user_VBoxManage.xml@ 55259

Last change on this file since 55259 was 55259, checked in by vboxsync, 10 years ago
Main/Serial+Devices/Serial: new TCP backend for serial port. Contributed by Alexey Eromenko. Thanks! Frontends/VirtualBox+VBoxManage: adapted accordingly
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1	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2	<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
3	"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd">
4	<chapter id="vboxmanage">
5	<title>VBoxManage</title>
6
7	<sect1>
8	<title>Introduction</title>
9
10	<para>As briefly mentioned in <xref linkend="frontends" />, VBoxManage is
11	the command-line interface to VirtualBox. With it, you can completely
12	control VirtualBox from the command line of your host operating system.
13	VBoxManage supports all the features that the graphical user interface
14	gives you access to, but it supports a lot more than that. It exposes
15	really all the features of the virtualization engine, even those that
16	cannot (yet) be accessed from the GUI.</para>
17
18	<para>You will need to use the command line if you want to</para>
19
20	<para><itemizedlist>
21	<listitem>
22	<para>use a different user interface than the main GUI (for example,
23	VBoxSDL or the VBoxHeadless server);</para>
24	</listitem>
25
26	<listitem>
27	<para>control some of the more advanced and experimental
28	configuration settings for a VM.</para>
29	</listitem>
30	</itemizedlist></para>
31
32	<para>There are two main things to keep in mind when using
33	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>: First,
34	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> must always be used with a
35	specific "subcommand", such as "list" or "createvm" or "startvm". All the
36	subcommands that <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> supports are
37	described in detail in <xref linkend="vboxmanage" />.</para>
38
39	<para>Second, most of these subcommands require that you specify a
40	particular virtual machine after the subcommand. There are two ways you
41	can do this:</para>
42
43	<itemizedlist>
44	<listitem>
45	<para>You can specify the VM name, as it is shown in the VirtualBox
46	GUI. Note that if that name contains spaces, then you must enclose the
47	entire name in double quotes (as it is always required with command
48	line arguments that contain spaces).</para>
49
50	<para>For example:<screen>VBoxManage startvm "Windows XP"</screen></para>
51	</listitem>
52
53	<listitem>
54	<para>You can specify the UUID, which is the internal unique
55	identifier that VirtualBox uses to refer to the virtual machine.
56	Assuming that the aforementioned VM called "Windows XP" has the UUID
57	shown below, the following command has the same effect as the
58	previous:<screen>VBoxManage startvm 670e746d-abea-4ba6-ad02-2a3b043810a5</screen></para>
59	</listitem>
60	</itemizedlist>
61
62	<para>You can type <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms</computeroutput> to
63	have all currently registered VMs listed with all their settings,
64	including their respective names and UUIDs.</para>
65
66	<para>Some typical examples of how to control VirtualBox from the command
67	line are listed below:</para>
68
69	<itemizedlist>
70	<listitem>
71	<para>To create a new virtual machine from the command line and
72	immediately register it with VirtualBox, use
73	<computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> with the
74	<computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option,<footnote>
75	<para>For details, see <xref
76	linkend="vboxmanage-createvm" />.</para>
77	</footnote> like this:</para>
78
79	<screen>$ VBoxManage createvm --name "SUSE 10.2" --register
80	VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
81	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
82	All rights reserved.
83
84	Virtual machine 'SUSE 10.2' is created.
85	UUID: c89fc351-8ec6-4f02-a048-57f4d25288e5
86	Settings file: '/home/username/.config/VirtualBox/Machines/SUSE 10.2/SUSE 10.2.xml'</screen>
87
88	<para>As can be seen from the above output, a new virtual machine has
89	been created with a new UUID and a new XML settings file.</para>
90	</listitem>
91
92	<listitem>
93	<para>To show the configuration of a particular VM, use
94	<computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see <xref
95	linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" /> for details and an example.</para>
96	</listitem>
97
98	<listitem>
99	<para>To change settings while a VM is powered off, use
100	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>, e.g. as
101	follows:<screen>VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --memory 512</screen></para>
102
103	<para>For details, see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm" />.</para>
104	</listitem>
105
106	<listitem>
107	<para>To change the storage configuration (e.g. to add a storage
108	controller and then a virtual disk), use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
109	storagectl</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>VBoxManage
110	storageattach</computeroutput>; see <xref
111	linkend="vboxmanage-storagectl" /> and <xref
112	linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" /> for details.</para>
113	</listitem>
114
115	<listitem>
116	<para>To control VM operation, use one of the following:<itemizedlist>
117	<listitem>
118	<para>To start a VM that is currently powered off, use
119	<computeroutput>VBoxManage startvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
120	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
121	</listitem>
122
123	<listitem>
124	<para>To pause or save a VM that is currently running or change
125	some of its settings, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
126	controlvm</computeroutput>; see <xref
127	linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" /> for details.</para>
128	</listitem>
129	</itemizedlist></para>
130	</listitem>
131	</itemizedlist>
132	</sect1>
133
134	<sect1>
135	<title>Commands overview</title>
136
137	<para>When running VBoxManage without parameters or when supplying an
138	invalid command line, the below syntax diagram will be shown. Note that
139	the output will be slightly different depending on the host platform; when
140	in doubt, check the output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>
141	for the commands available on your particular host.</para>
142
143	<screen>$VBOX_MANAGE_OUTPUT</screen>
144
145	<para>Each time VBoxManage is invoked, only one command can be executed.
146	However, a command might support several subcommands which then can be
147	invoked in one single call. The following sections provide detailed
148	reference information on the different commands.</para>
149	</sect1>
150
151	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-general">
152	<title>General options</title>
153	<para>
154	<itemizedlist>
155	<listitem>
156	<para><computeroutput>--version</computeroutput>: show the version of
157	this tool and exit.</para>
158	</listitem>
159	<listitem>
160	<para><computeroutput>--nologo</computeroutput>: suppress the output
161	of the logo information (useful for scripts)</para>
162	</listitem>
163	<listitem>
164	<para><computeroutput>--settingspw</computeroutput>: specifiy a settings
165	password</para>
166	</listitem>
167	<listitem>
168	<para><computeroutput>--settingspwfile</computeroutput>: specify a file
169	containing the settings password.</para>
170	</listitem>
171	</itemizedlist>
172	The settings password is used for certain settings which need to be
173	stored encrypted for security reasons. At the moment, the only encrypted
174	setting is the iSCSI initiator secret (see
175	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" /> for details). As long as no
176	settings password is specified, this information is stored in
177	<emphasis role="bold">plain text</emphasis>. After using the
178	<computeroutput>--settingspw\|--settingspwfile</computeroutput> option
179	once, it must be always used, otherwise the encrypted setting cannot
180	be unencrypted.
181	</para>
182	</sect1>
183
184	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-list">
185	<title>VBoxManage list</title>
186
187	<para>The <computeroutput>list</computeroutput> command gives relevant
188	information about your system and information about VirtualBox's current
189	settings.</para>
190
191	<para>The following subcommands are available with
192	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list</computeroutput>: <itemizedlist>
193	<listitem>
194	<para><computeroutput>vms</computeroutput> lists all virtual
195	machines currently registered with VirtualBox. By default this
196	displays a compact list with each VM's name and UUID; if you also
197	specify <computeroutput>--long</computeroutput> or
198	<computeroutput>-l</computeroutput>, this will be a detailed list as
199	with the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command (see
200	below).</para>
201	</listitem>
202
203	<listitem>
204	<para><computeroutput>runningvms</computeroutput> lists all
205	currently running virtual machines by their unique identifiers
206	(UUIDs) in the same format as with
207	<computeroutput>vms</computeroutput>.</para>
208	</listitem>
209
210	<listitem>
211	<para><computeroutput>ostypes</computeroutput> lists all guest
212	operating systems presently known to VirtualBox, along with the
213	identifiers used to refer to them with the
214	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command.</para>
215	</listitem>
216
217	<listitem>
218	<para><computeroutput>hostdvds</computeroutput>,
219	<computeroutput>hostfloppies</computeroutput>, respectively, list
220	DVD, floppy, bridged networking and host-only networking interfaces
221	on the host, along with the name used to access them from within
222	VirtualBox.</para>
223	</listitem>
224
225	<listitem>
226	<para><computeroutput>bridgedifs</computeroutput>,
227	<computeroutput>hostonlyifs</computeroutput> and
228	<computeroutput>dhcpservers</computeroutput>, respectively, list
229	bridged network interfaces, host-only network interfaces and DHCP
230	servers currently available on the host. Please see <xref
231	linkend="networkingdetails" /> for details on these.</para>
232	</listitem>
233
234	<listitem>
235	<para><computeroutput>hostinfo</computeroutput> displays information
236	about the host system, such as CPUs, memory size and operating
237	system version.</para>
238	</listitem>
239
240	<listitem>
241	<para><computeroutput>hostcpuids</computeroutput> dumps the CPUID
242	parameters for the host CPUs. This can be used for a more fine
243	grained analyis of the host's virtualization capabilities.</para>
244	</listitem>
245
246	<listitem>
247	<para><computeroutput>hddbackends</computeroutput> lists all known
248	virtual disk back-ends of VirtualBox. For each such format (such as
249	VDI, VMDK or RAW), this lists the back-end's capabilities and
250	configuration.</para>
251	</listitem>
252
253	<listitem>
254	<para><computeroutput>hdds</computeroutput>,
255	<computeroutput>dvds</computeroutput> and
256	<computeroutput>floppies</computeroutput> all give you information
257	about virtual disk images currently in use by VirtualBox, including
258	all their settings, the unique identifiers (UUIDs) associated with
259	them by VirtualBox and all files associated with them. This is the
260	command-line equivalent of the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref
261	linkend="vdis" />.</para>
262	</listitem>
263
264	<listitem>
265	<para><computeroutput>usbhost</computeroutput> supplies information
266	about USB devices attached to the host, notably information useful
267	for constructing USB filters and whether they are currently in use
268	by the host.</para>
269	</listitem>
270
271	<listitem>
272	<para><computeroutput>usbfilters</computeroutput> lists all global
273	USB filters registered with VirtualBox -- that is, filters for
274	devices which are accessible to all virtual machines -- and displays
275	the filter parameters.</para>
276	</listitem>
277
278	<listitem>
279	<para><computeroutput>systemproperties</computeroutput> displays
280	some global VirtualBox settings, such as minimum and maximum guest
281	RAM and virtual hard disk size, folder settings and the current
282	authentication library in use.</para>
283	</listitem>
284
285	<listitem>
286	<para><computeroutput>extpacks</computeroutput> displays all
287	VirtualBox extension packs currently installed; see <xref
288	linkend="intro-installing" /> and <xref
289	linkend="vboxmanage-extpack" /> for more information.</para>
290	</listitem>
291	</itemizedlist></para>
292	</sect1>
293
294	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-showvminfo">
295	<title>VBoxManage showvminfo</title>
296
297	<para>The <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> command shows
298	information about a particular virtual machine. This is the same
299	information as <computeroutput>VBoxManage list vms --long</computeroutput>
300	would show for all virtual machines.</para>
301
302	<para>You will get information similar to the following:</para>
303
304	<para><screen>$ VBoxManage showvminfo "Windows XP"
