user_VBoxManage.xml@ 42244

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doc/manual: examples for disabling the shaper + emphasize that only TX traffic is being shaped (#5582)
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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>--nicbootprio<1-N>
619	<priority></computeroutput>: This specifies the order in which
620	NICs are tried for booting over the network (using PXE). The
621	priority is an integer in the 0 to 4 range. Priority 1 is the
622	highest, priority 4 is low. Priority 0, which is the default unless
623	otherwise specified, is the lowest.
624	</para>
625	<para> Note that this option only has effect when the Intel PXE boot
626	ROM is used.
627	</para>
628	</listitem>
629
630	<listitem>
631	<para><computeroutput>--boot<1-4>
632	none\|floppy\|dvd\|disk\|net</computeroutput>: This specifies the boot
633	order for the virtual machine. There are four "slots", which the
634	VM will try to access from 1 to 4, and for each of which you can
635	set a device that the VM should attempt to boot from.</para>
636	</listitem>
637
638	<listitem>
639	<para><computeroutput>--snapshotfolder
640	default\|<path></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
641	the folder in which snapshots will be kept for a virtual
642	machine.</para>
643	</listitem>
644
645	<listitem>
646	<para><computeroutput>--firmware efi\|bios</computeroutput>:
647	Specifies which firmware is used to boot particular virtual
648	machine: EFI or BIOS. Use EFI only if your fully understand what
649	you're doing.</para>
650	</listitem>
651
652	<listitem>
653	<para><computeroutput>--guestmemoryballoon
654	<size></computeroutput> sets the default size of the guest
655	memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest
656	Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the
657	hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines. <size> must
658	be specified in megabytes. The default size is 0 megabytes. For
659	details, see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
660	</listitem>
661	</itemizedlist></para>
662	</sect2>
663
664	<sect2>
665	<title>Networking settings</title>
666
667	<para>The following networking settings are available through
668	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
669	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
670	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings
671	should be changed.<itemizedlist>
672	<listitem>
673	<para><computeroutput>--nic<1-N>
674	none\|null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic
675	</computeroutput>: With
676	this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards,
677	what type of networking should be available. They can be not
678	present (<computeroutput>none</computeroutput>), not connected to
679	the host (<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network
680	address translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>),
681	bridged networking (<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or
682	communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking
683	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>), host-only networking
684	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>), or access rarely used
685	sub-modes (<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>).
686	These options correspond
687	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
688	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
689	</listitem>
690
691	<listitem>
692	<para><computeroutput>--nictype<1-N>
693	Am79C970A\|Am79C973\|82540EM\|82543GC\|82545EM\|virtio</computeroutput>:
694	This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
695	specify which networking hardware VirtualBox presents to the
696	guest; see <xref linkend="nichardware" />.</para>
697	</listitem>
698
699	<listitem>
700	<para><computeroutput>--cableconnected<1-N>
701	on\|off</computeroutput>: This allows you to temporarily disconnect
702	a virtual network interface, as if a network cable had been pulled
703	from a real network card. This might be useful for resetting
704	certain software components in the VM.</para>
705	</listitem>
706
707	<listitem>
708	<para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
709	network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
710	purposes.</para>
711
712	<para>With <computeroutput>--nictrace<1-N>
713	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
714	particular virtual network card.</para>
715
716	<para>If enabled, you must specify with
717	<computeroutput>--nictracefile<1-N>
718	<filename></computeroutput> what file the trace should be
719	logged to.</para>
720	</listitem>
721
722	<listitem>
723	<para><computeroutput>--bridgeadapter<1-N>
724	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If bridged networking
725	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the
726	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
727	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host
728	interface the given virtual network interface will use. For
729	details, please see <xref linkend="network_bridged" />.</para>
730	</listitem>
731
732	<listitem>
733	<para><computeroutput>--hostonlyadapter<1-N>
734	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If host-only networking
735	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the --nic option
736	above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to
737	specify which host-only networking interface the given virtual
738	network interface will use. For details, please see <xref
739	linkend="network_hostonly" />.</para>
740	</listitem>
741
742	<listitem>
743	<para><computeroutput>--intnet<1-N>
744	network</computeroutput>: If internal networking has been enabled
745	for a virtual network card (see the
746	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
747	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify the name
748	of the internal network (see <xref
749	linkend="network_internal" />).</para>
750	</listitem>
751
752	<listitem>
753	<para><computeroutput>--macaddress<1-N>
754	auto\|<mac></computeroutput>: With this option you can set
755	the MAC address of the virtual network card. Normally, each
756	virtual network card is assigned a random address by VirtualBox at
757	VM creation.</para>
758	</listitem>
759
760	<listitem>
761	<para><computeroutput>--nicgenericdrv<1-N>
762	<backend driver></computeroutput>: If generic networking has been
763	enabled for a virtual network card (see the
764	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
765	this setting has no effect), this mode allows you to access
766	rarely used networking sub-modes, such as VDE network or UDP Tunnel.
767	</para>
768	</listitem>
769
770	<listitem>
771	<para><computeroutput>--nicproperty<1-N>
772	<paramname>="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
773	This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
774	pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
775	Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
776	between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
777	please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
778	</para>
779	</listitem>
780	</itemizedlist></para>
781
782	<sect3>
783	<title>NAT Networking settings.</title>
784
785	<para>The following NAT networking settings are available through
786	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
787	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
788	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose
789	settings should be changed.<itemizedlist>
790	<listitem>
791	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N>
792	[<name>],tcp\|udp,[<hostip>],<hostport>,[<guestip>],
793	<guestport></computeroutput>: This option defines a NAT
794	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
795	for details).</para>
796	</listitem>
797
798	<listitem>
799	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N> delete
800	<name></computeroutput>: This option deletes a NAT
801	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
802	for details).</para>
803	</listitem>
804
805	<listitem>
806	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpprefix<1-N>
807	<prefix></computeroutput>: This option defines a prefix
808	for the built-in TFTP server, i.e. where the boot file is
809	located (please see <xref linkend="nat-tftp" /> and <xref
810	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
811	</listitem>
812
813	<listitem>
814	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpfile<1-N>
815	<bootfile></computeroutput>: This option defines the TFT
816	boot file (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for
817	details).</para>
818	</listitem>
819
820	<listitem>
821	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpserver<1-N>
822	<tftpserver></computeroutput>: This option defines the
823	TFTP server address to boot from (please see <xref
824	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
825	</listitem>
826
827	<listitem>
828	<para><computeroutput>--natdnspassdomain<1-N>
829	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option specifies whether the
830	built-in DHCP server passes the domain name for network name
831	resolution.</para>
832	</listitem>
833
834	<listitem>
835	<para><computeroutput>--natdnsproxy<1-N>
836	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine proxy
837	all guest DNS requests to the host's DNS servers (please see
838	<xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
839	</listitem>
840
841	<listitem>
842	<para><computeroutput>--natdnshostresolver<1-N>
843	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine use
844	the host's resolver mechanisms to handle DNS requests (please
845	see <xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
846	</listitem>
847
848	<listitem>
849	<para><computeroutput>--natnatsettings<1-N>
850	[<mtu>],[<socksnd>],[<sockrcv>],[<tcpsnd>],
851	[<tcprcv>]</computeroutput>: This option controls several
852	NAT settings (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-settings" /> for
853	details).</para>
854	</listitem>
855
856	<listitem>
857	<para><computeroutput>--nataliasmode<1-N>
858	default\|[log],[proxyonly],[sameports]</computeroutput>: This
859	option defines behaviour of NAT engine core: log - enables
860	logging, proxyonly - switches of aliasing mode makes NAT
861	transparent, sameports enforces NAT engine to send packets via
862	the same port as they originated on, default - disable all
863	mentioned modes above . (please see <xref
864	linkend="nat-adv-alias" /> for details).</para>
865	</listitem>
866	</itemizedlist></para>
867	</sect3>
868	</sect2>
869
870	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other">
871	<title>Serial port, audio, clipboard, remote desktop and USB
872	settings</title>
873
874	<para>The following other hardware settings are available through
875	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
876	<listitem>
877	<para><computeroutput>--uart<1-N> off\|<I/O base>
878	<IRQ></computeroutput>: With this option you can configure
879	virtual serial ports for the VM; see <xref
880	linkend="serialports" /> for an introduction.</para>
881	</listitem>
882
883	<listitem>
884	<para><computeroutput>--uartmode<1-N>
885	<arg></computeroutput>: This setting controls how VirtualBox
886	connects a given virtual serial port (previously configured with
887	the <computeroutput>--uartX</computeroutput> setting, see above)
888	to the host on which the virtual machine is running. As described
889	in detail in <xref linkend="serialports" />, for each such port,
890	you can specify <computeroutput><arg></computeroutput> as
891	one of the following options:<itemizedlist>
892	<listitem>
893	<para><computeroutput>disconnected</computeroutput>: Even
894	though the serial port is shown to the guest, it has no
895	"other end" -- like a real COM port without a cable.</para>
896	</listitem>
897
898	<listitem>
899	<para><computeroutput>server
900	<pipename></computeroutput>: On a Windows host, this
901	tells VirtualBox to create a named pipe on the host named
902	<computeroutput><pipename></computeroutput> and
903	connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that Windows
904	requires that the name of a named pipe begin with
905	<computeroutput>\\.\pipe\</computeroutput>.</para>
906
907	<para>On a Linux host, instead of a named pipe, a local
908	domain socket is used.</para>
909	</listitem>
910
911	<listitem>
912	<para><computeroutput>client
913	<pipename></computeroutput>: This operates just like
914	<computeroutput>server ...</computeroutput>, except that the
915	pipe (or local domain socket) is not created by VirtualBox,
916	but assumed to exist already.</para>
917	</listitem>
918
919	<listitem>
920	<para><computeroutput><devicename></computeroutput>:
921	If, instead of the above, the device name of a physical
922	hardware serial port of the host is specified, the virtual
923	serial port is connected to that hardware port. On a Windows
924	host, the device name will be a COM port such as
925	<computeroutput>COM1</computeroutput>; on a Linux host, the
926	device name will look like
927	<computeroutput>/dev/ttyS0</computeroutput>. This allows you
928	to "wire" a real serial port to a virtual machine.</para>
929	</listitem>
930	</itemizedlist></para>
931	</listitem>
932
933	<listitem>
934	<para><computeroutput>--audio none\|null\|oss</computeroutput>: With
935	this option, you can set whether the VM should have audio
936	support.</para>
937	</listitem>
938
939	<listitem>
940	<para><computeroutput>--clipboard
941	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
942	With this setting, you can select whether the guest operating
943	system's clipboard should be shared with the host; see <xref
944	linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
945	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
946	</listitem>
947
948	<listitem>
949	<para><computeroutput>--monitorcount
950	<count></computeroutput>: This enables multi-monitor
951	support; see <xref linkend="settings-display" />.</para>
952	</listitem>
953
954	<listitem>
955	<para><computeroutput>--usb on\|off</computeroutput>: This option
956	enables or disables the VM's virtual USB controller; see <xref
957	linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
958	</listitem>
959
960	<listitem>
961	<para><computeroutput>--usbehci on\|off</computeroutput>: This
962	option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 2.0 controller;
963	see <xref linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
964	</listitem>
965	</itemizedlist></para>
966	</sect2>
967
968	<sect2>
969	<title>Remote machine settings</title>
970
971	<para>The following settings that affect remote machine behavior are
972	available through <computeroutput>VBoxManage
973	modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
974	<listitem>
975	<para><computeroutput>--vrde on\|off</computeroutput>: With the
976	VirtualBox graphical user interface, this enables or disables the
977	VirtualBox remote desktop extension (VRDE) server. Note that if
978	you are using <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput> (see
979	<xref linkend="vboxheadless" />), VRDE is enabled by
980	default.</para>
981	</listitem>
982
983	<listitem>
984	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeport
985	default\|<ports></computeroutput>: A port or a range of ports
986	the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the
987	standard port for RDP. You can specify a comma-separated list of
988	ports or ranges of ports. Use a dash between two port numbers to
989	specify a range. The VRDE server will bind to <emphasis
990	role="bold">one</emphasis> of available ports from the specified
991	list. Only one machine can use a given port at a time. For
992	example, the option <computeroutput> --vrdeport
993	5000,5010-5012</computeroutput> will tell the server to bind to
994	one of following ports: 5000, 5010, 5011 or 5012.</para>
995	</listitem>
996
997	<listitem>
998	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeaddress <IP
999	address></computeroutput>: The IP address of the host network
1000	interface the VRDE server will bind to. If specified, the server
1001	will accept connections only on the specified host network
1002	interface.</para>
1003	</listitem>
1004
1005	<listitem>
1006	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeauthtype
1007	null\|external\|guest</computeroutput>: This allows you to choose
1008	whether and how authorization will be performed; see <xref
1009	linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
1010	</listitem>
1011
1012	<listitem>
1013	<para><computeroutput>--vrdemulticon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1014	enables multiple connections to the same VRDE server, if the
1015	server supports this feature; see <xref lang=""
1016	linkend="vrde-multiconnection" />.</para>
1017	</listitem>
1018
1019	<listitem>
1020	<para><computeroutput>--vrdereusecon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1021	specifies the VRDE server behavior when multiple connections are
1022	disabled. When this option is enabled, the server will allow a new
1023	client to connect and will drop the existing connection. When this
1024	option is disabled (this is the default setting), a new connection
1025	will not be accepted if there is already a client connected to the
1026	server.</para>
1027	</listitem>
1028
1029	<listitem>
1030	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannel on\|off</computeroutput>:
1031	This enables video redirection, if it is supported by the VRDE
1032	server; see <xref lang="" linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1033	</listitem>
1034
1035	<listitem>
1036	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannelquality
1037	<percent></computeroutput>: Sets the image quality for video
1038	redirection; see <xref lang=""
1039	linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1040	</listitem>
1041	</itemizedlist></para>
1042	</sect2>
1043
1044	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport">
1045	<title>Teleporting settings</title>
1046
1047	<para>With the following commands for <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1048	modifyvm</computeroutput> you can configure a machine to be a target for
1049	teleporting. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an
1050	introduction.<itemizedlist>
1051	<listitem>
1052	<para><computeroutput>--teleporter on\|off</computeroutput>: With
1053	this setting you turn on or off whether a machine waits for a
1054	teleporting request to come in on the network when it is started.
