>
1615	</glossentry>
1616
1617	<glossentry>
1618	<glossterm>port</glossterm>
1619
1620	<glossdef>
1621	<para>The number of the storage controller's port which is to be
1622	modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a
1623	single port.</para>
1624	</glossdef>
1625	</glossentry>
1626
1627	<glossentry>
1628	<glossterm>device</glossterm>
1629
1630	<glossdef>
1631	<para>The number of the port's device which is to be modified.
1632	Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single device
1633	per port.</para>
1634	</glossdef>
1635	</glossentry>
1636
1637	<glossentry>
1638	<glossterm>type</glossterm>
1639
1640	<glossdef>
1641	<para>Define the type of the drive to which the medium is being
1642	attached/detached/modified. This argument can only be omitted if
1643	the type of medium can be determined from either the medium given
1644	with the <computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> argument or
1645	from a previous medium attachment.</para>
1646	</glossdef>
1647	</glossentry>
1648
1649	<glossentry>
1650	<glossterm>medium</glossterm>
1651
1652	<glossdef>
1653	<para>Specifies what is to be attached. The following values are
1654	supported:<itemizedlist>
1655	<listitem>
1656	<para>"none": Any existing device should be removed from the
1657	given slot.</para>
1658	</listitem>
1659
1660	<listitem>
1661	<para>"emptydrive": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only,
1662	this makes the device slot behaves like a removeable drive
1663	into which no media has been inserted.</para>
1664	</listitem>
1665
1666	<listitem>
1667	<para>If a UUID is specified, it must be the UUID of a
1668	storage medium that is already known to VirtualBox (e.g.
1669	because it has been attached to another virtual machine).
1670	See <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for how to list known
1671	media. This medium is then attached to the given device
1672	slot.</para>
1673	</listitem>
1674
1675	<listitem>
1676	<para>If a filename is specified, it must be the full path
1677	of an existing disk image (ISO, RAW, VDI, VMDK or other),
1678	which is then attached to the given device slot.</para>
1679	</listitem>
1680
1681	<listitem>
1682	<para>"host:<drive>": For a virtual DVD or floppy
1683	drive only, this connects the given device slot to the
1684	specified DVD or floppy drive on the host computer.</para>
1685	</listitem>
1686
1687	<listitem>
1688	<para>"iscsi": For virtual hard disks only, this allows for
1689	specifying an iSCSI target. In this case, more parameters
1690	must be given; see below.</para>
1691	</listitem>
1692	</itemizedlist></para>
1693
1694	<para>Some of the above changes, in particular for removeable
1695	media (floppies and CDs/DVDs), can be effected while a VM is
1696	running. Others (device changes or changes in hard disk device
1697	slots) require the VM to be powered off.</para>
1698	</glossdef>
1699	</glossentry>
1700
1701	<glossentry>
1702	<glossterm>mtype</glossterm>
1703
1704	<glossdef>
1705	<para>Defines how this medium behaves with respect to snapshots
1706	and write operations. See <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for
1707	details.</para>
1708	</glossdef>
1709	</glossentry>
1710
1711	<glossentry>
1712	<glossterm>comment</glossterm>
1713
1714	<glossdef>
1715	<para>Any description that you want to have stored with this
1716	medium (optional; for example, for an iSCSI target, "Big storage
1717	server downstairs"). This is purely descriptive and not needed for
1718	the medium to function correctly.</para>
1719	</glossdef>
1720	</glossentry>
1721
1722	<glossentry>
1723	<glossterm>setuuid, setparentuuid</glossterm>
1724
1725	<glossdef>
1726	<para>Modifies the UUID or parent UUID of a medium before
1727	attaching it to a VM. This is an expert option. Inappropriate use
1728	can make the medium unusable or lead to broken VM configurations
1729	if any other VM is referring to the same media already. The most
1730	frequently used variant is <code>--setuuid ""</code>, which assigns
1731	a new (random) UUID to an image. This is useful to resolve the
1732	duplicate UUID errors if one duplicated an image using file copy
1733	utilities.</para>
1734	</glossdef>
1735	</glossentry>
1736
1737	<glossentry>
1738	<glossterm>passthrough</glossterm>
1739
1740	<glossdef>
1741	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can enable DVD writing
1742	support (currently experimental; see <xref
1743	linkend="storage-cds" />).</para>
1744	</glossdef>
1745	</glossentry>
1746
1747	<glossentry>
1748	<glossterm>tempeject</glossterm>
1749
1750	<glossdef>
1751	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can configure the behavior
1752	for guest-triggered medium eject. If this is set to "on", the eject
1753	has only temporary effects. If the VM is powered off and restarted
1754	the originally configured medium will be still in the drive.</para>
1755	</glossdef>
1756	</glossentry>
1757
1758	<glossentry>
1759	<glossterm>bandwidthgroup</glossterm>
1760
1761	<glossdef>
1762	<para>Sets the bandwidth group to use for the given device; see
1763	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" />.</para>
1764	</glossdef>
1765	</glossentry>
1766
1767	<glossentry>
1768	<glossterm>forceunmount</glossterm>
1769
1770	<glossdef>
1771	<para>For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this forcibly
1772	unmounts the DVD/CD/Floppy or mounts a new DVD/CD/Floppy even if
1773	the previous one is locked down by the guest for reading. Again,
1774	see <xref linkend="storage-cds" /> for details.</para>
1775	</glossdef>
1776	</glossentry>
1777	</glosslist></para>
1778
1779	<para>When "iscsi" is used with the
1780	<computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> parameter for iSCSI support --
1781	see <xref linkend="storage-iscsi" /> --, additional parameters must or can
1782	be used:<glosslist>
1783	<glossentry>
1784	<glossterm>server</glossterm>
1785
1786	<glossdef>
1787	<para>The host name or IP address of the iSCSI target;
1788	required.</para>
1789	</glossdef>
1790	</glossentry>
1791
1792	<glossentry>
1793	<glossterm>target</glossterm>
1794
1795	<glossdef>
1796	<para>Target name string. This is determined by the iSCSI target
1797	and used to identify the storage resource; required.</para>
1798	</glossdef>
1799	</glossentry>
1800
1801	<glossentry>
1802	<glossterm>port</glossterm>
1803
1804	<glossdef>
1805	<para>TCP/IP port number of the iSCSI service on the target
1806	(optional).</para>
1807	</glossdef>
1808	</glossentry>
1809
1810	<glossentry>
1811	<glossterm>lun</glossterm>
1812
1813	<glossdef>
1814	<para>Logical Unit Number of the target resource (optional).
