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<chapter id="vboxmanage">
  <title>VBoxManage</title>

  <sect1>
    <title>Introduction</title>

    <para>As briefly mentioned in <xref linkend="frontends" />, VBoxManage is
    the command-line interface to VirtualBox. With it, you can completely
    control VirtualBox from the command line of your host operating system.
    VBoxManage supports all the features that the graphical user interface
    gives you access to, but it supports a lot more than that. It exposes
    really all the features of the virtualization engine, even those that
    cannot (yet) be accessed from the GUI.</para>

    <para>You will need to use the command line if you want to</para>

    <para><itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>use a different user interface than the main GUI (for example,
          VBoxSDL or the VBoxHeadless server);</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>control some of the more advanced and experimental
          configuration settings for a VM.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>

    <para>There are two main things to keep in mind when using
    <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>: First,
    <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> must always be used with a
    specific "subcommand", such as "list" or "createvm" or "startvm". All the
    subcommands that <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> supports are
    described in detail in <xref linkend="vboxmanage" />.</para>

    <para>Second, most of these subcommands require that you specify a
    particular virtual machine after the subcommand. There are two ways you
    can do this:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>You can specify the VM name, as it is shown in the VirtualBox
        GUI. Note that if that name contains spaces, then you must enclose the
        entire name in double quotes (as it is always required with command
        line arguments that contain spaces).</para>

        <para>For example:<screen>VBoxManage startvm "Windows XP"</screen></para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>You can specify the UUID, which is the internal unique
        identifier that VirtualBox uses to refer to the virtual machine.
        Assuming that the aforementioned VM called "Windows XP" has the UUID
        shown below, the following command has the same effect as the
        previous:<screen>VBoxManage startvm 670e746d-abea-4ba6-ad02-2a3b043810a5</screen></para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para>You can type <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms</computeroutput> to
    have all currently registered VMs listed with all their settings,
    including their respective names and UUIDs.</para>

    <para>Some typical examples of how to control VirtualBox from the command
    line are listed below:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>To create a new virtual machine from the command line and
        immediately register it with VirtualBox, use
        <computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> with the
        <computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option,<footnote>
            <para>For details, see <xref
            linkend="vboxmanage-createvm" />.</para>
          </footnote> like this:</para>

        <screen>$ VBoxManage createvm --name "SUSE 10.2" --register
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
All rights reserved.

Virtual machine 'SUSE 10.2' is created.
UUID: c89fc351-8ec6-4f02-a048-57f4d25288e5
Settings file: '/home/username/.VirtualBox/Machines/SUSE 10.2/SUSE 10.2.xml'
</screen>

        <para>As can be seen from the above output, a new virtual machine has
        been created with a new UUID and a new XML settings file.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>To show the configuration of a particular VM, use
        <computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see <xref
        linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" /> for details and an example.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>To change settings while a VM is powered off, use
        <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>, e.g. as
        follows:<screen>VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --memory "512MB"</screen></para>

        <para>For details, see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm" />.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>To change the storage configuration (e.g. to add a storage
        controller and then a virtual disk), use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
        storagectl</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>VBoxManage
        storageattach</computeroutput>; see <xref
        linkend="vboxmanage-storagectl" /> and <xref
        linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" /> for details.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>To control VM operation, use one of the following:<itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
              <para>To start a VM that is currently powered off, use
              <computeroutput>VBoxManage startvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
              linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para>To pause or save a VM that is currently running or change
              some of its settings, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
              controlvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
              linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" /> for details.</para>
            </listitem>
          </itemizedlist></para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>Commands overview</title>

    <para>When running VBoxManage without parameters or when supplying an
    invalid command line, the below syntax diagram will be shown. Note that
    the output will be slightly different depending on the host platform; when
    in doubt, check the output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>
    for the commands available on your particular host.</para>

    <screen>$VBOX_MANAGE_OUTPUT</screen>

    <para>Each time VBoxManage is invoked, only one command can be executed.
    However, a command might support several subcommands which then can be
    invoked in one single call. The following sections provide detailed
    reference information on the different commands.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-list">
    <title>VBoxManage list</title>

    <para>The <computeroutput>list</computeroutput> command gives relevant
    information about your system and information about VirtualBox's current
    settings.</para>

    <para>The following subcommands are available with
    <computeroutput>VBoxManage list</computeroutput>: <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>vms</computeroutput> lists all virtual
          machines currently registered with VirtualBox. By default this
          displays a compact list with each VM's name and UUID; if you also
          specify <computeroutput>--long</computeroutput> or
          <computeroutput>-l</computeroutput>, this will be a detailed list as
          with the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command (see
          below).</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>runningvms</computeroutput> lists all
          currently running virtual machines by their unique identifiers
          (UUIDs) in the same format as with
          <computeroutput>vms</computeroutput>.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>ostypes</computeroutput> lists all guest
          operating systems presently known to VirtualBox, along with the
          identifiers used to refer to them with the
          <computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>hostdvds</computeroutput>,
          <computeroutput>hostfloppies</computeroutput>, respectively, list
          DVD, floppy, bridged networking and host-only networking interfaces
          on the host, along with the name used to access them from within
          VirtualBox.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>bridgedifs</computeroutput>,
          <computeroutput>hostonlyifs</computeroutput> and
          <computeroutput>dhcpservers</computeroutput>, respectively, list
          bridged network interfaces, host-only network interfaces and DHCP
          servers currently available on the host. Please see <xref
          linkend="networkingdetails" /> for details on these.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>hostinfo</computeroutput> displays information
          about the host system, such as CPUs, memory size and operating
          system version.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>hostcpuids</computeroutput> dumps the CPUID
          parameters for the host CPUs. This can be used for a more fine
          grained analyis of the host's virtualization capabilities.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>hddbackends</computeroutput> lists all known
          virtual disk back-ends of VirtualBox. For each such format (such as
          VDI, VMDK or RAW), this lists the back-end's capabilities and
          configuration.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>hdds</computeroutput>,
          <computeroutput>dvds</computeroutput> and
          <computeroutput>floppies</computeroutput> all give you information
          about virtual disk images currently in use by VirtualBox, including
          all their settings, the unique identifiers (UUIDs) associated with
          them by VirtualBox and all files associated with them. This is the
          command-line equivalent of the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref
          linkend="vdis" />.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>usbhost</computeroutput> supplies information
          about USB devices attached to the host, notably information useful
          for constructing USB filters and whether they are currently in use
          by the host.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>usbfilters</computeroutput> lists all global
          USB filters registered with VirtualBox -- that is, filters for
          devices which are accessible to all virtual machines -- and displays
          the filter parameters.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>systemproperties</computeroutput> displays
          some global VirtualBox settings, such as minimum and maximum guest
          RAM and virtual hard disk size, folder settings and the current
          authentication library in use.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>extpacks</computeroutput> displays all
          VirtualBox extension packs currently installed; see <xref
          linkend="intro-installing" /> and <xref
          linkend="vboxmanage-extpack" /> for more information.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-showvminfo">
    <title>VBoxManage showvminfo</title>

    <para>The <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command shows
    information about a particular virtual machine. This is the same
    information as <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms --long</computeroutput>
    would show for all virtual machines.</para>

    <para>You will get information similar to the following:</para>

    <para><screen>$ VBoxManage showvminfo "Windows XP"
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
All rights reserved.

Name:            Windows XP
Guest OS:        Other/Unknown
UUID:            1bf3464d-57c6-4d49-92a9-a5cc3816b7e7
Config file:     /home/username/.VirtualBox/Machines/Windows XP/Windows XP.xml
Memory size:     512MB
VRAM size:       12MB
Number of CPUs:  2
Synthetic Cpu:   off
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): DVD
Boot Device (2): HardDisk
Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          on
PAE:             on
Time offset:     0 ms
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
Nested Paging:   on
VT-x VPID:       off
State:           powered off (since 2009-10-20T14:52:19.000000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Storage Controller      (0): IDE Controller
Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
Storage Controller      (1): Floppy Controller 1
Storage Controller Type (1): I82078
IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/user/windows.vdi (UUID: 46f6e53a-4557-460a-9b95-68b0f17d744b)
IDE Controller (0, 1): /home/user/openbsd-cd46.iso (UUID: 4335e162-59d3-4512-91d5-b63e94eebe0b)
Floppy Controller 1 (0, 0): /home/user/floppy.img (UUID: 62ac6ccb-df36-42f2-972e-22f836368137)
NIC 1:           disabled
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
UART 1:          disabled
UART 2:          disabled
Audio:           disabled (Driver: Unknown)
Clipboard Mode:  Bidirectional
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             disabled

USB Device Filters:
&lt;none&gt;

Shared folders:
&lt;none&gt;

Statistics update:  disabled
</screen></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-registervm">
    <title>VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm</title>

    <para>The <computeroutput>registervm</computeroutput> command allows you
    to import a virtual machine definition in an XML file into VirtualBox. The
    machine must not conflict with one already registered in VirtualBox and it
    may not have any hard or removable disks attached. It is advisable to
    place the definition file in the machines folder before registering
    it.<note>
        <para>When creating a new virtual machine with
        <computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> (see below), you
        can directly specify the <computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>
        option to avoid having to register it separately.</para>
      </note></para>

    <para>The <computeroutput>unregistervm</computeroutput> command
    unregisters a virtual machine. If
    <computeroutput>--delete</computeroutput> is also specified, the following
    files will automatically be deleted as well:<orderedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>all hard disk image files, including differencing files, which
          are used by the machine and not shared with other machines;</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>saved state files that the machine created, if any (one if the
          machine was in "saved" state and one for each online
          snapshot);</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>the machine XML file and its backups;</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>the machine log files, if any;</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>the machine directory, if it is empty after having deleted all
          the above.</para>
        </listitem>
      </orderedlist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title id="vboxmanage-createvm">VBoxManage createvm</title>

    <para>This command creates a new XML virtual machine definition
    file.</para>

    <para>The <computeroutput>--name &lt;name&gt;</computeroutput> parameter
    is required and must specify the name of the machine. Since this name is
    used by default as the file name of the settings file (with the extension
    <computeroutput>.xml</computeroutput>) and the machine folder (a subfolder
    of the <computeroutput>.VirtualBox/Machines</computeroutput> folder), it
    must conform to your host operating system's requirements for file name
    specifications. If the VM is later renamed, the file and folder names will
    change automatically.</para>

    <para>However, if the <computeroutput>--basefolder
    &lt;path&gt;</computeroutput> option is used, the machine folder will be
    named <computeroutput>&lt;path&gt;</computeroutput>. In this case, the
    names of the file and the folder will not change if the virtual machine is
    renamed.</para>

    <para>By default, this command only creates the XML file without
    automatically registering the VM with your VirtualBox installation. To
    register the VM instantly, use the optional
    <computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option, or run
    <computeroutput>VBoxManage registervm</computeroutput> separately
    afterwards.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm">
    <title>VBoxManage modifyvm</title>