305	VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
306	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
307	All rights reserved.
308
309	Name: Windows XP
310	Guest OS: Other/Unknown
311	UUID: 1bf3464d-57c6-4d49-92a9-a5cc3816b7e7
312	Config file: /home/username/.config/VirtualBox/Machines/Windows XP/Windows XP.xml
313	Memory size: 512MB
314	VRAM size: 12MB
315	Number of CPUs: 2
316	Synthetic Cpu: off
317	Boot menu mode: message and menu
318	Boot Device (1): DVD
319	Boot Device (2): HardDisk
320	Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
321	Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
322	ACPI: on
323	IOAPIC: on
324	PAE: on
325	Time offset: 0 ms
326	Hardw. virt.ext: on
327	Nested Paging: on
328	VT-x VPID: off
329	State: powered off (since 2009-10-20T14:52:19.000000000)
330	Monitor count: 1
331	3D Acceleration: off
332	2D Video Acceleration: off
333	Teleporter Enabled: off
334	Teleporter Port: 0
335	Teleporter Address:
336	Teleporter Password:
337	Storage Controller (0): IDE Controller
338	Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
339	Storage Controller (1): Floppy Controller 1
340	Storage Controller Type (1): I82078
341	IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/user/windows.vdi (UUID: 46f6e53a-4557-460a-9b95-68b0f17d744b)
342	IDE Controller (0, 1): /home/user/openbsd-cd46.iso (UUID: 4335e162-59d3-4512-91d5-b63e94eebe0b)
343	Floppy Controller 1 (0, 0): /home/user/floppy.img (UUID: 62ac6ccb-df36-42f2-972e-22f836368137)
344	NIC 1: disabled
345	NIC 2: disabled
346	NIC 3: disabled
347	NIC 4: disabled
348	NIC 5: disabled
349	NIC 6: disabled
350	NIC 7: disabled
351	NIC 8: disabled
352	UART 1: disabled
353	UART 2: disabled
354	Audio: disabled (Driver: Unknown)
355	Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
356	VRDE: disabled
357	USB: disabled
358
359	USB Device Filters:
360	<none>
361
362	Shared folders:
363	<none>
364
365	Statistics update: disabled</screen></para>
366	</sect1>
367
368	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-registervm">
369	<title>VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm</title>
370
371	<para>The <computeroutput>registervm</computeroutput> command allows you
372	to import a virtual machine definition in an XML file into VirtualBox. The
373	machine must not conflict with one already registered in VirtualBox and it
374	may not have any hard or removable disks attached. It is advisable to
375	place the definition file in the machines folder before registering
376	it.<note>
377	<para>When creating a new virtual machine with
378	<computeroutput>VBoxManage createvm</computeroutput> (see below), you
379	can directly specify the <computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>
380	option to avoid having to register it separately.</para>
381	</note></para>
382
383	<para>The <computeroutput>unregistervm</computeroutput> command
384	unregisters a virtual machine. If
385	<computeroutput>--delete</computeroutput> is also specified, the following
386	files will automatically be deleted as well:<orderedlist>
387	<listitem>
388	<para>all hard disk image files, including differencing files, which
389	are used by the machine and not shared with other machines;</para>
390	</listitem>
391
392	<listitem>
393	<para>saved state files that the machine created, if any (one if the
394	machine was in "saved" state and one for each online
395	snapshot);</para>
396	</listitem>
397
398	<listitem>
399	<para>the machine XML file and its backups;</para>
400	</listitem>
401
402	<listitem>
403	<para>the machine log files, if any;</para>
404	</listitem>
405
406	<listitem>
407	<para>the machine directory, if it is empty after having deleted all
408	the above.</para>
409	</listitem>
410	</orderedlist></para>
411	</sect1>
412
413	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvm">
414	<title>VBoxManage createvm</title>
415
416	<para>This command creates a new XML virtual machine definition
417	file.</para>
418
419	<para>The <computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput> parameter
420	is required and must specify the name of the machine. Since this name is
421	used by default as the file name of the settings file (with the extension
422	<computeroutput>.xml</computeroutput>) and the machine folder (a subfolder
423	of the <computeroutput>.config/VirtualBox/Machines</computeroutput> folder - this folder name may vary depending on the operating system and the version of VirtualBox which you are using), it
424	must conform to your host operating system's requirements for file name
425	specifications. If the VM is later renamed, the file and folder names will
426	change automatically.</para>
427
428	<para>However, if the <computeroutput>--basefolder
429	<path></computeroutput> option is used, the machine folder will be
430	named <computeroutput><path></computeroutput>. In this case, the
431	names of the file and the folder will not change if the virtual machine is
432	renamed.</para>
433
434	<para>By default, this command only creates the XML file without
435	automatically registering the VM with your VirtualBox installation. To
436	register the VM instantly, use the optional
437	<computeroutput>--register</computeroutput> option, or run
438	<computeroutput>VBoxManage registervm</computeroutput> separately
439	afterwards.</para>
440	</sect1>
441
442	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm">
443	<title>VBoxManage modifyvm</title>
444
445	<para>This command changes the properties of a registered virtual machine
446	which is not running. Most of the properties that this command makes
447	available correspond to the VM settings that VirtualBox graphical user
448	interface displays in each VM's "Settings" dialog; these were described in
449	<xref linkend="BasicConcepts" />. Some of the more advanced settings,
450	however, are only available through the
451	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> interface.</para>
452
453	<para>These commands require that the machine is powered off (neither
454	running nor in "saved" state). Some machine settings can also be changed
455	while a machine is running; those settings will then have a corresponding
456	subcommand with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm</computeroutput>
457	subcommand (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" />).</para>
458
459	<sect2>
460	<title>General settings</title>
461
462	<para>The following general settings are available through
463	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
464	<listitem>
465	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: This
466	changes the VM's name and possibly renames the internal virtual
467	machine files, as described with <computeroutput>VBoxManage
468	createvm</computeroutput> above.</para>
469	</listitem>
470
471	<listitem>
472	<para><computeroutput>--groups <group>, ...</computeroutput>:
473	This changes the group membership of a VM. Groups always start with
474	a <computeroutput>/</computeroutput> and can be nested. By default
475	VMs are in group <computeroutput>/</computeroutput>.</para>
476	</listitem>
477
478	<listitem>
479	<para><computeroutput>--description <desc></computeroutput>:
480	This changes the VM's description, which is a way to record details
481	about the VM in a way which is meaningful for the user. The GUI
482	interprets HTML formatting, the command line allows arbitrary
483	strings potentially containing multiple lines.</para>
484	</listitem>
485
486	<listitem>
487	<para><computeroutput>--ostype <ostype></computeroutput>:
488	This specifies what guest operating system is supposed to run in
489	the VM. To learn about the various identifiers that can be used
490	here, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
491	ostypes</computeroutput>.</para>
492	</listitem>
493
494	<listitem>
495	<para><computeroutput>--memory
496	<memorysize></computeroutput>: This sets the amount of RAM,
497	in MB, that the virtual machine should allocate for itself from
498	the host. See the remarks in <xref linkend="gui-createvm" /> for
499	more information.</para>
500	</listitem>
501
502	<listitem>
503	<para><computeroutput>--vram <vramsize></computeroutput>:
504	This sets the amount of RAM that the virtual graphics card should
505	have. See <xref linkend="settings-display" /> for details.</para>
506	</listitem>
507
508	<listitem>
509	<para><computeroutput>--acpi on\|off</computeroutput>;
510	<computeroutput>--ioapic on\|off</computeroutput>: These two
511	determine whether the VM should have ACPI and I/O APIC support,
512	respectively; see <xref linkend="settings-motherboard" /> for
513	details.</para>
514	</listitem>
515
516	<listitem>
517	<para><computeroutput>--hardwareuuid
518	<uuid></computeroutput>: The UUID presented to the guest via
519	memory tables (DMI/SMBIOS), hardware and guest properties. By
520	default this is the same as the VM uuid. Useful when cloning a VM.
521	Teleporting takes care of this automatically.</para>
522	</listitem>
523
524	<listitem>
525	<para><computeroutput>--cpus <cpucount></computeroutput>:
526	This sets the number of virtual CPUs for the virtual machine (see
527	<xref linkend="settings-processor" />). If CPU hot-plugging is
528	enabled (see below), this then sets the
529	<emphasis>maximum</emphasis> number of virtual CPUs that can be
530	plugged into the virtual machines.</para>
531	</listitem>
532
533	<listitem>
534	<para><computeroutput>--rtcuseutc on\|off</computeroutput>: This
535	option lets the real-time clock (RTC) operate in UTC time (see
536	<xref linkend="settings-motherboard" />).</para>
537	</listitem>
538
539	<listitem>
540	<para><computeroutput>--cpuhotplug on\|off</computeroutput>: This
541	enables CPU hot-plugging. When enabled, virtual CPUs can be added
542	to and removed from a virtual machine while it is running. See
543	<xref linkend="cpuhotplug" /> for more information.</para>
544	</listitem>
545
546	<listitem>
547	<para><computeroutput>--plugcpu\|unplugcpu
548	<id></computeroutput>: If CPU hot-plugging is enabled (see
549	above), this adds a virtual CPU to the virtual machines (or
550	removes one). <computeroutput><id></computeroutput>
551	specifies the index of the virtual CPU to be added or removed and
552	must be a number from 0 to the maximum no. of CPUs configured with
553	the <computeroutput>--cpus</computeroutput> option. CPU 0 can
554	never be removed.</para>
555	</listitem>
556
557	<listitem>
558	<para><computeroutput>--cpuexecutioncap
559	<1-100></computeroutput>: This setting controls how much cpu
560	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual
561	CPU can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
562	</listitem>
563
564	<listitem>
565	<para><computeroutput>--pae on\|off</computeroutput>: This
566	enables/disables PAE (see <xref
567	linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
568	</listitem>
569
570	<listitem>
571	<para><computeroutput>--longmode on\|off</computeroutput>: This
572	enables/disables long mode (see <xref
573	linkend="settings-processor" />).</para>
574	</listitem>
575
576	<listitem>
577	<para><computeroutput>--synthcpu on\|off</computeroutput>: This
578	setting determines whether VirtualBox will expose a synthetic CPU
579	to the guest to allow live migration between host systems that
580	differ significantly.</para>
581	</listitem>
582
583	<listitem>
584	<para><computeroutput>--hpet on\|off</computeroutput>: This
585	enables/disables a High Precision Event Timer (HPET) which can
586	replace the legacy system timers. This is turned off by default.
587	Note that Windows supports a HPET only from Vista onwards.</para>
588	</listitem>
589
590	<listitem>
591	<para><computeroutput>--hwvirtex on\|off</computeroutput>: This
592	enables or disables the use of hardware virtualization extensions
593	(Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the processor of your host system; see
594	<xref linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
595	</listitem>
596
597	<listitem>
598	<para><computeroutput>--triplefaultreset on\|off</computeroutput>:
599	This setting allows to reset the guest instead of triggering a
600	Guru Meditation. Some guests raise a triple fault to reset the
601	CPU so sometimes this is desired behavior. Works only for non-SMP
602	guests.</para>
603	</listitem>
604
605	<listitem>
606	<para><computeroutput>--paravirtprovider
607	none\|default\|legacy\|minimal\|hyperv\|kvm</computeroutput>: This
608	setting specifies which paravirtualization interface to provide to
609	the guest operating system. Specifying
610	<computeroutput>none</computeroutput> explicitly turns off exposing
611	any paravirtualization interface. The option
612	<computeroutput>default</computeroutput>, will pick an appropriate
613	interface depending on the guest OS type while starting the VM.
614	This is the default option chosen while creating new VMs. The
615	<computeroutput>legacy</computeroutput> option is chosen for VMs
616	which were created with older VirtualBox versions and will pick a
617	paravirtualization interface while starting the VM with VirtualBox
618	5.0 and newer. The <computeroutput>minimal</computeroutput> provider
619	is mandatory for Mac OS X guests, while
620	<computeroutput>kvm</computeroutput> and
621	<computeroutput>hyperv</computeroutput> are recommended for Linux
622	and Windows guests respectively. These options are explained in
623	detail under <xref linkend="gimproviders" />.</para>
624	</listitem>
625
626	<listitem>
627	<para><computeroutput>--nestedpaging on\|off</computeroutput>: If
628	hardware virtualization is enabled, this additional setting
629	enables or disables the use of the nested paging feature in the
630	processor of your host system; see <xref
631	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
632	</listitem>
633
634	<listitem>
635	<para><computeroutput>--largepages on\|off</computeroutput>: If
636	hardware virtualization <emphasis>and</emphasis> nested paging are
637	enabled, for Intel VT-x only, an additional performance
638	improvement of up to 5% can be obtained by enabling this setting.
639	This causes the hypervisor to use large pages to reduce TLB use
640	and overhead.</para>
641	</listitem>
642
643	<listitem>
644	<para><computeroutput>--vtxvpid on\|off</computeroutput>: If
645	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
646	additional setting enables or disables the use of the tagged TLB
647	(VPID) feature in the processor of your host system; see <xref
648	linkend="hwvirt" />.</para>
649	</listitem>
650
651	<listitem>
652	<para><computeroutput>--vtxux on\|off</computeroutput>: If
653	hardware virtualization is enabled, for Intel VT-x only, this
654	setting enables or disables the use of the unrestricted guest mode
655	feature for executing your guest.</para>
656	</listitem>
657
658	<listitem>
659	<para><computeroutput>--accelerate3d on\|off</computeroutput>: This
660	enables, if the Guest Additions are installed, whether hardware 3D
661	acceleration should be available; see <xref
662	linkend="guestadd-3d" />.</para>
663	</listitem>
664
665	<listitem>
666	<para>You can influence the BIOS logo that is displayed when a
667	virtual machine starts up with a number of settings. Per default,
668	a VirtualBox logo is displayed.</para>
669
670	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogofadein
671	on\|off</computeroutput> and <computeroutput>--bioslogofadeout
672	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can determine whether the logo should
673	fade in and out, respectively.</para>
674
675	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogodisplaytime
676	<msec></computeroutput> you can set how long the logo should
677	be visible, in milliseconds.</para>
678
679	<para>With <computeroutput>--bioslogoimagepath
680	<imagepath></computeroutput> you can, if you are so
681	inclined, replace the image that is shown, with your own logo. The
682	image must be an uncompressed 256 color BMP file without color
683	space information (Windows 3.0 format). The image must not be
684	bigger than 640 x 480.</para>
685	</listitem>
686
687	<listitem>
688	<para><computeroutput>--biosbootmenu
689	disabled\|menuonly\|messageandmenu</computeroutput>: This specifies
690	whether the BIOS allows the user to select a temporary boot
691	device. <computeroutput>menuonly</computeroutput> suppresses the
692	message, but the user can still press F12 to select a temporary
693	boot device.</para>
694	</listitem>
695
696	<listitem>
697	<para><computeroutput>--nicbootprio<1-N>
698	<priority></computeroutput>: This specifies the order in which
699	NICs are tried for booting over the network (using PXE). The
700	priority is an integer in the 0 to 4 range. Priority 1 is the
701	highest, priority 4 is low. Priority 0, which is the default unless
702	otherwise specified, is the lowest.