1815	Often, this value is zero.</para>
1816	</glossdef>
1817	</glossentry>
1818
1819	<glossentry>
1820	<glossterm>username, password</glossterm>
1821
1822	<glossdef>
1823	<para>Username and password for target authentication, if required
1824	(optional).<note>
1825	<para>Currently, username and password are stored without
1826	encryption (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine
1827	configuration file.</para>
1828	</note></para>
1829	</glossdef>
1830	</glossentry>
1831
1832	<glossentry>
1833	<glossterm>intnet</glossterm>
1834
1835	<glossdef>
1836	<para>If specified, connect to the iSCSI target via Internal
1837	Networking. This needs further configuration which is described in
1838	<xref linkend="iscsi-intnet" />.</para>
1839	</glossdef>
1840	</glossentry>
1841	</glosslist></para>
1842	</sect1>
1843
1844	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storagectl">
1845	<title>VBoxManage storagectl</title>
1846
1847	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage controller. After
1848	this, virtual media can be attached to the controller with the
1849	<computeroutput>storageattach</computeroutput> command (see the next
1850	section).</para>
1851
1852	<para>The syntax is as follows:</para>
1853
1854	<screen>VBoxManage storagectl <uuid\|vmname>
1855	--name <name>
1856	[--add <ide/sata/scsi/floppy>]
1857	[--controller <LsiLogic\|LSILogicSAS\|BusLogic\|
1858	IntelAhci\|PIIX3\|PIIX4\|ICH6\|I82078>]
1859	[--sataideemulation<1-4> <1-30>]
1860	[--sataportcount <1-30>]
1861	[--hostiocache on\|off]
1862	[--bootable on\|off]
1863	[--remove]</screen>
1864
1865	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
1866	<glossentry>
1867	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
1868
1869	<glossdef>
1870	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1871	</glossdef>
1872	</glossentry>
1873
1874	<glossentry>
1875	<glossterm>name</glossterm>
1876
1877	<glossdef>
1878	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory.</para>
1879	</glossdef>
1880	</glossentry>
1881
1882	<glossentry>
1883	<glossterm>add</glossterm>
1884
1885	<glossdef>
1886	<para>Define the type of the system bus to which the storage
1887	controller must be connected.</para>
1888	</glossdef>
1889	</glossentry>
1890
1891	<glossentry>
1892	<glossterm>controller</glossterm>
1893
1894	<glossdef>
1895	<para>Allows to choose the type of chipset being emulated for the
1896	given storage controller.</para>
1897	</glossdef>
1898	</glossentry>
1899
1900	<glossentry>
1901	<glossterm>sataideemulation</glossterm>
1902
1903	<glossdef>
1904	<para>This specifies which SATA ports should operate in IDE
1905	emulation mode. As explained in <xref
1906	linkend="harddiskcontrollers" />, by default, this is the case for
1907	SATA ports 1-4; with this command, you can map four IDE channels
1908	to any of the 30 supported SATA ports.</para>
1909	</glossdef>
1910	</glossentry>
1911
1912	<glossentry>
1913	<glossterm>sataportcount</glossterm>
1914
1915	<glossdef>
1916	<para>This determines how many ports the SATA controller should
1917	support.</para>
1918	</glossdef>
1919	</glossentry>
1920
1921	<glossentry>
1922	<glossterm>hostiocache</glossterm>
1923
1924	<glossdef>
1925	<para>Configures the use of the host I/O cache for all disk images
1926	attached to this storage controller. For details, please see <xref
1927	linkend="iocaching" />.</para>
1928	</glossdef>
1929	</glossentry>
1930
1931	<glossentry>
1932	<glossterm>bootable</glossterm>
1933
1934	<glossdef>
1935	<para>Selects whether this controller is bootable.</para>
1936	</glossdef>
1937	</glossentry>
1938
1939	<glossentry>
1940	<glossterm>remove</glossterm>
1941
1942	<glossdef>
1943	<para>Removes the storage controller from the VM config.</para>
1944	</glossdef>
1945	</glossentry>
1946	</glosslist></para>
1947	</sect1>
1948
1949	<sect1>
1950	<title>VBoxManage bandwidthctl</title>
1951
1952	<para>This command creates/deletes/modifies bandwidth groups of the given
1953	virtual machine:<screen>VBoxManage bandwidthctl <uuid\|vmname>
1954	--name <name>
1955	[--add disk
1956	[--delete]
1957	[--limit MB/s]</screen></para>
1958
1959	<para>See <xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" /> for an introduction
1960	to bandwidth limits. The parameters mean:<glosslist>
1961	<glossentry>
1962	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
1963
1964	<glossdef>
1965	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1966	</glossdef>
1967	</glossentry>
1968
1969	<glossentry>
1970	<glossterm>name</glossterm>
1971
1972	<glossdef>
1973	<para>Name of the bandwidth group. Mandatory.</para>
1974	</glossdef>
1975	</glossentry>
1976
1977	<glossentry>
1978	<glossterm>add</glossterm>
1979
1980	<glossdef>
1981	<para>Creates a new bandwdith group with the given type.</para>
1982	</glossdef>
1983	</glossentry>
1984
1985	<glossentry>
1986	<glossterm>delete</glossterm>
1987
1988	<glossdef>
1989	<para>Deletes a bandwdith group if it isn't used anymore.</para>
1990	</glossdef>
1991	</glossentry>
1992
1993	<glossentry>
1994	<glossterm>limit</glossterm>
1995
1996	<glossdef>
1997	<para>Sets the limit for the given group to the specified amount.
1998	Can be changed while the VM is running.</para>
1999	</glossdef>
2000	</glossentry>
2001	</glosslist></para>
2002	</sect1>
2003
2004	<sect1>
2005	<title>VBoxManage showhdinfo</title>
2006
2007	<para>This command shows information about a virtual hard disk image,
2008	notably its size, its size on disk, its type and the virtual machines
2009	which use it.<note>
2010	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2011	"showvdiinfo" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2012	"showhdinfo" command.</para>
2013	</note></para>
2014	<para>The disk image must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium
2015	is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by
2016	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
2017	for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either
2018	as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current
2019	directory.</para>
2020	</sect1>
2021
2022	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvdi">
2023	<title>VBoxManage createhd</title>
2024
2025	<para>This command creates a new virtual hard disk image. The syntax is as
2026	follows:</para>
2027
2028	<screen>VBoxManage createhd --filename <filename>
2029	--size <megabytes>
2030	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD] (default: VDI)
2031	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>
2032
2033	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2034	<glossentry>
2035	<glossterm>filename</glossterm>
2036
2037	<glossdef>
2038	<para>Allows to choose a file name. Mandatory.</para>
2039	</glossdef>
2040	</glossentry>
2041
2042	<glossentry>
2043	<glossterm>size</glossterm>
2044
2045	<glossdef>
2046	<para>Allows to define the image capacity, in 1 MiB units.