    <para>This command changes the properties of a registered virtual machine
    which is not running. Most of the properties that this command makes
    available correspond to the VM settings that VirtualBox graphical user
    interface displays in each VM's "Settings" dialog; these were described in
    <xref linkend="BasicConcepts" />. Some of the more advanced settings,
    however, are only available through the
    <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> interface.</para>

    <para>These commands require that the machine is powered off (neither
    running nor in "saved" state). Some machine settings can also be changed
    while a machine is running; those settings will then have a corresponding
    subcommand with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm</computeroutput>
    subcommand (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" />).</para>

    <sect2>
      <title>General settings</title>

      <para>The following general settings are available through
      <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--name &lt;name&gt;</computeroutput>: This
            changes the VM's name and possibly renames the internal virtual
            machine files, as described with <computeroutput>VBoxManage
            createvm</computeroutput> above.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--ostype &lt;ostype&gt;</computeroutput>:
            This specifies what guest operating system is supposed to run in
            the VM. To learn about the various identifiers that can be used
            here, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
            ostypes</computeroutput>.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--memory
            &lt;memorysize&gt;</computeroutput>: This sets the amount of RAM,
            in MB, that the virtual machine should allocate for itself from
            the host. See the remarks in <xref linkend="gui-createvm" /> for
            more information.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vram &lt;vramsize&gt;</computeroutput>:
            This sets the amount of RAM that the virtual graphics card should
            have. See <xref linkend="settings-display" /> for details.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--acpi on|off</computeroutput>;
            <computeroutput>--ioapic on|off</computeroutput>: These two
            determine whether the VM should have ACPI and I/O APIC support,
            respectively; see <xref linkend="settings-motherboard" /> for
            details.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--hardwareuuid
            &lt;uuid&gt;</computeroutput>: The UUID presented to the guest via
            memory tables (DMI/SMBIOS), hardware and guest properties. By
            default this is the same as the VM uuid. Useful when cloning a VM.
            Teleporting takes care of this automatically.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--cpus &lt;cpucount&gt;</computeroutput>:
            This sets the number of virtual CPUs for the virtual machine (see
            <xref linkend="settings-processor" />). If CPU hot-plugging is
            enabled (see below), this then sets the
            <emphasis>maximum</emphasis> number of virtual CPUs that can be
            plugged into the virtual machines.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--rtcuseutc on|off</computeroutput>: This
            option lets the real-time clock (RTC) operate in UTC time (see
            <xref linkend="settings-motherboard" />).</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--cpuhotplug on|off</computeroutput>: This
            enables CPU hot-plugging. When enabled, virtual CPUs can be added
            to and removed from a virtual machine while it is running. See
            <xref linkend="cpuhotplug" /> for more information.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--plugcpu|unplugcpu
            &lt;id&gt;</computeroutput>: If CPU hot-plugging is enabled (see
            above), this adds a virtual CPU to the virtual machines (or
            removes one). <computeroutput>&lt;id&gt;</computeroutput>
            specifies the index of the virtual CPU to be added or removed and
            must be a number from 0 to the maximum no. of CPUs configured with
            the <computeroutput>--cpus</computeroutput> option. CPU 0 can
            never be removed.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--cpuexecutioncap
            &lt;1-100&gt;</computeroutput>: This setting controls how much cpu
            time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual
            CPU can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--synthcpu on|off</computeroutput>: This
            setting determines whether VirtualBox will expose a synthetic CPU
            to the guest to allow live migration between host systems that
            differ significantly.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--pae on|off</computeroutput>: This
            enables/disables PAE (see <xref
            linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--hpet on|off</computeroutput>: This
            enables/disables a High Precision Event Timer (HPET) which can
            replace the legacy system timers. This is turned off by default.
            Note that Windows supports a HPET only from Vista onwards.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--hwvirtex on|off</computeroutput>: This
            enables or disables the use of hardware virtualization extensions
            (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the processor of your host system; see
            <xref linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--hwvirtexexcl on|off</computeroutput>: This
            specifies whether VirtualBox will make exclusive use of the
            hardware virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the
            processor of your host system; see <xref linkend="hwvirt" />. If
            you wish to simultaneously share these extensions with other
            hypervisors, then you must disable this setting. Doing so has
            negative performance implications.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--nestedpaging on|off</computeroutput>: If
            hardware virtualization is enabled, this additional setting
            enables or disables the use of the nested paging feature in the
            processor of your host system; see <xref
            linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--largepages on|off</computeroutput>: If
            hardware virtualization <emphasis>and</emphasis> nested paging are
            enabled, for Intel VT-x only, an additional performance
            improvement of up to 5% can be obtained by enabling this setting.
            This causes the hypervisor to use large pages to reduce TLB use
            and overhead.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vtxvpid on|off</computeroutput>: If
            hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
            additional setting enables or disables the use of the tagged TLB
            (VPID) feature in the processor of your host system; see <xref
            linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--accelerate3d on|off</computeroutput>: This
            enables, if the Guest Additions are installed, whether hardware 3D
            acceleration should be available; see <xref
            linkend="guestadd-3d" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para>You can influence the BIOS logo that is displayed when a
            virtual machine starts up with a number of settings. Per default,
            a VirtualBox logo is displayed.</para>

            <para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogofadein
            on|off</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>--bioslogofadeout
            on|off</computeroutput>, you can determine whether the logo should
            fade in and out, respectively.</para>

            <para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogodisplaytime
            &lt;msec&gt;</computeroutput> you can set how long the logo should
            be visible, in milliseconds.</para>

            <para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogoimagepath
            &lt;imagepath&gt;</computeroutput> you can, if you are so
            inclined, replace the image that is shown, with your own logo. The
            image must be an uncompressed 256 color BMP file.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--biosbootmenu
            disabled|menuonly|messageandmenu</computeroutput>: This specifies
            whether the BIOS allows the user to select a temporary boot
            device. <computeroutput>menuonly</computeroutput> suppresses the
            message, but the user can still press F12 to select a temporary
            boot device.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--boot&lt;1-4&gt;
            none|floppy|dvd|disk|net</computeroutput>: This specifies the boot
            order for the virtual machine. There are four "slots", which the
            VM will try to access from 1 to 4, and for each of which you can
            set a device that the VM should attempt to boot from.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--snapshotfolder
            default|&lt;path&gt;</computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
            the folder in which snapshots will be kept for a virtual
            machine.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--firmware efi|bios</computeroutput>:
            Specifies which firmware is used to boot particular virtual
            machine: EFI or BIOS. Use EFI only if your fully understand what
            you're doing.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--guestmemoryballoon
            &lt;size&gt;</computeroutput> sets the default size of the guest
            memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest
            Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the
            hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines. &lt;size&gt; must
            be specified in megabytes. The default size is 0 megabytes. For
            details, see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist></para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2>
      <title>Networking settings</title>

      <para>The following networking settings are available through
      <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
      settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
      in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings
      should be changed.<itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--nic&lt;1-N&gt;
            none|null|nat|bridged|intnet|hostonly|generic
            </computeroutput>: With
            this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards,
            what type of networking should be available. They can be not
            present (<computeroutput>none</computeroutput>), not connected to
            the host (<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network
            address translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>),
            bridged networking (<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or
            communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking
            (<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>), host-only networking
            (<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>), or access rarely used
            sub-modes (<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>).
            These options correspond
            to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
            linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--nictype&lt;1-N&gt;
            Am79C970A|Am79C973|82540EM|82543GC|82545EM|virtio</computeroutput>:
            This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
            specify which networking hardware VirtualBox presents to the
            guest; see <xref linkend="nichardware" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--cableconnected&lt;1-N&gt;
            on|off</computeroutput>: This allows you to temporarily disconnect
            a virtual network interface, as if a network cable had been pulled
            from a real network card. This might be useful for resetting
            certain software components in the VM.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
            network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
            purposes.</para>

            <para>With <computeroutput>--nictrace&lt;1-N&gt;
            on|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
            particular virtual network card.</para>

            <para>If enabled, you must specify with
            <computeroutput>--nictracefile&lt;1-N&gt;
            &lt;filename&gt;</computeroutput> what file the trace should be
            logged to.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--bridgeadapter&lt;1-N&gt;
            none|&lt;devicename&gt;</computeroutput>: If bridged networking
            has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the
            <computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
            this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host
            interface the given virtual network interface will use. For
            details, please see <xref linkend="network_bridged" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--hostonlyadapter&lt;1-N&gt;
            none|&lt;devicename&gt;</computeroutput>: If host-only networking
            has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the --nic option
            above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to
            specify which host-only networking interface the given virtual
            network interface will use. For details, please see <xref
            linkend="network_hostonly" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--intnet&lt;1-N&gt;
            network</computeroutput>: If internal networking has been enabled
            for a virtual network card (see the
            <computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
            this setting has no effect), use this option to specify the name
            of the internal network (see <xref
            linkend="network_internal" />).</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--macaddress&lt;1-N&gt;
            auto|&lt;mac&gt;</computeroutput>: With this option you can set
            the MAC address of the virtual network card. Normally, each
            virtual network card is assigned a random address by VirtualBox at
            VM creation.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--nicgenericdrv&lt;1-N&gt;
            &lt;backend driver&gt;</computeroutput>: If generic networking has been
            enabled for a virtual network card (see the
            <computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
            this setting has no effect), this mode allows you to access
            rarely used networking sub-modes, such as VDE network or UDP Tunnel.
            </para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--nicproperty&lt;1-N&gt;
            &lt;paramname&gt;="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
            This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
            pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
            Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
            between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
            please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist></para>

      <sect3>
        <title>NAT Networking settings.</title>

        <para>The following NAT networking settings are available through
        <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
        settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
        in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose
        settings should be changed.<itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--natpf&lt;1-N&gt;
              [&lt;name&gt;],tcp|udp,[&lt;hostip&gt;],&lt;hostport&gt;,[&lt;guestip&gt;],
              &lt;guestport&gt;</computeroutput>: This option defines a NAT
              port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
              for details).</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--natpf&lt;1-N&gt; delete
              &lt;name&gt;</computeroutput>: This option deletes a NAT
              port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
              for details).</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--nattftpprefix&lt;1-N&gt;
              &lt;prefix&gt;</computeroutput>: This option defines a prefix
              for the built-in TFTP server, i.e. where the boot file is
              located (please see <xref linkend="nat-tftp" /> and <xref
              linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--nattftpfile&lt;1-N&gt;
              &lt;bootfile&gt;</computeroutput>: This option defines the TFT
              boot file (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for
              details).</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--nattftpserver&lt;1-N&gt;
              &lt;tftpserver&gt;</computeroutput>: This option defines the
              TFTP server address to boot from (please see <xref
              linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--natdnspassdomain&lt;1-N&gt;
              on|off</computeroutput>: This option specifies whether the
              built-in DHCP server passes the domain name for network name
              resolution.</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--natdnsproxy&lt;1-N&gt;
              on|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine proxy
              all guest DNS requests to the host's DNS servers (please see
              <xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--natdnshostresolver&lt;1-N&gt;
              on|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine use
              the host's resolver mechanisms to handle DNS requests (please
              see <xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--natnatsettings&lt;1-N&gt;
              [&lt;mtu&gt;],[&lt;socksnd&gt;],[&lt;sockrcv&gt;],[&lt;tcpsnd&gt;],
              [&lt;tcprcv&gt;]</computeroutput>: This option controls several
              NAT settings (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-settings" /> for
              details).</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><computeroutput>--nataliasmode&lt;1-N&gt;
              default|[log],[proxyonly],[sameports]</computeroutput>: This
              option defines behaviour of NAT engine core: log - enables
              logging, proxyonly - switches of aliasing mode makes NAT
              transparent, sameports enforces NAT engine to send packets via
              the same port as they originated on, default - disable all
              mentioned modes above . (please see <xref
              linkend="nat-adv-alias" /> for details).</para>
            </listitem>
          </itemizedlist></para>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other">
      <title>Serial port, audio, clipboard, remote desktop and USB
      settings</title>