703	</para>
704	<para> Note that this option only has effect when the Intel PXE boot
705	ROM is used.
706	</para>
707	</listitem>
708
709	<listitem>
710	<para><computeroutput>--boot<1-4>
711	none\|floppy\|dvd\|disk\|net</computeroutput>: This specifies the boot
712	order for the virtual machine. There are four "slots", which the
713	VM will try to access from 1 to 4, and for each of which you can
714	set a device that the VM should attempt to boot from.</para>
715	</listitem>
716
717	<listitem>
718	<para><computeroutput>--snapshotfolder
719	default\|<path></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
720	the folder in which snapshots will be kept for a virtual
721	machine.</para>
722	</listitem>
723
724	<listitem>
725	<para><computeroutput>--firmware efi\|bios</computeroutput>:
726	Specifies which firmware is used to boot particular virtual
727	machine: EFI or BIOS. Use EFI only if your fully understand what
728	you're doing.</para>
729	</listitem>
730
731	<listitem>
732	<para><computeroutput>--guestmemoryballoon
733	<size></computeroutput> sets the default size of the guest
734	memory balloon, that is, memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest
735	Additions from the guest operating system and returned to the
736	hypervisor for re-use by other virtual machines.
737	<computeroutput><size></computeroutput> must be specified in
738	megabytes. The default size is 0 megabytes. For details,
739	see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
740	</listitem>
741
742	<listitem>
743	<para><computeroutput>--lptmode<1-N>
744	<Device></computeroutput>
745	Specifies the Device Name of the parallel port that
746	the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
747	<emphasis>before</emphasis> <computeroutput>--lpt</computeroutput>.
748	This feature is host operating system specific.</para>
749	</listitem>
750
751	<listitem>
752	<para><computeroutput>--lpt<1-N>
753	<I/O base> <IRQ></computeroutput>
754	Specifies the I/O address of the parallel port and the IRQ
755	number that the Parallel Port feature will be using. Use this
756	<emphasis>after</emphasis>
757	<computeroutput>--lptmod</computeroutput>. I/O base address and IRQ are
758	the values that guest sees i.e. the values avalable under guest Device Manager.</para>
759	</listitem>
760
761	<listitem>
762	<para><computeroutput>--defaultfrontend
763	default\|<name></computeroutput>: This allows you to specify
764	the default frontend which will be used when starting this VM; see
765	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" /> for details.</para>
766	</listitem>
767	</itemizedlist></para>
768	</sect2>
769
770	<sect2>
771	<title>Networking settings</title>
772
773	<para>The following networking settings are available through
774	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
775	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
776	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose settings
777	should be changed.<itemizedlist>
778	<listitem>
779	<para><computeroutput>--nic<1-N>
780	none\|null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic
781	</computeroutput>: With
782	this, you can set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards,
783	what type of networking should be available. They can be not
784	present (<computeroutput>none</computeroutput>), not connected to
785	the host (<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network
786	address translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>),
787	bridged networking (<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or
788	communicate with other virtual machines using internal networking
789	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>), host-only networking
790	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>), or access rarely used
791	sub-modes (<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>).
792	These options correspond
793	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
794	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
795	</listitem>
796
797	<listitem>
798	<para><computeroutput>--nictype<1-N>
799	Am79C970A\|Am79C973\|82540EM\|82543GC\|82545EM\|virtio</computeroutput>:
800	This allows you, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, to
801	specify which networking hardware VirtualBox presents to the
802	guest; see <xref linkend="nichardware" />.</para>
803	</listitem>
804
805	<listitem>
806	<para><computeroutput>--cableconnected<1-N>
807	on\|off</computeroutput>: This allows you to temporarily disconnect
808	a virtual network interface, as if a network cable had been pulled
809	from a real network card. This might be useful for resetting
810	certain software components in the VM.</para>
811	</listitem>
812
813	<listitem>
814	<para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
815	network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
816	purposes.</para>
817
818	<para>With <computeroutput>--nictrace<1-N>
819	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
820	particular virtual network card.</para>
821
822	<para>If enabled, you must specify with
823	<computeroutput>--nictracefile<1-N>
824	<filename></computeroutput> what file the trace should be
825	logged to.</para>
826	</listitem>
827
828	<listitem>
829	<para><computeroutput>--bridgeadapter<1-N>
830	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If bridged networking
831	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the
832	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
833	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify which host
834	interface the given virtual network interface will use. For
835	details, please see <xref linkend="network_bridged" />.</para>
836	</listitem>
837
838	<listitem>
839	<para><computeroutput>--hostonlyadapter<1-N>
840	none\|<devicename></computeroutput>: If host-only networking
841	has been enabled for a virtual network card (see the --nic option
842	above; otherwise this setting has no effect), use this option to
843	specify which host-only networking interface the given virtual
844	network interface will use. For details, please see <xref
845	linkend="network_hostonly" />.</para>
846	</listitem>
847
848	<listitem>
849	<para><computeroutput>--intnet<1-N>
850	network</computeroutput>: If internal networking has been enabled
851	for a virtual network card (see the
852	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
853	this setting has no effect), use this option to specify the name
854	of the internal network (see <xref
855	linkend="network_internal" />).</para>
856	</listitem>
857
858	<listitem>
859	<para><computeroutput>--macaddress<1-N>
860	auto\|<mac></computeroutput>: With this option you can set
861	the MAC address of the virtual network card. Normally, each
862	virtual network card is assigned a random address by VirtualBox at
863	VM creation.</para>
864	</listitem>
865
866	<listitem>
867	<para><computeroutput>--nicgenericdrv<1-N>
868	<backend driver></computeroutput>: If generic networking has been
869	enabled for a virtual network card (see the
870	<computeroutput>--nic</computeroutput> option above; otherwise
871	this setting has no effect), this mode allows you to access
872	rarely used networking sub-modes, such as VDE network or UDP Tunnel.
873	</para>
874	</listitem>
875
876	<listitem>
877	<para><computeroutput>--nicproperty<1-N>
878	<paramname>="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
879	This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
880	pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
881	Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
882	between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
883	please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
884	</para>
885	</listitem>
886	</itemizedlist></para>
887
888	<sect3>
889	<title>NAT Networking settings.</title>
890
891	<para>The following NAT networking settings are available through
892	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>. With all these
893	settings, the decimal number directly following the option name ("1-N"
894	in the list below) specifies the virtual network adapter whose
895	settings should be changed.<itemizedlist>
896	<listitem>
897	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N>
898	[<name>],tcp\|udp,[<hostip>],<hostport>,[<guestip>],
899	<guestport></computeroutput>: This option defines a NAT
900	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
901	for details).</para>
902	</listitem>
903
904	<listitem>
905	<para><computeroutput>--natpf<1-N> delete
906	<name></computeroutput>: This option deletes a NAT
907	port-forwarding rule (please see <xref linkend="natforward" />
908	for details).</para>
909	</listitem>
910
911	<listitem>
912	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpprefix<1-N>
913	<prefix></computeroutput>: This option defines a prefix
914	for the built-in TFTP server, i.e. where the boot file is
915	located (please see <xref linkend="nat-tftp" /> and <xref
916	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
917	</listitem>
918
919	<listitem>
920	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpfile<1-N>
921	<bootfile></computeroutput>: This option defines the TFT
922	boot file (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for
923	details).</para>
924	</listitem>
925
926	<listitem>
927	<para><computeroutput>--nattftpserver<1-N>
928	<tftpserver></computeroutput>: This option defines the
929	TFTP server address to boot from (please see <xref
930	linkend="nat-adv-tftp" /> for details).</para>
931	</listitem>
932
933	<listitem>
934	<para><computeroutput>--natdnspassdomain<1-N>
935	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option specifies whether the
936	built-in DHCP server passes the domain name for network name
937	resolution.</para>
938	</listitem>
939
940	<listitem>
941	<para><computeroutput>--natdnsproxy<1-N>
942	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine proxy
943	all guest DNS requests to the host's DNS servers (please see
944	<xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
945	</listitem>
946
947	<listitem>
948	<para><computeroutput>--natdnshostresolver<1-N>
949	on\|off</computeroutput>: This option makes the NAT engine use
950	the host's resolver mechanisms to handle DNS requests (please
951	see <xref linkend="nat-adv-dns" /> for details).</para>
952	</listitem>
953
954	<listitem>
955	<para><computeroutput>--natsettings<1-N>
956	[<mtu>],[<socksnd>],[<sockrcv>],[<tcpsnd>],
957	[<tcprcv>]</computeroutput>: This option controls several
958	NAT settings (please see <xref linkend="nat-adv-settings" /> for
959	details).</para>
960	</listitem>
961
962	<listitem>
963	<para><computeroutput>--nataliasmode<1-N>
964	default\|[log],[proxyonly],[sameports]</computeroutput>: This
965	option defines behaviour of NAT engine core: log - enables
966	logging, proxyonly - switches of aliasing mode makes NAT
967	transparent, sameports enforces NAT engine to send packets via
968	the same port as they originated on, default - disable all
969	mentioned modes above . (please see <xref
970	linkend="nat-adv-alias" /> for details).</para>
971	</listitem>
972	</itemizedlist></para>
973	</sect3>
974	</sect2>
975
976	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other">
977	<title>Miscellaneous settings</title>
978
979	<para>The following other hardware settings, such as serial port, audio,
980	clipboard, drag'n drop, monitor and USB settings are available through
981	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
982	<listitem>
983	<para><computeroutput>--uart<1-N> off\|<I/O base>
984	<IRQ></computeroutput>: With this option you can configure
985	virtual serial ports for the VM; see <xref
986	linkend="serialports" /> for an introduction.</para>
987	</listitem>
988
989	<listitem>
990	<para><computeroutput>--uartmode<1-N>
991	<arg></computeroutput>: This setting controls how VirtualBox
992	connects a given virtual serial port (previously configured with
993	the <computeroutput>--uartX</computeroutput> setting, see above)
994	to the host on which the virtual machine is running. As described
995	in detail in <xref linkend="serialports" />, for each such port,
996	you can specify <computeroutput><arg></computeroutput> as
997	one of the following options:<itemizedlist>
998	<listitem>
999	<para><computeroutput>disconnected</computeroutput>: Even
1000	though the serial port is shown to the guest, it has no
1001	"other end" -- like a real COM port without a cable.</para>
1002	</listitem>
1003
1004	<listitem>
1005	<para><computeroutput>server
1006	<pipename></computeroutput>: On a Windows host, this
1007	tells VirtualBox to create a named pipe on the host named
1008	<computeroutput><pipename></computeroutput> and
1009	connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that Windows
1010	requires that the name of a named pipe begin with
1011	<computeroutput>\\.\pipe\</computeroutput>.</para>
1012
1013	<para>On a Linux host, instead of a named pipe, a local
1014	domain socket is used.</para>
1015	</listitem>
1016
1017	<listitem>
1018	<para><computeroutput>client
1019	<pipename></computeroutput>: This operates just like
1020	<computeroutput>server ...</computeroutput>, except that the
1021	pipe (or local domain socket) is not created by VirtualBox,
1022	but assumed to exist already.</para>
1023	</listitem>
1024
1025	<listitem>
1026	<para><computeroutput>tcpserver
1027	<port></computeroutput>: This
1028	tells VirtualBox to create a TCP socket on the host with TCP
1029	<computeroutput><port></computeroutput> and
1030	connect the virtual serial device to it. Note that UNIX-like
1031	systems require ports over 1024 for normal users.</para>
1032	</listitem>
1033
1034	<listitem>
1035	<para><computeroutput>tcpclient
1036	<hostname:port></computeroutput>: This operates just like
1037	<computeroutput>tcpserver ...</computeroutput>, except that the
1038	TCP socket is not created by VirtualBox,
1039	but assumed to exist already.</para>
1040	</listitem>
1041
1042	<listitem>
1043	<para><computeroutput><devicename></computeroutput>:
1044	If, instead of the above, the device name of a physical
1045	hardware serial port of the host is specified, the virtual
1046	serial port is connected to that hardware port. On a Windows
1047	host, the device name will be a COM port such as
1048	<computeroutput>COM1</computeroutput>; on a Linux host, the
1049	device name will look like
1050	<computeroutput>/dev/ttyS0</computeroutput>. This allows you
1051	to "wire" a real serial port to a virtual machine.</para>
1052	</listitem>
1053	</itemizedlist></para>
1054	</listitem>
1055
1056	<listitem>
1057	<para><computeroutput>--audio none\|null\|oss</computeroutput>: With
1058	this option, you can set whether the VM should have audio
1059	support.</para>
1060	</listitem>
1061
1062	<listitem>
1063	<para><computeroutput>--clipboard
1064	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1065	With this setting, you can select if and how the guest or host
1066	operating system's clipboard should be shared with the host or guest;
1067	see <xref linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
1068	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1069	</listitem>
1070
1071	<listitem>
1072	<para><computeroutput>--draganddrop
1073	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1074	With this setting, you can select the current drag'n drop mode
1075	being used between the host and the virtual machine;
1076	see <xref linkend="guestadd-dnd" />. This requires that the Guest
1077	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1078	</listitem>
1079
1080	<listitem>
1081	<para><computeroutput>--monitorcount
1082	<count></computeroutput>: This enables multi-monitor
1083	support; see <xref linkend="settings-display" />.</para>
1084	</listitem>
1085
1086	<listitem>
1087	<para><computeroutput>--usb on\|off</computeroutput>: This option
1088	enables or disables the VM's virtual USB controller; see <xref
1089	linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1090	</listitem>
1091
1092	<listitem>
1093	<para><computeroutput>--usbehci on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1094	option enables or disables the VM's virtual USB 2.0 controller;
1095	see <xref linkend="settings-usb" /> for details.</para>
1096	</listitem>
1097	</itemizedlist></para>
1098
1099	<!-- @todo r=andy Document tracing-* commands -->
1100	</sect2>
1101
1102	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-vrde">
1103	<title>Remote machine settings</title>
1104
1105	<para>The following settings that affect remote machine behavior are
1106	available through <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1107	modifyvm</computeroutput>:<itemizedlist>
1108	<listitem>