2047	Mandatory.</para>
2048	</glossdef>
2049	</glossentry>
2050
2051	<glossentry>
2052	<glossterm>format</glossterm>
2053
2054	<glossdef>
2055	<para>Allows to choose a file format for the output file different
2056	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2057	</glossdef>
2058	</glossentry>
2059
2060	<glossentry>
2061	<glossterm>variant</glossterm>
2062
2063	<glossdef>
2064	<para>Allows to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2065	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2066	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2067	result in an error message.</para>
2068	</glossdef>
2069	</glossentry>
2070	</glosslist> <note>
2071	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2072	"createvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2073	"createhd" command.</para>
2074	</note></para>
2075	</sect1>
2076
2077	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvdi">
2078	<title>VBoxManage modifyhd</title>
2079
2080	<para>With the <computeroutput>modifyhd</computeroutput> command, you can
2081	change the characteristics of a disk image after it has been
2082	created:<screen>VBoxManage modifyhd <uuid>\|<filename>
2083	[--type normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable\|
2084	readonly\|multiattach]
2085	[--autoreset on\|off]
2086	[--compact]
2087	[--resize <megabytes>\|--resizebyte <bytes>]</screen><note>
2088	<para>Despite the "hd" in the subcommand name, the command works with
2089	all disk images, not only hard disks. For compatibility with earlier
2090	versions of VirtualBox, the "modifyvdi" command is also supported and
2091	mapped internally to the "modifyhd" command.</para>
2092	</note></para>
2093
2094	<para>The disk image to modify must be specified either by its UUID
2095	(if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images
2096	can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2097	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2098	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path
2099	or as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2100	<para>The following options are available:<itemizedlist>
2101	<listitem>
2102	<para>With the <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> argument, you
2103	can change the type of an existing image between the normal,
2104	immutable, write-through and other modes; see <xref
2105	linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for details.</para>
2106	</listitem>
2107
2108	<listitem>
2109	<para>For immutable (differencing) hard disks only, the
2110	<computeroutput>--autoreset on\|off</computeroutput> option
2111	determines whether the disk is automatically reset on every VM
2112	startup (again, see <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />). The default
2113	is "on".</para>
2114	</listitem>
2115
2116	<listitem>
2117	<para>With the <computeroutput>--compact</computeroutput> option,
2118	can be used to compact disk images, i.e. remove blocks that only
2119	contains zeroes. This will shrink a dynamically allocated image
2120	again; it will reduce the <emphasis>physical</emphasis> size of the
2121	image without affecting the logical size of the virtual disk.
2122	Compaction works both for base images and for diff images created as
2123	part of a snapshot.</para>
2124
2125	<para>For this operation to be effective, it is required that free
2126	space in the guest system first be zeroed out using a suitable
2127	software tool. For Windows guests, you can use the
2128	<computeroutput>sdelete</computeroutput> tool provided by Microsoft.
2129	Execute <computeroutput>sdelete -c</computeroutput> in the guest to
2130	zero the free disk space before compressing the virtual disk
2131	image. For Linux, use the <code>zerofree</code> utility which
2132	supports ext2/ext3 filesystems.</para>
2133
2134	<para>Please note that compacting is currently only available for
2135	VDI images. A similar effect can be achieved by zeroing out free
2136	blocks and then cloning the disk to any other dynamically allocated
2137	format. You can use this workaround until compacting is also
2138	supported for disk formats other than VDI.</para>
2139	</listitem>
2140
2141	<listitem>
2142	<para>The <computeroutput>--resize</computeroutput> option allows you
2143	to change the capacity of an existing image; this adjusts the
2144	<emphasis>logical</emphasis> size of a virtual disk without affecting
2145	the physical size much.<footnote>
2146	<para>Image resizing was added with VirtualBox 4.0.</para>
2147	</footnote> This currently works only for expanding the capacity of
2148	VDI and VHD formats, and only for the dynamically allocated variants.
2149	For example, if you originally created a 10G disk which is now full,
2150	you can use the <computeroutput>--resize 15360</computeroutput>
2151	command to add 5 GByte more space to the virtual disk without
2152	having to create a new image and copy all data from within a virtual
2153	machine.</para>
2154	</listitem>
2155	</itemizedlist></para>
2156	</sect1>
2157
2158	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevdi">
2159	<title>VBoxManage clonehd</title>
2160
2161	<para>This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a
2162	new image file with a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be
2163	transferred to another host system or imported into VirtualBox again using
2164	the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref linkend="vdis" /> and <xref
2165	linkend="cloningvdis" />. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2166
2167	<screen>VBoxManage clonehd <uuid>\|<filename> <outputfile>
2168	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD\|RAW\|<other>]
2169	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2170	[--existing]</screen>
2171
2172	<para>The disk image to clone as well as the target image must be described
2173	either by its UUIDs (if the mediums are registered) or by its filename.
2174	Registered images can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2175	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2176	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or
2177	as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2178	<para>The following options are available:<glosslist>
2179	<glossentry>
2180	<glossterm>format</glossterm>
2181
2182	<glossdef>
2183	<para>Allow to choose a file format for the output file different
2184	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2185	</glossdef>
2186	</glossentry>
2187
2188	<glossentry>
2189	<glossterm>variant</glossterm>
2190
2191	<glossdef>
2192	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2193	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2194	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2195	result in an error message.</para>
2196	</glossdef>
2197	</glossentry>
2198
2199	<glossentry>
2200	<glossterm>existing</glossterm>
2201
2202	<glossdef>
2203	<para>Perform the clone operation to an already existing
2204	destination medium. Only the portion of the source medium which
2205	fits into the destination medium is copied. This means if the
2206	destination medium is smaller than the source only a part of it is
2207	copied, and if the destination medium is larger than the source
2208	the remaining part of the destination medium is unchanged.</para>
2209	</glossdef>
2210	</glossentry>
2211	</glosslist> <note>
2212	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2213	"clonevdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2214	"clonehd" command.</para>
2215	</note></para>
2216	</sect1>
2217
2218	<sect1>
2219	<title>VBoxManage convertfromraw</title>
2220
2221	<para>This command converts a raw disk image to a VirtualBox Disk Image
2222	(VDI) file. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2223
2224	<screen>VBoxManage convertfromraw <filename> <outputfile>
2225	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2226	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2227	VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin <outputfile> <bytes>
2228	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2229	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>
2230
2231	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2232	<glossentry>
2233	<glossterm>format</glossterm>
2234
2235	<glossdef>
2236	<para>Select the disk image format to create. Default is
2237	VDI.</para>
2238	</glossdef>
2239	</glossentry>
2240
2241	<glossentry>
2242	<glossterm>variant</glossterm>
2243
2244	<glossdef>
2245	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2246	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2247	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2248	result in an error message.</para>
2249	</glossdef>
2250	</glossentry>
2251	</glosslist> The second form forces VBoxManage to read the content for
2252	the disk image from standard input (useful for using that command in a
2253	pipe).</para>
2254
2255	<para><note>
2256	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2257	"convertdd" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2258	"convertfromraw" command.</para>
2259	</note></para>
2260	</sect1>
2261
2262	<sect1>
2263	<title>VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata</title>
2264
2265	<para>These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual
2266	machine or to a VirtualBox configuration (by specifying
2267	<computeroutput>global</computeroutput> instead of a virtual machine
2268	name). You must specify a key (as a text string) to associate the data
2269	with, which you can later use to retrieve it. For example:</para>
2270
2271	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate 2006.01.01
2272	VBoxManage setextradata SUSE10 installdate 2006.02.02</screen>
2273
2274	<para>would associate the string "2006.01.01" with the key installdate for
2275	the virtual machine Fedora5, and "2006.02.02" on the machine SUSE10. You
2276	could retrieve the information as follows:</para>
2277
2278	<screen>VBoxManage getextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2279