      <para>The following other hardware settings are available through
      <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--uart&lt;1-N&gt; off|&lt;I/O base&gt;
            &lt;IRQ&gt;</computeroutput>: With this option you can configure
            virtual serial ports for the VM; see <xref
            linkend="serialports" /> for an introduction.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--uartmode&lt;1-N&gt;
            &lt;arg&gt;</computeroutput>: This setting controls how VirtualBox
            connects a given virtual serial port (previously configured with
            the <computeroutput>--uartX</computeroutput> setting, see above)
            to the host on which the virtual machine is running. As described
            in detail in <xref linkend="serialports" />, for each such port,
            you can specify <computeroutput>&lt;arg&gt;</computeroutput> as
            one of the following options:<itemizedlist>
                <listitem>
                  <para><computeroutput>disconnected</computeroutput>: Even
                  though the serial port is shown to the guest, it has no
                  "other end" -- like a real COM port without a cable.</para>
                </listitem>

                <listitem>
                  <para><computeroutput>server
                  &lt;pipename&gt;</computeroutput>: On a Windows host, this
                  tells VirtualBox to create a named pipe on the host named
                  <computeroutput>&lt;pipename&gt;</computeroutput> and
                  connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that Windows
                  requires that the name of a named pipe begin with
                  <computeroutput>\\.\pipe\</computeroutput>.</para>

                  <para>On a Linux host, instead of a named pipe, a local
                  domain socket is used.</para>
                </listitem>

                <listitem>
                  <para><computeroutput>client
                  &lt;pipename&gt;</computeroutput>: This operates just like
                  <computeroutput>server ...</computeroutput>, except that the
                  pipe (or local domain socket) is not created by VirtualBox,
                  but assumed to exist already.</para>
                </listitem>

                <listitem>
                  <para><computeroutput>&lt;devicename&gt;</computeroutput>:
                  If, instead of the above, the device name of a physical
                  hardware serial port of the host is specified, the virtual
                  serial port is connected to that hardware port. On a Windows
                  host, the device name will be a COM port such as
                  <computeroutput>COM1</computeroutput>; on a Linux host, the
                  device name will look like
                  <computeroutput>/dev/ttyS0</computeroutput>. This allows you
                  to "wire" a real serial port to a virtual machine.</para>
                </listitem>
              </itemizedlist></para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--audio none|null|oss</computeroutput>: With
            this option, you can set whether the VM should have audio
            support.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--clipboard
            disabled|hosttoguest|guesttohost|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
            With this setting, you can select whether the guest operating
            system's clipboard should be shared with the host; see <xref
            linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
            Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--monitorcount
            &lt;count&gt;</computeroutput>: This enables multi-monitor
            support; see <xref linkend="settings-display" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--usb on|off</computeroutput>: This option
            enables or disables the VM's virtual USB controller; see <xref
            linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--usbehci on|off</computeroutput>: This
            option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 2.0 controller;
            see <xref linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist></para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2>
      <title>Remote machine settings</title>

      <para>The following settings that affect remote machine behavior are
      available through <computeroutput>VBoxManage
      modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vrde on|off</computeroutput>: With the
            VirtualBox graphical user interface, this enables or disables the
            VirtualBox remote desktop extension (VRDE) server. Note that if
            you are using <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput> (see
            <xref linkend="vboxheadless" />), VRDE is enabled by
            default.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vrdeport
            default|&lt;ports&gt;</computeroutput>: A port or a range of ports
            the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the
            standard port for RDP. You can specify a comma-separated list of
            ports or ranges of ports. Use a dash between two port numbers to
            specify a range. The VRDE server will bind to <emphasis
            role="bold">one</emphasis> of available ports from the specified
            list. Only one machine can use a given port at a time. For
            example, the option <computeroutput> --vrdeport
            5000,5010-5012</computeroutput> will tell the server to bind to
            one of following ports: 5000, 5010, 5011 or 5012.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vrdeaddress &lt;IP
            address&gt;</computeroutput>: The IP address of the host network
            interface the VRDE server will bind to. If specified, the server
            will accept connections only on the specified host network
            interface.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vrdeauthtype
            null|external|guest</computeroutput>: This allows you to choose
            whether and how authorization will be performed; see <xref
            linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vrdemulticon on|off</computeroutput>: This
            enables multiple connections to the same VRDE server, if the
            server supports this feature; see <xref lang=""
            linkend="vrde-multiconnection" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vrdereusecon on|off</computeroutput>: This
            specifies the VRDE server behavior when multiple connections are
            disabled. When this option is enabled, the server will allow a new
            client to connect and will drop the existing connection. When this
            option is disabled (this is the default setting), a new connection
            will not be accepted if there is already a client connected to the
            server.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannel on|off</computeroutput>:
            This enables video redirection, if it is supported by the VRDE
            server; see <xref lang="" linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannelquality
            &lt;percent&gt;</computeroutput>: Sets the image quality for video
            redirection; see <xref lang=""
            linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist></para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport">
      <title>Teleporting settings</title>

      <para>With the following commands for <computeroutput>VBoxManage
      modifyvm</computeroutput> you can configure a machine to be a target for
      teleporting. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an
      introduction.<itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--teleporter on|off</computeroutput>: With
            this setting you turn on or off whether a machine waits for a
            teleporting request to come in on the network when it is started.
            If "on", when the machine is started, it does not boot the virtual
            machine as it would normally; instead, it then waits for a
            teleporting request to come in on the port and address listed with
            the next two parameters.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--teleporterport
            &lt;port&gt;</computeroutput>, <computeroutput>--teleporteraddress
            &lt;address&gt;</computeroutput>: these must be used with
            --teleporter and tell the virtual machine on which port and
            address it should listen for a teleporting request from another
            virtual machine. <computeroutput>&lt;port&gt;</computeroutput> can
            be any free TCP/IP port number (e.g. 6000);
            <computeroutput>&lt;address&gt;</computeroutput> can be any IP
            address or hostname and specifies the TCP/IP socket to bind to.
            The default is "0.0.0.0", which means any address.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--teleporterpassword
            &lt;password&gt;</computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
            given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
            source machine specifies the same password as the one given with
            this command.<note>
                <para>Currently, the password is stored without encryption
                (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine configuration
                file.</para>
              </note></para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><computeroutput>--cpuid &lt;leaf&gt; &lt;eax&gt; &lt;ebx&gt;
            &lt;ecx&gt; &lt;edx&gt;</computeroutput>: Advanced users can use
            this command before a teleporting operation to restrict the
            virtual CPU capabilities that VirtualBox presents to the guest
            operating system. This must be run on both the source and the
            target machines involved in the teleporting and will then modify
            what the guest sees when it executes the
            <computeroutput>CPUID</computeroutput> machine instruction. This
            might help with misbehaving applications that wrongly assume that
            certain CPU capabilities are present. The meaning of the
            parameters is hardware dependent; please refer to the AMD or Intel
            processor manuals.</para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist></para>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevm">
    <title>VBoxManage clonevm</title>

    <para>This command creates a full or linked copy of an existing virtual
    machine.</para>

    <para>The <computeroutput>clonevm</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
    least the name of the virtual machine which should be cloned. The following
    additional settings can be used to further configure the clone VM
    operation:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
       <listitem>
           <para><computeroutput>--snapshot &lt;uuid&gt;|&lt;name&gt;</computeroutput>:
            Select a specific snapshot where the clone operation should refer
            to. Default is referring to the current state.</para>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
           <para><computeroutput>--mode machine|machineandchildren|all</computeroutput>:
           Selects the cloning mode of the operation. If
           <computeroutput>machine</computeroutput> is selected (the default),
           the current state of the VM without any snapshots is cloned. In the
           <computeroutput>machineandchildren</computeroutput> mode the snapshot
           provided by <computeroutput>--snapshot</computeroutput> and all
           child snapshots are cloned. If <computeroutput>all</computeroutput>
           is the selected mode all snapshots and the current state are cloned.
           </para>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
           <para><computeroutput>--options link|keepallmacs|keepnatmacs|keepdisknames</computeroutput>:
           Allows additional fine tuning of the clone operation. The first
           option defines that a linked clone should be created, which is
           only possible for a machine clone from a snapshot. The next two
           options allow to define how the MAC addresses of every virtual
           network card should be handled. They can either be reinitialized
           (the default), left unchanged
           (<computeroutput>keepallmacs</computeroutput>) or left unchanged
           when the network type is NAT
           (<computeroutput>keepnatmacs</computeroutput>). If you add
           <computeroutput>keepdisknames</computeroutput> all new disk images
           are called like the original once, otherwise they are
           renamed.</para>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
           <para><computeroutput>--name &lt;name&gt;</computeroutput>: Select a
           new name for the new virtual machine. Default is "Original Name
           Clone".</para>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
           <para><computeroutput>--basefolder &lt;basefolder&gt;</computeroutput>:
           Select the folder where the new virtual machine configuration should
           be saved in.</para>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
           <para><computeroutput>--uuid &lt;uuid&gt;</computeroutput>:
           Select the UUID the new VM should have. This id has to be unique in
           the VirtualBox instance this clone should be registered. Default is
           creating a new UUID.</para>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
           <para><computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>:
           Automatically register the new clone in this VirtualBox
           installation. If you manually want register the new VM later, see
           <xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" /> for instructions how to do
           so.</para>
       </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-import">
    <title>VBoxManage import</title>

    <para>This command imports a virtual appliance in OVF format by copying
    the virtual disk images and creating virtual machines in VirtualBox. See
    <xref linkend="ovf" /> for an introduction to appliances.</para>