1055	If "on", when the machine is started, it does not boot the virtual
1056	machine as it would normally; instead, it then waits for a
1057	teleporting request to come in on the port and address listed with
1058	the next two parameters.</para>
1059	</listitem>
1060
1061	<listitem>
1062	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterport
1063	<port></computeroutput>, <computeroutput>--teleporteraddress
1064	<address></computeroutput>: these must be used with
1065	--teleporter and tell the virtual machine on which port and
1066	address it should listen for a teleporting request from another
1067	virtual machine. <computeroutput><port></computeroutput> can
1068	be any free TCP/IP port number (e.g. 6000);
1069	<computeroutput><address></computeroutput> can be any IP
1070	address or hostname and specifies the TCP/IP socket to bind to.
1071	The default is "0.0.0.0", which means any address.</para>
1072	</listitem>
1073
1074	<listitem>
1075	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpassword
1076	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1077	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1078	source machine specifies the same password as the one given with
1079	this command.</para>
1080	</listitem>
1081
1082	<listitem>
1083	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpasswordfile
1084	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1085	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1086	source machine specifies the same password as the one specified
1087	in the file give with this command. Use <computeroutput>stdin</computeroutput>
1088	to read the password from stdin.</para>
1089	</listitem>
1090
1091	<listitem>
1092	<para><computeroutput>--cpuid <leaf> <eax> <ebx>
1093	<ecx> <edx></computeroutput>: Advanced users can use
1094	this command before a teleporting operation to restrict the
1095	virtual CPU capabilities that VirtualBox presents to the guest
1096	operating system. This must be run on both the source and the
1097	target machines involved in the teleporting and will then modify
1098	what the guest sees when it executes the
1099	<computeroutput>CPUID</computeroutput> machine instruction. This
1100	might help with misbehaving applications that wrongly assume that
1101	certain CPU capabilities are present. The meaning of the
1102	parameters is hardware dependent; please refer to the AMD or Intel
1103	processor manuals.</para>
1104	</listitem>
1105	</itemizedlist></para>
1106	</sect2>
1107	</sect1>
1108
1109	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevm">
1110	<title>VBoxManage clonevm</title>
1111
1112	<para>This command creates a full or linked copy of an existing virtual
1113	machine.</para>
1114
1115	<para>The <computeroutput>clonevm</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1116	least the name of the virtual machine which should be cloned. The following
1117	additional settings can be used to further configure the clone VM
1118	operation:</para>
1119
1120	<itemizedlist>
1121	<listitem>
1122	<para><computeroutput>--snapshot <uuid>\|<name></computeroutput>:
1123	Select a specific snapshot where the clone operation should refer
1124	to. Default is referring to the current state.</para>
1125	</listitem>
1126	<listitem>
1127	<para><computeroutput>--mode machine\|machineandchildren\|all</computeroutput>:
1128	Selects the cloning mode of the operation. If
1129	<computeroutput>machine</computeroutput> is selected (the default),
1130	the current state of the VM without any snapshots is cloned. In the
1131	<computeroutput>machineandchildren</computeroutput> mode the snapshot
1132	provided by <computeroutput>--snapshot</computeroutput> and all
1133	child snapshots are cloned. If <computeroutput>all</computeroutput>
1134	is the selected mode all snapshots and the current state are cloned.
1135	</para>
1136	</listitem>
1137	<listitem>
1138	<para><computeroutput>--options link\|keepallmacs\|keepnatmacs\|keepdisknames</computeroutput>:
1139	Allows additional fine tuning of the clone operation. The first
1140	option defines that a linked clone should be created, which is
1141	only possible for a machine clone from a snapshot. The next two
1142	options allow to define how the MAC addresses of every virtual
1143	network card should be handled. They can either be reinitialized
1144	(the default), left unchanged
1145	(<computeroutput>keepallmacs</computeroutput>) or left unchanged
1146	when the network type is NAT
1147	(<computeroutput>keepnatmacs</computeroutput>). If you add
1148	<computeroutput>keepdisknames</computeroutput> all new disk images
1149	are called like the original once, otherwise they are
1150	renamed.</para>
1151	</listitem>
1152	<listitem>
1153	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: Select a
1154	new name for the new virtual machine. Default is "Original Name
1155	Clone".</para>
1156	</listitem>
1157	<listitem>
1158	<para><computeroutput>--basefolder <basefolder></computeroutput>:
1159	Select the folder where the new virtual machine configuration should
1160	be saved in.</para>
1161	</listitem>
1162	<listitem>
1163	<para><computeroutput>--uuid <uuid></computeroutput>:
1164	Select the UUID the new VM should have. This id has to be unique in
1165	the VirtualBox instance this clone should be registered. Default is
1166	creating a new UUID.</para>
1167	</listitem>
1168	<listitem>
1169	<para><computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>:
1170	Automatically register the new clone in this VirtualBox
1171	installation. If you manually want register the new VM later, see
1172	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" /> for instructions how to do
1173	so.</para>
1174	</listitem>
1175	</itemizedlist>
1176	</sect1>
1177
1178	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-import">
1179	<title>VBoxManage import</title>
1180
1181	<para>This command imports a virtual appliance in OVF format by copying
1182	the virtual disk images and creating virtual machines in VirtualBox. See
1183	<xref linkend="ovf" /> for an introduction to appliances.</para>
1184
1185	<para>The <computeroutput>import</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1186	least the path name of an OVF file as input and expects the disk images,
1187	if needed, in the same directory as the OVF file. A lot of additional
1188	command-line options are supported to control in detail what is being
1189	imported and modify the import parameters, but the details depend on the
1190	content of the OVF file.</para>
1191
1192	<para>It is therefore recommended to first run the import subcommand with
1193	the <computeroutput>--dry-run</computeroutput> or
1194	<computeroutput>-n</computeroutput> option. This will then print a
1195	description of the appliance's contents to the screen how it would be
1196	imported into VirtualBox, together with the optional command-line options
1197	to influence the import behavior.</para>
1198
1199	<para>As an example, here is the screen output with a sample appliance
1200	containing a Windows XP guest:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf --dry-run
1201	Interpreting WindowsXp.ovf...
1202	OK.
1203	Virtual system 0:
1204	0: Suggested OS type: "WindowsXP"
1205	(change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all)
1206	1: Suggested VM name "Windows XP Professional_1"
1207	(change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
1208	3: Number of CPUs: 1
1209	(change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
1210	4: Guest memory: 956 MB (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
1211	5: Sound card (appliance expects "ensoniq1371", can change on import)
1212	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
1213	6: USB controller
1214	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
1215	7: Network adapter: orig bridged, config 2, extra type=bridged
1216	8: Floppy
1217	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
1218	9: SCSI controller, type BusLogic
1219	(change with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --scsitype {BusLogic\|LsiLogic}";
1220	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
1221	10: IDE controller, type PIIX4
1222	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
1223	11: Hard disk image: source image=WindowsXp.vmdk,
1224	target path=/home/user/disks/WindowsXp.vmdk, controller=9;channel=0
1225	(change controller with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --controller <id>";
1226	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")</screen></para>
1227
1228	<para>As you can see, the individual configuration items are numbered, and
1229	depending on their type support different command-line options. The import
1230	subcommand can be directed to ignore many such items with a
1231	<computeroutput>--vsys X --unit Y --ignore</computeroutput> option, where
1232	X is the number of the virtual system (zero unless there are several
1233	virtual system descriptions in the appliance) and Y the item number, as
1234	printed on the screen.</para>
1235
1236	<para>In the above example, Item #1 specifies the name of the target
1237	machine in VirtualBox. Items #9 and #10 specify hard disk controllers,
1238	respectively. Item #11 describes a hard disk image; in this case, the
1239	additional <computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput> option indicates
1240	which item the disk image should be connected to, with the default coming
1241	from the OVF file.</para>
1242
1243	<para>You can combine several items for the same virtual system behind the
1244	same <computeroutput>--vsys</computeroutput> option. For example, to
1245	import a machine as described in the OVF, but without the sound card and
1246	without the USB controller, and with the disk image connected to the IDE
1247	controller instead of the SCSI controller, use this:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf
1248	--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore --unit 6 --ignore --unit 11 --controller 10</screen></para>
1249	</sect1>
1250
1251	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-export">
1252	<title>VBoxManage export</title>
1253
1254	<para>This command exports one or more virtual machines from VirtualBox
1255	into a virtual appliance in OVF format, including copying their virtual
1256	disk images to compressed VMDK. See <xref linkend="ovf" /> for an
1257	introduction to appliances.</para>
1258
1259	<para>The <computeroutput>export</computeroutput> command is simple to
1260	use: list the machine (or the machines) that you would like to export to
1261	the same OVF file and specify the target OVF file after an additional
1262	<computeroutput>--output</computeroutput> or
1263	<computeroutput>-o</computeroutput> option. Note that the directory of the
1264	target OVF file will also receive the exported disk images in the
1265	compressed VMDK format (regardless of the original format) and should have
1266	enough disk space left for them.</para>
1267
1268	<para>Beside a simple export of a given virtual machine, you can append
1269	several product information to the appliance file. Use
1270	<computeroutput>--product</computeroutput>,
1271	<computeroutput>--producturl</computeroutput>,
1272	<computeroutput>--vendor</computeroutput>,
1273	<computeroutput>--vendorurl</computeroutput> and
1274	<computeroutput>--version</computeroutput> to specify this additional
1275	information. For legal reasons you may add a license text or the content
1276	of a license file by using the <computeroutput>--eula</computeroutput> and
1277	<computeroutput>--eulafile</computeroutput> option respectively. As with
1278	OVF import, you must use the <computeroutput>--vsys X</computeroutput>
1279	option to direct the previously mentioned options to the correct virtual
1280	machine.</para>
1281
1282	<para>For virtualization products which aren't fully compatible with the
1283	OVF standard 1.0 you can enable a OVF 0.9 legacy mode with the
1284	<computeroutput>--legacy09</computeroutput> option.</para>
1285	</sect1>
1286
1287	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-startvm">
1288	<title>VBoxManage startvm</title>
1289
1290	<para>This command starts a virtual machine that is currently in the
1291	"Powered off" or "Saved" states.</para>
1292
1293	<note>
1294	<para>This is provided for backwards compatibility only. We recommend to
1295	start virtual machines directly by running the respective front-end, as
1296	you might otherwise miss important error and state information that
1297	VirtualBox may display on the console. This is especially important for
1298	front-ends other than <computeroutput>VirtualBox</computeroutput>, our
1299	graphical user interface, because those cannot display error messages in
1300	a popup window. See <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more
1301	information.</para>
1302	</note>
1303
1304	<para>The optional <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> specifier
1305	determines whether the machine will be started in a window (GUI mode,
1306	which is the default) or whether the output should go through
1307	<computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>, with VRDE enabled or not;
1308	see <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more information. The list of
1309	types is subject to change, and it's not guaranteed that all types are
1310	accepted by any product variant.</para>
1311
1312	<para>The following values are allowed:</para>
1313
1314	<glosslist>
1315	<glossentry>
1316	<glossterm>gui</glossterm>
1317
1318	<glossdef>
1319	<para>Starts a VM showing a GUI window. This is the default.</para>
1320	</glossdef>
1321	</glossentry>
1322
1323	<glossentry>
1324	<glossterm>headless</glossterm>
1325
1326	<glossdef>
1327	<para>Starts a VM without a window for remote display only.</para>
1328	</glossdef>
1329	</glossentry>
1330	</glosslist>
1331	</sect1>
1332
1333	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-controlvm">
1334	<title>VBoxManage controlvm</title>
1335
1336	<para>The <computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> subcommand allows you
1337	to change the state of a virtual machine that is currently running. The
1338	following can be specified:</para>
1339
1340	<para><itemizedlist>
1341	<listitem>
1342	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1343	pause</computeroutput> temporarily puts a virtual machine on hold,
1344	without changing its state for good. The VM window will be painted
1345	in gray to indicate that the VM is currently paused. (This is
1346	equivalent to selecting the "Pause" item in the "Machine" menu of
1347	the GUI.)</para>
1348	</listitem>
1349
1350	<listitem>
1351	<para>Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1352	resume</computeroutput> to undo a previous
1353	<computeroutput>pause</computeroutput> command. (This is equivalent
1354	to selecting the "Resume" item in the "Machine" menu of the
1355	GUI.)</para>
1356	</listitem>
1357
1358	<listitem>
1359	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1360	reset</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine as
1361	pressing the "Reset" button on a real computer: a cold reboot of the
1362	virtual machine, which will restart and boot the guest operating
1363	system again immediately. The state of the VM is not saved
1364	beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting
1365	the "Reset" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)</para>
1366	</listitem>
1367
1368	<listitem>
1369	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1370	poweroff</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine
1371	as pulling the power cable on a real computer. Again, the state of
1372	the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is
1373	equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of
1374	the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting
1375	"Power off the machine" in the dialog.)</para>
1376
1377	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Powered off". From there,
1378	it can be started again; see <xref
1379	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1380	</listitem>
1381
1382	<listitem>
1383	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1384	savestate</computeroutput> will save the current state of the VM to
1385	disk and then stop the VM. (This is equivalent to selecting the
1386	"Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the
1387	window's close button, and then selecting "Save the machine state"
1388	in the dialog.)</para>
1389
1390	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Saved". From there, it can
1391	be started again; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1392	</listitem>
1393
1394	<listitem>
1395	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm> teleport
1396	--hostname <name> --port <port> [--password
1397	<password>]</computeroutput> makes the machine the source of a
1398	teleporting operation and initiates a teleport to the given target.
