| 1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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| 2 | <!--
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| 3 | manpage, user manual, usage: VBoxManage createmedium
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| 4 | -->
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| 5 | <!--
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| 6 | Copyright (C) 2006-2024 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
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| 7 |
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| 8 | This file is part of VirtualBox base platform packages, as
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| 9 | available from https://www.virtualbox.org.
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| 10 |
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| 11 | This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
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| 12 | modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
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| 13 | as published by the Free Software Foundation, in version 3 of the
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| 14 | License.
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| 15 |
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| 16 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
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| 17 | WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
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| 18 | MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
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| 19 | General Public License for more details.
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| 20 |
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| 21 | You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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| 22 | along with this program; if not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses>.
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| 23 |
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| 24 | SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-only
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| 25 | -->
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| 26 | <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
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| 27 | "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd"[
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| 28 | <!ENTITY % all.entities SYSTEM "all-entities.ent">
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| 29 | %all.entities;
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| 30 | ]>
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| 31 | <refentry id="vboxmanage-createmedium" lang="en">
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| 32 | <refentryinfo>
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| 33 | <pubdate>$Date: 2024-09-16 14:03:52 +0000 (Mon, 16 Sep 2024) $</pubdate>
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| 34 | <title>VBoxManage createmedium</title>
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| 35 | </refentryinfo>
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| 36 |
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| 37 | <refmeta>
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| 38 | <refentrytitle>VBoxManage-createmedium</refentrytitle>
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| 39 | <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
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| 40 | </refmeta>
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| 41 |
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| 42 | <refnamediv>
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| 43 | <refname>VBoxManage-createmedium</refname>
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| 44 | <refpurpose>create a new medium</refpurpose>
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| 45 | <refclass>&product-name;</refclass>
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| 46 | </refnamediv>
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| 47 |
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| 48 | <refsynopsisdiv>
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| 49 | <cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-createmedium">
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| 50 | <!-- The 'id' is mandatory and must start with 'synopsis-'. -->
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| 51 | <command>VBoxManage createmedium</command>
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| 52 | <group>
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| 53 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>disk</replaceable></arg>
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| 54 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>dvd</replaceable></arg>
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| 55 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>floppy</replaceable></arg>
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| 56 | </group>
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| 57 | <arg choice="req">--filename=<replaceable>filename</replaceable></arg>
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| 58 | <group>
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| 59 | <arg choice="plain">--size=<replaceable>megabytes</replaceable></arg>
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| 60 | <arg choice="plain">--sizebyte=<replaceable>bytes</replaceable></arg>
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| 61 | </group>
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| 62 | <arg>--diffparent=<group choice="plain">
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| 63 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>UUID</replaceable></arg>
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| 64 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>filename</replaceable></arg>
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| 65 | </group></arg>
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| 66 | <arg>--format=<group choice="plain">
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| 67 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>VDI</replaceable></arg>
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| 68 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>VMDK</replaceable></arg>
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| 69 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>VHD</replaceable></arg>
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| 70 | </group></arg>
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| 71 | <arg rep="repeat" role="compact">--variant=<group choice="plain">
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| 72 | <arg choice="plain">Standard</arg>
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| 73 | <arg choice="plain">Fixed</arg>
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| 74 | <arg choice="plain">Split2G</arg>
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| 75 | <arg choice="plain">Stream</arg>
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| 76 | <arg choice="plain">ESX</arg>
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| 77 | <arg choice="plain">Formatted</arg>
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| 78 | <arg choice="plain">RawDisk</arg>
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| 79 | </group></arg> <!-- Value can be repated with comma separator. Difficult to express with docbook. -->
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| 80 | <arg rep="repeat">--property=<replaceable>name</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></arg>
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| 81 | <arg rep="repeat">--property-file=<replaceable>name</replaceable>=<replaceable>/path/to/file/with/value</replaceable></arg>
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| 82 | </cmdsynopsis>
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| 83 | </refsynopsisdiv>
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| 84 |
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| 85 | <refsect1 id="vboxmanage-createmedium-description">
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| 86 | <title>Description</title>
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| 87 | <para>
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| 88 | The <command>VBoxManage createmedium</command> command creates a
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| 89 | new medium, such as a disk image file.
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| 90 | </para>
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| 91 | <note>
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| 92 | <para>
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| 93 | For compatibility with earlier versions of &product-name;, you
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| 94 | can use the <command>createvdi</command> and
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| 95 | <command>createhd</command> commands instead of the
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| 96 | <command>createmedium</command> command.
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| 97 | </para>
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| 98 | </note>
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| 99 | <variablelist>
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| 100 | <varlistentry>
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| 101 | <term>disk | dvd | floppy</term>
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| 102 | <listitem><para>
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| 103 | Specifies the media type. The default value is
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| 104 | <literal>disk</literal>.
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| 105 | </para></listitem>
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| 106 | </varlistentry>
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| 107 | <varlistentry>
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| 108 | <term><option>--filename=<replaceable>filename</replaceable></option></term>
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| 109 | <listitem><para>
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| 110 | Specifies the absolute path name to a file on the host file
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| 111 | system.
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| 112 | </para></listitem>
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| 113 | </varlistentry>
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| 114 | <varlistentry>
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| 115 | <term><option>--size=<replaceable>megabytes</replaceable></option></term>
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| 116 | <listitem><para>
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| 117 | Specifies the image capacity in one megabyte units.