    <para>The <computeroutput>import</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
    least the path name of an OVF file as input and expects the disk images,
    if needed, in the same directory as the OVF file. A lot of additional
    command-line options are supported to control in detail what is being
    imported and modify the import parameters, but the details depend on the
    content of the OVF file.</para>

    <para>It is therefore recommended to first run the import subcommand with
    the <computeroutput>--dry-run</computeroutput> or
    <computeroutput>-n</computeroutput> option. This will then print a
    description of the appliance's contents to the screen how it would be
    imported into VirtualBox, together with the optional command-line options
    to influence the import behavior.</para>

    <para>As an example, here is the screen output with a sample appliance
    containing a Windows XP guest:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf --dry-run
Interpreting WindowsXp.ovf...
OK.
Virtual system 0:
 0: Suggested OS type: "WindowsXP"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype &lt;type&gt;"; use "list ostypes" to list all)
 1: Suggested VM name "Windows XP Professional_1"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname &lt;name&gt;")
 3: Number of CPUs: 1
    (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus &lt;n&gt;")
 4: Guest memory: 956 MB (change with "--vsys 0 --memory &lt;MB&gt;")
 5: Sound card (appliance expects "ensoniq1371", can change on import)
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
 6: USB controller
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
 7: Network adapter: orig bridged, config 2, extra type=bridged
 8: Floppy
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
 9: SCSI controller, type BusLogic
    (change with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --scsitype {BusLogic|LsiLogic}";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
10: IDE controller, type PIIX4
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
11: Hard disk image: source image=WindowsXp.vmdk,
      target path=/home/user/disks/WindowsXp.vmdk, controller=9;channel=0
    (change controller with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --controller &lt;id&gt;";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")</screen></para>

    <para>As you can see, the individual configuration items are numbered, and
    depending on their type support different command-line options. The import
    subcommand can be directed to ignore many such items with a
    <computeroutput>--vsys X --unit Y --ignore</computeroutput> option, where
    X is the number of the virtual system (zero unless there are several
    virtual system descriptions in the appliance) and Y the item number, as
    printed on the screen.</para>

    <para>In the above example, Item #1 specifies the name of the target
    machine in VirtualBox. Items #9 and #10 specify hard disk controllers,
    respectively. Item #11 describes a hard disk image; in this case, the
    additional <computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput> option indicates
    which item the disk image should be connected to, with the default coming
    from the OVF file.</para>

    <para>You can combine several items for the same virtual system behind the
    same <computeroutput>--vsys</computeroutput> option. For example, to
    import a machine as described in the OVF, but without the sound card and
    without the USB controller, and with the disk image connected to the IDE
    controller instead of the SCSI controller, use this:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf
      --vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore --unit 6 --ignore --unit 11 --controller 10</screen></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-export">
    <title>VBoxManage export</title>

    <para>This command exports one or more virtual machines from VirtualBox
    into a virtual appliance in OVF format, including copying their virtual
    disk images to compressed VMDK. See <xref linkend="ovf" /> for an
    introduction to appliances.</para>

    <para>The <computeroutput>export</computeroutput> command is simple to
    use: list the machine (or the machines) that you would like to export to
    the same OVF file and specify the target OVF file after an additional
    <computeroutput>--output</computeroutput> or
    <computeroutput>-o</computeroutput> option. Note that the directory of the
    target OVF file will also receive the exported disk images in the
    compressed VMDK format (regardless of the original format) and should have
    enough disk space left for them.</para>

    <para>Beside a simple export of a given virtual machine, you can append
    several product information to the appliance file. Use
    <computeroutput>--product</computeroutput>,
    <computeroutput>--producturl</computeroutput>,
    <computeroutput>--vendor</computeroutput>,
    <computeroutput>--vendorurl</computeroutput> and
    <computeroutput>--version</computeroutput> to specify this additional
    information. For legal reasons you may add a license text or the content
    of a license file by using the <computeroutput>--eula</computeroutput> and
    <computeroutput>--eulafile</computeroutput> option respectively. As with
    OVF import, you must use the <computeroutput>--vsys X</computeroutput>
    option to direct the previously mentioned options to the correct virtual
    machine.</para>

    <para>For virtualization products which aren't fully compatible with the
    OVF standard 1.0 you can enable a OVF 0.9 legacy mode with the
    <computeroutput>--legacy09</computeroutput> option.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-startvm">
    <title>VBoxManage startvm</title>

    <para>This command starts a virtual machine that is currently in the
    "Powered off" or "Saved" states.</para>

    <note>
      <para>This is provided for backwards compatibility only. We recommend to
      start virtual machines directly by running the respective front-end, as
      you might otherwise miss important error and state information that
      VirtualBox may display on the console. This is especially important for
      front-ends other than <computeroutput>VirtualBox</computeroutput>, our
      graphical user interface, because those cannot display error messages in
      a popup window. See <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more
      information.</para>
    </note>

    <para>The optional <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> specifier
    determines whether the machine will be started in a window (GUI mode,
    which is the default) or whether the output should go through
    <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>, with VRDE enabled or not;
    see <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more information. The list of
    types is subject to change, and it's not guaranteed that all types are
    accepted by any product variant.</para>

    <para>The following values are allowed:</para>

    <glosslist>
      <glossentry>
        <glossterm>gui</glossterm>

        <glossdef>
          <para>Starts a VM showing a GUI window. This is the default.</para>
        </glossdef>
      </glossentry>

      <glossentry>
        <glossterm>headless</glossterm>

        <glossdef>
          <para>Starts a VM without a window for remote display only.</para>
        </glossdef>
      </glossentry>
    </glosslist>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-controlvm">
    <title>VBoxManage controlvm</title>

    <para>The <computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> subcommand allows you
    to change the state of a virtual machine that is currently running. The
    following can be specified:</para>

    <para><itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm &lt;vm&gt;
          pause</computeroutput> temporarily puts a virtual machine on hold,
          without changing its state for good. The VM window will be painted
          in gray to indicate that the VM is currently paused. (This is
          equivalent to selecting the "Pause" item in the "Machine" menu of
          the GUI.)</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm &lt;vm&gt;
          resume</computeroutput> to undo a previous
          <computeroutput>pause</computeroutput> command. (This is equivalent
          to selecting the "Resume" item in the "Machine" menu of the
          GUI.)</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm &lt;vm&gt;
          reset</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine as
          pressing the "Reset" button on a real computer: a cold reboot of the
          virtual machine, which will restart and boot the guest operating
          system again immediately. The state of the VM is not saved
          beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting
          the "Reset" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm &lt;vm&gt;
          poweroff</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine
          as pulling the power cable on a real computer. Again, the state of
          the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is
          equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of
          the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting
          "Power off the machine" in the dialog.)</para>

          <para>After this, the VM's state will be "Powered off". From there,
          it can be started again; see <xref
          linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm &lt;vm&gt;
          savestate</computeroutput> will save the current state of the VM to
          disk and then stop the VM. (This is equivalent to selecting the
          "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the
          window's close button, and then selecting "Save the machine state"
          in the dialog.)</para>

          <para>After this, the VM's state will be "Saved". From there, it can
          be started again; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm &lt;vm&gt; teleport
          --hostname &lt;name&gt; --port &lt;port&gt; [--password
          &lt;password&gt;]</computeroutput> makes the machine the source of a
          teleporting operation and initiates a teleport to the given target.
          See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an introduction. If the
          optional password is specified, it must match the password that was
          given to the <computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command for
          the target machine; see <xref
          linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport" /> for details.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>

    <para>A few extra options are available with
    <computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> that do not directly affect the
    VM's running state:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>The <computeroutput>setlinkstate&lt;1-N&gt;</computeroutput>
        operation connects or disconnects virtual network cables from their
        network interfaces.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><computeroutput>nic&lt;1-N&gt;
        null|nat|bridged|intnet|hostonly|generic</computeroutput>: With this, you can
        set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of
        networking should be available. They can be not connected to the host
        (<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network address
        translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>), bridged networking
        (<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or communicate with other
        virtual machines using internal networking
        (<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>) or host-only networking
        (<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>) or access to rarely used
        sub-modes
        (<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>). These options correspond
        to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
        linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><computeroutput>usbattach</computeroutput> and
        <computeroutput>usbdettach</computeroutput> make host USB devices
        visible to the virtual machine on the fly, without the need for
        creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID
        (unique identifier) or by address on the host system.</para>

        <para>You can use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
        usbhost</computeroutput> to locate this information.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><computeroutput>vrde on|off</computeroutput> lets you enable or
        disable the VRDE server, if it is installed.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><computeroutput>vrdeport default|&lt;ports&gt;</computeroutput>
        changes the port or a range of ports that the VRDE server can bind to;
        "default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. For
        details, see the description for the
        <computeroutput>--vrdeport</computeroutput> option in <xref
        linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other" />.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><computeroutput>setvideomodehint</computeroutput> requests that
        the guest system change to a particular video mode. This requires that
        the Guest Additions be installed, and will not work for all guest
        systems.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><computeroutput>screenshotpng</computeroutput> takes a screenshot
        of the guest display and saves it in PNG format.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The <computeroutput>setcredentials</computeroutput> operation is
        used for remote logons in Windows guests. For details, please refer to
        <xref linkend="autologon" />.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The <computeroutput>guestmemoryballoon</computeroutput>
        operation changes the size of the guest memory balloon, that is,
        memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest
        operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other
        virtual machines. This must be specified in megabytes. For details,
        see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The <computeroutput>cpuexecutioncap
        &lt;1-100&gt;</computeroutput>: This operation controls how much cpu
        time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU
        can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>VBoxManage discardstate</title>

    <para>This command discards the saved state of a virtual machine which is
    not currently running, which will cause its operating system to restart
    next time you start it. This is the equivalent of pulling out the power
    cable on a physical machine, and should be avoided if possible.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>VBoxManage adoptstate</title>

    <para>If you have a saved state file (<computeroutput>.sav</computeroutput>)
    that is seperate from the VM configuration, you can use this command to
    "adopt" the file. This will change the VM to saved state and when you
    start it, VirtualBox will attempt to restore it from the saved state file
    you indicated. This command should only be used in special setups.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>VBoxManage snapshot</title>

    <para>This command is used to control snapshots from the command line. A
    snapshot consists of a complete copy of the virtual machine settings,
    copied at the time when the snapshot was taken, and optionally a virtual
    machine saved state file if the snapshot was taken while the machine was
    running. After a snapshot has been taken, VirtualBox creates differencing
    hard disk for each normal hard disk associated with the machine so that
    when a snapshot is restored, the contents of the virtual machine's virtual
    hard disks can be quickly reset by simply dropping the pre-existing
    differencing files.</para>

    <para>The <computeroutput>take</computeroutput> operation takes a snapshot
    of the current state of the virtual machine. You must supply a name for
    the snapshot and can optionally supply a description. The new snapshot is
    inserted into the snapshots tree as a child of the current snapshot and
    then becomes the new current snapshot.</para>