1399	See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an introduction. If the
1400	optional password is specified, it must match the password that was
1401	given to the <computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command for
1402	the target machine; see <xref
1403	linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport" /> for details.</para>
1404	</listitem>
1405	</itemizedlist></para>
1406
1407	<para>A few extra options are available with
1408	<computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> that do not directly affect the
1409	VM's running state:</para>
1410
1411	<itemizedlist>
1412	<listitem>
1413	<para>The <computeroutput>setlinkstate<1-N></computeroutput>
1414	operation connects or disconnects virtual network cables from their
1415	network interfaces.</para>
1416	</listitem>
1417
1418	<listitem>
1419	<para><computeroutput>nic<1-N>
1420	null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic</computeroutput>: With this, you can
1421	set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of
1422	networking should be available. They can be not connected to the host
1423	(<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network address
1424	translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>), bridged networking
1425	(<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or communicate with other
1426	virtual machines using internal networking
1427	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>) or host-only networking
1428	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>) or access to rarely used
1429	sub-modes
1430	(<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>). These options correspond
1431	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
1432	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
1433	</listitem>
1434
1435	<listitem>
1436	<para><computeroutput>usbattach</computeroutput> and
1437	<computeroutput>usbdettach</computeroutput> make host USB devices
1438	visible to the virtual machine on the fly, without the need for
1439	creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID
1440	(unique identifier) or by address on the host system.</para>
1441
1442	<para>You can use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
1443	usbhost</computeroutput> to locate this information.</para>
1444	</listitem>
1445
1446	<listitem>
1447	<para><computeroutput>vrde on\|off</computeroutput> lets you enable or
1448	disable the VRDE server, if it is installed.</para>
1449	</listitem>
1450
1451	<listitem>
1452	<para><computeroutput>vrdeport default\|<ports></computeroutput>
1453	changes the port or a range of ports that the VRDE server can bind to;
1454	"default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. For
1455	details, see the description for the
1456	<computeroutput>--vrdeport</computeroutput> option in <xref
1457	linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other" />.</para>
1458	</listitem>
1459
1460	<listitem>
1461	<para><computeroutput>setvideomodehint</computeroutput> requests that
1462	the guest system change to a particular video mode. This requires that
1463	the Guest Additions be installed, and will not work for all guest
1464	systems.</para>
1465	</listitem>
1466
1467	<listitem>
1468	<para><computeroutput>screenshotpng</computeroutput> takes a screenshot
1469	of the guest display and saves it in PNG format.</para>
1470	</listitem>
1471
1472	<listitem>
1473	<para>The <computeroutput>setcredentials</computeroutput> operation is
1474	used for remote logons in Windows guests. For details, please refer to
1475	<xref linkend="autologon" />.</para>
1476	</listitem>
1477
1478	<listitem>
1479	<para>The <computeroutput>guestmemoryballoon</computeroutput>
1480	operation changes the size of the guest memory balloon, that is,
1481	memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest
1482	operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other
1483	virtual machines. This must be specified in megabytes. For details,
1484	see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
1485	</listitem>
1486
1487	<listitem>
1488	<para>The <computeroutput>cpuexecutioncap
1489	<1-100></computeroutput>: This operation controls how much cpu
1490	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU
1491	can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
1492	</listitem>
1493	</itemizedlist>
1494	</sect1>
1495
1496	<sect1>
1497	<title>VBoxManage discardstate</title>
1498
1499	<para>This command discards the saved state of a virtual machine which is
1500	not currently running, which will cause its operating system to restart
1501	next time you start it. This is the equivalent of pulling out the power
1502	cable on a physical machine, and should be avoided if possible.</para>
1503	</sect1>
1504
1505	<sect1>
1506	<title>VBoxManage adoptstate</title>
1507
1508	<para>If you have a saved state file (<computeroutput>.sav</computeroutput>)
1509	that is seperate from the VM configuration, you can use this command to
1510	"adopt" the file. This will change the VM to saved state and when you
1511	start it, VirtualBox will attempt to restore it from the saved state file
1512	you indicated. This command should only be used in special setups.</para>
1513	</sect1>
1514
1515	<sect1>
1516	<title>VBoxManage snapshot</title>
1517
1518	<para>This command is used to control snapshots from the command line. A
1519	snapshot consists of a complete copy of the virtual machine settings,
1520	copied at the time when the snapshot was taken, and optionally a virtual
1521	machine saved state file if the snapshot was taken while the machine was
1522	running. After a snapshot has been taken, VirtualBox creates differencing
1523	hard disk for each normal hard disk associated with the machine so that
1524	when a snapshot is restored, the contents of the virtual machine's virtual
1525	hard disks can be quickly reset by simply dropping the pre-existing
1526	differencing files.</para>
1527
1528	<para>The <computeroutput>take</computeroutput> operation takes a snapshot
1529	of the current state of the virtual machine. You must supply a name for
1530	the snapshot and can optionally supply a description. The new snapshot is
1531	inserted into the snapshots tree as a child of the current snapshot and
1532	then becomes the new current snapshot.</para>
1533
1534	<para>The <computeroutput>delete</computeroutput> operation deletes a
1535	snapshot (specified by name or by UUID). This can take a while to finish
1536	since the differencing images associated with the snapshot might need to
1537	be merged with their child differencing images.</para>
1538
1539	<para>The <computeroutput>restore</computeroutput> operation will restore
1540	the given snapshot (specified by name or by UUID) by resetting the virtual
1541	machine's settings and current state to that of the snapshot. The previous
1542	current state of the machine will be lost. After this, the given snapshot
1543	becomes the new "current" snapshot so that subsequent snapshots are
1544	inserted under the snapshot from which was restored.</para>
1545
1546	<para>The <computeroutput>restorecurrent</computeroutput> operation is a
1547	shortcut to restore the current snapshot (i.e. the snapshot from which the
1548	current state is derived). This subcommand is equivalent to using the
1549	"restore" subcommand with the name or UUID of the current snapshot, except
1550	that it avoids the extra step of determining that name or UUID.</para>
1551
1552	<para>With the <computeroutput>edit</computeroutput> operation, you can
1553	change the name or description of an existing snapshot.</para>
1554
1555	<para>With the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> operation, you
1556	can view the virtual machine settings that were stored with an existing
1557	snapshot.</para>
1558	</sect1>
1559
1560	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-closemedium">
1561	<title>VBoxManage closemedium</title>
1562
1563	<para>This commands removes a hard disk, DVD or floppy image from a
1564	VirtualBox media registry.<footnote>
1565	<para>Before VirtualBox 4.0, it was necessary to call VBoxManage
1566	openmedium before a medium could be attached to a virtual machine;
1567	that call "registered" the medium with the global VirtualBox media
1568	registry. With VirtualBox 4.0 this is no longer necessary; media are
1569	added to media registries automatically. The "closemedium" call has
1570	been retained, however, to allow for explicitly removing a medium from
1571	a registry.</para>
1572	</footnote></para>
1573
1574	<para>Optionally, you can request that the image be deleted. You will get
1575	appropriate diagnostics that the deletion failed, however the image will
1576	become unregistered in any case.</para>
1577	</sect1>
1578
1579	<sect1>
1580	<title id="vboxmanage-storageattach">VBoxManage storageattach</title>
1581
1582	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage medium connected to
1583	a storage controller that was previously added with the
1584	<computeroutput>storagectl</computeroutput> command (see the previous
1585	section). The syntax is as follows:</para>
1586
1587	<screen>VBoxManage storageattach <uuid\|vmname>
1588	--storagectl <name>
1589	[--port <number>]
1590	[--device <number>]
1591	[--type dvddrive\|hdd\|fdd]
1592	[--medium none\|emptydrive\|
1593	<uuid>\|<filename>\|host:<drive>\|iscsi]
1594	[--mtype normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable]
1595	[--comment <text>]
1596	[--setuuid <uuid>]
1597	[--setparentuuid <uuid>]
1598	[--passthrough on\|off]
1599	[--tempeject on\|off]
1600	[--bandwidthgroup name\|none]
1601	[--forceunmount]
1602	[--server <name>\|<ip>]
1603	[--target <target>]
1604	[--tport <port>]
1605	[--lun <lun>]
1606	[--encodedlun <lun>]
1607	[--username <username>]
1608	[--password <password>]
1609	[--intnet]
1610	</screen>
1611
1612	<para>A number of parameters are commonly required; the ones at the end of
1613	the list are required only for iSCSI targets (see below).</para>
1614
1615	<para>The common parameters are:<glosslist>
1616	<glossentry>
1617	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
1618
1619	<glossdef>
1620	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1621	</glossdef>
1622	</glossentry>
1623
1624	<glossentry>
1625	<glossterm>storagectl</glossterm>
1626
1627	<glossdef>
1628	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory. The list of the
1629	storage controllers currently attached to a VM can be obtained
1630	with <computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see
1631	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" />.</para>
1632	</glossdef>
1633	</glossentry>
1634
1635	<glossentry>
1636	<glossterm>port</glossterm>
1637
1638	<glossdef>
1639	<para>The number of the storage controller's port which is to be
1640	modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a
1641	single port.</para>
1642	</glossdef>
1643	</glossentry>
1644
1645	<glossentry>
1646	<glossterm>device</glossterm>
1647
1648	<glossdef>
1649	<para>The number of the port's device which is to be modified.