1109	<para><computeroutput>--vrde on\|off</computeroutput>: With the
1110	VirtualBox graphical user interface, this enables or disables the
1111	VirtualBox remote desktop extension (VRDE) server. Note that if
1112	you are using <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput> (see
1113	<xref linkend="vboxheadless" />), VRDE is enabled by
1114	default.</para>
1115	</listitem>
1116
1117	<!-- @todo r=andy Document vrdeproperty -->
1118
1119	<listitem>
1120	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeport
1121	default\|<ports></computeroutput>: A port or a range of ports
1122	the VRDE server can bind to; "default" or "0" means port 3389, the
1123	standard port for RDP. You can specify a comma-separated list of
1124	ports or ranges of ports. Use a dash between two port numbers to
1125	specify a range. The VRDE server will bind to <emphasis
1126	role="bold">one</emphasis> of available ports from the specified
1127	list. Only one machine can use a given port at a time. For
1128	example, the option <computeroutput> --vrdeport
1129	5000,5010-5012</computeroutput> will tell the server to bind to
1130	one of following ports: 5000, 5010, 5011 or 5012.</para>
1131	</listitem>
1132
1133	<listitem>
1134	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeaddress <IP
1135	address></computeroutput>: The IP address of the host network
1136	interface the VRDE server will bind to. If specified, the server
1137	will accept connections only on the specified host network
1138	interface.</para>
1139	<para>The setting can be used to specify whether the VRDP server
1140	should accept either IPv4 or IPv6 or both connections:
1141	<itemizedlist>
1142	<listitem>
1143	<para>only IPv4: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "0.0.0.0"
1144	</computeroutput></para>
1145	</listitem>
1146	<listitem>
1147	<para>only IPv6: <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress "::"
1148	</computeroutput></para>
1149	</listitem>
1150	<listitem>
1151	<para>both IPv6 and IPv4 (default): <computeroutput>--vrdeaddress ""
1152	</computeroutput></para>
1153	</listitem>
1154	</itemizedlist></para>
1155	</listitem>
1156
1157	<listitem>
1158	<para><computeroutput>--vrdeauthtype
1159	null\|external\|guest</computeroutput>: This allows you to choose
1160	whether and how authorization will be performed; see <xref
1161	linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
1162	</listitem>
1163
1164	<listitem>
1165	<para><computeroutput>--vrdemulticon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1166	enables multiple connections to the same VRDE server, if the
1167	server supports this feature; see <xref lang=""
1168	linkend="vrde-multiconnection" />.</para>
1169	</listitem>
1170
1171	<listitem>
1172	<para><computeroutput>--vrdereusecon on\|off</computeroutput>: This
1173	specifies the VRDE server behavior when multiple connections are
1174	disabled. When this option is enabled, the server will allow a new
1175	client to connect and will drop the existing connection. When this
1176	option is disabled (this is the default setting), a new connection
1177	will not be accepted if there is already a client connected to the
1178	server.</para>
1179	</listitem>
1180
1181	<listitem>
1182	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannel on\|off</computeroutput>:
1183	This enables video redirection, if it is supported by the VRDE
1184	server; see <xref lang="" linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1185	</listitem>
1186
1187	<listitem>
1188	<para><computeroutput>--vrdevideochannelquality
1189	<percent></computeroutput>: Sets the image quality for video
1190	redirection; see <xref lang=""
1191	linkend="vrde-videochannel" />.</para>
1192	</listitem>
1193	</itemizedlist></para>
1194	</sect2>
1195
1196	<sect2 id="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport">
1197	<title>Teleporting settings</title>
1198
1199	<para>With the following commands for <computeroutput>VBoxManage
1200	modifyvm</computeroutput> you can configure a machine to be a target for
1201	teleporting. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for an
1202	introduction.<itemizedlist>
1203	<listitem>
1204	<para><computeroutput>--teleporter on\|off</computeroutput>: With
1205	this setting you turn on or off whether a machine waits for a
1206	teleporting request to come in on the network when it is started.
1207	If "on", when the machine is started, it does not boot the virtual
1208	machine as it would normally; instead, it then waits for a
1209	teleporting request to come in on the port and address listed with
1210	the next two parameters.</para>
1211	</listitem>
1212
1213	<listitem>
1214	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterport
1215	<port></computeroutput>, <computeroutput>--teleporteraddress
1216	<address></computeroutput>: these must be used with
1217	--teleporter and tell the virtual machine on which port and
1218	address it should listen for a teleporting request from another
1219	virtual machine. <computeroutput><port></computeroutput> can
1220	be any free TCP/IP port number (e.g. 6000);
1221	<computeroutput><address></computeroutput> can be any IP
1222	address or hostname and specifies the TCP/IP socket to bind to.
1223	The default is "0.0.0.0", which means any address.</para>
1224	</listitem>
1225
1226	<listitem>
1227	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpassword
1228	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1229	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1230	source machine specifies the same password as the one given with
1231	this command.</para>
1232	</listitem>
1233
1234	<listitem>
1235	<para><computeroutput>--teleporterpasswordfile
1236	<password></computeroutput>: if this optional argument is
1237	given, then the teleporting request will only succeed if the
1238	source machine specifies the same password as the one specified
1239	in the file give with this command. Use <computeroutput>stdin</computeroutput>
1240	to read the password from stdin.</para>
1241	</listitem>
1242
1243	<listitem>
1244	<para><computeroutput>--cpuid <leaf> <eax> <ebx>
1245	<ecx> <edx></computeroutput>: Advanced users can use
1246	this command before a teleporting operation to restrict the
1247	virtual CPU capabilities that VirtualBox presents to the guest
1248	operating system. This must be run on both the source and the
1249	target machines involved in the teleporting and will then modify
1250	what the guest sees when it executes the
1251	<computeroutput>CPUID</computeroutput> machine instruction. This
1252	might help with misbehaving applications that wrongly assume that
1253	certain CPU capabilities are present. The meaning of the
1254	parameters is hardware dependent; please refer to the AMD or Intel
1255	processor manuals.</para>
1256	</listitem>
1257	</itemizedlist></para>
1258	</sect2>
1259	</sect1>
1260
1261	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevm">
1262	<title>VBoxManage clonevm</title>
1263
1264	<para>This command creates a full or linked copy of an existing virtual
1265	machine.</para>
1266
1267	<para>The <computeroutput>clonevm</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1268	least the name of the virtual machine which should be cloned. The following
1269	additional settings can be used to further configure the clone VM
1270	operation:</para>
1271
1272	<itemizedlist>
1273	<listitem>
1274	<para><computeroutput>--snapshot <uuid>\|<name></computeroutput>:
1275	Select a specific snapshot where the clone operation should refer
1276	to. Default is referring to the current state.</para>
1277	</listitem>
1278	<listitem>
1279	<para><computeroutput>--mode machine\|machineandchildren\|all</computeroutput>:
1280	Selects the cloning mode of the operation. If
1281	<computeroutput>machine</computeroutput> is selected (the default),
1282	the current state of the VM without any snapshots is cloned. In the
1283	<computeroutput>machineandchildren</computeroutput> mode the snapshot
1284	provided by <computeroutput>--snapshot</computeroutput> and all
1285	child snapshots are cloned. If <computeroutput>all</computeroutput>
1286	is the selected mode all snapshots and the current state are cloned.
1287	</para>
1288	</listitem>
1289	<listitem>
1290	<para><computeroutput>--options link\|keepallmacs\|keepnatmacs\|keepdisknames</computeroutput>:
1291	Allows additional fine tuning of the clone operation. The first
1292	option defines that a linked clone should be created, which is
1293	only possible for a machine clone from a snapshot. The next two
1294	options allow to define how the MAC addresses of every virtual
1295	network card should be handled. They can either be reinitialized
1296	(the default), left unchanged
1297	(<computeroutput>keepallmacs</computeroutput>) or left unchanged
1298	when the network type is NAT
1299	(<computeroutput>keepnatmacs</computeroutput>). If you add
1300	<computeroutput>keepdisknames</computeroutput> all new disk images
1301	are called like the original ones, otherwise they are
1302	renamed.</para>
1303	</listitem>
1304	<listitem>
1305	<para><computeroutput>--name <name></computeroutput>: Select a
1306	new name for the new virtual machine. Default is "Original Name
1307	Clone".</para>
1308	</listitem>
1309	<listitem>
1310	<para><computeroutput>--basefolder <basefolder></computeroutput>:
1311	Select the folder where the new virtual machine configuration should
1312	be saved in.</para>
1313	</listitem>
1314	<listitem>
1315	<para><computeroutput>--uuid <uuid></computeroutput>:
1316	Select the UUID the new VM should have. This id has to be unique in
1317	the VirtualBox instance this clone should be registered. Default is
1318	creating a new UUID.</para>
1319	</listitem>
1320	<listitem>
1321	<para><computeroutput>--register</computeroutput>:
1322	Automatically register the new clone in this VirtualBox
1323	installation. If you manually want to register the new VM later, see
1324	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" /> for instructions how to do
1325	so.</para>
1326	</listitem>
1327	</itemizedlist>
1328	</sect1>
1329
1330	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-import">
1331	<title>VBoxManage import</title>
1332
1333	<para>This command imports a virtual appliance in OVF format by copying
1334	the virtual disk images and creating virtual machines in VirtualBox. See
1335	<xref linkend="ovf" /> for an introduction to appliances.</para>
1336
1337	<para>The <computeroutput>import</computeroutput> subcommand takes at
1338	least the path name of an OVF file as input and expects the disk images,
1339	if needed, in the same directory as the OVF file. A lot of additional
1340	command-line options are supported to control in detail what is being
1341	imported and modify the import parameters, but the details depend on the
1342	content of the OVF file.</para>
1343
1344	<para>It is therefore recommended to first run the import subcommand with
1345	the <computeroutput>--dry-run</computeroutput> or
1346	<computeroutput>-n</computeroutput> option. This will then print a
1347	description of the appliance's contents to the screen how it would be
1348	imported into VirtualBox, together with the optional command-line options
1349	to influence the import behavior.</para>
1350
1351	<para>As an example, here is the screen output with a sample appliance
1352	containing a Windows XP guest:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf --dry-run
1353	Interpreting WindowsXp.ovf...
1354	OK.
1355	Virtual system 0:
1356	0: Suggested OS type: "WindowsXP"
1357	(change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all)
1358	1: Suggested VM name "Windows XP Professional_1"
1359	(change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
1360	3: Number of CPUs: 1
1361	(change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
1362	4: Guest memory: 956 MB (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
1363	5: Sound card (appliance expects "ensoniq1371", can change on import)
1364	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
1365	6: USB controller
1366	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
1367	7: Network adapter: orig bridged, config 2, extra type=bridged
1368	8: Floppy
1369	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
1370	9: SCSI controller, type BusLogic
1371	(change with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --scsitype {BusLogic\|LsiLogic}";
1372	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
1373	10: IDE controller, type PIIX4
1374	(disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
1375	11: Hard disk image: source image=WindowsXp.vmdk,
1376	target path=/home/user/disks/WindowsXp.vmdk, controller=9;channel=0
1377	(change controller with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --controller <id>";
1378	disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")</screen></para>
1379
1380	<para>As you can see, the individual configuration items are numbered, and
1381	depending on their type support different command-line options. The import
1382	subcommand can be directed to ignore many such items with a
1383	<computeroutput>--vsys X --unit Y --ignore</computeroutput> option, where
1384	X is the number of the virtual system (zero unless there are several
1385	virtual system descriptions in the appliance) and Y the item number, as
1386	printed on the screen.</para>
1387
1388	<para>In the above example, Item #1 specifies the name of the target
1389	machine in VirtualBox. Items #9 and #10 specify hard disk controllers,
1390	respectively. Item #11 describes a hard disk image; in this case, the
1391	additional <computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput> option indicates
1392	which item the disk image should be connected to, with the default coming
1393	from the OVF file.</para>
1394
1395	<para>You can combine several items for the same virtual system behind the
1396	same <computeroutput>--vsys</computeroutput> option. For example, to
1397	import a machine as described in the OVF, but without the sound card and
1398	without the USB controller, and with the disk image connected to the IDE
1399	controller instead of the SCSI controller, use this:<screen>VBoxManage import WindowsXp.ovf
1400	--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore --unit 6 --ignore --unit 11 --controller 10</screen></para>
1401	</sect1>
1402
1403	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-export">
1404	<title>VBoxManage export</title>
1405
1406	<para>This command exports one or more virtual machines from VirtualBox
1407	into a virtual appliance in OVF format, including copying their virtual
1408	disk images to compressed VMDK. See <xref linkend="ovf" /> for an
1409	introduction to appliances.</para>
1410
1411	<para>The <computeroutput>export</computeroutput> command is simple to
1412	use: list the machine (or the machines) that you would like to export to
1413	the same OVF file and specify the target OVF file after an additional
1414	<computeroutput>--output</computeroutput> or
1415	<computeroutput>-o</computeroutput> option. Note that the directory of the
1416	target OVF file will also receive the exported disk images in the
1417	compressed VMDK format (regardless of the original format) and should have
1418	enough disk space left for them.</para>
1419
1420	<para>Beside a simple export of a given virtual machine, you can append
1421	several product information to the appliance file. Use
1422	<computeroutput>--product</computeroutput>,
1423	<computeroutput>--producturl</computeroutput>,
1424	<computeroutput>--vendor</computeroutput>,
1425	<computeroutput>--vendorurl</computeroutput> and
1426	<computeroutput>--version</computeroutput> to specify this additional
1427	information. For legal reasons you may add a license text or the content
1428	of a license file by using the <computeroutput>--eula</computeroutput> and
1429	<computeroutput>--eulafile</computeroutput> option respectively. As with
1430	OVF import, you must use the <computeroutput>--vsys X</computeroutput>
1431	option to direct the previously mentioned options to the correct virtual
1432	machine.</para>
1433
1434	<para>For virtualization products which aren't fully compatible with the
1435	OVF standard 1.0 you can enable a OVF 0.9 legacy mode with the
1436	<computeroutput>--legacy09</computeroutput> option.</para>
1437
1438	<para>To specify options controlling the exact content of the appliance
1439	file, you can use <computeroutput>--option</computeroutput> to request the
1440	creation of a manifest file (encouraged, allows detection of corrupted
1441	appliances on import), the additional export of DVD images, and the
1442	exclusion of MAC addresses. You can specify a list of options, e.g.