    <para>The <computeroutput>delete</computeroutput> operation deletes a
    snapshot (specified by name or by UUID). This can take a while to finish
    since the differencing images associated with the snapshot might need to
    be merged with their child differencing images.</para>

    <para>The <computeroutput>restore</computeroutput> operation will restore
    the given snapshot (specified by name or by UUID) by resetting the virtual
    machine's settings and current state to that of the snapshot. The previous
    current state of the machine will be lost. After this, the given snapshot
    becomes the new "current" snapshot so that subsequent snapshots are
    inserted under the snapshot from which was restored.</para>

    <para>The <computeroutput>restorecurrent</computeroutput> operation is a
    shortcut to restore the current snapshot (i.e. the snapshot from which the
    current state is derived). This subcommand is equivalent to using the
    "restore" subcommand with the name or UUID of the current snapshot, except
    that it avoids the extra step of determining that name or UUID.</para>

    <para>With the <computeroutput>edit</computeroutput> operation, you can
    change the name or description of an existing snapshot.</para>

    <para>With the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> operation, you
    can view the virtual machine settings that were stored with an existing
    snapshot.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-closemedium">
    <title>VBoxManage closemedium</title>

    <para>This commands removes a hard disk, DVD or floppy image from a
    VirtualBox media registry.<footnote>
        <para>Before VirtualBox 4.0, it was necessary to call VBoxManage
        openmedium before a medium could be attached to a virtual machine;
        that call "registered" the medium with the global VirtualBox media
        registry. With VirtualBox 4.0 this is no longer necessary; media are
        added to media registries automatically. The "closemedium" call has
        been retained, however, to allow for explicitly removing a medium from
        a registry.</para>
      </footnote></para>

    <para>Optionally, you can request that the image be deleted. You will get
    appropriate diagnostics that the deletion failed, however the image will
    become unregistered in any case.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title id="vboxmanage-storageattach">VBoxManage storageattach</title>

    <para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage medium connected to
    a storage controller that was previously added with the
    <computeroutput>storagectl</computeroutput> command (see the previous
    section). The syntax is as follows:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage storageattach    &lt;uuid|vmname&gt;
                            --storagectl &lt;name&gt;
                            [--port &lt;number&gt;]
                            [--device &lt;number&gt;]
                            [--type dvddrive|hdd|fdd]
                            [--medium none|emptydrive|
                                      &lt;uuid&gt;|&lt;filename&gt;|host:&lt;drive&gt;|iscsi]
                            [--mtype normal|writethrough|immutable|shareable]
                            [--comment &lt;text&gt;]
                            [--setuuid &lt;uuid&gt;]
                            [--setparentuuid &lt;uuid&gt;]
                            [--passthrough on|off]
                            [--tempeject on|off]
                            [--bandwidthgroup name|none]
                            [--forceunmount]
                            [--server &lt;name&gt;|&lt;ip&gt;]
                            [--target &lt;target&gt;]
                            [--tport &lt;port&gt;]
                            [--lun &lt;lun&gt;]
                            [--encodedlun &lt;lun&gt;]
                            [--username &lt;username&gt;]
                            [--password &lt;password&gt;]
                            [--intnet]
</screen>

    <para>A number of parameters are commonly required; the ones at the end of
    the list are required only for iSCSI targets (see below).</para>

    <para>The common parameters are:<glosslist>
        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>uuid|vmname</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>storagectl</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory. The list of the
            storage controllers currently attached to a VM can be obtained
            with <computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see
            <xref linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" />.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>port</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>The number of the storage controller's port which is to be
            modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a
            single port.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>device</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>The number of the port's device which is to be modified.
            Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single device
            per port.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>type</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Define the type of the drive to which the medium is being
            attached/detached/modified. This argument can only be omitted if
            the type of medium can be determined from either the medium given
            with the <computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> argument or
            from a previous medium attachment.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>medium</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Specifies what is to be attached. The following values are
            supported:<itemizedlist>
                <listitem>
                  <para>"none": Any existing device should be removed from the
                  given slot.</para>
                </listitem>

                <listitem>
                  <para>"emptydrive": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only,
                  this makes the device slot behaves like a removeable drive
                  into which no media has been inserted.</para>
                </listitem>

                <listitem>
                  <para>If a UUID is specified, it must be the UUID of a
                  storage medium that is already known to VirtualBox (e.g.
                  because it has been attached to another virtual machine).
                  See <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for how to list known
                  media. This medium is then attached to the given device
                  slot.</para>
                </listitem>

                <listitem>
                  <para>If a filename is specified, it must be the full path
                  of an existing disk image (ISO, RAW, VDI, VMDK or other),
                  which is then attached to the given device slot.</para>
                </listitem>

                <listitem>
                  <para>"host:&lt;drive&gt;": For a virtual DVD or floppy
                  drive only, this connects the given device slot to the
                  specified DVD or floppy drive on the host computer.</para>
                </listitem>

                <listitem>
                  <para>"iscsi": For virtual hard disks only, this allows for
                  specifying an iSCSI target. In this case, more parameters
                  must be given; see below.</para>
                </listitem>
              </itemizedlist></para>

            <para>Some of the above changes, in particular for removeable
            media (floppies and CDs/DVDs), can be effected while a VM is
            running. Others (device changes or changes in hard disk device
            slots) require the VM to be powered off.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>mtype</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Defines how this medium behaves with respect to snapshots
            and write operations. See <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for
            details.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>comment</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Any description that you want to have stored with this
            medium (optional; for example, for an iSCSI target, "Big storage
            server downstairs"). This is purely descriptive and not needed for
            the medium to function correctly.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>setuuid, setparentuuid</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Modifies the UUID or parent UUID of a medium before
            attaching it to a VM. This is an expert option. Inappropriate use
            can make the medium unusable or lead to broken VM configurations
            if any other VM is referring to the same media already. The most
            frequently used variant is <code>--setuuid ""</code>, which assigns
            a new (random) UUID to an image. This is useful to resolve the
            duplicate UUID errors if one duplicated an image using file copy
            utilities.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>passthrough</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can enable DVD writing
            support (currently experimental; see <xref
            linkend="storage-cds" />).</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>tempeject</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can configure the behavior
            for guest-triggered medium eject. If this is set to "on", the eject
            has only temporary effects. If the VM is powered off and restarted
            the originally configured medium will be still in the drive.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>bandwidthgroup</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Sets the bandwidth group to use for the given device; see
            <xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" />.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>forceunmount</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this forcibly
            unmounts the DVD/CD/Floppy or mounts a new DVD/CD/Floppy even if
            the previous one is locked down by the guest for reading. Again,
            see <xref linkend="storage-cds" /> for details.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>
      </glosslist></para>

    <para>When "iscsi" is used with the
    <computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> parameter for iSCSI support --
    see <xref linkend="storage-iscsi" /> --, additional parameters must or can
    be used:<glosslist>
        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>server</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>The host name or IP address of the iSCSI target;
            required.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>target</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Target name string. This is determined by the iSCSI target
            and used to identify the storage resource; required.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>port</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>TCP/IP port number of the iSCSI service on the target
            (optional).</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>lun</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Logical Unit Number of the target resource (optional).
            Often, this value is zero.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>username, password</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Username and password for target authentication, if required
            (optional).<note>
                <para>Currently, username and password are stored without
                encryption (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine
                configuration file.</para>
              </note></para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>intnet</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>If specified, connect to the iSCSI target via Internal
            Networking. This needs further configuration which is described in
            <xref linkend="iscsi-intnet" />.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>
      </glosslist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-storagectl">
    <title>VBoxManage storagectl</title>

    <para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage controller. After
    this, virtual media can be attached to the controller with the
    <computeroutput>storageattach</computeroutput> command (see the next
    section).</para>

    <para>The syntax is as follows:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage storagectl       &lt;uuid|vmname&gt;
                            --name &lt;name&gt;
                            [--add &lt;ide/sata/scsi/floppy&gt;]
                            [--controller &lt;LsiLogic|LSILogicSAS|BusLogic|
                                          IntelAhci|PIIX3|PIIX4|ICH6|I82078&gt;]
                            [--sataideemulation&lt;1-4&gt; &lt;1-30&gt;]
                            [--sataportcount &lt;1-30&gt;]
                            [--hostiocache on|off]
                            [--bootable on|off]
                            [--remove]</screen>

    <para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>uuid|vmname</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>name</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>add</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Define the type of the system bus to which the storage
            controller must be connected.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>controller</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Allows to choose the type of chipset being emulated for the
            given storage controller.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>sataideemulation</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>This specifies which SATA ports should operate in IDE
            emulation mode. As explained in <xref
            linkend="harddiskcontrollers" />, by default, this is the case for
            SATA ports 1-4; with this command, you can map four IDE channels
            to any of the 30 supported SATA ports.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>sataportcount</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>This determines how many ports the SATA controller should
            support.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>hostiocache</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Configures the use of the host I/O cache for all disk images
            attached to this storage controller. For details, please see <xref
            linkend="iocaching" />.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>bootable</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Selects whether this controller is bootable.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>remove</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Removes the storage controller from the VM config.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>
      </glosslist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>VBoxManage bandwidthctl</title>

    <para>This command creates/deletes/modifies bandwidth groups of the given
    virtual machine:<screen>VBoxManage bandwidthctl    &lt;uuid|vmname&gt;
                          --name &lt;name&gt;
                          [--add disk
                          [--delete]
                          [--limit MB/s]</screen></para>

    <para>See <xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" /> for an introduction
    to bandwidth limits. The parameters mean:<glosslist>
        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>uuid|vmname</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>name</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Name of the bandwidth group. Mandatory.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>add</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Creates a new bandwdith group with the given type.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>delete</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Deletes a bandwdith group if it isn't used anymore.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>limit</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Sets the limit for the given group to the specified amount.
            Can be changed while the VM is running.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>
      </glosslist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>VBoxManage showhdinfo</title>

    <para>This command shows information about a virtual hard disk image,
    notably its size, its size on disk, its type and the virtual machines
    which use it.<note>
        <para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
        "showvdiinfo" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
        "showhdinfo" command.</para>
      </note></para>
    <para>The disk image must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium
      is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by
      <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
      for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either
      as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current
      directory.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvdi">
    <title>VBoxManage createhd</title>

    <para>This command creates a new virtual hard disk image. The syntax is as
    follows:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage createhd         --filename &lt;filename&gt;
                            --size &lt;megabytes&gt;
                            [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD] (default: VDI)
                            [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>

    <para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>filename</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Allows to choose a file name. Mandatory.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>size</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Allows to define the image capacity, in 1 MiB units.
            Mandatory.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>format</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Allows to choose a file format for the output file different
            from the file format of the input file.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>variant</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Allows to choose a file format variant for the output file.
            It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
            combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
            result in an error message.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>
      </glosslist> <note>
        <para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
        "createvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
        "createhd" command.</para>
      </note></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvdi">
    <title>VBoxManage modifyhd</title>