1650	Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single device
1651	per port.</para>
1652	</glossdef>
1653	</glossentry>
1654
1655	<glossentry>
1656	<glossterm>type</glossterm>
1657
1658	<glossdef>
1659	<para>Define the type of the drive to which the medium is being
1660	attached/detached/modified. This argument can only be omitted if
1661	the type of medium can be determined from either the medium given
1662	with the <computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> argument or
1663	from a previous medium attachment.</para>
1664	</glossdef>
1665	</glossentry>
1666
1667	<glossentry>
1668	<glossterm>medium</glossterm>
1669
1670	<glossdef>
1671	<para>Specifies what is to be attached. The following values are
1672	supported:<itemizedlist>
1673	<listitem>
1674	<para>"none": Any existing device should be removed from the
1675	given slot.</para>
1676	</listitem>
1677
1678	<listitem>
1679	<para>"emptydrive": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only,
1680	this makes the device slot behaves like a removeable drive
1681	into which no media has been inserted.</para>
1682	</listitem>
1683
1684	<listitem>
1685	<para>If a UUID is specified, it must be the UUID of a
1686	storage medium that is already known to VirtualBox (e.g.
1687	because it has been attached to another virtual machine).
1688	See <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for how to list known
1689	media. This medium is then attached to the given device
1690	slot.</para>
1691	</listitem>
1692
1693	<listitem>
1694	<para>If a filename is specified, it must be the full path
1695	of an existing disk image (ISO, RAW, VDI, VMDK or other),
1696	which is then attached to the given device slot.</para>
1697	</listitem>
1698
1699	<listitem>
1700	<para>"host:<drive>": For a virtual DVD or floppy
1701	drive only, this connects the given device slot to the
1702	specified DVD or floppy drive on the host computer.</para>
1703	</listitem>
1704
1705	<listitem>
1706	<para>"iscsi": For virtual hard disks only, this allows for
1707	specifying an iSCSI target. In this case, more parameters
1708	must be given; see below.</para>
1709	</listitem>
1710	</itemizedlist></para>
1711
1712	<para>Some of the above changes, in particular for removeable
1713	media (floppies and CDs/DVDs), can be effected while a VM is
1714	running. Others (device changes or changes in hard disk device
1715	slots) require the VM to be powered off.</para>
1716	</glossdef>
1717	</glossentry>
1718
1719	<glossentry>
1720	<glossterm>mtype</glossterm>
1721
1722	<glossdef>
1723	<para>Defines how this medium behaves with respect to snapshots
1724	and write operations. See <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for
1725	details.</para>
1726	</glossdef>
1727	</glossentry>
1728
1729	<glossentry>
1730	<glossterm>comment</glossterm>
1731
1732	<glossdef>
1733	<para>Any description that you want to have stored with this
1734	medium (optional; for example, for an iSCSI target, "Big storage
1735	server downstairs"). This is purely descriptive and not needed for
1736	the medium to function correctly.</para>
1737	</glossdef>
1738	</glossentry>
1739
1740	<glossentry>
1741	<glossterm>setuuid, setparentuuid</glossterm>
1742
1743	<glossdef>
1744	<para>Modifies the UUID or parent UUID of a medium before
1745	attaching it to a VM. This is an expert option. Inappropriate use
1746	can make the medium unusable or lead to broken VM configurations
1747	if any other VM is referring to the same media already. The most
1748	frequently used variant is <code>--setuuid ""</code>, which assigns
1749	a new (random) UUID to an image. This is useful to resolve the
1750	duplicate UUID errors if one duplicated an image using file copy
1751	utilities.</para>
1752	</glossdef>
1753	</glossentry>
1754
1755	<glossentry>
1756	<glossterm>passthrough</glossterm>
1757
1758	<glossdef>
1759	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can enable DVD writing
1760	support (currently experimental; see <xref
1761	linkend="storage-cds" />).</para>
1762	</glossdef>
1763	</glossentry>
1764
1765	<glossentry>
1766	<glossterm>tempeject</glossterm>
1767
1768	<glossdef>
1769	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can configure the behavior
1770	for guest-triggered medium eject. If this is set to "on", the eject
1771	has only temporary effects. If the VM is powered off and restarted
1772	the originally configured medium will be still in the drive.</para>
1773	</glossdef>
1774	</glossentry>
1775
1776	<glossentry>
1777	<glossterm>bandwidthgroup</glossterm>
1778
1779	<glossdef>
1780	<para>Sets the bandwidth group to use for the given device; see
1781	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" />.</para>
1782	</glossdef>
1783	</glossentry>
1784
1785	<glossentry>
1786	<glossterm>forceunmount</glossterm>
1787
1788	<glossdef>
1789	<para>For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this forcibly
1790	unmounts the DVD/CD/Floppy or mounts a new DVD/CD/Floppy even if
1791	the previous one is locked down by the guest for reading. Again,
1792	see <xref linkend="storage-cds" /> for details.</para>
1793	</glossdef>
1794	</glossentry>
1795	</glosslist></para>
1796
1797	<para>When "iscsi" is used with the
1798	<computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> parameter for iSCSI support --
1799	see <xref linkend="storage-iscsi" /> --, additional parameters must or can
1800	be used:<glosslist>
1801	<glossentry>
1802	<glossterm>server</glossterm>
1803
1804	<glossdef>
1805	<para>The host name or IP address of the iSCSI target;
1806	required.</para>
1807	</glossdef>
1808	</glossentry>
1809
1810	<glossentry>
1811	<glossterm>target</glossterm>
1812
1813	<glossdef>
1814	<para>Target name string. This is determined by the iSCSI target
1815	and used to identify the storage resource; required.</para>
1816	</glossdef>
1817	</glossentry>
1818
1819	<glossentry>
1820	<glossterm>tport</glossterm>
1821
1822	<glossdef>
1823	<para>TCP/IP port number of the iSCSI service on the target
1824	(optional).</para>
1825	</glossdef>
1826	</glossentry>
1827
1828	<glossentry>
1829	<glossterm>lun</glossterm>
1830
1831	<glossdef>
1832	<para>Logical Unit Number of the target resource (optional).
1833	Often, this value is zero.</para>
1834	</glossdef>
1835	</glossentry>
1836
1837	<glossentry>
1838	<glossterm>username, password</glossterm>
1839
1840	<glossdef>
1841	<para>Username and password for target authentication, if required
1842	(optional).<note>
1843	<para>Currently, username and password are stored without
1844	encryption (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine
1845	configuration file.</para>
1846	</note></para>
1847	</glossdef>
1848	</glossentry>
1849
1850	<glossentry>
1851	<glossterm>intnet</glossterm>
1852
1853	<glossdef>
1854	<para>If specified, connect to the iSCSI target via Internal
1855	Networking. This needs further configuration which is described in
1856	<xref linkend="iscsi-intnet" />.</para>
1857	</glossdef>
1858	</glossentry>
1859	</glosslist></para>
1860	</sect1>
1861
1862	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storagectl">
1863	<title>VBoxManage storagectl</title>
1864
1865	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage controller. After
1866	this, virtual media can be attached to the controller with the
1867	<computeroutput>storageattach</computeroutput> command (see the next
1868	section).</para>
1869
1870	<para>The syntax is as follows:</para>
1871
1872	<screen>VBoxManage storagectl <uuid\|vmname>
1873	--name <name>
1874	[--add <ide/sata/scsi/floppy>]
1875	[--controller <LsiLogic\|LSILogicSAS\|BusLogic\|
1876	IntelAhci\|PIIX3\|PIIX4\|ICH6\|I82078>]
1877	[--sataideemulation<1-4> <1-30>]
1878	[--sataportcount <1-30>]
1879	[--hostiocache on\|off]
1880	[--bootable on\|off]
1881	[--remove]</screen>
1882
1883	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
1884	<glossentry>
1885	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
1886
1887	<glossdef>
1888	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1889	</glossdef>
1890	</glossentry>
1891
1892	<glossentry>
1893	<glossterm>name</glossterm>
1894
1895	<glossdef>
1896	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory.</para>
1897	</glossdef>
1898	</glossentry>
1899
1900	<glossentry>
1901	<glossterm>add</glossterm>
1902
1903	<glossdef>
1904	<para>Define the type of the system bus to which the storage
1905	controller must be connected.</para>
1906	</glossdef>
1907	</glossentry>
1908
1909	<glossentry>
1910	<glossterm>controller</glossterm>
1911
1912	<glossdef>
1913	<para>Allows to choose the type of chipset being emulated for the
1914	given storage controller.</para>
1915	</glossdef>
1916	</glossentry>
1917
1918	<glossentry>
1919	<glossterm>sataideemulation</glossterm>
1920
1921	<glossdef>
1922	<para>This specifies which SATA ports should operate in IDE
1923	emulation mode. As explained in <xref
1924	linkend="harddiskcontrollers" />, by default, this is the case for
1925	SATA ports 1-4; with this command, you can map four IDE channels
1926	to any of the 30 supported SATA ports.</para>
1927	</glossdef>
1928	</glossentry>
1929
1930	<glossentry>
1931	<glossterm>sataportcount</glossterm>
1932
1933	<glossdef>
1934	<para>This determines how many ports the SATA controller should
1935	support.</para>
1936	</glossdef>
1937	</glossentry>
1938
1939	<glossentry>
1940	<glossterm>hostiocache</glossterm>
1941
1942	<glossdef>
1943	<para>Configures the use of the host I/O cache for all disk images
1944	attached to this storage controller. For details, please see <xref
1945	linkend="iocaching" />.</para>
1946	</glossdef>
1947	</glossentry>
1948
1949	<glossentry>
1950	<glossterm>bootable</glossterm>
1951
1952	<glossdef>
1953	<para>Selects whether this controller is bootable.</para>
1954	</glossdef>
1955	</glossentry>
1956
1957	<glossentry>
1958	<glossterm>remove</glossterm>
1959
1960	<glossdef>
1961	<para>Removes the storage controller from the VM config.</para>
1962	</glossdef>
1963	</glossentry>
1964	</glosslist></para>
1965	</sect1>
1966
1967	<sect1>
1968	<title>VBoxManage bandwidthctl</title>
1969
1970	<para>This command creates/deletes/modifies/shows bandwidth groups of the given
1971	virtual machine:<screen>VBoxManage bandwidthctl <uuid\|vmname>
1972	add <name> --type disk\|network --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
1973	set <name> --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
1974	remove <name> \|
1975	list [--machinereadable]</screen></para>
1976
1977	<para>The following subcommands are available:<itemizedlist>
1978	<listitem>
1979	<para><computeroutput>add</computeroutput>, creates a new bandwidth
1980	group of given type.</para>
1981	</listitem>
1982	<listitem>
1983	<para><computeroutput>set</computeroutput>, modifies the limit for an
1984	existing bandwidth group.</para>
1985	</listitem>
1986	<listitem>
1987	<para><computeroutput>remove</computeroutput>, destroys a bandwidth
1988	group.</para>
1989	</listitem>
1990	<listitem>
1991	<para><computeroutput>list</computeroutput>, shows all bandwidth groups
1992	defined for the given VM.</para>
1993	</listitem>
1994	</itemizedlist>
1995	</para>
1996	<para>The parameters mean:<glosslist>
1997	<glossentry>
1998	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
1999
2000	<glossdef>
2001	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2002	</glossdef>
2003	</glossentry>
2004
2005	<glossentry>
2006	<glossterm>name</glossterm>
2007
2008	<glossdef>
2009	<para>Name of the bandwidth group. Mandatory.</para>
2010	</glossdef>
2011	</glossentry>
2012
2013	<glossentry>
2014	<glossterm>type</glossterm>
2015
2016	<glossdef>
2017	<para>Type of the bandwidth group. Mandatory. Two types are
2018	supported: <computeroutput>disk</computeroutput> and
2019	<computeroutput>network</computeroutput>. See
2020	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" /> or
2021	<xref linkend="network_bandwidth_limit" /> for a description of a
2022	particular type.</para>
2023	</glossdef>
2024	</glossentry>
2025
2026	<glossentry>
2027	<glossterm>limit</glossterm>
2028
2029	<glossdef>
2030	<para>Specifies the limit for the given group. Can be changed
2031	while the VM is running. The default unit is megabytes per
2032	second. The unit can be changed by specifying one of the
2033	following suffixes: <computeroutput>k</computeroutput> for kilobits/s, <computeroutput>m</computeroutput> for megabits/s, <computeroutput>g</computeroutput> for gigabits/s, <computeroutput>K</computeroutput> for kilobytes/s, <computeroutput>M</computeroutput> for megabytes/s, <computeroutput>G</computeroutput> for gigabytes/s.</para>
2034	</glossdef>
2035	</glossentry>
2036	</glosslist>
2037	<note>
2038	<para>The network bandwidth limits apply only to the traffic being sent by
2039	virtual machines. The traffic being received by VMs is unlimited.</para>
2040	</note>
2041	<note>
2042	<para>To remove a bandwidth group it must not be referenced by any disks
2043	or adapters in running VM.</para>
2044	</note>
2045	</para>
2046	</sect1>
2047
2048	<sect1>
2049	<title>VBoxManage showhdinfo</title>
2050
2051	<para>This command shows information about a virtual hard disk image,
2052	notably its size, its size on disk, its type and the virtual machines
2053	which use it.<note>
2054	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2055	"showvdiinfo" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2056	"showhdinfo" command.</para>
2057	</note></para>
2058	<para>The disk image must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium
2059	is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by
2060	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
2061	for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either
2062	as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current
2063	directory.</para>
2064	</sect1>
2065
2066	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvdi">
2067	<title>VBoxManage createhd</title>
2068
2069	<para>This command creates a new virtual hard disk image. The syntax is as
2070	follows:</para>
2071
2072	<screen>VBoxManage createhd --filename <filename>
2073	--size <megabytes>
2074	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD] (default: VDI)
2075	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>
2076
2077	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2078	<glossentry>
2079	<glossterm>filename</glossterm>
2080
2081	<glossdef>
2082	<para>Allows to choose a file name. Mandatory.</para>
2083	</glossdef>
2084	</glossentry>
2085
2086	<glossentry>
2087	<glossterm>size</glossterm>
2088
2089	<glossdef>
2090	<para>Allows to define the image capacity, in 1 MiB units.