1443	<computeroutput>--option manifest,nomacs</computeroutput>. For details,
1444	check the help output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage export</computeroutput>.</para>
1445	</sect1>
1446
1447	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-startvm">
1448	<title>VBoxManage startvm</title>
1449
1450	<para>This command starts a virtual machine that is currently in the
1451	"Powered off" or "Saved" states.</para>
1452
1453	<para>The optional <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> specifier
1454	determines whether the machine will be started in a window or whether the
1455	output should go through <computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>,
1456	with VRDE enabled or not; see <xref linkend="vboxheadless" /> for more
1457	information. The list of types is subject to change, and it's not
1458	guaranteed that all types are accepted by any product variant.</para>
1459
1460	<para>The global or per-VM default value for the VM frontend type will be
1461	taken if the type is not explicitly specified. If none of these are set,
1462	the GUI variant will be started.</para>
1463
1464	<para>The following values are allowed:</para>
1465
1466	<glosslist>
1467	<glossentry>
1468	<glossterm><computeroutput>gui</computeroutput></glossterm>
1469
1470	<glossdef>
1471	<para>Starts a VM showing a GUI window. This is the default.</para>
1472	</glossdef>
1473	</glossentry>
1474
1475	<glossentry>
1476	<glossterm><computeroutput>headless</computeroutput></glossterm>
1477
1478	<glossdef>
1479	<para>Starts a VM without a window for remote display only.</para>
1480	</glossdef>
1481	</glossentry>
1482
1483	<glossentry>
1484	<glossterm><computeroutput>sdl</computeroutput></glossterm>
1485
1486	<glossdef>
1487	<para>Starts a VM with a minimal GUI and limited features.</para>
1488	</glossdef>
1489	</glossentry>
1490
1491	<glossentry>
1492	<glossterm><computeroutput>separate</computeroutput></glossterm>
1493
1494	<glossdef>
1495	<para>Starts a VM with detachable UI (technically it is a headless VM
1496	with user interface in a separate process). This is an experimental
1497	feature as it lacks certain functionality at the moment (e.g. 3D
1498	acceleration will not work).</para>
1499	</glossdef>
1500	</glossentry>
1501	</glosslist>
1502
1503	<note>
1504	<para>If you experience problems with starting virtual machines with
1505	particular frontends and there is no conclusive error information,
1506	consider starting virtual machines directly by running the respective
1507	front-end, as this can give additional error information.</para>
1508	</note>
1509	</sect1>
1510
1511	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-controlvm">
1512	<title>VBoxManage controlvm</title>
1513
1514	<para>The <computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> subcommand allows you
1515	to change the state of a virtual machine that is currently running. The
1516	following can be specified:</para>
1517
1518	<para><itemizedlist>
1519	<listitem>
1520	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1521	pause</computeroutput> temporarily puts a virtual machine on hold,
1522	without changing its state for good. The VM window will be painted
1523	in gray to indicate that the VM is currently paused. (This is
1524	equivalent to selecting the "Pause" item in the "Machine" menu of
1525	the GUI.)</para>
1526	</listitem>
1527
1528	<listitem>
1529	<para>Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1530	resume</computeroutput> to undo a previous
1531	<computeroutput>pause</computeroutput> command. (This is equivalent
1532	to selecting the "Resume" item in the "Machine" menu of the
1533	GUI.)</para>
1534	</listitem>
1535
1536	<listitem>
1537	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1538	reset</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine as
1539	pressing the "Reset" button on a real computer: a cold reboot of the
1540	virtual machine, which will restart and boot the guest operating
1541	system again immediately. The state of the VM is not saved
1542	beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is equivalent to selecting
1543	the "Reset" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI.)</para>
1544	</listitem>
1545
1546	<listitem>
1547	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1548	poweroff</computeroutput> has the same effect on a virtual machine
1549	as pulling the power cable on a real computer. Again, the state of
1550	the VM is not saved beforehand, and data may be lost. (This is
1551	equivalent to selecting the "Close" item in the "Machine" menu of
1552	the GUI or pressing the window's close button, and then selecting
1553	"Power off the machine" in the dialog.)</para>
1554
1555	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Powered off". From there,
1556	it can be started again; see <xref
1557	linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1558	</listitem>
1559
1560	<listitem>
1561	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm <vm>
1562	savestate</computeroutput> will save the current state of the VM to
1563	disk and then stop the VM. (This is equivalent to selecting the
1564	"Close" item in the "Machine" menu of the GUI or pressing the
1565	window's close button, and then selecting "Save the machine state"
1566	in the dialog.)</para>
1567
1568	<para>After this, the VM's state will be "Saved". From there, it can
1569	be started again; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
1570	</listitem>
1571
1572	<listitem>
1573	<para><computeroutput>VBoxManage controlvm "VM name" teleport
1574	--hostname <name> --port <port> [--passwordfile
1575	<file> \| --password <password>]</computeroutput> makes
1576	the machine the source of a teleporting operation and initiates a
1577	teleport to the given target. See <xref linkend="teleporting" /> for
1578	an introduction. If the optional password is specified, it must match
1579	the password that was given to the
1580	<computeroutput>modifyvm</computeroutput> command for the target
1581	machine; see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-teleport" /> for
1582	details.</para>
1583	</listitem>
1584	</itemizedlist></para>
1585
1586	<para>A few extra options are available with
1587	<computeroutput>controlvm</computeroutput> that do not directly affect the
1588	VM's running state:</para>
1589
1590	<itemizedlist>
1591	<!-- @todo r=andy Document keyboardputscancode -->
1592
1593	<listitem>
1594	<para>The <computeroutput>setlinkstate<1-N></computeroutput>
1595	operation connects or disconnects virtual network cables from their
1596	network interfaces.</para>
1597	</listitem>
1598
1599	<listitem>
1600	<para><computeroutput>nic<1-N>
1601	null\|nat\|bridged\|intnet\|hostonly\|generic</computeroutput>: With this, you can
1602	set, for each of the VM's virtual network cards, what type of
1603	networking should be available. They can be not connected to the host
1604	(<computeroutput>null</computeroutput>), use network address
1605	translation (<computeroutput>nat</computeroutput>), bridged networking
1606	(<computeroutput>bridged</computeroutput>) or communicate with other
1607	virtual machines using internal networking
1608	(<computeroutput>intnet</computeroutput>) or host-only networking
1609	(<computeroutput>hostonly</computeroutput>) or access to rarely used
1610	sub-modes
1611	(<computeroutput>generic</computeroutput>). These options correspond
1612	to the modes which are described in detail in <xref
1613	linkend="networkingmodes" />.</para>
1614	</listitem>
1615
1616	<listitem>
1617	<para>With the "nictrace" options, you can optionally trace
1618	network traffic by dumping it to a file, for debugging
1619	purposes.</para>
1620
1621	<para>With <computeroutput>--nictrace<1-N>
1622	on\|off</computeroutput>, you can enable network tracing for a
1623	particular virtual network card.</para>
1624
1625	<para>If enabled, you must specify with
1626	<computeroutput>--nictracefile<1-N>
1627	<filename></computeroutput> what file the trace should be
1628	logged to.</para>
1629	</listitem>
1630
1631	<!-- @todo r=andy Document nicpromisc -->
1632
1633	<listitem>
1634	<para><computeroutput>nicproperty<1-N>
1635	<paramname>="paramvalue"</computeroutput>:
1636	This option, in combination with "nicgenericdrv" allows you to
1637	pass parameters to rarely-used network backends.</para><para>
1638	Those parameters are backend engine-specific, and are different
1639	between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. For example,
1640	please see <xref linkend="network_udp_tunnel" />.
1641	</para>
1642	</listitem>
1643
1644	<listitem>
1645	<para>The <computeroutput>guestmemoryballoon</computeroutput>
1646	operation changes the size of the guest memory balloon, that is,
1647	memory allocated by the VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest
1648	operating system and returned to the hypervisor for re-use by other
1649	virtual machines. This must be specified in megabytes. For details,
1650	see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" />.</para>
1651	</listitem>
1652
1653	<listitem>
1654	<para><computeroutput>usbattach</computeroutput> and
1655	<computeroutput>usbdettach</computeroutput> make host USB devices
1656	visible to the virtual machine on the fly, without the need for
1657	creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID
1658	(unique identifier) or by address on the host system.</para>
1659
1660	<para>You can use <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
1661	usbhost</computeroutput> to locate this information.</para>
1662	</listitem>
1663
1664	<listitem>
1665	<para><computeroutput>clipboard
1666	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1667	With this setting, you can select if and how the guest or host
1668	operating system's clipboard should be shared with the host or guest;
1669	see <xref linkend="generalsettings" />. This requires that the Guest
1670	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1671	</listitem>
1672
1673	<listitem>
1674	<para><computeroutput>draganddrop
1675	disabled\|hosttoguest\|guesttohost\|bidirectional</computeroutput>:
1676	With this setting, you can select the current drag'n drop mode
1677	being used between the host and the virtual machine;
1678	see <xref linkend="guestadd-dnd" />. This requires that the Guest
1679	Additions be installed in the virtual machine.</para>
1680	</listitem>
1681
1682	<listitem>
1683	<para><computeroutput>vrde on\|off</computeroutput> lets you enable or
1684	disable the VRDE server, if it is installed.</para>
1685	</listitem>
1686
1687	<listitem>
1688	<para><computeroutput>vrdeport default\|<ports></computeroutput>
1689	changes the port or a range of ports that the VRDE server can bind to;
1690	"default" or "0" means port 3389, the standard port for RDP. For
1691	details, see the description for the
1692	<computeroutput>--vrdeport</computeroutput> option in <xref
1693	linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm-other" />.</para>
1694	</listitem>
1695
1696
1697	<listitem>
1698	<para><computeroutput>setvideomodehint</computeroutput> requests that
1699	the guest system change to a particular video mode. This requires that
1700	the Guest Additions be installed, and will not work for all guest
1701	systems.</para>
1702	</listitem>
1703
1704	<listitem>
1705	<para><computeroutput>screenshotpng</computeroutput> takes a screenshot
1706	of the guest display and saves it in PNG format.</para>
1707	</listitem>
1708
1709	<listitem>
1710	<para><computeroutput>videocap on\|off</computeroutput> enables or disables
1711	recording a VM session into a WebM/VP8 file.</para>
1712	</listitem>
1713
1714	<listitem>
1715	<para><computeroutput>videocapscreens all\|<screen ID> [<screen ID> ...]]</computeroutput>
1716	allows to specify which screens of the VM are being recorded. This setting
1717	cannot be changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1718	</listitem>
1719
1720	<listitem>
1721	<para><computeroutput>videocapfile <file></computeroutput> sets the filename
1722	VirtualBox uses to save the recorded content. This setting cannot be changed
1723	while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1724	</listitem>
1725
1726	<listitem>
1727	<para><computeroutput>videocapres <width> <height></computeroutput>
1728	sets the resolution (in pixels) of the recorded video. This setting cannot be
1729	changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1730	</listitem>
1731
1732	<listitem> <!-- @todo r=andy Clarify rate. -->
1733	<para><computeroutput>videocaprate <rate></computeroutput> sets the
1734	bitrate in kilobits (kb) per second. Increasing this value makes the video
1735	look better for the cost of an increased file size. This setting cannot be
1736	changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1737	</listitem>
1738
1739	<listitem>
1740	<para><computeroutput>videocapfps <fps></computeroutput> sets the
1741	maximum number of frames per second (FPS) to be recorded. Frames with a
1742	higher frequency will be skipped. Reducing this value increases the number
1743	of skipped frames and reduces the file size. This setting cannot be changed
1744	while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1745	</listitem>
1746
1747	<listitem> <!-- @todo r=andy Clarify time format. -->
1748	<para><computeroutput>videocapmaxtime <time></computeroutput> sets
1749	the maximum time the video capturing will take place since activation.
