| 1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
|---|
| 2 | <!--
|
|---|
| 3 | manpage, user manual, usage: VBoxManage createmedium
|
|---|
| 4 | -->
|
|---|
| 5 | <!--
|
|---|
| 6 | Copyright (C) 2006-2023 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
|
|---|
| 7 |
|
|---|
| 8 | This file is part of VirtualBox base platform packages, as
|
|---|
| 9 | available from https://www.virtualbox.org.
|
|---|
| 10 |
|
|---|
| 11 | This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
|
|---|
| 12 | modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
|
|---|
| 13 | as published by the Free Software Foundation, in version 3 of the
|
|---|
| 14 | License.
|
|---|
| 15 |
|
|---|
| 16 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
|
|---|
| 17 | WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
|
|---|
| 18 | MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
|
|---|
| 19 | General Public License for more details.
|
|---|
| 20 |
|
|---|
| 21 | You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
|
|---|
| 22 | along with this program; if not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses>.
|
|---|
| 23 |
|
|---|
| 24 | SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-only
|
|---|
| 25 | -->
|
|---|
| 26 | <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
|
|---|
| 27 | "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd"[
|
|---|
| 28 | <!ENTITY % all.entities SYSTEM "all-entities.ent">
|
|---|
| 29 | %all.entities;
|
|---|
| 30 | ]>
|
|---|
| 31 | <refentry id="vboxmanage-createmedium" lang="en">
|
|---|
| 32 | <refentryinfo>
|
|---|
| 33 | <pubdate>$Date: 2023-03-23 12:02:19 +0000 (Thu, 23 Mar 2023) $</pubdate>
|
|---|
| 34 | <title>VBoxManage createmedium</title>
|
|---|
| 35 | </refentryinfo>
|
|---|
| 36 |
|
|---|
| 37 | <refmeta>
|
|---|
| 38 | <refentrytitle>VBoxManage-createmedium</refentrytitle>
|
|---|
| 39 | <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
|
|---|
| 40 | </refmeta>
|
|---|
| 41 |
|
|---|
| 42 | <refnamediv>
|
|---|
| 43 | <refname>VBoxManage-createmedium</refname>
|
|---|
| 44 | <refpurpose>create a new medium</refpurpose>
|
|---|
| 45 | <refclass>&product-name;</refclass>
|
|---|
| 46 | </refnamediv>
|
|---|
| 47 |
|
|---|
| 48 | <refsynopsisdiv>
|
|---|
| 49 | <cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-createmedium">
|
|---|
| 50 | <!-- The 'id' is mandatory and must start with 'synopsis-'. -->
|
|---|
| 51 | <command>VBoxManage createmedium</command>
|
|---|
| 52 | <group>
|
|---|
| 53 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>disk</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 54 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>dvd</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 55 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>floppy</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 56 | </group>
|
|---|
| 57 | <arg choice="req">--filename=<replaceable>filename</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 58 | <group>
|
|---|
| 59 | <arg choice="plain">--size=<replaceable>megabytes</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 60 | <arg choice="plain">--sizebyte=<replaceable>bytes</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 61 | </group>
|
|---|
| 62 | <arg>--diffparent=<group choice="plain">
|
|---|
| 63 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>UUID</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 64 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>filename</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 65 | </group></arg>
|
|---|
| 66 | <arg>--format=<group choice="plain">
|
|---|
| 67 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>VDI</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 68 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>VMDK</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 69 | <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>VHD</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 70 | </group></arg>
|
|---|
| 71 | <arg>--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX,Formatted,RawDisk</arg>
|
|---|
| 72 | <arg rep="repeat">--property <replaceable>name</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 73 | <arg rep="repeat">--property-file <replaceable>name</replaceable>=<replaceable>/path/to/file/with/value</replaceable></arg>
|
|---|
| 74 | </cmdsynopsis>
|
|---|
| 75 | </refsynopsisdiv>
|
|---|
| 76 |
|
|---|
| 77 | <refsect1>
|
|---|
| 78 | <title>Description</title>
|
|---|
| 79 | <para>
|
|---|
| 80 | The <command>VBoxManage createmedium</command> command creates a
|
|---|
| 81 | new medium, such as a disk image file.
|
|---|
| 82 | </para>
|
|---|
| 83 | <note>
|
|---|
| 84 | <para>
|
|---|
| 85 | For compatibility with earlier versions of &product-name;, you
|
|---|
| 86 | can use the <command>createvdi</command> and
|
|---|
| 87 | <command>createhd</command> commands instead of the
|
|---|
| 88 | <command>createmedium</command> command.
|
|---|
| 89 | </para>
|
|---|
| 90 | </note>
|
|---|
| 91 | <variablelist>
|
|---|
| 92 | <varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 93 | <term>disk | dvd | floppy</term>
|
|---|
| 94 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 95 | Specifies the media type. The default value is
|
|---|
| 96 | <literal>disk</literal>.
|
|---|
| 97 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 98 | </varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 99 | <varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 100 | <term><option>--filename=<replaceable>filename</replaceable></option></term>
|
|---|
| 101 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 102 | Specifies the absolute path name to a file on the host file
|
|---|
| 103 | system.
|
|---|
| 104 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 105 | </varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 106 | <varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 107 | <term><option>--size=<replaceable>megabytes</replaceable></option></term>
|
|---|
| 108 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 109 | Specifies the image capacity in one megabyte units.
|
|---|
| 110 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 111 | </varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 112 | <varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 113 | <term><option>--sizebyte=<replaceable>bytes</replaceable></option></term>
|
|---|
| 114 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 115 | Specifies the image capacity in one byte units.