2280	<para>which would return</para>
2281
2282	<screen>VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
2283	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
2284	All rights reserved.
2285
2286	Value: 2006.01.01</screen>
2287	</sect1>
2288
2289	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-setproperty">
2290	<title>VBoxManage setproperty</title>
2291
2292	<para>This command is used to change global settings which affect the
2293	entire VirtualBox installation. Some of these correspond to the settings
2294	in the "Global settings" dialog in the graphical user interface. The
2295	following properties are available:<glosslist>
2296	<glossentry>
2297	<glossterm>machinefolder</glossterm>
2298
2299	<glossdef>
2300	<para>This specifies the default folder in which virtual machine
2301	definitions are kept; see <xref linkend="vboxconfigdata" /> for
2302	details.</para>
2303	</glossdef>
2304	</glossentry>
2305
2306	<glossentry>
2307	<glossterm>vrdeauthlibrary</glossterm>
2308
2309	<glossdef>
2310	<para>This specifies which library to use when "external"
2311	authentication has been selected for a particular virtual machine;
2312	see <xref linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
2313	</glossdef>
2314	</glossentry>
2315
2316	<glossentry>
2317	<glossterm>websrvauthlibrary</glossterm>
2318
2319	<glossdef>
2320	<para>This specifies which library the web service uses to
2321	authenticate users. For details about the VirtualBox web service,
2322	please refer to the separate VirtualBox SDK reference (see <xref
2323	linkend="VirtualBoxAPI" />).</para>
2324	</glossdef>
2325	</glossentry>
2326
2327	<glossentry>
2328	<glossterm>vrdelibrary</glossterm>
2329
2330	<glossdef>
2331	<para>This specifies which library implements the VirtualBox
2332	Remote Desktop Extension.</para>
2333	</glossdef>
2334	</glossentry>
2335
2336	<glossentry>
2337	<glossterm>hwvirtexenabled</glossterm>
2338
2339	<glossdef>
2340	<para>This selects whether or not hardware virtualization support
2341	is enabled by default.</para>
2342	</glossdef>
2343	</glossentry>
2344	</glosslist></para>
2345	</sect1>
2346
2347	<sect1>
2348	<title>VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove</title>
2349
2350	<para>The <computeroutput>usbfilter</computeroutput> commands are used for
2351	working with USB filters in virtual machines, or global filters which
2352	affect the whole VirtualBox setup. Global filters are applied before
2353	machine-specific filters, and may be used to prevent devices from being
2354	captured by any virtual machine. Global filters are always applied in a
2355	particular order, and only the first filter which fits a device is
2356	applied. So for example, if the first global filter says to hold (make
2357	available) a particular Kingston memory stick device and the second to
2358	ignore all Kingston devices, that memory stick will be available to any
2359	machine with an appropriate filter, but no other Kingston device
2360	will.</para>
2361
2362	<para>When creating a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2363	add</computeroutput>, you must supply three or four mandatory parameters.
2364	The index specifies the position in the list at which the filter should be
2365	placed. If there is already a filter at that position, then it and the
2366	following ones will be shifted back one place. Otherwise the new filter
2367	will be added onto the end of the list. The
2368	<computeroutput>target</computeroutput> parameter selects the virtual
2369	machine that the filter should be attached to or use "global" to apply it
2370	to all virtual machines. <computeroutput>name</computeroutput> is a name
2371	for the new filter and for global filters,
2372	<computeroutput>action</computeroutput> says whether to allow machines
2373	access to devices that fit the filter description ("hold") or not to give
2374	them access ("ignore"). In addition, you should specify parameters to
2375	filter by. You can find the parameters for devices attached to your system
2376	using <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbhost</computeroutput>. Finally,
2377	you can specify whether the filter should be active, and for local
2378	filters, whether they are for local devices, remote (over an RDP
2379	connection) or either.</para>
2380
2381	<para>When you modify a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2382	modify</computeroutput>, you must specify the filter by index (see the
2383	output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbfilters</computeroutput> to
2384	find global filter indexes and that of <computeroutput>VBoxManage
2385	showvminfo</computeroutput> to find indexes for individual machines) and
2386	by target, which is either a virtual machine or "global". The properties
2387	which can be changed are the same as for <computeroutput>usbfilter
2388	add</computeroutput>. To remove a filter, use <computeroutput>usbfilter
2389	remove</computeroutput> and specify the index and the target.</para>
2390	</sect1>
2391
2392	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-sharedfolder">
2393	<title>VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove</title>
2394
2395	<para>This command allows you to share folders on the host computer with
2396	guest operating systems. For this, the guest systems must have a version
2397	of the VirtualBox Guest Additions installed which supports this
2398	functionality.</para>
2399
2400	<para>Shared folders are described in detail in <xref
2401	linkend="sharedfolders" />.</para>
2402	</sect1>
2403
2404	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty">
2405	<title>VBoxManage guestproperty</title>
2406
2407	<para>The "guestproperty" commands allow you to get or set properties of a
2408	running virtual machine. Please see <xref linkend="guestadd-guestprops" />
2409	for an introduction. As explained there, guest properties are arbitrary
2410	key/value string pairs which can be written to and read from by either the
2411	guest or the host, so they can be used as a low-volume communication
2412	channel for strings, provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
2413	Additions installed. In addition, a number of values whose keys begin with
2414	"/VirtualBox/" are automatically set and maintained by the Guest
2415	Additions.</para>
2416
2417	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2418	<computeroutput><vm></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2419	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2420	<listitem>
2421	<para><computeroutput>enumerate <vm> [--patterns
2422	<pattern>]</computeroutput>: This lists all the guest
2423	properties that are available for the given VM, including the value.