1750	The capturing stops when the defined time interval has elapsed. If this
1751	value is zero the capturing is not limited by time. This setting cannot
1752	be changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1753	</listitem>
1754
1755	<listitem>
1756	<para><computeroutput>videocapmaxsize <MB></computeroutput> limits
1757	the maximum size of the captured video file (in MB). The capturing stops
1758	when file size has reached the specified size. If this value is zero
1759	the capturing will not be limited by file size. This setting cannot be
1760	changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1761	</listitem>
1762
1763	<listitem>
1764	<para><computeroutput>videocapopts <key=value> [<key=value> ...]</computeroutput>
1765	can be used to specify additional video capturing options. These options
1766	only are for advanced users and must be specified in a comma-separated
1767	key=value format, e.g. <computeroutput>foo=bar,a=b</computeroutput>.
1768	This setting cannot be changed while video capturing is enabled.</para>
1769	</listitem>
1770
1771	<listitem>
1772	<para>The <computeroutput>setcredentials</computeroutput> operation is
1773	used for remote logons in Windows guests. For details, please refer to
1774	<xref linkend="autologon" />.</para>
1775	</listitem>
1776
1777	<!-- @todo r=andy Document teleport! -->
1778
1779	<listitem>
1780	<para><computeroutput>--plugcpu\|unplugcpu
1781	<id></computeroutput>: If CPU hot-plugging is enabled, this adds
1782	a virtual CPU to the virtual machines (or removes one).
1783	<computeroutput><id></computeroutput> specifies the index of
1784	the virtual CPU to be added or removed and must be a number from 0
1785	to the maximum no. of CPUs configured. CPU 0 can never be removed.</para>
1786	</listitem>
1787
1788	<listitem>
1789	<para>The <computeroutput>cpuexecutioncap
1790	<1-100></computeroutput>: This operation controls how much cpu
1791	time a virtual CPU can use. A value of 50 implies a single virtual CPU
1792	can use up to 50% of a single host CPU.</para>
1793	</listitem>
1794
1795	<!-- @todo r=andy Document webcam! -->
1796
1797	</itemizedlist>
1798	</sect1>
1799
1800	<sect1>
1801	<title>VBoxManage discardstate</title>
1802
1803	<para>This command discards the saved state of a virtual machine which is
1804	not currently running, which will cause its operating system to restart
1805	next time you start it. This is the equivalent of pulling out the power
1806	cable on a physical machine, and should be avoided if possible.</para>
1807	</sect1>
1808
1809	<sect1>
1810	<title>VBoxManage adoptstate</title>
1811
1812	<para>If you have a saved state file (<computeroutput>.sav</computeroutput>)
1813	that is separate from the VM configuration, you can use this command to
1814	"adopt" the file. This will change the VM to saved state and when you
1815	start it, VirtualBox will attempt to restore it from the saved state file
1816	you indicated. This command should only be used in special setups.</para>
1817	</sect1>
1818
1819	<sect1>
1820	<title>VBoxManage snapshot</title>
1821
1822	<para>This command is used to control snapshots from the command line. A
1823	snapshot consists of a complete copy of the virtual machine settings,
1824	copied at the time when the snapshot was taken, and optionally a virtual
1825	machine saved state file if the snapshot was taken while the machine was
1826	running. After a snapshot has been taken, VirtualBox creates differencing
1827	hard disk for each normal hard disk associated with the machine so that
1828	when a snapshot is restored, the contents of the virtual machine's virtual
1829	hard disks can be quickly reset by simply dropping the pre-existing
1830	differencing files.</para>
1831
1832	<para>The <computeroutput>take</computeroutput> operation takes a snapshot
1833	of the current state of the virtual machine. You must supply a name for
1834	the snapshot and can optionally supply a description. The new snapshot is
1835	inserted into the snapshots tree as a child of the current snapshot and
1836	then becomes the new current snapshot. The
1837	<computeroutput>--description</computeroutput> parameter allows to
1838	describe the snapshot. If <computeroutput>--live</computeroutput>
1839	is specified, the VM will not be stopped during the snapshot creation
1840	(live smapshotting).</para>
1841
1842	<para>The <computeroutput>delete</computeroutput> operation deletes a
1843	snapshot (specified by name or by UUID). This can take a while to finish
1844	since the differencing images associated with the snapshot might need to
1845	be merged with their child differencing images.</para>
1846
1847	<para>The <computeroutput>restore</computeroutput> operation will restore
1848	the given snapshot (specified by name or by UUID) by resetting the virtual
1849	machine's settings and current state to that of the snapshot. The previous
1850	current state of the machine will be lost. After this, the given snapshot
1851	becomes the new "current" snapshot so that subsequent snapshots are
1852	inserted under the snapshot from which was restored.</para>
1853
1854	<para>The <computeroutput>restorecurrent</computeroutput> operation is a
1855	shortcut to restore the current snapshot (i.e. the snapshot from which the
1856	current state is derived). This subcommand is equivalent to using the
1857	"restore" subcommand with the name or UUID of the current snapshot, except
1858	that it avoids the extra step of determining that name or UUID.</para>
1859
1860	<para>With the <computeroutput>edit</computeroutput> operation, you can
1861	change the name or description of an existing snapshot.</para>
1862
1863	<para>With the <computeroutput>showvminfo</computeroutput> operation, you
1864	can view the virtual machine settings that were stored with an existing
1865	snapshot.</para>
1866	</sect1>
1867
1868	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-closemedium">
1869	<title>VBoxManage closemedium</title>
1870
1871	<para>This commands removes a hard disk, DVD or floppy image from a
1872	VirtualBox media registry.<footnote>
1873	<para>Before VirtualBox 4.0, it was necessary to call VBoxManage
1874	openmedium before a medium could be attached to a virtual machine;
1875	that call "registered" the medium with the global VirtualBox media
1876	registry. With VirtualBox 4.0 this is no longer necessary; media are
1877	added to media registries automatically. The "closemedium" call has
1878	been retained, however, to allow for explicitly removing a medium from
1879	a registry.</para>
1880	</footnote></para>
1881
1882	<para>Optionally, you can request that the image be deleted. You will get
1883	appropriate diagnostics that the deletion failed, however the image will
1884	become unregistered in any case.</para>
1885	</sect1>
1886
1887	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storageattach">
1888	<title>VBoxManage storageattach</title>
1889
1890	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage medium connected to
1891	a storage controller that was previously added with the
1892	<computeroutput>storagectl</computeroutput> command (see the previous
1893	section). The syntax is as follows:</para>
1894
1895	<screen>VBoxManage storageattach <uuid\|vmname>
1896	--storagectl <name>
1897	[--port <number>]
1898	[--device <number>]
1899	[--type dvddrive\|hdd\|fdd]
1900	[--medium none\|emptydrive\|
1901	<uuid>\|<filename>\|host:<drive>\|iscsi]
1902	[--mtype normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable]
1903	[--comment <text>]
1904	[--setuuid <uuid>]
1905	[--setparentuuid <uuid>]
1906	[--passthrough on\|off]
1907	[--tempeject on\|off]
1908	[--nonrotational on\|off]
1909	[--discard on\|off]
1910	[--bandwidthgroup name\|none]
1911	[--forceunmount]
1912	[--server <name>\|<ip>]
1913	[--target <target>]
1914	[--tport <port>]
1915	[--lun <lun>]
1916	[--encodedlun <lun>]
1917	[--username <username>]
1918	[--password <password>]
1919	[--initiator <initiator>]
1920	[--intnet]</screen>
1921
1922	<para>A number of parameters are commonly required; the ones at the end of
1923	the list are required only for iSCSI targets (see below).</para>
1924
1925	<para>The common parameters are:<glosslist>
1926	<glossentry>
1927	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
1928
1929	<glossdef>
1930	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
1931	</glossdef>
1932	</glossentry>
1933
1934	<glossentry>
1935	<glossterm><computeroutput>--storagectl</computeroutput></glossterm>
1936
1937	<glossdef>
1938	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory. The list of the
1939	storage controllers currently attached to a VM can be obtained
1940	with <computeroutput>VBoxManage showvminfo</computeroutput>; see
1941	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" />.</para>
1942	</glossdef>
1943	</glossentry>
1944
1945	<glossentry>
1946	<glossterm><computeroutput>--port</computeroutput></glossterm>
1947
1948	<glossdef>
1949	<para>The number of the storage controller's port which is to be
1950	modified. Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a
1951	single port.</para>
1952	</glossdef>
1953	</glossentry>
1954
1955	<glossentry>
1956	<glossterm><computeroutput>--device</computeroutput></glossterm>
1957
1958	<glossdef>
1959	<para>The number of the port's device which is to be modified.
1960	Mandatory, unless the storage controller has only a single device
1961	per port.</para>
1962	</glossdef>
1963	</glossentry>
1964
1965	<glossentry>
1966	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
1967
1968	<glossdef>
1969	<para>Define the type of the drive to which the medium is being
1970	attached/detached/modified. This argument can only be omitted if
1971	the type of medium can be determined from either the medium given
1972	with the <computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> argument or
1973	from a previous medium attachment.</para>
1974	</glossdef>
1975	</glossentry>
1976
1977	<glossentry>
1978	<glossterm><computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput></glossterm>
1979
1980	<glossdef>
1981	<para>Specifies what is to be attached. The following values are
1982	supported:<itemizedlist>
1983	<listitem>
1984	<para>"none": Any existing device should be removed from the
1985	given slot.</para>
1986	</listitem>
1987
1988	<listitem>
1989	<para>"emptydrive": For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only,
1990	this makes the device slot behaves like a removeable drive
1991	into which no media has been inserted.</para>
1992	</listitem>
1993
1994	<listitem>
1995	<para>"additions": For a virtual DVD drive only, this
1996	attaches the <emphasis>VirtualBox Guest Additions</emphasis>
1997	image to the given device slot.</para>
1998	</listitem>
1999
2000	<listitem>
2001	<para>If a UUID is specified, it must be the UUID of a
2002	storage medium that is already known to VirtualBox (e.g.
2003	because it has been attached to another virtual machine).
2004	See <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for how to list known
2005	media. This medium is then attached to the given device
2006	slot.</para>
2007	</listitem>
2008
2009	<listitem>
2010	<para>If a filename is specified, it must be the full path
2011	of an existing disk image (ISO, RAW, VDI, VMDK or other),
2012	which is then attached to the given device slot.</para>
2013	</listitem>
2014
2015	<listitem>
2016	<para>"host:<drive>": For a virtual DVD or floppy
2017	drive only, this connects the given device slot to the
2018	specified DVD or floppy drive on the host computer.</para>
2019	</listitem>
2020
2021	<listitem>
2022	<para>"iscsi": For virtual hard disks only, this allows for
2023	specifying an iSCSI target. In this case, more parameters
2024	must be given; see below.</para>
2025	</listitem>
2026	</itemizedlist></para>
2027
2028	<para>Some of the above changes, in particular for removeable
2029	media (floppies and CDs/DVDs), can be effected while a VM is
2030	running. Others (device changes or changes in hard disk device
2031	slots) require the VM to be powered off.</para>
2032	</glossdef>
2033	</glossentry>
2034
2035	<glossentry>
2036	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mtype</computeroutput></glossterm>
2037
2038	<glossdef>
2039	<para>Defines how this medium behaves with respect to snapshots
2040	and write operations. See <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for
2041	details.</para>
2042	</glossdef>
2043	</glossentry>
2044
2045	<glossentry>
2046	<glossterm><computeroutput>--comment</computeroutput></glossterm>
2047
2048	<glossdef>
2049	<para>Any description that you want to have stored with this
2050	medium (optional; for example, for an iSCSI target, "Big storage
2051	server downstairs"). This is purely descriptive and not needed for
2052	the medium to function correctly.</para>
2053	</glossdef>
2054	</glossentry>
2055
2056	<glossentry>
2057	<glossterm><computeroutput>--setuuid, --setparentuuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
2058
2059	<glossdef>
2060	<para>Modifies the UUID or parent UUID of a medium before
2061	attaching it to a VM. This is an expert option. Inappropriate use
2062	can make the medium unusable or lead to broken VM configurations
2063	if any other VM is referring to the same media already. The most
2064	frequently used variant is <code>--setuuid ""</code>, which assigns
2065	a new (random) UUID to an image. This is useful to resolve the
2066	duplicate UUID errors if one duplicated an image using file copy
2067	utilities.</para>
2068	</glossdef>
2069	</glossentry>
2070
2071	<glossentry>
2072	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passthrough</computeroutput></glossterm>
2073
2074	<glossdef>
2075	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can enable DVD writing
2076	support (currently experimental; see <xref
2077	linkend="storage-cds" />).</para>
2078	</glossdef>
2079	</glossentry>
2080
2081	<glossentry>
2082	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tempeject</computeroutput></glossterm>
2083
2084	<glossdef>
2085	<para>For a virtual DVD drive only, you can configure the behavior
2086	for guest-triggered medium eject. If this is set to "on", the eject
2087	has only temporary effects. If the VM is powered off and restarted
2088	the originally configured medium will be still in the drive.</para>
2089	</glossdef>
2090	</glossentry>
2091
2092	<glossentry>
2093	<glossterm><computeroutput>--nonrotational</computeroutput></glossterm>
2094
2095	<glossdef>
2096	<para>This switch allows to enable the non-rotational flag for virtual
2097	hard disks. Some guests (i.e. Windows 7+) treat such disks like SSDs
2098	and don't perform disk fragmentation on such media.