    <para>With the <computeroutput>modifyhd</computeroutput> command, you can
    change the characteristics of a disk image after it has been
    created:<screen>VBoxManage modifyhd         &lt;uuid&gt;|&lt;filename&gt;
                            [--type normal|writethrough|immutable|shareable|
                                    readonly|multiattach]
                            [--autoreset on|off]
                            [--compact]
                            [--resize &lt;megabytes&gt;|--resizebyte &lt;bytes&gt;]</screen><note>
        <para>Despite the "hd" in the subcommand name, the command works with
        all disk images, not only hard disks. For compatibility with earlier
        versions of VirtualBox, the "modifyvdi" command is also supported and
        mapped internally to the "modifyhd" command.</para>
      </note></para>

      <para>The disk image to modify must be specified either by its UUID
        (if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images
        can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
        (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
        A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path
        or as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
    <para>The following options are available:<itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>With the <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> argument, you
          can change the type of an existing image between the normal,
          immutable, write-through and other modes; see <xref
          linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for details.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>For immutable (differencing) hard disks only, the
          <computeroutput>--autoreset on|off</computeroutput> option
          determines whether the disk is automatically reset on every VM
          startup (again, see <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />). The default
          is "on".</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>With the <computeroutput>--compact</computeroutput> option,
          can be used to compact disk images, i.e. remove blocks that only
          contains zeroes. This will shrink a dynamically allocated image
          again; it will reduce the <emphasis>physical</emphasis> size of the
          image without affecting the logical size of the virtual disk.
          Compaction works both for base images and for diff images created as
          part of a snapshot.</para>

          <para>For this operation to be effective, it is required that free
          space in the guest system first be zeroed out using a suitable
          software tool. For Windows guests, you can use the
          <computeroutput>sdelete</computeroutput> tool provided by Microsoft.
          Execute <computeroutput>sdelete -c</computeroutput> in the guest to
          zero the free disk space before compressing the virtual disk
          image. For Linux, use the <code>zerofree</code> utility which
          supports ext2/ext3 filesystems.</para>

          <para>Please note that compacting is currently only available for
          VDI images. A similar effect can be achieved by zeroing out free
          blocks and then cloning the disk to any other dynamically allocated
          format. You can use this workaround until compacting is also
          supported for disk formats other than VDI.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>The <computeroutput>--resize</computeroutput> option allows you
          to change the capacity of an existing image; this adjusts the
          <emphasis>logical</emphasis> size of a virtual disk without affecting
          the physical size much.<footnote>
              <para>Image resizing was added with VirtualBox 4.0.</para>
            </footnote> This currently works only for expanding the capacity of
          VDI and VHD formats, and only for the dynamically allocated variants.
          For example, if you originally created a 10G disk which is now full,
          you can use the <computeroutput>--resize 15360</computeroutput>
          command to add 5 GByte more space to the virtual disk without
          having to create a new image and copy all data from within a virtual
          machine.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevdi">
    <title>VBoxManage clonehd</title>

    <para>This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a
    new image file with a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be
    transferred to another host system or imported into VirtualBox again using
    the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref linkend="vdis" /> and <xref
    linkend="cloningvdis" />. The syntax is as follows:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage clonehd         &lt;uuid&gt;|&lt;filename&gt; &lt;outputfile&gt;
                           [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD|RAW|&lt;other&gt;]
                           [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
                           [--existing]</screen>

    <para>The disk image to clone as well as the target image must be described
       either by its UUIDs (if the mediums are registered) or by its filename.
       Registered images can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
       (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
       A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or
       as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
    <para>The following options are available:<glosslist>
        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>format</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Allow to choose a file format for the output file different
            from the file format of the input file.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>variant</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
            It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
            combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
            result in an error message.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>existing</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Perform the clone operation to an already existing
            destination medium. Only the portion of the source medium which
            fits into the destination medium is copied. This means if the
            destination medium is smaller than the source only a part of it is
            copied, and if the destination medium is larger than the source
            the remaining part of the destination medium is unchanged.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>
      </glosslist> <note>
        <para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
        "clonevdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
        "clonehd" command.</para>
      </note></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>VBoxManage convertfromraw</title>

    <para>This command converts a raw disk image to a VirtualBox Disk Image
    (VDI) file. The syntax is as follows:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage convertfromraw   &lt;filename&gt; &lt;outputfile&gt;
                            [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD]
                            [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
VBoxManage convertfromraw   stdin &lt;outputfile&gt; &lt;bytes&gt;
                            [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD]
                            [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>

    <para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>format</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Select the disk image format to create. Default is
            VDI.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>variant</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
            It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
            combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
            result in an error message.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>
      </glosslist> The second form forces VBoxManage to read the content for
    the disk image from standard input (useful for using that command in a
    pipe).</para>

    <para><note>
        <para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
        "convertdd" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
        "convertfromraw" command.</para>
      </note></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata</title>

    <para>These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual
    machine or to a VirtualBox configuration (by specifying
    <computeroutput>global</computeroutput> instead of a virtual machine
    name). You must specify a key (as a text string) to associate the data
    with, which you can later use to retrieve it. For example:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate 2006.01.01
VBoxManage setextradata SUSE10 installdate 2006.02.02</screen>

    <para>would associate the string "2006.01.01" with the key installdate for
    the virtual machine Fedora5, and "2006.02.02" on the machine SUSE10. You
    could retrieve the information as follows:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage getextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>

    <para>which would return</para>

    <screen>VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
All rights reserved.

Value: 2006.01.01</screen>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-setproperty">
    <title>VBoxManage setproperty</title>

    <para>This command is used to change global settings which affect the
    entire VirtualBox installation. Some of these correspond to the settings
    in the "Global settings" dialog in the graphical user interface. The
    following properties are available:<glosslist>
        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>machinefolder</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>This specifies the default folder in which virtual machine
            definitions are kept; see <xref linkend="vboxconfigdata" /> for
            details.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>vrdeauthlibrary</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>This specifies which library to use when "external"
            authentication has been selected for a particular virtual machine;
            see <xref linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>websrvauthlibrary</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>This specifies which library the web service uses to
            authenticate users. For details about the VirtualBox web service,
            please refer to the separate VirtualBox SDK reference (see <xref
            linkend="VirtualBoxAPI" />).</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>vrdelibrary</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>This specifies which library implements the VirtualBox
            Remote Desktop Extension.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>

        <glossentry>
          <glossterm>hwvirtexenabled</glossterm>

          <glossdef>
            <para>This selects whether or not hardware virtualization support
            is enabled by default.</para>
          </glossdef>
        </glossentry>
      </glosslist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove</title>

    <para>The <computeroutput>usbfilter</computeroutput> commands are used for
    working with USB filters in virtual machines, or global filters which
    affect the whole VirtualBox setup. Global filters are applied before
    machine-specific filters, and may be used to prevent devices from being
    captured by any virtual machine. Global filters are always applied in a
    particular order, and only the first filter which fits a device is
    applied. So for example, if the first global filter says to hold (make
    available) a particular Kingston memory stick device and the second to
    ignore all Kingston devices, that memory stick will be available to any
    machine with an appropriate filter, but no other Kingston device
    will.</para>

    <para>When creating a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
    add</computeroutput>, you must supply three or four mandatory parameters.
    The index specifies the position in the list at which the filter should be
    placed. If there is already a filter at that position, then it and the
    following ones will be shifted back one place. Otherwise the new filter
    will be added onto the end of the list. The
    <computeroutput>target</computeroutput> parameter selects the virtual
    machine that the filter should be attached to or use "global" to apply it
    to all virtual machines. <computeroutput>name</computeroutput> is a name
    for the new filter and for global filters,
    <computeroutput>action</computeroutput> says whether to allow machines
    access to devices that fit the filter description ("hold") or not to give
    them access ("ignore"). In addition, you should specify parameters to
    filter by. You can find the parameters for devices attached to your system
    using <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbhost</computeroutput>. Finally,
    you can specify whether the filter should be active, and for local
    filters, whether they are for local devices, remote (over an RDP
    connection) or either.</para>

    <para>When you modify a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
    modify</computeroutput>, you must specify the filter by index (see the
    output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbfilters</computeroutput> to
    find global filter indexes and that of <computeroutput>VBoxManage
    showvminfo</computeroutput> to find indexes for individual machines) and
    by target, which is either a virtual machine or "global". The properties
    which can be changed are the same as for <computeroutput>usbfilter
    add</computeroutput>. To remove a filter, use <computeroutput>usbfilter
    remove</computeroutput> and specify the index and the target.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-sharedfolder">
    <title>VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove</title>

    <para>This command allows you to share folders on the host computer with
    guest operating systems. For this, the guest systems must have a version
    of the VirtualBox Guest Additions installed which supports this
    functionality.</para>

    <para>Shared folders are described in detail in <xref
    linkend="sharedfolders" />.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty">
    <title>VBoxManage guestproperty</title>

    <para>The "guestproperty" commands allow you to get or set properties of a
    running virtual machine. Please see <xref linkend="guestadd-guestprops" />
    for an introduction. As explained there, guest properties are arbitrary
    key/value string pairs which can be written to and read from by either the
    guest or the host, so they can be used as a low-volume communication
    channel for strings, provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
    Additions installed. In addition, a number of values whose keys begin with
    "/VirtualBox/" are automatically set and maintained by the Guest
    Additions.</para>

    <para>The following subcommands are available (where
    <computeroutput>&lt;vm&gt;</computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
    VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>enumerate &lt;vm&gt; [--patterns
          &lt;pattern&gt;]</computeroutput>: This lists all the guest
          properties that are available for the given VM, including the value.
          This list will be very limited if the guest's service process cannot
          be contacted, e.g. because the VM is not running or the Guest
          Additions are not installed.</para>

          <para>If <computeroutput>--patterns &lt;pattern&gt;</computeroutput>
          is specified, it acts as a filter to only list properties that match
          the given pattern. The pattern can contain the following wildcard
          characters:<itemizedlist>
              <listitem>
                <para><computeroutput>*</computeroutput> (asterisk):
                represents any number of characters; for example,
                "<computeroutput>/VirtualBox*</computeroutput>" would match
                all properties beginning with "/VirtualBox".</para>
              </listitem>

              <listitem>
                <para><computeroutput>?</computeroutput> (question mark):
                represents a single arbitrary character; for example,
                "<computeroutput>fo?</computeroutput>" would match both "foo"
                and "for".</para>
              </listitem>