2424	This list will be very limited if the guest's service process cannot
2425	be contacted, e.g. because the VM is not running or the Guest
2426	Additions are not installed.</para>
2427
2428	<para>If <computeroutput>--patterns <pattern></computeroutput>
2429	is specified, it acts as a filter to only list properties that match
2430	the given pattern. The pattern can contain the following wildcard
2431	characters:<itemizedlist>
2432	<listitem>
2433	<para><computeroutput>*</computeroutput> (asterisk):
2434	represents any number of characters; for example,
2435	"<computeroutput>/VirtualBox*</computeroutput>" would match
2436	all properties beginning with "/VirtualBox".</para>
2437	</listitem>
2438
2439	<listitem>
2440	<para><computeroutput>?</computeroutput> (question mark):
2441	represents a single arbitrary character; for example,
2442	"<computeroutput>fo?</computeroutput>" would match both "foo"
2443	and "for".</para>
2444	</listitem>
2445
2446	<listitem>
2447	<para><computeroutput>\|</computeroutput> (pipe symbol): can be
2448	used to specify multiple alternative patterns; for example,
2449	"<computeroutput>s\|t</computeroutput>" would match anything
2450	starting with either "s" or "t".</para>
2451	</listitem>
2452	</itemizedlist></para>
2453	</listitem>
2454
2455	<listitem>
2456	<para><computeroutput>get <vm></computeroutput>: This
2457	retrieves the value of a single property only. If the property
2458	cannot be found (e.g. because the guest is not running), this will
2459	print <screen>No value set!</screen></para>
2460	</listitem>
2461
2462	<listitem>
2463	<para><computeroutput>set <vm> <property> [<value>
2464	[--flags <flags>]]</computeroutput>: This allows you to set a
2465	guest property by specifying the key and value. If
2466	<computeroutput><value></computeroutput> is omitted, the
2467	property is deleted. With <computeroutput>--flags</computeroutput>
2468	you can optionally specify additional behavior (you can combine
2469	several by separating them with commas):<itemizedlist>
2470	<listitem>
2471	<para><computeroutput>TRANSIENT</computeroutput>: the value
2472	will not be stored with the VM data when the VM exits;</para>
2473	</listitem>
2474
2475	<listitem>
2476	<para><computeroutput>TRANSRESET</computeroutput>: the value
2477	will be deleted as soon as the VM restarts and/or exits;</para>
2478	</listitem>
2479
2480	<listitem>
2481	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYGUEST</computeroutput>: the value
2482	can only be changed by the host, but the guest can only read
2483	it;</para>
2484	</listitem>
2485
2486	<listitem>
2487	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYHOST</computeroutput>: reversely,
2488	the value can only be changed by the guest, but the host can
2489	only read it;</para>
2490	</listitem>
2491
2492	<listitem>
2493	<para><computeroutput>READONLY</computeroutput>: a combination
2494	of the two, the value cannot be changed at all.</para>
2495	</listitem>
2496	</itemizedlist></para>
2497	</listitem>
2498
2499	<listitem>
2500	<para><computeroutput>wait <vm> <pattern> --timeout
2501	<timeout></computeroutput>: This waits for a particular value
2502	described by "pattern" to change or to be deleted or created. The
2503	pattern rules are the same as for the "enumerate" subcommand
2504	above.</para>
2505	</listitem>
2506	</itemizedlist></para>
2507	</sect1>
2508
2509	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestcontrol">
2510	<title>VBoxManage guestcontrol</title>
2511
2512	<para>The "guestcontrol" commands allow you to control certain things
2513	inside a guest from the host. Please see <xref
2514	linkend="guestadd-guestcontrol" /> for an introduction.</para>
2515
2516	<para>Generally, the syntax is as follows:</para>
2517
2518	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <command></screen>
2519
2520	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2521	<computeroutput><vm></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2522	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2523	<listitem>
2524	<para><computeroutput>execute</computeroutput>, which allows for
2525	executing a program/script (process) which is already installed and
2526	runnable on the guest. This command only works while a VM is up and
2527	running and has the following syntax:</para>
2528
2529	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>\|<uuid> exec[ute]
2530	--image <path to program>
2531	--username <name> --password <password>
2532	[--dos2unix]
2533	[--environment "<NAME>=<VALUE> [<NAME>=<VALUE>]"]
2534	[--timeout <msec>] [--unix2dos] [--verbose]
2535	[--wait-exit] [--wait-stdout] [--wait-stderr]
2536	-- [[<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
2537
2538	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2539	<glossentry>
2540	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
2541
2542	<glossdef>
2543	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2544	</glossdef>
2545	</glossentry>
2546
2547	<glossentry>
2548	<glossterm>--image "<path to program>"</glossterm>
2549
2550	<glossdef>
2551	<para>Absolute path and process name of process to execute
2552	in the guest, e.g.
2553	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput></para>
2554	</glossdef>
2555	</glossentry>
2556
2557	<glossentry>
2558	<glossterm>--username <name></glossterm>
2559
2560	<glossdef>
2561	<para>Name of the user the process should run under. This
2562	user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2563	</glossdef>
2564	</glossentry>
2565
2566	<glossentry>
2567	<glossterm>--password <password></glossterm>
2568
2569	<glossdef>
2570	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2571	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2572	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2573	</glossdef>
2574	</glossentry>
2575
2576	<glossentry>
2577	<glossterm>--dos2unix</glossterm>
2578
2579	<glossdef>
2580	Converts output from DOS/Windows guests to UNIX-compatible
2581	line endings (CR + LF -> LF). Not implemented yet.
2582	</glossdef>
2583	</glossentry>
2584
2585	<glossentry>
2586	<glossterm>--environment
2587	"<NAME>=<VALUE>"</glossterm>
2588
2589	<glossdef>
2590	<para>One or more environment variables to be set or
2591	unset.</para>
2592
2593	<para>By default, the new process in the guest will be
2594	created with the standard environment of the guest OS. This
2595	option allows for modifying that environment. To set/modify
2596	a variable, a pair of
2597	<computeroutput>NAME=VALUE</computeroutput> must be
2598	specified; to unset a certain variable, the name with no
2599	value must set, e.g.
2600	<computeroutput>NAME=</computeroutput>.</para>
2601
2602	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2603	quotation marks. More than one
2604	<computeroutput>--environment</computeroutput> at a time can
2605	be specified to keep the command line tidy.</para>
2606	</glossdef>
2607	</glossentry>
2608
2609	<glossentry>
2610	<glossterm>--timeout <msec></glossterm>
2611
2612	<glossdef>
2613	<para>Value (in milliseconds) that specifies the time how
2614	long the started process is allowed to run and how long
2615	VBoxManage waits for getting output from that process. If no
2616	timeout is specified, VBoxManage will wait forever until the
2617	started process ends or an error occured.</para>
2618	</glossdef>
2619	</glossentry>
2620
2621	<glossentry>
2622	<glossterm>--unix2dos</glossterm>
2623
2624	<glossdef>
2625	Converts output from a UNIX/Linux guests to DOS-/Windows-compatible
2626	line endings (LF -> CR + LF). Not implemented yet.
2627	</glossdef>
2628	</glossentry>
2629
2630	<glossentry>
2631	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
2632
2633	<glossdef>
2634	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2635	</glossdef>
2636	</glossentry>
2637
2638	<glossentry>
2639	<glossterm>--wait-exit</glossterm>
2640
2641	<glossdef>
2642	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2643	exit code along with the exit reason/flags.</para>
2644	</glossdef>
2645	</glossentry>
2646
2647	<glossentry>
2648	<glossterm>--wait-stdout</glossterm>
2649
2650	<glossdef>
2651	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2652	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2653	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stdout.</para>
2654	</glossdef>
2655	</glossentry>
2656
2657	<glossentry>
2658	<glossterm>--wait-stderr</glossterm>
2659
2660	<glossdef>
2661	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2662	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2663	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stderr.</para>
2664	</glossdef>
2665	</glossentry>
2666
2667	<glossentry>
2668	<glossterm>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</glossterm>
2669
2670	<glossdef>
2671	<para>One or more arguments to pass to the process being
2672	executed.</para>
2673	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2674	quotation marks.</para>
2675	</glossdef>
2676	</glossentry>
2677
2678	</glosslist></para>
2679
2680	<para><note>
2681	<para>On Windows there are certain limitations for graphical
2682	applications; please see <xref linkend="KnownIssues" /> for more
2683	information.</para>
2684	</note> Examples: <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls"
2685	--username foo --password bar --wait-exit --wait-stdout -- -l /usr</screen> <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "c:\\windows\\system32\\ipconfig.exe"
2686	--username foo --password bar --wait-exit --wait-stdout</screen> Note that
2687	the double backslashes in the second example are only required on
2688	Unix hosts.</para>
2689	</listitem>
2690
2691	<listitem>
2692	<para><computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput>, which allows copying
2693	files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
2694	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
2695
2696	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>\|<uuid> copyto\|cp
2697	<source on host> <destination on guest>
2698	--username <name> --password <password>
2699	[--dryrun] [--follow] [--recursive] [--verbose]</screen>
2700
2701	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2702	<glossentry>
2703	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
2704
2705	<glossdef>
2706	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2707	</glossdef>
2708	</glossentry>
2709
2710	<glossentry>
2711	<glossterm>source on host</glossterm>
2712
2713	<glossdef>
2714	<para>Absolute path of source file(s) on host to copy over
2715	to the guest, e.g.