2099	</para>
2100	</glossdef>
2101	</glossentry>
2102
2103	<glossentry>
2104	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bandwidthgroup</computeroutput></glossterm>
2105
2106	<glossdef>
2107	<para>Sets the bandwidth group to use for the given device; see
2108	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" />.</para>
2109	</glossdef>
2110	</glossentry>
2111
2112	<glossentry>
2113	<glossterm><computeroutput>--forceunmount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2114
2115	<glossdef>
2116	<para>For a virtual DVD or floppy drive only, this forcibly
2117	unmounts the DVD/CD/Floppy or mounts a new DVD/CD/Floppy even if
2118	the previous one is locked down by the guest for reading. Again,
2119	see <xref linkend="storage-cds" /> for details.</para>
2120	</glossdef>
2121	</glossentry>
2122	</glosslist></para>
2123
2124	<para>When "iscsi" is used with the
2125	<computeroutput>--medium</computeroutput> parameter for iSCSI support --
2126	see <xref linkend="storage-iscsi" /> --, additional parameters must or can
2127	be used:<glosslist>
2128	<glossentry>
2129	<glossterm><computeroutput>--server</computeroutput></glossterm>
2130
2131	<glossdef>
2132	<para>The host name or IP address of the iSCSI target;
2133	required.</para>
2134	</glossdef>
2135	</glossentry>
2136
2137	<glossentry>
2138	<glossterm><computeroutput>--target</computeroutput></glossterm>
2139
2140	<glossdef>
2141	<para>Target name string. This is determined by the iSCSI target
2142	and used to identify the storage resource; required.</para>
2143	</glossdef>
2144	</glossentry>
2145
2146	<glossentry>
2147	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tport</computeroutput></glossterm>
2148
2149	<glossdef>
2150	<para>TCP/IP port number of the iSCSI service on the target
2151	(optional).</para>
2152	</glossdef>
2153	</glossentry>
2154
2155	<glossentry>
2156	<glossterm><computeroutput>--lun</computeroutput></glossterm>
2157
2158	<glossdef>
2159	<para>Logical Unit Number of the target resource (optional).
2160	Often, this value is zero.</para>
2161	</glossdef>
2162	</glossentry>
2163
2164	<glossentry>
2165	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username, --password</computeroutput></glossterm>
2166
2167	<glossdef>
2168	<para>Username and password (initiator secret) for target
2169	authentication, if required (optional).<note>
2170	<para>Username and password are stored without
2171	encryption (i.e. in clear text) in the XML machine
2172	configuration file if no settings password is provided.
2173	When a settings password was specified the first time,
2174	the password is stored encrypted.</para>
2175	</note></para>
2176	</glossdef>
2177	</glossentry>
2178
2179	<glossentry>
2180	<glossterm><computeroutput>--intnet</computeroutput></glossterm>
2181
2182	<glossdef>
2183	<para>If specified, connect to the iSCSI target via Internal
2184	Networking. This needs further configuration which is described in
2185	<xref linkend="iscsi-intnet" />.</para>
2186	</glossdef>
2187	</glossentry>
2188	</glosslist></para>
2189	</sect1>
2190
2191	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-storagectl">
2192	<title>VBoxManage storagectl</title>
2193
2194	<para>This command attaches/modifies/removes a storage controller. After
2195	this, virtual media can be attached to the controller with the
2196	<computeroutput>storageattach</computeroutput> command (see the next
2197	section).</para>
2198
2199	<para>The syntax is as follows:</para>
2200
2201	<screen>VBoxManage storagectl <uuid\|vmname>
2202	--name <name>
2203	[--add <ide/sata/scsi/floppy>]
2204	[--controller <LsiLogic\|LSILogicSAS\|BusLogic\|
2205	IntelAhci\|PIIX3\|PIIX4\|ICH6\|I82078\|usb>]
2206	[--sataportcount <1-30>]
2207	[--hostiocache on\|off]
2208	[--bootable on\|off]
2209	[--remove]</screen>
2210
2211	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2212	<glossentry>
2213	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2214
2215	<glossdef>
2216	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2217	</glossdef>
2218	</glossentry>
2219
2220	<glossentry>
2221	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
2222
2223	<glossdef>
2224	<para>Name of the storage controller. Mandatory.</para>
2225	</glossdef>
2226	</glossentry>
2227
2228	<glossentry>
2229	<glossterm><computeroutput>--add</computeroutput></glossterm>
2230
2231	<glossdef>
2232	<para>Define the type of the system bus to which the storage
2233	controller must be connected.</para>
2234	</glossdef>
2235	</glossentry>
2236
2237	<glossentry>
2238	<glossterm><computeroutput>--controller</computeroutput></glossterm>
2239
2240	<glossdef>
2241	<para>Allows to choose the type of chipset being emulated for the
2242	given storage controller.</para>
2243	</glossdef>
2244	</glossentry>
2245
2246	<glossentry>
2247	<glossterm><computeroutput>--sataportcount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2248
2249	<glossdef>
2250	<para>This determines how many ports the SATA controller should
2251	support.</para>
2252	</glossdef>
2253	</glossentry>
2254
2255	<glossentry>
2256	<glossterm><computeroutput>--hostiocache</computeroutput></glossterm>
2257
2258	<glossdef>
2259	<para>Configures the use of the host I/O cache for all disk images
2260	attached to this storage controller. For details, please see <xref
2261	linkend="iocaching" />.</para>
2262	</glossdef>
2263	</glossentry>
2264
2265	<glossentry>
2266	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bootable</computeroutput></glossterm>
2267
2268	<glossdef>
2269	<para>Selects whether this controller is bootable.</para>
2270	</glossdef>
2271	</glossentry>
2272
2273	<glossentry>
2274	<glossterm><computeroutput>--remove</computeroutput></glossterm>
2275
2276	<glossdef>
2277	<para>Removes the storage controller from the VM config.</para>
2278	</glossdef>
2279	</glossentry>
2280	</glosslist></para>
2281	</sect1>
2282
2283	<sect1>
2284	<title>VBoxManage bandwidthctl</title>
2285
2286	<para>This command creates/deletes/modifies/shows bandwidth groups of the given
2287	virtual machine:<screen>VBoxManage bandwidthctl <uuid\|vmname>
2288	add <name> --type disk\|network --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2289	set <name> --limit <megabytes per second>[k\|m\|g\|K\|M\|G] \|
2290	remove <name> \|
2291	list [--machinereadable]</screen></para>
2292
2293	<para>The following subcommands are available:<itemizedlist>
2294	<listitem>
2295	<para><computeroutput>add</computeroutput>, creates a new bandwidth
2296	group of given type.</para>
2297	</listitem>
2298	<listitem>
2299	<para><computeroutput>set</computeroutput>, modifies the limit for an
2300	existing bandwidth group.</para>
2301	</listitem>
2302	<listitem>
2303	<para><computeroutput>remove</computeroutput>, destroys a bandwidth
2304	group.</para>
2305	</listitem>
2306	<listitem>
2307	<para><computeroutput>list</computeroutput>, shows all bandwidth groups
2308	defined for the given VM.</para>
2309	</listitem>
2310	</itemizedlist>
2311	</para>
2312	<para>The parameters mean:<glosslist>
2313	<glossentry>
2314	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2315
2316	<glossdef>
2317	<para>The VM UUID or VM Name. Mandatory.</para>
2318	</glossdef>
2319	</glossentry>
2320
2321	<glossentry>
2322	<glossterm><computeroutput>--name</computeroutput></glossterm>
2323
2324	<glossdef>
2325	<para>Name of the bandwidth group. Mandatory.</para>
2326	</glossdef>
2327	</glossentry>
2328
2329	<glossentry>
2330	<glossterm><computeroutput>--type</computeroutput></glossterm>
2331
2332	<glossdef>
2333	<para>Type of the bandwidth group. Mandatory. Two types are
2334	supported: <computeroutput>disk</computeroutput> and
2335	<computeroutput>network</computeroutput>. See
2336	<xref linkend="storage-bandwidth-limit" /> or
2337	<xref linkend="network_bandwidth_limit" /> for a description of a
2338	particular type.</para>
2339	</glossdef>
2340	</glossentry>
2341
2342	<glossentry>
2343	<glossterm><computeroutput>--limit</computeroutput></glossterm>
2344
2345	<glossdef>
2346	<para>Specifies the limit for the given group. Can be changed
2347	while the VM is running. The default unit is megabytes per
2348	second. The unit can be changed by specifying one of the
2349	following suffixes: <computeroutput>k</computeroutput> for kilobits/s, <computeroutput>m</computeroutput> for megabits/s, <computeroutput>g</computeroutput> for gigabits/s, <computeroutput>K</computeroutput> for kilobytes/s, <computeroutput>M</computeroutput> for megabytes/s, <computeroutput>G</computeroutput> for gigabytes/s.</para>
2350	</glossdef>
2351	</glossentry>
2352	</glosslist>
2353	<note>
2354	<para>The network bandwidth limits apply only to the traffic being sent by
2355	virtual machines. The traffic being received by VMs is unlimited.</para>
2356	</note>
2357	<note>
2358	<para>To remove a bandwidth group it must not be referenced by any disks
2359	or adapters in running VM.</para>
2360	</note>
2361	</para>
2362	</sect1>
2363
2364	<sect1>
2365	<title>VBoxManage showhdinfo</title>
2366
2367	<para>This command shows information about a virtual hard disk image,
2368	notably its size, its size on disk, its type and the virtual machines
2369	which use it.<note>
2370	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2371	"showvdiinfo" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2372	"showhdinfo" command.</para>
2373	</note></para>
2374	<para>The disk image must be specified either by its UUID (if the medium
2375	is registered) or by its filename. Registered images can be listed by
2376	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
2377	for more information). A filename must be specified as valid path, either
2378	as an absolute path or as a relative path starting from the current
2379	directory.</para>
2380	</sect1>
2381
2382	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-createvdi">
2383	<title>VBoxManage createhd</title>
2384
2385	<para>This command creates a new virtual hard disk image. The syntax is as
2386	follows:</para>
2387
2388	<screen>VBoxManage createhd --filename <filename>
2389	--size <megabytes>
2390	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD] (default: VDI)
2391	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]</screen>
2392
2393	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2394	<glossentry>
2395	<glossterm><computeroutput>--filename</computeroutput></glossterm>
2396
2397	<glossdef>
2398	<para>Allows to choose a file name. Mandatory.</para>
2399	</glossdef>
2400	</glossentry>
2401
2402	<glossentry>
2403	<glossterm><computeroutput>--size</computeroutput></glossterm>
2404
2405	<glossdef>
2406	<para>Allows to define the image capacity, in 1 MiB units.
2407	Mandatory.</para>
2408	</glossdef>
2409	</glossentry>
2410
2411	<glossentry>
2412	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2413
2414	<glossdef>
2415	<para>Allows to choose a file format for the output file different
2416	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2417	</glossdef>
2418	</glossentry>
2419
2420	<glossentry>
2421	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2422
2423	<glossdef>
2424	<para>Allows to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2425	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2426	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2427	result in an error message.</para>
2428	</glossdef>
2429	</glossentry>
2430	</glosslist> <note>
2431	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2432	"createvdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2433	"createhd" command.</para>
2434	</note></para>
2435	</sect1>
2436
2437	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-modifyvdi">
2438	<title>VBoxManage modifyhd</title>
2439
2440	<para>With the <computeroutput>modifyhd</computeroutput> command, you can
2441	change the characteristics of a disk image after it has been
2442	created:<screen>VBoxManage modifyhd <uuid\|filename>
2443	[--type normal\|writethrough\|immutable\|shareable\|
2444	readonly\|multiattach]
2445	[--autoreset on\|off]
2446	[--compact]
2447	[--resize <megabytes>\|--resizebyte <bytes>]</screen><note>
2448	<para>Despite the "hd" in the subcommand name, the command works with
2449	all disk images, not only hard disks. For compatibility with earlier
2450	versions of VirtualBox, the "modifyvdi" command is also supported and
2451	mapped internally to the "modifyhd" command.</para>
2452	</note></para>
2453
2454	<para>The disk image to modify must be specified either by its UUID
2455	(if the medium is registered) or by its filename. Registered images
2456	can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2457	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2458	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path
2459	or as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2460	<para>The following options are available:<itemizedlist>
2461	<listitem>
2462	<para>With the <computeroutput>--type</computeroutput> argument, you
2463	can change the type of an existing image between the normal,
2464	immutable, write-through and other modes; see <xref
2465	linkend="hdimagewrites" /> for details.</para>
2466	</listitem>
2467
2468	<listitem>
2469	<para>For immutable (differencing) hard disks only, the
2470	<computeroutput>--autoreset on\|off</computeroutput> option
2471	determines whether the disk is automatically reset on every VM
2472	startup (again, see <xref linkend="hdimagewrites" />). The default
2473	is "on".</para>
2474	</listitem>
2475
2476	<listitem>
2477	<para>With the <computeroutput>--compact</computeroutput> option,
2478	can be used to compact disk images, i.e. remove blocks that only
2479	contains zeroes. This will shrink a dynamically allocated image
2480	again; it will reduce the <emphasis>physical</emphasis> size of the
2481	image without affecting the logical size of the virtual disk.
