By default, each virtual machine has a directory on your host computer where all the files of that machine are stored: the XML settings file, with a .vbox file extension, and its disk images. This is called the machine folder.

By default, this machine folder is located in a common folder called VirtualBox VMs, which creates in the current system user's home directory. The location of this home directory depends on the conventions of the host operating system, as follows:

• On Windows, this is the location returned by the SHGetFolderPath function of the Windows system library Shell32.dll, asking for the user profile. A typical location is C:\Users\username .

• On Linux, macOS, and Oracle Solaris, this is generally taken from the environment variable $HOME, except for the user root where it is taken from the account database. This is a workaround for the frequent trouble caused by users using in combination with the tool sudo, which by default does not reset the environment variable $HOME.

  A typical location on Linux and Oracle Solaris is /home/username and on macOS is /Users/username .

For simplicity, we abbreviate the location of the home directory as $HOME. Using that convention, the common folder for all virtual machines is $HOME/VirtualBox VMs.

As an example, when you create a virtual machine called Example VM, creates the following:

• A machine folder: $HOME/VirtualBox VMs/Example VM/

• In the machine folder, a settings file: Example VM.vbox

• In the machine folder, a virtual disk image: Example VM.vdi.

This is the default layout if you use the Create New Virtual Machine wizard described in Creating Your First Virtual Machine. Once you start working with the VM, additional files are added. Log files are in a subfolder called Logs, and if you have taken snapshots, they are in a Snapshots subfolder. For each VM, you can change the location of its snapshots folder in the VM settings.

You can change the default machine folder by selecting Preferences from the File menu in the main window. Then, in the displayed window, click the General tab. Alternatively, use the VBoxManage setproperty machinefolder command. See VBoxManage setproperty.