2716	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput>.
2717	This also can be a wildcard expression, e.g.
2718	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\*.dll</computeroutput></para>
2719	</glossdef>
2720	</glossentry>
2721
2722	<glossentry>
2723	<glossterm>destination on guest</glossterm>
2724
2725	<glossdef>
2726	<para>Absolute destination path on the guest, e.g.
2727	<computeroutput>C:\Temp</computeroutput></para>
2728	</glossdef>
2729	</glossentry>
2730
2731	<glossentry>
2732	<glossterm>--username <name></glossterm>
2733
2734	<glossdef>
2735	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
2736	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2737	</glossdef>
2738	</glossentry>
2739
2740	<glossentry>
2741	<glossterm>--password <password></glossterm>
2742
2743	<glossdef>
2744	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2745	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2746	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2747	</glossdef>
2748	</glossentry>
2749
2750	<glossentry>
2751	<glossterm>--dryrun</glossterm>
2752
2753	<glossdef>
2754	<para>Tells VBoxManage to only perform a dry run instead of
2755	really copying files to the guest.</para>
2756	</glossdef>
2757	</glossentry>
2758
2759	<glossentry>
2760	<glossterm>--follow</glossterm>
2761
2762	<glossdef>
2763	<para>Enables following symlinks on the host's
2764	source.</para>
2765	</glossdef>
2766	</glossentry>
2767
2768	<glossentry>
2769	<glossterm>--recursive</glossterm>
2770
2771	<glossdef>
2772	<para>Recursively copies files/directories of the specified
2773	source.</para>
2774	</glossdef>
2775	</glossentry>
2776
2777	<glossentry>
2778	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
2779
2780	<glossdef>
2781	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2782	</glossdef>
2783	</glossentry>
2784
2785	<glossentry>
2786	<glossterm>--flags <flags></glossterm>
2787
2788	<glossdef>
2789	<para>Additional flags to set. This is not used at the
2790	moment.</para>
2791	</glossdef>
2792	</glossentry>
2793	</glosslist></para>
2794	</listitem>
2795
2796	<listitem>
2797	<para><computeroutput>createdirectory</computeroutput>, which allows
2798	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
2799	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
2800
2801	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>\|<uuid> createdir[ectory]\|mkdir\|md
2802	<directory to create on guest>
2803	[--username "<name>"] [--password "<password>"]
2804	[--parents] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
2805
2806	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2807	<glossentry>
2808	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
2809
2810	<glossdef>
2811	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2812	</glossdef>
2813	</glossentry>
2814
2815	<glossentry>
2816	<glossterm>directory to create on guest</glossterm>
2817
2818	<glossdef>
2819	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to create on
2820	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>.
2821	Parent directories need to exist (e.g. in this example
2822	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput>) when switch
2823	<computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput> is omitted. The
2824	specified user must have appropriate rights to create the
2825	specified directory.</para>
2826	</glossdef>
2827	</glossentry>
2828
2829	<glossentry>
2830	<glossterm>--username <name></glossterm>
2831
2832	<glossdef>
2833	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
2834	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2835	</glossdef>
2836	</glossentry>
2837
2838	<glossentry>
2839	<glossterm>--password <password></glossterm>
2840
2841	<glossdef>
2842	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2843	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2844	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2845	</glossdef>
2846	</glossentry>
2847
2848	<glossentry>
2849	<glossterm>--parents</glossterm>
2850
2851	<glossdef>
2852	<para>Also creates not yet existing parent directories of
2853	the specified directory, e.g. if the directory
2854	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput> of
2855	<computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput> does not exist
2856	yet it will be created. Without specifying
2857	<computeroutput>--parent</computeroutput> the action would
2858	have failed.</para>
2859	</glossdef>
2860	</glossentry>
2861
2862	<glossentry>
2863	<glossterm>--mode <mode></glossterm>
2864
2865	<glossdef>
2866	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
2867	Only octal modes (e.g.
2868	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
2869	now.</para>
2870	</glossdef>
2871	</glossentry>
2872
2873	<glossentry>
2874	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
2875
2876	<glossdef>
2877	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2878	</glossdef>
2879	</glossentry>
2880	</glosslist></para>
2881	</listitem>
2882
2883	<listitem>
2884	<para><computeroutput>stat</computeroutput>, which displays file
2885	or file system status on the guest.</para>
2886
2887	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>\|<uuid> stat
2888	<file element(s) to check on guest>
2889	[--username "<name>"] [--password "<password>"]
2890	[--verbose]</screen>
2891
2892	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2893	<glossentry>
2894	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
2895
2896	<glossdef>
2897	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2898	</glossdef>
2899	</glossentry>
2900
2901	<glossentry>
2902	<glossterm>file element(s) to check on guest</glossterm>
2903
2904	<glossdef>
2905	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to check on
2906	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>/home/foo/a.out</computeroutput>.
2907	The specified user must have appropriate rights to access
2908	the given file element(s).</para>
2909	</glossdef>
2910	</glossentry>
2911
2912	<glossentry>
2913	<glossterm>--username <name></glossterm>
2914
2915	<glossdef>
2916	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
2917	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2918	</glossdef>
2919	</glossentry>
2920
2921	<glossentry>
2922	<glossterm>--password <password></glossterm>
2923
2924	<glossdef>
2925	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2926	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2927	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2928	</glossdef>
2929	</glossentry>
2930
2931	<glossentry>
2932	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
2933
2934	<glossdef>
2935	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2936	</glossdef>
2937	</glossentry>
2938	</glosslist></para>
2939	</listitem>
2940
2941	<listitem>
2942	<para><computeroutput>updateadditions</computeroutput>, which allows
2943	for updating an already installed Guest Additions version on the
2944	guest (only already installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
2945
2946	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol updateadditions <vmname>\|<uuid>
2947	[--source "<guest additions .ISO file to use>"] [--verbose]</screen>
2948
2949	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2950	<glossentry>
2951	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
2952
2953	<glossdef>
2954	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2955	</glossdef>
2956	</glossentry>
2957
2958	<glossentry>
2959	<glossterm>--source "<guest additions .ISO file to
2960	use>"</glossterm>
2961
2962	<glossdef>
2963	<para>Full path to an alternative VirtualBox Guest Additions
2964	.ISO file to use for the Guest Additions update.</para>
2965	</glossdef>
2966	</glossentry>
2967
2968	<glossentry>
2969	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
2970
2971	<glossdef>
2972	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2973	</glossdef>
2974	</glossentry>
2975	</glosslist></para>
2976	</listitem>
2977	</itemizedlist></para>
2978	</sect1>
2979
2980	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-debugvm">
2981	<title>VBoxManage debugvm</title>
2982
2983	<para>The "debugvm" commands are for experts who want to tinker with the
2984	exact details of virtual machine execution. Like the VM debugger described
2985	in <xref linkend="debugger" />, these commands are only useful if you are
2986	very familiar with the details of the PC architecture and how to debug
2987	software.</para>
2988
2989	<para>The subcommands of "debugvm" all operate on a running virtual
2990	machine. The following are available:<itemizedlist>
2991	<listitem>
2992	<para>With <computeroutput>dumpguestcore --filename
2993	<name></computeroutput>, you can create a system dump of the
2994	running VM, which will be written into the given file. This file
2995	will have the standard ELF core format (with custom sections); see
2996	<xref linkend="guestcoreformat" />.</para>
2997
2998	<para>This corresponds to the
2999	<computeroutput>writecore</computeroutput> command in the debugger.