              <listitem>
                <para><computeroutput>|</computeroutput> (pipe symbol): can be
                used to specify multiple alternative patterns; for example,
                "<computeroutput>s*|t*</computeroutput>" would match anything
                starting with either "s" or "t".</para>
              </listitem>
            </itemizedlist></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>get &lt;vm&gt;</computeroutput>: This
          retrieves the value of a single property only. If the property
          cannot be found (e.g. because the guest is not running), this will
          print <screen>No value set!</screen></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>set &lt;vm&gt; &lt;property&gt; [&lt;value&gt;
          [--flags &lt;flags&gt;]]</computeroutput>: This allows you to set a
          guest property by specifying the key and value. If
          <computeroutput>&lt;value&gt;</computeroutput> is omitted, the
          property is deleted. With <computeroutput>--flags</computeroutput>
          you can optionally specify additional behavior (you can combine
          several by separating them with commas):<itemizedlist>
              <listitem>
                <para><computeroutput>TRANSIENT</computeroutput>: the value
                will not be stored with the VM data when the VM exits;</para>
              </listitem>

              <listitem>
                <para><computeroutput>TRANSRESET</computeroutput>: the value
                will be deleted as soon as the VM restarts and/or exits;</para>
              </listitem>

              <listitem>
                <para><computeroutput>RDONLYGUEST</computeroutput>: the value
                can only be changed by the host, but the guest can only read
                it;</para>
              </listitem>

              <listitem>
                <para><computeroutput>RDONLYHOST</computeroutput>: reversely,
                the value can only be changed by the guest, but the host can
                only read it;</para>
              </listitem>

              <listitem>
                <para><computeroutput>READONLY</computeroutput>: a combination
                of the two, the value cannot be changed at all.</para>
              </listitem>
            </itemizedlist></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>wait &lt;vm&gt; &lt;pattern&gt; --timeout
          &lt;timeout&gt;</computeroutput>: This waits for a particular value
          described by "pattern" to change or to be deleted or created. The
          pattern rules are the same as for the "enumerate" subcommand
          above.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestcontrol">
    <title>VBoxManage guestcontrol</title>

    <para>The "guestcontrol" commands allow you to control certain things
    inside a guest from the host. Please see <xref
    linkend="guestadd-guestcontrol" /> for an introduction.</para>

    <para>Generally, the syntax is as follows:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol &lt;command&gt;</screen>

    <para>The following subcommands are available (where
    <computeroutput>&lt;vm&gt;</computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
    VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>execute</computeroutput>, which allows for
          executing a program/script (process) which is already installed and
          runnable on the guest. This command only works while a VM is up and
          running and has the following syntax:</para>

          <screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol &lt;vmname&gt;|&lt;uuid&gt; exec[ute]
            --image &lt;path to program&gt;
            --username &lt;name&gt; --password &lt;password&gt;
            [--dos2unix]
            [--environment "&lt;NAME&gt;=&lt;VALUE&gt; [&lt;NAME&gt;=&lt;VALUE&gt;]"]
            [--timeout &lt;msec&gt;] [--unix2dos] [--verbose]
            [--wait-exit] [--wait-stdout] [--wait-stderr]
            -- [[&lt;argument1&gt;] ... [&lt;argumentN&gt;]]</screen>

          <para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>uuid|vmname</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--image "&lt;path to program&gt;"</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Absolute path and process name of process to execute
                  in the guest, e.g.
                  <computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput></para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--username &lt;name&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Name of the user the process should run under. This
                  user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--password &lt;password&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Password of the user account specified with
                  <computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
                  an empty password is assumed.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--dos2unix</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  Converts output from DOS/Windows guests to UNIX-compatible
                  line endings (CR + LF -> LF). Not implemented yet.
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--environment
                "&lt;NAME&gt;=&lt;VALUE&gt;"</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>One or more environment variables to be set or
                  unset.</para>

                  <para>By default, the new process in the guest will be
                  created with the standard environment of the guest OS. This
                  option allows for modifying that environment. To set/modify
                  a variable, a pair of
                  <computeroutput>NAME=VALUE</computeroutput> must be
                  specified; to unset a certain variable, the name with no
                  value must set, e.g.
                  <computeroutput>NAME=</computeroutput>.</para>

                  <para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
                  quotation marks. More than one
                  <computeroutput>--environment</computeroutput> at a time can
                  be specified to keep the command line tidy.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--timeout &lt;msec&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Value (in milliseconds) that specifies the time how
                  long the started process is allowed to run and how long
                  VBoxManage waits for getting output from that process. If no
                  timeout is specified, VBoxManage will wait forever until the
                  started process ends or an error occured.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--unix2dos</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  Converts output from a UNIX/Linux guests to DOS-/Windows-compatible
                  line endings (LF -> CR + LF). Not implemented yet.
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--wait-exit</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
                  exit code along with the exit reason/flags.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--wait-stdout</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
                  exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
                  VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stdout.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--wait-stderr</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
                  exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
                  VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stderr.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>[-- [&lt;argument1s&gt;] ... [&lt;argumentNs&gt;]]</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>One or more arguments to pass to the process being
                  executed.</para>
                  <para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
                  quotation marks.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

            </glosslist></para>

          <para><note>
              <para>On Windows there are certain limitations for graphical
              applications; please see <xref linkend="KnownIssues" /> for more
              information.</para>
            </note> Examples: <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls"
          --username foo --password bar --wait-exit --wait-stdout -- -l /usr</screen> <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "c:\\windows\\system32\\ipconfig.exe"
          --username foo --password bar --wait-exit --wait-stdout</screen> Note that
          the double backslashes in the second example are only required on
          Unix hosts.</para>

          <para>Starting at VirtualBox 4.1.2 guest process execution by default is limited
          to serve up to 5 guest processes at a time. If a new guest process gets started
          which would exceed this limit, the oldest not running guest process will be discarded
          in order to be able to run that new process. Also, retrieving output from this
          old guest process will not be possible anymore then. If all 5 guest processes
          are still active and running, starting a new guest process will result in an
          appropriate error message.</para>

          <para>To raise or lower the guest process execution limit, either the guest
          property <computerouptut>/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--control-procs-max-kept</computerouptut>
          or VBoxService' command line by specifying <computeroutput>--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
          needs to be modified. A restart of the guest OS is required afterwards. To serve unlimited
          guest processes, a value of <computeroutput>0</computeroutput> needs to be set (not recommended).</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput>, which allows copying
          files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
          Additions 4.0 and later).</para>

          <screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol &lt;vmname&gt;|&lt;uuid&gt; copyto|cp
            &lt;source on host&gt; &lt;destination on guest&gt;
            --username &lt;name&gt; --password &lt;password&gt;
            [--dryrun] [--follow] [--recursive] [--verbose]</screen>

          <para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>uuid|vmname</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>source on host</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Absolute path of source file(s) on host to copy over
                  to the guest, e.g.
                  <computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput>.
                  This also can be a wildcard expression, e.g.
                  <computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\*.dll</computeroutput></para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>destination on guest</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Absolute destination path on the guest, e.g.
                  <computeroutput>C:\Temp</computeroutput></para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--username &lt;name&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
                  This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--password &lt;password&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Password of the user account specified with
                  <computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
                  an empty password is assumed.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--dryrun</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Tells VBoxManage to only perform a dry run instead of
                  really copying files to the guest.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--follow</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Enables following symlinks on the host's
                  source.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--recursive</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Recursively copies files/directories of the specified
                  source.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--flags &lt;flags&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Additional flags to set. This is not used at the
                  moment.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>
            </glosslist></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>createdirectory</computeroutput>, which allows
          copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
          Additions 4.0 and later).</para>

          <screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol &lt;vmname&gt;|&lt;uuid&gt; createdir[ectory]|mkdir|md
            &lt;directory to create on guest&gt;
            [--username "&lt;name&gt;"] [--password "&lt;password&gt;"]
            [--parents] [--mode &lt;mode&gt;] [--verbose]</screen>

          <para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>uuid|vmname</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>directory to create on guest</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Absolute path of directory/directories to create on
                  guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>.
                  Parent directories need to exist (e.g. in this example
                  <computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput>) when switch
                  <computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput> is omitted. The
                  specified user must have appropriate rights to create the
                  specified directory.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--username &lt;name&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
                  This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--password &lt;password&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Password of the user account specified with
                  <computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
                  an empty password is assumed.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--parents</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Also creates not yet existing parent directories of
                  the specified directory, e.g. if the directory
                  <computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput> of
                  <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput> does not exist
                  yet it will be created. Without specifying
                  <computeroutput>--parent</computeroutput> the action would
                  have failed.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--mode &lt;mode&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
                  Only octal modes (e.g.
                  <computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
                  now.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>
            </glosslist></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>stat</computeroutput>, which displays file
          or file system status on the guest.</para>

          <screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol &lt;vmname&gt;|&lt;uuid&gt; stat
            &lt;file element(s) to check on guest&gt;
            [--username "&lt;name&gt;"] [--password "&lt;password&gt;"]
            [--verbose]</screen>

          <para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>uuid|vmname</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>file element(s) to check on guest</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Absolute path of directory/directories to check on
                  guest, e.g. <computeroutput>/home/foo/a.out</computeroutput>.
                  The specified user must have appropriate rights to access
                  the given file element(s).</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--username &lt;name&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
                  This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--password &lt;password&gt;</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Password of the user account specified with
                  <computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
                  an empty password is assumed.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>
            </glosslist></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><computeroutput>updateadditions</computeroutput>, which allows
          for updating an already installed Guest Additions version on the
          guest (only already installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).</para>

          <screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol updateadditions &lt;vmname&gt;|&lt;uuid&gt;
            [--source "&lt;guest additions .ISO file to use&gt;"] [--verbose]</screen>

          <para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>uuid|vmname</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--source "&lt;guest additions .ISO file to
                use&gt;"</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Full path to an alternative VirtualBox Guest Additions
                  .ISO file to use for the Guest Additions update.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>

              <glossentry>
                <glossterm>--verbose</glossterm>

                <glossdef>
                  <para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
                </glossdef>
              </glossentry>
            </glosslist></para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-debugvm">
    <title>VBoxManage debugvm</title>

    <para>The "debugvm" commands are for experts who want to tinker with the
    exact details of virtual machine execution. Like the VM debugger described
    in <xref linkend="debugger" />, these commands are only useful if you are
    very familiar with the details of the PC architecture and how to debug
    software.</para>

    <para>The subcommands of "debugvm" all operate on a running virtual
    machine. The following are available:<itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>With <computeroutput>dumpguestcore --filename
          &lt;name&gt;</computeroutput>, you can create a system dump of the
          running VM, which will be written into the given file. This file
          will have the standard ELF core format (with custom sections); see
          <xref linkend="guestcoreformat" />.</para>

          <para>This corresponds to the
          <computeroutput>writecore</computeroutput> command in the debugger.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>The <computeroutput>info</computeroutput> command is used to
          display info items relating to the VMM, device emulations and
          associated drivers.  This command takes one or two arguments: the
          name of the info item, optionally followed by a string containing
          arguments specific to the info item.
          The <computeroutput>help</computeroutput> info item provides a
          listning of the available items and hints about any optional
          arguments.</para>