2091	Mandatory.</para>
2092	</glossdef>
2093	</glossentry>
2094
2095	<glossentry>
2096	<glossterm>format</glossterm>
2097
2098	<glossdef>
2099	<para>Allows to choose a file format for the output file different
2100	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2101	</glossdef>
2102	</glossentry>
2103
2104	<glossentry>
2105	<glossterm>variant</glossterm>
2106
2107	<glossdef>
2108	<para>Allows to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2109	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2110	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2111	result in an error message.</para>
2112	</glossdef>
2113	</glossentry>
2114	</glosslist> <note>
2115	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2116	"createvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2117	"createhd" command.</para>
2118	</note></para>
2119	</sect1>
2120
2121	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvdi">
2122	<title>VBoxManage modifyhd</title>
2123
2124	<para>With the <computeroutput>modifyhd</computeroutput> command, you can
2125	change the characteristics of a disk image after it has been
2126	created:<screen>VBoxManage modifyhd <uuid>\|<filename>
2127	[--type normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable\|
2128	readonly\|multiattach]
2129	[--autoreset on\|off]
2130	[--compact]
2131	[--resize <megabytes>\|--resizebyte <bytes>]</screen><note>
2132	<para>Despite the "hd" in the subcommand name, the command works with
2133	all disk images, not only hard disks. For compatibility with earlier
2134	versions of VirtualBox, the "modifyvdi" command is also supported and
2135	mapped internally to the "modifyhd" command.</para>
2136	</note></para>
2137
2138	<para>The disk image to modify must be specified either by its UUID
2139	(if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images
2140	can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2141	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2142	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path
2143	or as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2144	<para>The following options are available:<itemizedlist>
2145	<listitem>
2146	<para>With the <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> argument, you
2147	can change the type of an existing image between the normal,
2148	immutable, write-through and other modes; see <xref
2149	linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for details.</para>
2150	</listitem>
2151
2152	<listitem>
2153	<para>For immutable (differencing) hard disks only, the
2154	<computeroutput>--autoreset on\|off</computeroutput> option
2155	determines whether the disk is automatically reset on every VM
2156	startup (again, see <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />). The default
2157	is "on".</para>
2158	</listitem>
2159
2160	<listitem>
2161	<para>With the <computeroutput>--compact</computeroutput> option,
2162	can be used to compact disk images, i.e. remove blocks that only
2163	contains zeroes. This will shrink a dynamically allocated image
2164	again; it will reduce the <emphasis>physical</emphasis> size of the
2165	image without affecting the logical size of the virtual disk.
2166	Compaction works both for base images and for diff images created as
2167	part of a snapshot.</para>
2168
2169	<para>For this operation to be effective, it is required that free
2170	space in the guest system first be zeroed out using a suitable
2171	software tool. For Windows guests, you can use the
2172	<computeroutput>sdelete</computeroutput> tool provided by Microsoft.
2173	Execute <computeroutput>sdelete -z</computeroutput> in the guest to
2174	zero the free disk space before compressing the virtual disk
2175	image. For Linux, use the <code>zerofree</code> utility which
2176	supports ext2/ext3 filesystems.</para>
2177
2178	<para>Please note that compacting is currently only available for
2179	VDI images. A similar effect can be achieved by zeroing out free
2180	blocks and then cloning the disk to any other dynamically allocated
2181	format. You can use this workaround until compacting is also
2182	supported for disk formats other than VDI.</para>
2183	</listitem>
2184
2185	<listitem>
2186	<para>The <computeroutput>--resize x</computeroutput> option (where x
2187	is the desired new total space in <emphasis role="bold">megabytes</emphasis>)
2188	allows you to change the capacity of an existing image; this adjusts the
2189	<emphasis>logical</emphasis> size of a virtual disk without affecting
2190	the physical size much.<footnote>
2191	<para>Image resizing was added with VirtualBox 4.0.</para>
2192	</footnote> This currently works only for VDI and VHD formats, and only
2193	for the dynamically allocated variants, and can only be used to expand
2194	(not shrink) the capacity.
2195	For example, if you originally created a 10G disk which is now full,
2196	you can use the <computeroutput>--resize 15360</computeroutput>
2197	command to change the capacity to 15G (15,360MB) without having to create a new
2198	image and copy all data from within a virtual machine. Note however that
2199	this only changes the drive capacity; you will typically next need to use
2200	a partition management tool inside the guest to adjust the main partition
2201	to fill the drive.</para><para>The <computeroutput>--resizebyte x</computeroutput>
2202	option does almost the same thing, except that x is expressed in bytes
2203	instead of megabytes.</para>
2204	</listitem>
2205	</itemizedlist></para>
2206	</sect1>
2207
2208	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevdi">
2209	<title>VBoxManage clonehd</title>
2210
2211	<para>This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a
2212	new image file with a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be
2213	transferred to another host system or imported into VirtualBox again using
2214	the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref linkend="vdis" /> and <xref
2215	linkend="cloningvdis" />. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2216
2217	<screen>VBoxManage clonehd <uuid>\|<filename> <outputfile>
2218	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD\|RAW\|<other>]
2219	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2220	[--existing]</screen>
2221
2222	<para>The disk image to clone as well as the target image must be described
2223	either by its UUIDs (if the mediums are registered) or by its filename.
2224	Registered images can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2225	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2226	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or
2227	as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2228	<para>The following options are available:<glosslist>
2229	<glossentry>
2230	<glossterm>format</glossterm>
2231
2232	<glossdef>
2233	<para>Allow to choose a file format for the output file different
2234	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2235	</glossdef>
2236	</glossentry>
2237
2238	<glossentry>
2239	<glossterm>variant</glossterm>
2240
2241	<glossdef>
2242	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2243	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2244	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2245	result in an error message.</para>
2246	</glossdef>
2247	</glossentry>
2248
2249	<glossentry>
2250	<glossterm>existing</glossterm>
2251
2252	<glossdef>
2253	<para>Perform the clone operation to an already existing
2254	destination medium. Only the portion of the source medium which
2255	fits into the destination medium is copied. This means if the
2256	destination medium is smaller than the source only a part of it is
2257	copied, and if the destination medium is larger than the source
2258	the remaining part of the destination medium is unchanged.</para>
2259	</glossdef>
2260	</glossentry>
2261	</glosslist> <note>
2262	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2263	"clonevdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2264	"clonehd" command.</para>
2265	</note></para>
2266	</sect1>
2267
2268	<sect1>
2269	<title>VBoxManage convertfromraw</title>
2270
2271	<para>This command converts a raw disk image to a VirtualBox Disk Image
2272	(VDI) file. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2273
2274	<screen>VBoxManage convertfromraw <filename> <outputfile>
2275	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2276	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2277	[--uuid <uuid>]
2278	VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin <outputfile> <bytes>
2279	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2280	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2281	[--uuid <uuid>]</screen>
2282
2283	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2284	<glossentry>
2285	<glossterm>bytes</glossterm>
2286
2287	<glossdef>
2288	<para>The size of the image file, in bytes, provided through
2289	stdin.</para>
2290	</glossdef>
2291	</glossentry>
2292
2293	<glossentry>
2294	<glossterm>format</glossterm>
2295
2296	<glossdef>
2297	<para>Select the disk image format to create. Default is
2298	VDI.</para>
2299	</glossdef>
2300	</glossentry>
2301
2302	<glossentry>
2303	<glossterm>variant</glossterm>
2304
2305	<glossdef>
2306	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2307	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2308	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2309	result in an error message.</para>
2310	</glossdef>
2311	</glossentry>
2312
2313	<glossentry>
2314	<glossterm>uuid</glossterm>
2315
2316	<glossdef>
2317	<para>Allow to specifiy the UUID of the output file.</para>
2318	</glossdef>
2319	</glossentry>
2320	</glosslist> The second form forces VBoxManage to read the content for
2321	the disk image from standard input (useful for using that command in a
2322	pipe).</para>
2323
2324	<para><note>
2325	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2326	"convertdd" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2327	"convertfromraw" command.</para>
2328	</note></para>
2329	</sect1>
2330
2331	<sect1>
2332	<title>VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata</title>
2333
2334	<para>These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual
2335	machine or to a VirtualBox configuration (by specifying
2336	<computeroutput>global</computeroutput> instead of a virtual machine
2337	name). You must specify a key (as a text string) to associate the data
2338	with, which you can later use to retrieve it. For example:</para>
2339
2340	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate 2006.01.01
2341	VBoxManage setextradata SUSE10 installdate 2006.02.02</screen>
2342
2343	<para>would associate the string "2006.01.01" with the key installdate for
2344	the virtual machine Fedora5, and "2006.02.02" on the machine SUSE10. You
2345	could retrieve the information as follows:</para>
2346
2347	<screen>VBoxManage getextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2348
2349	<para>which would return</para>
2350
2351	<screen>VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
2352	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
2353	All rights reserved.
2354
2355	Value: 2006.01.01</screen>
2356	<para>To remove a key, the <computeroutput>setextradata</computeroutput>
2357	command must be run without specifying data (only the key), for example:
2358	</para>
2359
2360	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2361
2362	</sect1>
2363
2364	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-setproperty">
2365	<title>VBoxManage setproperty</title>
2366
2367	<para>This command is used to change global settings which affect the
2368	entire VirtualBox installation. Some of these correspond to the settings
2369	in the "Global settings" dialog in the graphical user interface. The
2370	following properties are available:<glosslist>
2371	<glossentry>
2372	<glossterm>machinefolder</glossterm>
2373
2374	<glossdef>
2375	<para>This specifies the default folder in which virtual machine
2376	definitions are kept; see <xref linkend="vboxconfigdata" /> for
2377	details.</para>
2378	</glossdef>
2379	</glossentry>
2380
2381	<glossentry>
2382	<glossterm>vrdeauthlibrary</glossterm>
2383
2384	<glossdef>
2385	<para>This specifies which library to use when "external"
2386	authentication has been selected for a particular virtual machine;
2387	see <xref linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
2388	</glossdef>
2389	</glossentry>
2390
2391	<glossentry>
2392	<glossterm>websrvauthlibrary</glossterm>
2393
2394	<glossdef>
2395	<para>This specifies which library the web service uses to
2396	authenticate users. For details about the VirtualBox web service,
2397	please refer to the separate VirtualBox SDK reference (see <xref
2398	linkend="VirtualBoxAPI" />).</para>
2399	</glossdef>
2400	</glossentry>
2401
2402	<glossentry>
2403	<glossterm>vrdelibrary</glossterm>
2404
2405	<glossdef>
2406	<para>This specifies which library implements the VirtualBox
2407	Remote Desktop Extension.</para>
2408	</glossdef>
2409	</glossentry>
2410
2411	<glossentry>
2412	<glossterm>hwvirtexenabled</glossterm>
2413
2414	<glossdef>
2415	<para>This selects whether or not hardware virtualization support
2416	is enabled by default.</para>
2417	</glossdef>
2418	</glossentry>
2419	</glosslist></para>
2420	</sect1>
2421
2422	<sect1>
2423	<title>VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove</title>
2424
2425	<para>The <computeroutput>usbfilter</computeroutput> commands are used for
2426	working with USB filters in virtual machines, or global filters which
2427	affect the whole VirtualBox setup. Global filters are applied before
2428	machine-specific filters, and may be used to prevent devices from being
2429	captured by any virtual machine. Global filters are always applied in a
2430	particular order, and only the first filter which fits a device is
2431	applied. So for example, if the first global filter says to hold (make
2432	available) a particular Kingston memory stick device and the second to
2433	ignore all Kingston devices, that memory stick will be available to any
2434	machine with an appropriate filter, but no other Kingston device
2435	will.</para>
2436
2437	<para>When creating a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2438	add</computeroutput>, you must supply three or four mandatory parameters.