|
|---|
| 116 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 117 | </varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 118 | <varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 119 | <term><option>--diffparent=<replaceable>UUID</replaceable> | <replaceable>filename</replaceable></option></term>
|
|---|
| 120 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 121 | Specifies the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) or
|
|---|
| 122 | absolute path name of a differencing image parent file on
|
|---|
| 123 | the host file system.
|
|---|
| 124 | </para><para>
|
|---|
| 125 | Use this file to share a base box disk image among VMs.
|
|---|
| 126 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 127 | </varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 128 | <varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 129 | <term><option>--format=VDI | VMDK | VHD</option></term>
|
|---|
| 130 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 131 | Specifies the file format of the output file. Valid formats
|
|---|
| 132 | are <literal>VDI</literal>, <literal>VMDK</literal>, and
|
|---|
| 133 | <literal>VHD</literal>. The default format is
|
|---|
| 134 | <literal>VDI</literal>.
|
|---|
| 135 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 136 | </varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 137 | <varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 138 | <term><option>--variant=Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX,Formatted,RawDisk</option></term>
|
|---|
| 139 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 140 | Specifies the file format variant for the target medium,
|
|---|
| 141 | which is a comma-separated list of variants. Following are
|
|---|
| 142 | the valid values:
|
|---|
| 143 | </para><itemizedlist>
|
|---|
| 144 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 145 | <literal>Standard</literal> is the default disk image
|
|---|
| 146 | type, which has a dynamically allocated file size.
|
|---|
| 147 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 148 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 149 | <literal>Fixed</literal> uses a disk image that has a
|
|---|
| 150 | fixed file size.
|
|---|
| 151 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 152 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 153 | <literal>Split2G</literal> indicates that the disk image
|
|---|
| 154 | is split into 2GB segments. This value is valid for VMDK
|
|---|
| 155 | disk images only.
|
|---|
| 156 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 157 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 158 | <literal>Stream</literal> optimizes the disk image for
|
|---|
| 159 | downloading. This value is valid for VMDK disk images
|
|---|
| 160 | only.
|
|---|
| 161 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 162 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 163 | <literal>ESX</literal> is used for some VMWare products.
|
|---|
| 164 | This value is valid for VMDK disk images only.
|
|---|
| 165 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 166 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 167 | <literal>Formatted</literal> formats the medium automatically.
|
|---|
| 168 | This value is valid for floppy images only.
|
|---|
| 169 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 170 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 171 | <literal>RawDisk</literal> is used for creating a VMDK
|
|---|
| 172 | image which provides direct access to the hard disk on
|
|---|
| 173 | the host using its raw interface. This value is valid for
|
|---|
| 174 | VMDK disk images only. For detailed information about raw
|
|---|
| 175 | disk access, see <xref linkend="adv-storage-config"/>.
|
|---|
| 176 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 177 | </itemizedlist><para>
|
|---|
| 178 | Note that not all variant combinations are valid. Specifying
|
|---|
| 179 | incompatible variant values in the list will produce an
|
|---|
| 180 | error message.
|
|---|
| 181 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 182 | </varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 183 | <varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 184 | <term><option>--property <replaceable>name</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></option></term>
|
|---|
| 185 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 186 | Specifies any required file format dependent parameters in
|
|---|
| 187 | <literal>key=value</literal> form. Optional.
|
|---|
| 188 | </para>
|
|---|
| 189 | </listitem>
|
|---|
| 190 | </varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 191 | <varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 192 | <term><option>--property-file <replaceable>name
|
|---|
| 193 | </replaceable>=<replaceable>/path/to/file/with/value</replaceable></option></term>
|
|---|
| 194 | <listitem><para>
|
|---|
| 195 | Specifies any required file format dependent parameters in
|
|---|
| 196 | <literal>key=file/with/value</literal> form. The value is
|
|---|
| 197 | taken from the file. Optional.
|
|---|
| 198 | </para></listitem>
|
|---|
| 199 | </varlistentry>
|
|---|
| 200 | </variablelist>
|
|---|
| 201 | </refsect1>
|
|---|
| 202 |
|
|---|
| 203 | <refsect1>
|
|---|
| 204 | <title>Examples</title>
|
|---|
| 205 | <remark role="help-scope" condition="GLOBAL" />
|
|---|
| 206 | <para>
|
|---|
| 207 | The following command creates a new disk image file named
|
|---|
| 208 | <filename>disk01.vdi</filename>. The file size is 1024 megabytes.
|
|---|
| 209 | </para>
|
|---|
| 210 | <screen>$ VBoxManage createmedium --filename disk01.vdi --size 1024</screen>
|
|---|
| 211 | <para>
|
|---|
| 212 | The following command creates a new floppy disk image file named
|
|---|
| 213 | <filename>floppy01.vdi</filename>. The file size is 1 megabyte.
|
|---|
| 214 | </para>
|
|---|
| 215 | <screen>$ VBoxManage createmedium floppy --filename floppy01.img --size 1</screen>
|
|---|
| 216 | <para>
|
|---|
| 217 | The following command creates a raw disk image of an entire physical disk
|
|---|
| 218 | on a Linux host.
|
|---|
| 219 | </para>
|
|---|
| 220 | <screen>$ VBoxManage createmedium disk --filename=/path/to/rawdisk.vmdk --variant=RawDisk --format=VMDK --property RawDrive=/dev/sda</screen>
|
|---|
| 221 | </refsect1>
|
|---|
| 222 | </refentry>
|
|---|