          <para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>info</computeroutput>
          command in the debugger.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>The <computeroutput>injectnmi</computeroutput> command causes
          a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) in the guest, which might be useful
          for certain debugging scenarios. What happens exactly is dependent
          on the guest operating system, but an NMI can crash the whole guest
          operating system. Do not use unless you know what you're
          doing.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>The <computeroutput>osdetect</computeroutput> command makes the
          VMM's debugger facility (re-)detection the guest operation
          system.</para>

          <para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>detect</computeroutput>
          command in the debugger.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>The <computeroutput>osinfo</computeroutput> command is used to
          display info about the operating system (OS) detected by the VMM's
          debugger facility.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>The <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command is
          used to display CPU and device registers.  The command takes a list
          of registers, each having one of the following forms:
          <itemizedlist>
            <listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
            <listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
            <listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
            <listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
            <listitem><computeroutput>all</computeroutput></listitem>
          </itemizedlist>
          The <computeroutput>all</computeroutput> form will cause all
          registers to be shown (no sub-fields).  The registers names are
          case-insensitive.  When requesting a CPU register the register set
          can be omitted, it will be selected using the value of the
          <computeroutput>--cpu</computeroutput> option (defaulting to 0).
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>The <computeroutput>setregisters</computeroutput> command is
          used to change CPU and device registers.  The command takes a list
          of register assignments, each having one of the following forms:
          <itemizedlist>
            <listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
            <listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
            <listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
            <listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
          </itemizedlist>
          The value format should be in the same style as what
          <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> displays, with the
          exception that both octal and decimal can be used instead of
          hexadecimal.  The register naming and the default CPU register set
          are handled the same way as with the
          <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>The <computeroutput>statistics</computeroutput> command can be
          used to display VMM statistics on the command line. The
          <computeroutput>--reset</computeroutput> option will reset
          statistics. The affected statistics can be filtered with the
          <computeroutput>--pattern</computeroutput> option, which accepts
          DOS/NT-style wildcards (<computeroutput>?</computeroutput> and
          <computeroutput>*</computeroutput>).</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title id="metrics">VBoxManage metrics</title>

    <para>This command supports monitoring the usage of system resources.
    Resources are represented by various metrics associated with the host
    system or a particular VM. For example, the host system has a
    <computeroutput>CPU/Load/User</computeroutput> metric that shows the
    percentage of time CPUs spend executing in user mode over a specific
    sampling period.</para>

    <para>Metric data is collected and retained internally; it may be
    retrieved at any time with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
    query</computeroutput> subcommand. The data is available as long as the
    background <computeroutput>VBoxSVC</computeroutput> process is alive. That
    process terminates shortly after all VMs and frontends have been
    closed.</para>

    <para>By default no metrics are collected at all. Metrics collection does
    not start until <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics setup</computeroutput>
    is invoked with a proper sampling interval and the number of metrics to be
    retained. The interval is measured in seconds. For example, to enable
    collecting the host processor and memory usage metrics every second and
    keeping the 5 most current samples, the following command can be
    used:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage metrics setup --period 1 --samples 5 host CPU/Load,RAM/Usage</screen>

    <para>Metric collection can only be enabled for started VMs. Collected
    data and collection settings for a particular VM will disappear as soon as
    it shuts down. Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics list
    </computeroutput> subcommand to see which metrics are currently available.
    You can also use <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option with any
    subcommand that modifies metric settings to find out which metrics were
    affected.</para>

    <para>Note that the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
    setup</computeroutput> subcommand discards all samples that may have been
    previously collected for the specified set of objects and metrics.</para>

    <para>To enable or disable metrics collection without discarding the data
    <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics enable</computeroutput> and
    <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics disable</computeroutput> subcommands
    can be used. Note that these subcommands expect metrics, not submetrics,
    like <code>CPU/Load</code> or <code>RAM/Usage</code> as parameters. In
    other words enabling <code>CPU/Load/User</code> while disabling
    <code>CPU/Load/Kernel</code> is not supported.</para>

    <para>The host and VMs have different sets of associated metrics.
    Available metrics can be listed with <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
    list</computeroutput> subcommand.</para>

    <para>A complete metric name may include an aggregate function. The name
    has the following form:
    <computeroutput>Category/Metric[/SubMetric][:aggregate]</computeroutput>.
    For example, <computeroutput>RAM/Usage/Free:min</computeroutput> stands
    for the minimum amount of available memory over all retained data if
    applied to the host object.</para>

    <para>Subcommands may apply to all objects and metrics or can be limited
    to one object or/and a list of metrics. If no objects or metrics are given
    in the parameters, the subcommands will apply to all available metrics of
    all objects. You may use an asterisk
    ("<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>") to explicitly specify that the
    command should be applied to all objects or metrics. Use "host" as the
    object name to limit the scope of the command to host-related metrics. To
    limit the scope to a subset of metrics, use a metric list with names
    separated by commas.</para>

    <para>For example, to query metric data on the CPU time spent in user and
    kernel modes by the virtual machine named "test", you can use the
    following command:</para>

    <screen>VBoxManage metrics query test CPU/Load/User,CPU/Load/Kernel</screen>

    <para>The following list summarizes the available subcommands:</para>

    <glosslist>
      <glossentry>
        <glossterm>list</glossterm>

        <glossdef>
          <para>This subcommand shows the parameters of the currently existing
          metrics. Note that VM-specific metrics are only available when a
          particular VM is running.</para>
        </glossdef>
      </glossentry>

      <glossentry>
        <glossterm>setup</glossterm>

        <glossdef>
          <para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
          of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
          retained data is available for displaying with the
          <code>query</code> subcommand. The <computeroutput>--list
          </computeroutput> option shows which metrics have been modified as
          the result of the command execution.</para>
        </glossdef>
      </glossentry>

      <glossentry>
        <glossterm>enable</glossterm>

        <glossdef>
          <para>This subcommand "resumes" data collection after it has been
          stopped with <code>disable</code> subcommand. Note that specifying
          submetrics as parameters will not enable underlying metrics. Use
          <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
          did what was expected.</para>
        </glossdef>
      </glossentry>

      <glossentry>
        <glossterm>disable</glossterm>

        <glossdef>
          <para>This subcommand "suspends" data collection without affecting
          collection parameters or collected data. Note that specifying
          submetrics as parameters will not disable underlying metrics. Use
          <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
          did what was expected.</para>
        </glossdef>
      </glossentry>

      <glossentry>
        <glossterm>query</glossterm>

        <glossdef>
          <para>This subcommand retrieves and displays the currently retained
          metric data.<note>
              <para>The <code>query</code> subcommand does not remove or
              "flush" retained data. If you query often enough you will see
              how old samples are gradually being "phased out" by new
              samples.</para>
            </note></para>
        </glossdef>
      </glossentry>

      <glossentry>
        <glossterm>collect</glossterm>

        <glossdef>
          <para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
          of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
          collected data is displayed periodically until Ctrl-C is pressed
          unless the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput> option is
          specified. With the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput>
          option, this subcommand operates the same way as <code>setup</code>
          does. The <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option shows which
          metrics match the specified filter.</para>
        </glossdef>
      </glossentry>
    </glosslist>
  </sect1>

  <sect1>
    <title>VBoxManage hostonlyif</title>

    <para>With "hostonlyif" you can change the IP configuration of a host-only
    network interface. For a description of host-only networking, please
    refer to <xref linkend="network_hostonly" />. Each host-only interface is
    identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a
    manual IP configuration (both IP4 and IP6).</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-dhcpserver">
    <title>VBoxManage dhcpserver</title>

    <para>The "dhcpserver" commands allow you to control the DHCP server that
    is built into VirtualBox. You may find this useful when using internal or
    host-only networking. (Theoretically, you can enable it for a bridged
    network as well, but that will likely cause conflicts with other DHCP
    servers in your physical network.)</para>

    <para>Use the following command line options:<itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>If you use internal networking for a virtual network adapter
          of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
          --netname &lt;network_name&gt;</computeroutput>, where
          <computeroutput>&lt;network_name&gt;</computeroutput> is the same
          network name you used with <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm
          &lt;vmname&gt; --intnet&lt;X&gt;
          &lt;network_name&gt;</computeroutput>.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>If you use host-only networking for a virtual network adapter
          of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
          --ifname &lt;hostonly_if_name&gt;</computeroutput> instead, where
          <computeroutput>&lt;hostonly_if_name&gt;</computeroutput> is the
          same host-only interface name you used with
          <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm &lt;vmname&gt;
          --hostonlyadapter&lt;X&gt;
          &lt;hostonly_if_name&gt;</computeroutput>.</para>

          <para>Alternatively, you can also use the --netname option as with
          internal networks if you know the host-only network's name; you can
          see the names with <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
          hostonlyifs</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
          above).</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>

    <para>The following additional parameters are required when first adding a
    DHCP server:<itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>With <computeroutput>--ip</computeroutput>, specify the IP
          address of the DHCP server itself.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>With <computeroutput>--netmask</computeroutput>, specify the
          netmask of the network.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>With <computeroutput>--lowerip</computeroutput> and
          <computeroutput>--upperip</computeroutput>, you can specify the
          lowest and highest IP address, respectively, that the DHCP server
          will hand out to clients.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>

    <para>Finally, you must specify <computeroutput>--enable</computeroutput>
    or the DHCP server will be created in the disabled state, doing
    nothing.</para>

    <para>After this, VirtualBox will automatically start the DHCP server for
    given internal or host-only network as soon as the first virtual machine
    which uses that network is started.</para>

    <para>Reversely, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver
    remove</computeroutput> with the given <computeroutput>--netname
    &lt;network_name&gt;</computeroutput> or <computeroutput>--ifname
    &lt;hostonly_if_name&gt;</computeroutput> to remove the DHCP server again
    for the given internal or host-only network.</para>

    <para>To modify the settings of a DHCP server created earlier with
    <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add</computeroutput>, you can use
    <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver modify</computeroutput> for a given
    network or host-only interface name.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="vboxmanage-extpack">
    <title>VBoxManage extpack</title>

    <para>The "extpack" command allows you to add or remove VirtualBox
    extension packs, as described in <xref
    linkend="intro-installing" />.<itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>To add a new extension pack, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
          extpack install &lt;tarball&gt;</computeroutput>. This command
          will fail if an older version of the same extension pack is already
          installed. The optional <computeroutput>--replace</computeroutput>
          parameter can be used to uninstall the old package before the new
          package is installed.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>To remove a previously installed extension pack, use
          <computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack uninstall
          &lt;name&gt;</computeroutput>. You can use
          <computeroutput>VBoxManage list extpacks</computeroutput> to show
          the names of the extension packs which are currently installed;
          please see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> also. The optional
          <computeroutput>--force</computeroutput> parameter can be used to
          override the refusal of an extension pack to be uninstalled.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>The <computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack
          cleanup</computeroutput> command can be used to remove temporary
          files and directories that may have been left behind if a previous
          install or uninstall command failed.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>
  </sect1>
</chapter>