2439	The index specifies the position in the list at which the filter should be
2440	placed. If there is already a filter at that position, then it and the
2441	following ones will be shifted back one place. Otherwise the new filter
2442	will be added onto the end of the list. The
2443	<computeroutput>target</computeroutput> parameter selects the virtual
2444	machine that the filter should be attached to or use "global" to apply it
2445	to all virtual machines. <computeroutput>name</computeroutput> is a name
2446	for the new filter and for global filters,
2447	<computeroutput>action</computeroutput> says whether to allow machines
2448	access to devices that fit the filter description ("hold") or not to give
2449	them access ("ignore"). In addition, you should specify parameters to
2450	filter by. You can find the parameters for devices attached to your system
2451	using <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbhost</computeroutput>. Finally,
2452	you can specify whether the filter should be active, and for local
2453	filters, whether they are for local devices, remote (over an RDP
2454	connection) or either.</para>
2455
2456	<para>When you modify a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2457	modify</computeroutput>, you must specify the filter by index (see the
2458	output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbfilters</computeroutput> to
2459	find global filter indexes and that of <computeroutput>VBoxManage
2460	showvminfo</computeroutput> to find indexes for individual machines) and
2461	by target, which is either a virtual machine or "global". The properties
2462	which can be changed are the same as for <computeroutput>usbfilter
2463	add</computeroutput>. To remove a filter, use <computeroutput>usbfilter
2464	remove</computeroutput> and specify the index and the target.</para>
2465	</sect1>
2466
2467	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-sharedfolder">
2468	<title>VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove</title>
2469
2470	<para>This command allows you to share folders on the host computer with
2471	guest operating systems. For this, the guest systems must have a version
2472	of the VirtualBox Guest Additions installed which supports this
2473	functionality.</para>
2474
2475	<para>Shared folders are described in detail in <xref
2476	linkend="sharedfolders" />.</para>
2477	</sect1>
2478
2479	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty">
2480	<title>VBoxManage guestproperty</title>
2481
2482	<para>The "guestproperty" commands allow you to get or set properties of a
2483	running virtual machine. Please see <xref linkend="guestadd-guestprops" />
2484	for an introduction. As explained there, guest properties are arbitrary
2485	key/value string pairs which can be written to and read from by either the
2486	guest or the host, so they can be used as a low-volume communication
2487	channel for strings, provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
2488	Additions installed. In addition, a number of values whose keys begin with
2489	"/VirtualBox/" are automatically set and maintained by the Guest
2490	Additions.</para>
2491
2492	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2493	<computeroutput><vm></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2494	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2495	<listitem>
2496	<para><computeroutput>enumerate <vm> [--patterns
2497	<pattern>]</computeroutput>: This lists all the guest
2498	properties that are available for the given VM, including the value.
2499	This list will be very limited if the guest's service process cannot
2500	be contacted, e.g. because the VM is not running or the Guest
2501	Additions are not installed.</para>
2502
2503	<para>If <computeroutput>--patterns <pattern></computeroutput>
2504	is specified, it acts as a filter to only list properties that match
2505	the given pattern. The pattern can contain the following wildcard
2506	characters:<itemizedlist>
2507	<listitem>
2508	<para><computeroutput>*</computeroutput> (asterisk):
2509	represents any number of characters; for example,
2510	"<computeroutput>/VirtualBox*</computeroutput>" would match
2511	all properties beginning with "/VirtualBox".</para>
2512	</listitem>
2513
2514	<listitem>
2515	<para><computeroutput>?</computeroutput> (question mark):
2516	represents a single arbitrary character; for example,
2517	"<computeroutput>fo?</computeroutput>" would match both "foo"
2518	and "for".</para>
2519	</listitem>
2520
2521	<listitem>
2522	<para><computeroutput>\|</computeroutput> (pipe symbol): can be
2523	used to specify multiple alternative patterns; for example,
2524	"<computeroutput>s\|t</computeroutput>" would match anything
2525	starting with either "s" or "t".</para>
2526	</listitem>
2527	</itemizedlist></para>
2528	</listitem>
2529
2530	<listitem>
2531	<para><computeroutput>get <vm></computeroutput>: This
2532	retrieves the value of a single property only. If the property
2533	cannot be found (e.g. because the guest is not running), this will
2534	print <screen>No value set!</screen></para>
2535	</listitem>
2536
2537	<listitem>
2538	<para><computeroutput>set <vm> <property> [<value>
2539	[--flags <flags>]]</computeroutput>: This allows you to set a
2540	guest property by specifying the key and value. If
2541	<computeroutput><value></computeroutput> is omitted, the
2542	property is deleted. With <computeroutput>--flags</computeroutput>
2543	you can optionally specify additional behavior (you can combine
2544	several by separating them with commas):<itemizedlist>
2545	<listitem>
2546	<para><computeroutput>TRANSIENT</computeroutput>: the value
2547	will not be stored with the VM data when the VM exits;</para>
2548	</listitem>
2549
2550	<listitem>
2551	<para><computeroutput>TRANSRESET</computeroutput>: the value
2552	will be deleted as soon as the VM restarts and/or exits;</para>
2553	</listitem>
2554
2555	<listitem>
2556	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYGUEST</computeroutput>: the value
2557	can only be changed by the host, but the guest can only read
2558	it;</para>
2559	</listitem>
2560
2561	<listitem>
2562	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYHOST</computeroutput>: reversely,
2563	the value can only be changed by the guest, but the host can
2564	only read it;</para>
2565	</listitem>
2566
2567	<listitem>
2568	<para><computeroutput>READONLY</computeroutput>: a combination
2569	of the two, the value cannot be changed at all.</para>
2570	</listitem>
2571	</itemizedlist></para>
2572	</listitem>
2573
2574	<listitem>
2575	<para><computeroutput>wait <vm> <pattern> --timeout
2576	<timeout></computeroutput>: This waits for a particular value
2577	described by "pattern" to change or to be deleted or created. The
2578	pattern rules are the same as for the "enumerate" subcommand
2579	above.</para>
2580	</listitem>
2581	</itemizedlist></para>
2582	</sect1>
2583
2584	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestcontrol">
2585	<title>VBoxManage guestcontrol</title>
2586
2587	<para>The "guestcontrol" commands allow you to control certain things
2588	inside a guest from the host. Please see <xref
2589	linkend="guestadd-guestcontrol" /> for an introduction.</para>
2590
2591	<para>Generally, the syntax is as follows:</para>
2592
2593	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <command></screen>
2594
2595	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2596	<computeroutput><vm></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2597	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2598	<listitem>
2599	<para><computeroutput>execute</computeroutput>, which allows for
2600	executing a program/script (process) which already is installed and
2601	runnable on the guest. This command only works while a VM is up and
2602	running and has the following syntax:</para>
2603
2604	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>\|<uuid> exec[ute]
2605	--image <path to program>
2606	--username <name> [--password <password>]
2607	[--dos2unix]
2608	[--environment "<NAME>=<VALUE> [<NAME>=<VALUE>]"]
2609	[--timeout <msec>] [--unix2dos] [--verbose]
2610	[--wait-exit] [--wait-stdout] [--wait-stderr]
2611	-- [[<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
2612
2613	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2614	<glossentry>
2615	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
2616
2617	<glossdef>
2618	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2619	</glossdef>
2620	</glossentry>
2621
2622	<glossentry>
2623	<glossterm>--image "<path to program>"</glossterm>
2624
2625	<glossdef>
2626	<para>Absolute path and process name of process to execute
2627	in the guest, e.g.
2628	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput></para>
2629	</glossdef>
2630	</glossentry>
2631
2632	<glossentry>
2633	<glossterm>--username <name></glossterm>
2634
2635	<glossdef>
2636	<para>Name of the user the process should run under. This
2637	user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2638	</glossdef>
2639	</glossentry>
2640
2641	<glossentry>
2642	<glossterm>--password <password></glossterm>
2643
2644	<glossdef>
2645	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2646	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2647	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2648	</glossdef>
2649	</glossentry>
2650
2651	<glossentry>
2652	<glossterm>--dos2unix</glossterm>
2653
2654	<glossdef>
2655	Converts output from DOS/Windows guests to UNIX-compatible
2656	line endings (CR + LF -> LF). Not implemented yet.
2657	</glossdef>
2658	</glossentry>
2659
2660	<glossentry>
2661	<glossterm>--environment
2662	"<NAME>=<VALUE>"</glossterm>
2663
2664	<glossdef>
2665	<para>One or more environment variables to be set or
2666	unset.</para>
2667
2668	<para>By default, the new process in the guest will be
2669	created with the standard environment of the guest OS. This
2670	option allows for modifying that environment. To set/modify
2671	a variable, a pair of
2672	<computeroutput>NAME=VALUE</computeroutput> must be
2673	specified; to unset a certain variable, the name with no
2674	value must set, e.g.
2675	<computeroutput>NAME=</computeroutput>.</para>
2676
2677	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2678	quotation marks. More than one
2679	<computeroutput>--environment</computeroutput> at a time can
2680	be specified to keep the command line tidy.</para>
2681	</glossdef>
2682	</glossentry>
2683
2684	<glossentry>
2685	<glossterm>--timeout <msec></glossterm>
2686
2687	<glossdef>
2688	<para>Value (in milliseconds) that specifies the time how
2689	long the started process is allowed to run and how long
2690	VBoxManage waits for getting output from that process. If no
2691	timeout is specified, VBoxManage will wait forever until the
2692	started process ends or an error occured.</para>
2693	</glossdef>
2694	</glossentry>
2695
2696	<glossentry>
2697	<glossterm>--unix2dos</glossterm>
2698
2699	<glossdef>
2700	Converts output from a UNIX/Linux guests to DOS-/Windows-compatible
2701	line endings (LF -> CR + LF). Not implemented yet.