3000	</para>
3001	</listitem>
3002
3003	<listitem>
3004	<para>The <computeroutput>info</computeroutput> command is used to
3005	display info items relating to the VMM, device emulations and
3006	associated drivers. This command takes one or two arguments: the
3007	name of the info item, optionally followed by a string containing
3008	arguments specific to the info item.
3009	The <computeroutput>help</computeroutput> info item provides a
3010	listning of the available items and hints about any optional
3011	arguments.</para>
3012
3013	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>info</computeroutput>
3014	command in the debugger.</para>
3015	</listitem>
3016
3017	<listitem>
3018	<para>The <computeroutput>injectnmi</computeroutput> command causes
3019	a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) in the guest, which might be useful
3020	for certain debugging scenarios. What happens exactly is dependent
3021	on the guest operating system, but an NMI can crash the whole guest
3022	operating system. Do not use unless you know what you're
3023	doing.</para>
3024	</listitem>
3025
3026	<listitem>
3027	<para>The <computeroutput>osdetect</computeroutput> command makes the
3028	VMM's debugger facility (re-)detection the guest operation
3029	system.</para>
3030
3031	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>detect</computeroutput>
3032	command in the debugger.</para>
3033	</listitem>
3034
3035	<listitem>
3036	<para>The <computeroutput>osinfo</computeroutput> command is used to
3037	display info about the operating system (OS) detected by the VMM's
3038	debugger facility.</para>
3039	</listitem>
3040
3041	<listitem>
3042	<para>The <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command is
3043	used to display CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3044	of registers, each having one of the following forms:
3045	<itemizedlist>
3046	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3047	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3048	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3049	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3050	<listitem><computeroutput>all</computeroutput></listitem>
3051	</itemizedlist>
3052	The <computeroutput>all</computeroutput> form will cause all
3053	registers to be shown (no sub-fields). The registers names are
3054	case-insensitive. When requesting a CPU register the register set
3055	can be omitted, it will be selected using the value of the
3056	<computeroutput>--cpu</computeroutput> option (defaulting to 0).
3057	</para>
3058	</listitem>
3059
3060	<listitem>
3061	<para>The <computeroutput>setregisters</computeroutput> command is
3062	used to change CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3063	of register assignments, each having one of the following forms:
3064	<itemizedlist>
3065	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3066	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3067	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3068	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3069	</itemizedlist>
3070	The value format should be in the same style as what
3071	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> displays, with the
3072	exception that both octal and decimal can be used instead of
3073	hexadecimal. The register naming and the default CPU register set
3074	are handled the same way as with the
3075	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command.</para>
3076	</listitem>
3077
3078	<listitem>
3079	<para>The <computeroutput>statistics</computeroutput> command can be
3080	used to display VMM statistics on the command line. The
3081	<computeroutput>--reset</computeroutput> option will reset
3082	statistics. The affected statistics can be filtered with the
3083	<computeroutput>--pattern</computeroutput> option, which accepts
3084	DOS/NT-style wildcards (<computeroutput>?</computeroutput> and
3085	<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>).</para>
3086	</listitem>
3087	</itemizedlist></para>
3088	</sect1>
3089
3090	<sect1>
3091	<title id="metrics">VBoxManage metrics</title>
3092
3093	<para>This command supports monitoring the usage of system resources.
3094	Resources are represented by various metrics associated with the host
3095	system or a particular VM. For example, the host system has a
3096	<computeroutput>CPU/Load/User</computeroutput> metric that shows the
3097	percentage of time CPUs spend executing in user mode over a specific
3098	sampling period.</para>
3099
3100	<para>Metric data is collected and retained internally; it may be
3101	retrieved at any time with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3102	query</computeroutput> subcommand. The data is available as long as the
3103	background <computeroutput>VBoxSVC</computeroutput> process is alive. That
3104	process terminates shortly after all VMs and frontends have been
3105	closed.</para>
3106
3107	<para>By default no metrics are collected at all. Metrics collection does
3108	not start until <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics setup</computeroutput>
3109	is invoked with a proper sampling interval and the number of metrics to be
3110	retained. The interval is measured in seconds. For example, to enable
3111	collecting the host processor and memory usage metrics every second and
3112	keeping the 5 most current samples, the following command can be
3113	used:</para>
3114
3115	<screen>VBoxManage metrics setup --period 1 --samples 5 host CPU/Load,RAM/Usage</screen>
3116
3117	<para>Metric collection can only be enabled for started VMs. Collected
3118	data and collection settings for a particular VM will disappear as soon as
3119	it shuts down. Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics list
3120	</computeroutput> subcommand to see which metrics are currently available.
3121	You can also use <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option with any
3122	subcommand that modifies metric settings to find out which metrics were
3123	affected.</para>
3124
3125	<para>Note that the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3126	setup</computeroutput> subcommand discards all samples that may have been
3127	previously collected for the specified set of objects and metrics.</para>
3128
3129	<para>To enable or disable metrics collection without discarding the data
3130	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics enable</computeroutput> and
3131	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics disable</computeroutput> subcommands
3132	can be used. Note that these subcommands expect metrics, not submetrics,
3133	like <code>CPU/Load</code> or <code>RAM/Usage</code> as parameters. In
3134	other words enabling <code>CPU/Load/User</code> while disabling
3135	<code>CPU/Load/Kernel</code> is not supported.</para>
3136
3137	<para>The host and VMs have different sets of associated metrics.
3138	Available metrics can be listed with <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3139	list</computeroutput> subcommand.</para>
3140
3141	<para>A complete metric name may include an aggregate function. The name
3142	has the following form:
3143	<computeroutput>Category/Metric[/SubMetric][:aggregate]</computeroutput>.