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| 118 | </para></listitem>
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| 119 | </varlistentry>
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| 120 | <varlistentry>
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| 121 | <term><option>--sizebyte=<replaceable>bytes</replaceable></option></term>
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| 122 | <listitem><para>
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| 123 | Specifies the image capacity in one byte units.
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| 124 | </para></listitem>
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| 125 | </varlistentry>
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| 126 | <varlistentry>
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| 127 | <term><option>--diffparent=<replaceable>UUID</replaceable> | <replaceable>filename</replaceable></option></term>
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| 128 | <listitem><para>
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| 129 | Specifies the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) or
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| 130 | absolute path name of a differencing image parent file on
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| 131 | the host file system.
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| 132 | </para><para>
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| 133 | Use this file to share a base box disk image among VMs.
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| 134 | </para></listitem>
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| 135 | </varlistentry>
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| 136 | <varlistentry>
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| 137 | <term><option>--format=VDI | VMDK | VHD</option></term>
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| 138 | <listitem><para>
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| 139 | Specifies the file format of the output file. Valid formats
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| 140 | are <literal>VDI</literal>, <literal>VMDK</literal>, and
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| 141 | <literal>VHD</literal>. The default format is
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| 142 | <literal>VDI</literal>.
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| 143 | </para></listitem>
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| 144 | </varlistentry>
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| 145 | <varlistentry>
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| 146 | <term><option>--variant=Standard | Fixed | Split2G | Stream | ESX | Formatted | RawDisk [,...]</option></term>
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| 147 | <listitem><para>
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| 148 | Specifies the file format variant for the target medium,
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| 149 | which is a comma-separated list of variants. Following are
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| 150 | the valid values:
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| 151 | </para><itemizedlist>
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| 152 | <listitem><para>
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| 153 | <literal>Standard</literal> is the default disk image
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| 154 | type, which has a dynamically allocated file size.
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| 155 | </para></listitem>
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| 156 | <listitem><para>
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| 157 | <literal>Fixed</literal> uses a disk image that has a
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| 158 | fixed file size.
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| 159 | </para></listitem>
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| 160 | <listitem><para>
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| 161 | <literal>Split2G</literal> indicates that the disk image
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| 162 | is split into 2GB segments. This value is valid for VMDK
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| 163 | disk images only.
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| 164 | </para></listitem>
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| 165 | <listitem><para>
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| 166 | <literal>Stream</literal> optimizes the disk image for
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| 167 | downloading. This value is valid for VMDK disk images
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| 168 | only.
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| 169 | </para></listitem>
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| 170 | <listitem><para>
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| 171 | <literal>ESX</literal> is used for some VMWare products.
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| 172 | This value is valid for VMDK disk images only.
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| 173 | </para></listitem>
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| 174 | <listitem><para>
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| 175 | <literal>Formatted</literal> formats the medium automatically.
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| 176 | This value is valid for floppy images only.
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| 177 | </para></listitem>
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| 178 | <listitem><para>
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| 179 | <literal>RawDisk</literal> is used for creating a VMDK
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| 180 | image which provides direct access to the hard disk on
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| 181 | the host using its raw interface. This value is valid for
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| 182 | VMDK disk images only. For detailed information about raw
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| 183 | disk access, see <xref linkend="adv-storage-config"/>.
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| 184 | </para></listitem>
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| 185 | </itemizedlist><para>
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| 186 | Note that not all variant combinations are valid. Specifying
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| 187 | incompatible variant values in the list will produce an
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| 188 | error message.
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| 189 | </para></listitem>
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| 190 | </varlistentry>
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| 191 | <varlistentry>
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| 192 | <term><option>--property=<replaceable>name</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></option></term>
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| 193 | <listitem><para>
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| 194 | Specifies any required file format dependent parameters in
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| 195 | <literal>key=value</literal> form. Optional.
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| 196 | </para>
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| 197 | </listitem>
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| 198 | </varlistentry>
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| 199 | <varlistentry>
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| 200 | <term><option>--property-file=<replaceable>name</replaceable>=<replaceable>/path/to/file/with/value</replaceable></option></term>
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| 201 | <listitem><para>
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| 202 | Specifies any required file format dependent parameters in
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| 203 | <literal>key=file/with/value</literal> form. The value is
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| 204 | taken from the file. Optional.
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| 205 | </para></listitem>
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| 206 | </varlistentry>
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| 207 | </variablelist>
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| 208 | </refsect1>
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| 209 |
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| 210 | <refsect1 id="vboxmanage-createmedium-examples">
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| 211 | <title>Examples</title>
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| 212 | <remark role="help-scope" condition="GLOBAL" />
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| 213 | <para>
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| 214 | The following command creates a new disk image file named
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| 215 | <filename>disk01.vdi</filename>. The file size is 1024 megabytes.
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| 216 | </para>
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| 217 | <screen>$ VBoxManage createmedium --filename disk01.vdi --size 1024</screen>
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| 218 | <para>
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| 219 | The following command creates a new floppy disk image file named
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| 220 | <filename>floppy01.vdi</filename>. The file size is 1 megabyte.
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| 221 | </para>
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| 222 | <screen>$ VBoxManage createmedium floppy --filename floppy01.img --size 1</screen>
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| 223 | <para>
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| 224 | The following command creates a raw disk image of an entire physical disk
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| 225 | on a Linux host.
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| 226 | </para>
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| 227 | <screen>$ VBoxManage createmedium disk --filename=/path/to/rawdisk.vmdk --variant=RawDisk --format=VMDK --property RawDrive=/dev/sda</screen>
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| 228 | </refsect1>
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| 229 | </refentry>
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