2702	</glossdef>
2703	</glossentry>
2704
2705	<glossentry>
2706	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
2707
2708	<glossdef>
2709	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2710	</glossdef>
2711	</glossentry>
2712
2713	<glossentry>
2714	<glossterm>--wait-exit</glossterm>
2715
2716	<glossdef>
2717	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2718	exit code along with the exit reason/flags.</para>
2719	</glossdef>
2720	</glossentry>
2721
2722	<glossentry>
2723	<glossterm>--wait-stdout</glossterm>
2724
2725	<glossdef>
2726	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2727	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2728	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stdout.</para>
2729	</glossdef>
2730	</glossentry>
2731
2732	<glossentry>
2733	<glossterm>--wait-stderr</glossterm>
2734
2735	<glossdef>
2736	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
2737	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
2738	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stderr.</para>
2739	</glossdef>
2740	</glossentry>
2741
2742	<glossentry>
2743	<glossterm>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</glossterm>
2744
2745	<glossdef>
2746	<para>One or more arguments to pass to the process being
2747	executed.</para>
2748	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
2749	quotation marks.</para>
2750	</glossdef>
2751	</glossentry>
2752
2753	</glosslist></para>
2754
2755	<para><note>
2756	<para>On Windows there are certain limitations for graphical
2757	applications; please see <xref linkend="KnownIssues" /> for more
2758	information.</para>
2759	</note> Examples: <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls"
2760	--username foo --password bar --wait-exit --wait-stdout -- -l /usr</screen> <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "c:\\windows\\system32\\ipconfig.exe"
2761	--username foo --password bar --wait-exit --wait-stdout</screen> Note that
2762	the double backslashes in the second example are only required on
2763	Unix hosts.</para>
2764
2765	<para><note>
2766	<para>For certain commands a user name of an existing user account on the guest
2767	must be specified; anonymous executions are not supported for security reasons. A
2768	user account password, however, is optional and depends on the guest's OS security
2769	policy or rules. If no password is specified for a given user name, an empty password
2770	will be used. On certain OSes like Windows the security policy may needs to be adjusted
2771	in order to allow user accounts with an empty password set. Also, global domain rules might
2772	apply and therefore cannot be changed.</para>
2773	</note></para>
2774
2775	<para>Starting at VirtualBox 4.1.2 guest process execution by default is limited
2776	to serve up to 5 guest processes at a time. If a new guest process gets started
2777	which would exceed this limit, the oldest not running guest process will be discarded
2778	in order to be able to run that new process. Also, retrieving output from this
2779	old guest process will not be possible anymore then. If all 5 guest processes
2780	are still active and running, starting a new guest process will result in an
2781	appropriate error message.</para>
2782
2783	<para>To raise or lower the guest process execution limit, either the guest
2784	property <computeroutput>/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
2785	or VBoxService' command line by specifying <computeroutput>--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
2786	needs to be modified. A restart of the guest OS is required afterwards. To serve unlimited
2787	guest processes, a value of <computeroutput>0</computeroutput> needs to be set (not recommended).</para>
2788	</listitem>
2789
2790	<listitem>
2791	<para><computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput>, which allows copying
2792	files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
2793	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
2794
2795	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>\|<uuid> copyto\|cp
2796	<source on host> <destination on guest>
2797	--username <name> [--password <password>]
2798	[--dryrun] [--follow] [--recursive] [--verbose]</screen>
2799
2800	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2801	<glossentry>
2802	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
2803
2804	<glossdef>
2805	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2806	</glossdef>
2807	</glossentry>
2808
2809	<glossentry>
2810	<glossterm>source on host</glossterm>
2811
2812	<glossdef>
2813	<para>Absolute path of source file(s) on host to copy over
2814	to the guest, e.g.
2815	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput>.
2816	This also can be a wildcard expression, e.g.
2817	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\*.dll</computeroutput></para>
2818	</glossdef>
2819	</glossentry>
2820
2821	<glossentry>
2822	<glossterm>destination on guest</glossterm>
2823
2824	<glossdef>
2825	<para>Absolute destination path on the guest, e.g.
2826	<computeroutput>C:\Temp</computeroutput></para>
2827	</glossdef>
2828	</glossentry>
2829
2830	<glossentry>
2831	<glossterm>--username <name></glossterm>
2832
2833	<glossdef>
2834	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
2835	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2836	</glossdef>
2837	</glossentry>
2838
2839	<glossentry>
2840	<glossterm>--password <password></glossterm>
2841
2842	<glossdef>
2843	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2844	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2845	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2846	</glossdef>
2847	</glossentry>
2848
2849	<glossentry>
2850	<glossterm>--dryrun</glossterm>
2851
2852	<glossdef>
2853	<para>Tells VBoxManage to only perform a dry run instead of
2854	really copying files to the guest.</para>
2855	</glossdef>
2856	</glossentry>
2857
2858	<glossentry>
2859	<glossterm>--follow</glossterm>
2860
2861	<glossdef>
2862	<para>Enables following symlinks on the host's
2863	source.</para>
2864	</glossdef>
2865	</glossentry>
2866
2867	<glossentry>
2868	<glossterm>--recursive</glossterm>
2869
2870	<glossdef>
2871	<para>Recursively copies files/directories of the specified
2872	source.</para>
2873	</glossdef>
2874	</glossentry>
2875
2876	<glossentry>
2877	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
2878
2879	<glossdef>
2880	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2881	</glossdef>
2882	</glossentry>
2883
2884	<glossentry>
2885	<glossterm>--flags <flags></glossterm>
2886
2887	<glossdef>
2888	<para>Additional flags to set. This is not used at the
2889	moment.</para>
2890	</glossdef>
2891	</glossentry>
2892	</glosslist></para>
2893	</listitem>
2894
2895	<listitem>
2896	<para><computeroutput>createdirectory</computeroutput>, which allows
2897	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
2898	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
2899
2900	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>\|<uuid> createdir[ectory]\|mkdir\|md
2901	<directory to create on guest>
2902	[--username "<name>"] [--password "<password>"]
2903	[--parents] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
2904
2905	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2906	<glossentry>
2907	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
2908
2909	<glossdef>
2910	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2911	</glossdef>
2912	</glossentry>
2913
2914	<glossentry>
2915	<glossterm>directory to create on guest</glossterm>
2916
2917	<glossdef>
2918	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to create on
2919	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>.
2920	Parent directories need to exist (e.g. in this example
2921	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput>) when switch
2922	<computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput> is omitted. The
2923	specified user must have appropriate rights to create the
2924	specified directory.</para>
2925	</glossdef>
2926	</glossentry>
2927
2928	<glossentry>
2929	<glossterm>--username <name></glossterm>
2930
2931	<glossdef>
2932	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
2933	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2934	</glossdef>
2935	</glossentry>
2936
2937	<glossentry>
2938	<glossterm>--password <password></glossterm>
2939
2940	<glossdef>
2941	<para>Password of the user account specified with
2942	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
2943	an empty password is assumed.</para>
2944	</glossdef>
2945	</glossentry>
2946
2947	<glossentry>
2948	<glossterm>--parents</glossterm>
2949
2950	<glossdef>
2951	<para>Also creates not yet existing parent directories of
2952	the specified directory, e.g. if the directory
2953	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput> of
2954	<computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput> does not exist
2955	yet it will be created. Without specifying
2956	<computeroutput>--parent</computeroutput> the action would
2957	have failed.</para>
2958	</glossdef>
2959	</glossentry>
2960
2961	<glossentry>
2962	<glossterm>--mode <mode></glossterm>
2963
2964	<glossdef>
2965	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
2966	Only octal modes (e.g.
2967	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
2968	now.</para>
2969	</glossdef>
2970	</glossentry>
2971
2972	<glossentry>
2973	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
2974
2975	<glossdef>
2976	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
2977	</glossdef>
2978	</glossentry>
2979	</glosslist></para>
2980	</listitem>
2981
2982	<listitem>
2983	<para><computeroutput>stat</computeroutput>, which displays file
2984	or file system status on the guest.</para>
2985
2986	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>\|<uuid> stat
2987	<file element(s) to check on guest>
2988	[--username "<name>"] [--password "<password>"]
2989	[--verbose]</screen>
2990
2991	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2992	<glossentry>
2993	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
2994
2995	<glossdef>
2996	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2997	</glossdef>
2998	</glossentry>
2999
3000	<glossentry>
3001	<glossterm>file element(s) to check on guest</glossterm>
3002
3003	<glossdef>
3004	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to check on
3005	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>/home/foo/a.out</computeroutput>.
3006	The specified user must have appropriate rights to access
3007	the given file element(s).</para>
3008	</glossdef>
3009	</glossentry>
3010
3011	<glossentry>
3012	<glossterm>--username <name></glossterm>
3013
3014	<glossdef>
3015	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3016	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3017	</glossdef>
3018	</glossentry>
3019
3020	<glossentry>
3021	<glossterm>--password <password></glossterm>
3022
3023	<glossdef>
3024	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3025	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3026	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3027	</glossdef>
3028	</glossentry>
3029
3030	<glossentry>
3031	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
3032
3033	<glossdef>
3034	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3035	</glossdef>
3036	</glossentry>
3037	</glosslist></para>
3038	</listitem>
3039
3040	<listitem>
3041	<para><computeroutput>updateadditions</computeroutput>, which allows
3042	for updating an already installed Guest Additions version on the
3043	guest (only already installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3044
3045	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <vmname>\|<uuid> updateadditions
3046	[--source "<guest additions .ISO file to use>"] [--verbose]</screen>
3047
3048	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3049	<glossentry>
3050	<glossterm>uuid\|vmname</glossterm>
3051
3052	<glossdef>
3053	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3054	</glossdef>
3055	</glossentry>
3056
3057	<glossentry>
3058	<glossterm>--source "<guest additions .ISO file to
3059	use>"</glossterm>
3060
3061	<glossdef>
3062	<para>Full path to an alternative VirtualBox Guest Additions
3063	.ISO file to use for the Guest Additions update.</para>
3064	</glossdef>
3065	</glossentry>
3066
3067	<glossentry>
3068	<glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>
3069
3070	<glossdef>
3071	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3072	</glossdef>
3073	</glossentry>
3074	</glosslist></para>
3075	</listitem>
3076	</itemizedlist></para>
3077	</sect1>
3078
3079	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-debugvm">
3080	<title>VBoxManage debugvm</title>
3081
3082	<para>The "debugvm" commands are for experts who want to tinker with the
3083	exact details of virtual machine execution. Like the VM debugger described
3084	in <xref linkend="ts_debugger" />, these commands are only useful if you are
3085	very familiar with the details of the PC architecture and how to debug
3086	software.</para>
3087
3088	<para>The subcommands of "debugvm" all operate on a running virtual
3089	machine. The following are available:<itemizedlist>
3090	<listitem>
3091	<para>With <computeroutput>dumpguestcore --filename
3092	<name></computeroutput>, you can create a system dump of the
3093	running VM, which will be written into the given file. This file
3094	will have the standard ELF core format (with custom sections); see
3095	<xref linkend="ts_guest-core-format" />.</para>
3096
3097	<para>This corresponds to the
3098	<computeroutput>writecore</computeroutput> command in the debugger.
3099	</para>
3100	</listitem>
3101
3102	<listitem>
3103	<para>The <computeroutput>info</computeroutput> command is used to
3104	display info items relating to the VMM, device emulations and
3105	associated drivers. This command takes one or two arguments: the
3106	name of the info item, optionally followed by a string containing
3107	arguments specific to the info item.
3108	The <computeroutput>help</computeroutput> info item provides a
3109	listning of the available items and hints about any optional
3110	arguments.</para>
3111
3112	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>info</computeroutput>
3113	command in the debugger.</para>
3114	</listitem>
3115
3116	<listitem>
3117	<para>The <computeroutput>injectnmi</computeroutput> command causes
3118	a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) in the guest, which might be useful
3119	for certain debugging scenarios. What happens exactly is dependent
3120	on the guest operating system, but an NMI can crash the whole guest
3121	operating system. Do not use unless you know what you're
3122	doing.</para>
3123	</listitem>
3124
3125	<listitem>
3126	<para>The <computeroutput>osdetect</computeroutput> command makes the
3127	VMM's debugger facility (re-)detection the guest operation
3128	system.</para>
3129
3130	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>detect</computeroutput>
3131	command in the debugger.</para>
3132	</listitem>
3133
3134	<listitem>
3135	<para>The <computeroutput>osinfo</computeroutput> command is used to
3136	display info about the operating system (OS) detected by the VMM's
3137	debugger facility.</para>
3138	</listitem>
3139
3140	<listitem>
3141	<para>The <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command is
3142	used to display CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3143	of registers, each having one of the following forms:
3144	<itemizedlist>
3145	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3146	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3147	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
3148	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
3149	<listitem><computeroutput>all</computeroutput></listitem>
3150	</itemizedlist>
3151	The <computeroutput>all</computeroutput> form will cause all
3152	registers to be shown (no sub-fields). The registers names are
3153	case-insensitive. When requesting a CPU register the register set
3154	can be omitted, it will be selected using the value of the
3155	<computeroutput>--cpu</computeroutput> option (defaulting to 0).