3144	For example, <computeroutput>RAM/Usage/Free:min</computeroutput> stands
3145	for the minimum amount of available memory over all retained data if
3146	applied to the host object.</para>
3147
3148	<para>Subcommands may apply to all objects and metrics or can be limited
3149	to one object or/and a list of metrics. If no objects or metrics are given
3150	in the parameters, the subcommands will apply to all available metrics of
3151	all objects. You may use an asterisk
3152	("<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>") to explicitly specify that the
3153	command should be applied to all objects or metrics. Use "host" as the
3154	object name to limit the scope of the command to host-related metrics. To
3155	limit the scope to a subset of metrics, use a metric list with names
3156	separated by commas.</para>
3157
3158	<para>For example, to query metric data on the CPU time spent in user and
3159	kernel modes by the virtual machine named "test", you can use the
3160	following command:</para>
3161
3162	<screen>VBoxManage metrics query test CPU/Load/User,CPU/Load/Kernel</screen>
3163
3164	<para>The following list summarizes the available subcommands:</para>
3165
3166	<glosslist>
3167	<glossentry>
3168	<glossterm>list</glossterm>
3169
3170	<glossdef>
3171	<para>This subcommand shows the parameters of the currently existing
3172	metrics. Note that VM-specific metrics are only available when a
3173	particular VM is running.</para>
3174	</glossdef>
3175	</glossentry>
3176
3177	<glossentry>
3178	<glossterm>setup</glossterm>
3179
3180	<glossdef>
3181	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3182	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3183	retained data is available for displaying with the
3184	<code>query</code> subcommand. The <computeroutput>--list
3185	</computeroutput> option shows which metrics have been modified as
3186	the result of the command execution.</para>
3187	</glossdef>
3188	</glossentry>
3189
3190	<glossentry>
3191	<glossterm>enable</glossterm>
3192
3193	<glossdef>
3194	<para>This subcommand "resumes" data collection after it has been
3195	stopped with <code>disable</code> subcommand. Note that specifying
3196	submetrics as parameters will not enable underlying metrics. Use
3197	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3198	did what was expected.</para>
3199	</glossdef>
3200	</glossentry>
3201
3202	<glossentry>
3203	<glossterm>disable</glossterm>
3204
3205	<glossdef>
3206	<para>This subcommand "suspends" data collection without affecting
3207	collection parameters or collected data. Note that specifying
3208	submetrics as parameters will not disable underlying metrics. Use
3209	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3210	did what was expected.</para>
3211	</glossdef>
3212	</glossentry>
3213
3214	<glossentry>
3215	<glossterm>query</glossterm>
3216
3217	<glossdef>
3218	<para>This subcommand retrieves and displays the currently retained
3219	metric data.<note>
3220	<para>The <code>query</code> subcommand does not remove or
3221	"flush" retained data. If you query often enough you will see
3222	how old samples are gradually being "phased out" by new
3223	samples.</para>
3224	</note></para>
3225	</glossdef>
3226	</glossentry>
3227
3228	<glossentry>
3229	<glossterm>collect</glossterm>
3230
3231	<glossdef>
3232	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3233	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3234	collected data is displayed periodically until Ctrl-C is pressed
3235	unless the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput> option is
3236	specified. With the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput>
3237	option, this subcommand operates the same way as <code>setup</code>
3238	does. The <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option shows which
3239	metrics match the specified filter.</para>
3240	</glossdef>
3241	</glossentry>
3242	</glosslist>
3243	</sect1>
3244
3245	<sect1>
3246	<title>VBoxManage hostonlyif</title>
3247
3248	<para>With "hostonlyif" you can change the IP configuration of a host-only
3249	network interface. For a description of host-only networking, please
3250	refer to <xref linkend="network_hostonly" />. Each host-only interface is
3251	identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a
3252	manual IP configuration (both IP4 and IP6).</para>
3253	</sect1>
3254
3255	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-dhcpserver">
3256	<title>VBoxManage dhcpserver</title>
3257
3258	<para>The "dhcpserver" commands allow you to control the DHCP server that
3259	is built into VirtualBox. You may find this useful when using internal or
3260	host-only networking. (Theoretically, you can enable it for a bridged
3261	network as well, but that will likely cause conflicts with other DHCP
3262	servers in your physical network.)</para>
3263
3264	<para>Use the following command line options:<itemizedlist>
3265	<listitem>
3266	<para>If you use internal networking for a virtual network adapter
3267	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3268	--netname <network_name></computeroutput>, where
3269	<computeroutput><network_name></computeroutput> is the same
3270	network name you used with <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm
3271	<vmname> --intnet<X>
3272	<network_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3273	</listitem>
3274
3275	<listitem>
3276	<para>If you use host-only networking for a virtual network adapter
3277	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3278	--ifname <hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> instead, where
3279	<computeroutput><hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> is the
3280	same host-only interface name you used with
3281	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname>
3282	--hostonlyadapter<X>
3283	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3284
3285	<para>Alternatively, you can also use the --netname option as with
3286	internal networks if you know the host-only network's name; you can
3287	see the names with <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
3288	hostonlyifs</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
3289	above).</para>
3290	</listitem>
3291	</itemizedlist></para>
3292
3293	<para>The following additional parameters are required when first adding a
3294	DHCP server:<itemizedlist>
3295	<listitem>
3296	<para>With <computeroutput>--ip</computeroutput>, specify the IP
3297	address of the DHCP server itself.</para>
3298	</listitem>
3299
3300	<listitem>
3301	<para>With <computeroutput>--netmask</computeroutput>, specify the
3302	netmask of the network.</para>
3303	</listitem>
3304
3305	<listitem>
3306	<para>With <computeroutput>--lowerip</computeroutput> and
3307	<computeroutput>--upperip</computeroutput>, you can specify the
3308	lowest and highest IP address, respectively, that the DHCP server
3309	will hand out to clients.</para>
3310	</listitem>
3311	</itemizedlist></para>
3312
3313	<para>Finally, you must specify <computeroutput>--enable</computeroutput>
3314	or the DHCP server will be created in the disabled state, doing
3315	nothing.</para>
3316
3317	<para>After this, VirtualBox will automatically start the DHCP server for
3318	given internal or host-only network as soon as the first virtual machine
3319	which uses that network is started.</para>
3320
3321	<para>Reversely, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver
3322	remove</computeroutput> with the given <computeroutput>--netname
3323	<network_name></computeroutput> or <computeroutput>--ifname
3324	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> to remove the DHCP server again
3325	for the given internal or host-only network.</para>
3326
3327	<para>To modify the settings of a DHCP server created earlier with
3328	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add</computeroutput>, you can use
3329	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver modify</computeroutput> for a given
3330	network or host-only interface name.</para>
3331	</sect1>
3332
3333	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-extpack">
3334	<title>VBoxManage extpack</title>
3335
3336	<para>The "extpack" command allows you to add or remove VirtualBox
3337	extension packs, as described in <xref
3338	linkend="intro-installing" />.<itemizedlist>
3339	<listitem>
3340	<para>To add a new extension pack, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
3341	extpack install <tarball></computeroutput>. This command
3342	will fail if an older version of the same extension pack is already
3343	installed. The optional <computeroutput>--replace</computeroutput>
3344	parameter can be used to uninstall the old package before the new
3345	package is installed.</para>
3346	</listitem>
3347
3348	<listitem>
3349	<para>To remove a previously installed extension pack, use
3350	<computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack uninstall
3351	<name></computeroutput>. You can use
3352	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list extpacks</computeroutput> to show
3353	the names of the extension packs which are currently installed;
3354	please see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> also. The optional
3355	<computeroutput>--force</computeroutput> parameter can be used to
3356	override the refusal of an extension pack to be uninstalled.</para>
3357	</listitem>
3358
3359	<listitem>
3360	<para>The <computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack
3361	cleanup</computeroutput> command can be used to remove temporary
3362	files and directories that may have been left behind if a previous
3363	install or uninstall command failed.</para>
3364	</listitem>
3365	</itemizedlist></para>
3366	</sect1>
3367	</chapter>

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