3156	</para>
3157	</listitem>
3158
3159	<listitem>
3160	<para>The <computeroutput>setregisters</computeroutput> command is
3161	used to change CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
3162	of register assignments, each having one of the following forms:
3163	<itemizedlist>
3164	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3165	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3166	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3167	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
3168	</itemizedlist>
3169	The value format should be in the same style as what
3170	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> displays, with the
3171	exception that both octal and decimal can be used instead of
3172	hexadecimal. The register naming and the default CPU register set
3173	are handled the same way as with the
3174	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command.</para>
3175	</listitem>
3176
3177	<listitem>
3178	<para>The <computeroutput>statistics</computeroutput> command can be
3179	used to display VMM statistics on the command line. The
3180	<computeroutput>--reset</computeroutput> option will reset
3181	statistics. The affected statistics can be filtered with the
3182	<computeroutput>--pattern</computeroutput> option, which accepts
3183	DOS/NT-style wildcards (<computeroutput>?</computeroutput> and
3184	<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>).</para>
3185	</listitem>
3186	</itemizedlist></para>
3187	</sect1>
3188
3189	<sect1>
3190	<title id="metrics">VBoxManage metrics</title>
3191
3192	<para>This command supports monitoring the usage of system resources.
3193	Resources are represented by various metrics associated with the host
3194	system or a particular VM. For example, the host system has a
3195	<computeroutput>CPU/Load/User</computeroutput> metric that shows the
3196	percentage of time CPUs spend executing in user mode over a specific
3197	sampling period.</para>
3198
3199	<para>Metric data is collected and retained internally; it may be
3200	retrieved at any time with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3201	query</computeroutput> subcommand. The data is available as long as the
3202	background <computeroutput>VBoxSVC</computeroutput> process is alive. That
3203	process terminates shortly after all VMs and frontends have been
3204	closed.</para>
3205
3206	<para>By default no metrics are collected at all. Metrics collection does
3207	not start until <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics setup</computeroutput>
3208	is invoked with a proper sampling interval and the number of metrics to be
3209	retained. The interval is measured in seconds. For example, to enable
3210	collecting the host processor and memory usage metrics every second and
3211	keeping the 5 most current samples, the following command can be
3212	used:</para>
3213
3214	<screen>VBoxManage metrics setup --period 1 --samples 5 host CPU/Load,RAM/Usage</screen>
3215
3216	<para>Metric collection can only be enabled for started VMs. Collected
3217	data and collection settings for a particular VM will disappear as soon as
3218	it shuts down. Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics list
3219	</computeroutput> subcommand to see which metrics are currently available.
3220	You can also use <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option with any
3221	subcommand that modifies metric settings to find out which metrics were
3222	affected.</para>
3223
3224	<para>Note that the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3225	setup</computeroutput> subcommand discards all samples that may have been
3226	previously collected for the specified set of objects and metrics.</para>
3227
3228	<para>To enable or disable metrics collection without discarding the data
3229	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics enable</computeroutput> and
3230	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics disable</computeroutput> subcommands
3231	can be used. Note that these subcommands expect metrics, not submetrics,
3232	like <code>CPU/Load</code> or <code>RAM/Usage</code> as parameters. In
3233	other words enabling <code>CPU/Load/User</code> while disabling
3234	<code>CPU/Load/Kernel</code> is not supported.</para>
3235
3236	<para>The host and VMs have different sets of associated metrics.
3237	Available metrics can be listed with <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
3238	list</computeroutput> subcommand.</para>
3239
3240	<para>A complete metric name may include an aggregate function. The name
3241	has the following form:
3242	<computeroutput>Category/Metric[/SubMetric][:aggregate]</computeroutput>.
3243	For example, <computeroutput>RAM/Usage/Free:min</computeroutput> stands
3244	for the minimum amount of available memory over all retained data if
3245	applied to the host object.</para>
3246
3247	<para>Subcommands may apply to all objects and metrics or can be limited
3248	to one object or/and a list of metrics. If no objects or metrics are given
3249	in the parameters, the subcommands will apply to all available metrics of
3250	all objects. You may use an asterisk
3251	("<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>") to explicitly specify that the
3252	command should be applied to all objects or metrics. Use "host" as the
3253	object name to limit the scope of the command to host-related metrics. To
3254	limit the scope to a subset of metrics, use a metric list with names
3255	separated by commas.</para>
3256
3257	<para>For example, to query metric data on the CPU time spent in user and
3258	kernel modes by the virtual machine named "test", you can use the
3259	following command:</para>
3260
3261	<screen>VBoxManage metrics query test CPU/Load/User,CPU/Load/Kernel</screen>
3262
3263	<para>The following list summarizes the available subcommands:</para>
3264
3265	<glosslist>
3266	<glossentry>
3267	<glossterm>list</glossterm>
3268
3269	<glossdef>
3270	<para>This subcommand shows the parameters of the currently existing
3271	metrics. Note that VM-specific metrics are only available when a
3272	particular VM is running.</para>
3273	</glossdef>
3274	</glossentry>
3275
3276	<glossentry>
3277	<glossterm>setup</glossterm>
3278
3279	<glossdef>
3280	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3281	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3282	retained data is available for displaying with the
3283	<code>query</code> subcommand. The <computeroutput>--list
3284	</computeroutput> option shows which metrics have been modified as
3285	the result of the command execution.</para>
3286	</glossdef>
3287	</glossentry>
3288
3289	<glossentry>
3290	<glossterm>enable</glossterm>
3291
3292	<glossdef>
3293	<para>This subcommand "resumes" data collection after it has been
3294	stopped with <code>disable</code> subcommand. Note that specifying
3295	submetrics as parameters will not enable underlying metrics. Use
3296	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3297	did what was expected.</para>
3298	</glossdef>
3299	</glossentry>
3300
3301	<glossentry>
3302	<glossterm>disable</glossterm>
3303
3304	<glossdef>
3305	<para>This subcommand "suspends" data collection without affecting
3306	collection parameters or collected data. Note that specifying
3307	submetrics as parameters will not disable underlying metrics. Use
3308	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
3309	did what was expected.</para>
3310	</glossdef>
3311	</glossentry>
3312
3313	<glossentry>
3314	<glossterm>query</glossterm>
3315
3316	<glossdef>
3317	<para>This subcommand retrieves and displays the currently retained
3318	metric data.<note>
3319	<para>The <code>query</code> subcommand does not remove or
3320	"flush" retained data. If you query often enough you will see
3321	how old samples are gradually being "phased out" by new
3322	samples.</para>
3323	</note></para>
3324	</glossdef>
3325	</glossentry>
3326
3327	<glossentry>
3328	<glossterm>collect</glossterm>
3329
3330	<glossdef>
3331	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
3332	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
3333	collected data is displayed periodically until Ctrl-C is pressed
3334	unless the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput> option is
3335	specified. With the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput>
3336	option, this subcommand operates the same way as <code>setup</code>
3337	does. The <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option shows which
3338	metrics match the specified filter.</para>
3339	</glossdef>
3340	</glossentry>
3341	</glosslist>
3342	</sect1>
3343
3344	<sect1>
3345	<title>VBoxManage hostonlyif</title>
3346
3347	<para>With "hostonlyif" you can change the IP configuration of a host-only
3348	network interface. For a description of host-only networking, please
3349	refer to <xref linkend="network_hostonly" />. Each host-only interface is
3350	identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a
3351	manual IP configuration (both IP4 and IP6).</para>
3352	</sect1>
3353
3354	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-dhcpserver">
3355	<title>VBoxManage dhcpserver</title>
3356
3357	<para>The "dhcpserver" commands allow you to control the DHCP server that
3358	is built into VirtualBox. You may find this useful when using internal or
3359	host-only networking. (Theoretically, you can enable it for a bridged
3360	network as well, but that will likely cause conflicts with other DHCP
3361	servers in your physical network.)</para>
3362
3363	<para>Use the following command line options:<itemizedlist>
3364	<listitem>
3365	<para>If you use internal networking for a virtual network adapter
3366	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3367	--netname <network_name></computeroutput>, where
3368	<computeroutput><network_name></computeroutput> is the same
3369	network name you used with <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm
3370	<vmname> --intnet<X>
3371	<network_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3372	</listitem>
3373
3374	<listitem>
3375	<para>If you use host-only networking for a virtual network adapter
3376	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
3377	--ifname <hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> instead, where
3378	<computeroutput><hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> is the
3379	same host-only interface name you used with
3380	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname>
3381	--hostonlyadapter<X>
3382	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput>.</para>
3383
3384	<para>Alternatively, you can also use the --netname option as with
3385	internal networks if you know the host-only network's name; you can
3386	see the names with <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
3387	hostonlyifs</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
3388	above).</para>
3389	</listitem>
3390	</itemizedlist></para>
3391
3392	<para>The following additional parameters are required when first adding a
3393	DHCP server:<itemizedlist>
3394	<listitem>
3395	<para>With <computeroutput>--ip</computeroutput>, specify the IP
3396	address of the DHCP server itself.</para>
3397	</listitem>
3398
3399	<listitem>
3400	<para>With <computeroutput>--netmask</computeroutput>, specify the
3401	netmask of the network.</para>
3402	</listitem>
3403
3404	<listitem>
3405	<para>With <computeroutput>--lowerip</computeroutput> and
3406	<computeroutput>--upperip</computeroutput>, you can specify the
3407	lowest and highest IP address, respectively, that the DHCP server
3408	will hand out to clients.</para>
3409	</listitem>
3410	</itemizedlist></para>
3411
3412	<para>Finally, you must specify <computeroutput>--enable</computeroutput>
3413	or the DHCP server will be created in the disabled state, doing
3414	nothing.</para>
3415
3416	<para>After this, VirtualBox will automatically start the DHCP server for
3417	given internal or host-only network as soon as the first virtual machine
3418	which uses that network is started.</para>
3419
3420	<para>Reversely, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver
3421	remove</computeroutput> with the given <computeroutput>--netname
3422	<network_name></computeroutput> or <computeroutput>--ifname
3423	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> to remove the DHCP server again
3424	for the given internal or host-only network.</para>
3425
3426	<para>To modify the settings of a DHCP server created earlier with
3427	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add</computeroutput>, you can use
3428	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver modify</computeroutput> for a given
3429	network or host-only interface name.</para>
3430	</sect1>
3431
3432	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-extpack">
3433	<title>VBoxManage extpack</title>
3434
3435	<para>The "extpack" command allows you to add or remove VirtualBox
3436	extension packs, as described in <xref
3437	linkend="intro-installing" />.<itemizedlist>
3438	<listitem>
3439	<para>To add a new extension pack, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
3440	extpack install <tarball></computeroutput>. This command
3441	will fail if an older version of the same extension pack is already
3442	installed. The optional <computeroutput>--replace</computeroutput>
3443	parameter can be used to uninstall the old package before the new
3444	package is installed.</para>
3445	</listitem>
3446
3447	<listitem>
3448	<para>To remove a previously installed extension pack, use
3449	<computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack uninstall
3450	<name></computeroutput>. You can use
3451	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list extpacks</computeroutput> to show
3452	the names of the extension packs which are currently installed;
3453	please see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> also. The optional
3454	<computeroutput>--force</computeroutput> parameter can be used to
3455	override the refusal of an extension pack to be uninstalled.</para>
3456	</listitem>
3457
3458	<listitem>
3459	<para>The <computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack
3460	cleanup</computeroutput> command can be used to remove temporary
3461	files and directories that may have been left behind if a previous
3462	install or uninstall command failed.</para>
3463	</listitem>
3464	</itemizedlist></para>
3465	<para>The following commands show examples how to list extension packs and
3466	remove one:<screen>
3467	$ VBoxManage list extpacks
3468	Extension Packs: 1
3469	Pack no. 0: Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
3470	Version: 4.1.12
3471	Revision: 77218
3472	Edition:
3473	Description: USB 2.0 Host Controller, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM with E1000 support.
3474	VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP
3475	Usable: true
3476	Why unusable:
3477	$ VBoxManage extpack uninstall "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack"
3478	0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
3479	Successfully uninstalled "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack".</screen></para>
3480	</sect1>
3481	</chapter>

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