2482	Compaction works both for base images and for diff images created as
2483	part of a snapshot.</para>
2484
2485	<para>For this operation to be effective, it is required that free
2486	space in the guest system first be zeroed out using a suitable
2487	software tool. For Windows guests, you can use the
2488	<computeroutput>sdelete</computeroutput> tool provided by Microsoft.
2489	Execute <computeroutput>sdelete -z</computeroutput> in the guest to
2490	zero the free disk space before compressing the virtual disk
2491	image. For Linux, use the <code>zerofree</code> utility which
2492	supports ext2/ext3 filesystems. For Mac OS X guests, use the
2493	<emphasis>Erase Free Space</emphasis> feature of the built-in
2494	<emphasis>Disk Utility</emphasis>. Use
2495	<emphasis>Zero Out Data</emphasis> there.</para>
2496
2497	<para>Please note that compacting is currently only available for
2498	VDI images. A similar effect can be achieved by zeroing out free
2499	blocks and then cloning the disk to any other dynamically allocated
2500	format. You can use this workaround until compacting is also
2501	supported for disk formats other than VDI.</para>
2502	</listitem>
2503
2504	<listitem>
2505	<para>The <computeroutput>--resize x</computeroutput> option (where x
2506	is the desired new total space in <emphasis role="bold">megabytes</emphasis>)
2507	allows you to change the capacity of an existing image; this adjusts the
2508	<emphasis>logical</emphasis> size of a virtual disk without affecting
2509	the physical size much.<footnote>
2510	<para>Image resizing was added with VirtualBox 4.0.</para>
2511	</footnote> This currently works only for VDI and VHD formats, and only
2512	for the dynamically allocated variants, and can only be used to expand
2513	(not shrink) the capacity.
2514	For example, if you originally created a 10G disk which is now full,
2515	you can use the <computeroutput>--resize 15360</computeroutput>
2516	command to change the capacity to 15G (15,360MB) without having to create a new
2517	image and copy all data from within a virtual machine. Note however that
2518	this only changes the drive capacity; you will typically next need to use
2519	a partition management tool inside the guest to adjust the main partition
2520	to fill the drive.</para><para>The <computeroutput>--resizebyte x</computeroutput>
2521	option does almost the same thing, except that x is expressed in bytes
2522	instead of megabytes.</para>
2523	</listitem>
2524	</itemizedlist></para>
2525	</sect1>
2526
2527	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-clonevdi">
2528	<title>VBoxManage clonehd</title>
2529
2530	<para>This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a
2531	new image file with a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be
2532	transferred to another host system or imported into VirtualBox again using
2533	the Virtual Media Manager; see <xref linkend="vdis" /> and <xref
2534	linkend="cloningvdis" />. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2535
2536	<screen>VBoxManage clonehd <uuid\|inutfile> <uuid\|outputfile>
2537	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD\|RAW\|<other>]
2538	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2539	[--existing]</screen>
2540
2541	<para>The disk image to clone as well as the target image must be described
2542	either by its UUIDs (if the mediums are registered) or by its filename.
2543	Registered images can be listed by <computeroutput>VBoxManage list hdds</computeroutput>
2544	(see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> for more information).
2545	A filename must be specified as valid path, either as an absolute path or
2546	as a relative path starting from the current directory.</para>
2547	<para>The following options are available:<glosslist>
2548	<glossentry>
2549	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2550
2551	<glossdef>
2552	<para>Allow to choose a file format for the output file different
2553	from the file format of the input file.</para>
2554	</glossdef>
2555	</glossentry>
2556
2557	<glossentry>
2558	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2559
2560	<glossdef>
2561	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2562	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2563	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2564	result in an error message.</para>
2565	</glossdef>
2566	</glossentry>
2567
2568	<glossentry>
2569	<glossterm><computeroutput>--existing</computeroutput></glossterm>
2570
2571	<glossdef>
2572	<para>Perform the clone operation to an already existing
2573	destination medium. Only the portion of the source medium which
2574	fits into the destination medium is copied. This means if the
2575	destination medium is smaller than the source only a part of it is
2576	copied, and if the destination medium is larger than the source
2577	the remaining part of the destination medium is unchanged.</para>
2578	</glossdef>
2579	</glossentry>
2580	</glosslist> <note>
2581	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2582	"clonevdi" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2583	"clonehd" command.</para>
2584	</note></para>
2585	</sect1>
2586
2587	<sect1>
2588	<title>VBoxManage convertfromraw</title>
2589
2590	<para>This command converts a raw disk image to a VirtualBox Disk Image
2591	(VDI) file. The syntax is as follows:</para>
2592
2593	<screen>VBoxManage convertfromraw <filename> <outputfile>
2594	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2595	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2596	[--uuid <uuid>]
2597	VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin <outputfile> <bytes>
2598	[--format VDI\|VMDK\|VHD]
2599	[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
2600	[--uuid <uuid>]</screen>
2601
2602	<para>where the parameters mean:<glosslist>
2603	<glossentry>
2604	<glossterm><computeroutput>--bytes</computeroutput></glossterm>
2605
2606	<glossdef>
2607	<para>The size of the image file, in bytes, provided through
2608	stdin.</para>
2609	</glossdef>
2610	</glossentry>
2611
2612	<glossentry>
2613	<glossterm><computeroutput>--format</computeroutput></glossterm>
2614
2615	<glossdef>
2616	<para>Select the disk image format to create. Default is
2617	VDI.</para>
2618	</glossdef>
2619	</glossentry>
2620
2621	<glossentry>
2622	<glossterm><computeroutput>--variant</computeroutput></glossterm>
2623
2624	<glossdef>
2625	<para>Allow to choose a file format variant for the output file.
2626	It is a comma-separated list of variant flags. Not all
2627	combinations are supported, and specifying inconsistent flags will
2628	result in an error message.</para>
2629	</glossdef>
2630	</glossentry>
2631
2632	<glossentry>
2633	<glossterm><computeroutput>--uuid</computeroutput></glossterm>
2634
2635	<glossdef>
2636	<para>Allow to specifiy the UUID of the output file.</para>
2637	</glossdef>
2638	</glossentry>
2639	</glosslist> The second form forces VBoxManage to read the content for
2640	the disk image from standard input (useful for using that command in a
2641	pipe).</para>
2642
2643	<para><note>
2644	<para>For compatibility with earlier versions of VirtualBox, the
2645	"convertdd" command is also supported and mapped internally to the
2646	"convertfromraw" command.</para>
2647	</note></para>
2648	</sect1>
2649
2650	<sect1>
2651	<title>VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata</title>
2652
2653	<para>These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual
2654	machine or to a VirtualBox configuration (by specifying
2655	<computeroutput>global</computeroutput> instead of a virtual machine
2656	name). You must specify a key (as a text string) to associate the data
2657	with, which you can later use to retrieve it. For example:</para>
2658
2659	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate 2006.01.01
2660	VBoxManage setextradata SUSE10 installdate 2006.02.02</screen>
2661
2662	<para>would associate the string "2006.01.01" with the key installdate for
2663	the virtual machine Fedora5, and "2006.02.02" on the machine SUSE10. You
2664	could retrieve the information as follows:</para>
2665
2666	<screen>VBoxManage getextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2667
2668	<para>which would return</para>
2669
2670	<screen>VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version $VBOX_VERSION_MAJOR.$VBOX_VERSION_MINOR.$VBOX_VERSION_BUILD
2671	(C) 2005-$VBOX_C_YEAR $VBOX_VENDOR
2672	All rights reserved.
2673
2674	Value: 2006.01.01</screen>
2675	<para>To remove a key, the <computeroutput>setextradata</computeroutput>
2676	command must be run without specifying data (only the key), for example:
2677	</para>
2678
2679	<screen>VBoxManage setextradata Fedora5 installdate</screen>
2680
2681	</sect1>
2682
2683	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-setproperty">
2684	<title>VBoxManage setproperty</title>
2685
2686	<para>This command is used to change global settings which affect the
2687	entire VirtualBox installation. Some of these correspond to the settings
2688	in the "Global settings" dialog in the graphical user interface. The
2689	following properties are available:<glosslist>
2690	<glossentry>
2691	<glossterm><computeroutput>machinefolder</computeroutput></glossterm>
2692
2693	<glossdef>
2694	<para>This specifies the default folder in which virtual machine
2695	definitions are kept; see <xref linkend="vboxconfigdata" /> for
2696	details.</para>
2697	</glossdef>
2698	</glossentry>
2699
2700	<glossentry>
2701	<glossterm><computeroutput>hwvirtexclusive</computeroutput></glossterm>
2702	<para>This specifies whether VirtualBox will make exclusive use of
2703	the hardware virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) of the
2704	host system's processor; see <xref linkend="hwvirt" />. If you wish to
2705	share these extensions with other hypervisors running at the same time,
2706	you must disable this setting. Doing so has negative performance implications.
2707	</para>
2708	</glossentry>
2709
2710
2711	<glossentry>
2712	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2713
2714	<glossdef>
2715	<para>This specifies which library to use when "external"
2716	authentication has been selected for a particular virtual machine;
2717	see <xref linkend="vbox-auth" /> for details.</para>
2718	</glossdef>
2719	</glossentry>
2720
2721	<glossentry>
2722	<glossterm><computeroutput>websrvauthlibrary</computeroutput></glossterm>
2723
2724	<glossdef>
2725	<para>This specifies which library the web service uses to
2726	authenticate users. For details about the VirtualBox web service,
2727	please refer to the separate VirtualBox SDK reference (see <xref
2728	linkend="VirtualBoxAPI" />).</para>
2729	</glossdef>
2730	</glossentry>
2731
2732	<glossentry>
2733	<glossterm><computeroutput>vrdeextpack</computeroutput></glossterm>
2734
2735	<glossdef>
2736	<para>This specifies which library implements the VirtualBox
2737	Remote Desktop Extension.</para>
2738	</glossdef>
2739	</glossentry>
2740
2741	<glossentry>
2742	<glossterm><computeroutput>loghistorycount</computeroutput></glossterm>
2743
2744	<glossdef>
2745	<para>This selects how many rotated (old) VM logs are kept.</para>
2746	</glossdef>
2747	</glossentry>
2748
2749	<glossentry>
2750	<glossterm><computeroutput>autostartdbpath</computeroutput></glossterm>
2751
2752	<glossdef>
2753	<para>This selects the path to the autostart database. See
2754	<xref linkend="autostart" />.</para>
2755	</glossdef>
2756	</glossentry>
2757
2758	<glossentry>
2759	<glossterm><computeroutput>defaultfrontend</computeroutput></glossterm>
2760
2761	<glossdef>
2762	<para>This selects the global default VM frontend setting. See
2763	<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />.</para>
2764	</glossdef>
2765	</glossentry>
2766	</glosslist></para>
2767	</sect1>
2768
2769	<sect1>
2770	<title>VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove</title>
2771
2772	<para>The <computeroutput>usbfilter</computeroutput> commands are used for
2773	working with USB filters in virtual machines, or global filters which
2774	affect the whole VirtualBox setup. Global filters are applied before
2775	machine-specific filters, and may be used to prevent devices from being
2776	captured by any virtual machine. Global filters are always applied in a
2777	particular order, and only the first filter which fits a device is
2778	applied. So for example, if the first global filter says to hold (make
2779	available) a particular Kingston memory stick device and the second to
2780	ignore all Kingston devices, that memory stick will be available to any
2781	machine with an appropriate filter, but no other Kingston device
2782	will.</para>
2783
2784	<para>When creating a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2785	add</computeroutput>, you must supply three or four mandatory parameters.
2786	The index specifies the position in the list at which the filter should be
2787	placed. If there is already a filter at that position, then it and the
2788	following ones will be shifted back one place. Otherwise the new filter
2789	will be added onto the end of the list. The
2790	<computeroutput>target</computeroutput> parameter selects the virtual
2791	machine that the filter should be attached to or use "global" to apply it
2792	to all virtual machines. <computeroutput>name</computeroutput> is a name
2793	for the new filter and for global filters,
2794	<computeroutput>action</computeroutput> says whether to allow machines
2795	access to devices that fit the filter description ("hold") or not to give
2796	them access ("ignore"). In addition, you should specify parameters to
2797	filter by. You can find the parameters for devices attached to your system
2798	using <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbhost</computeroutput>. Finally,
2799	you can specify whether the filter should be active, and for local
2800	filters, whether they are for local devices, remote (over an RDP
2801	connection) or either.</para>
2802
2803	<para>When you modify a USB filter using <computeroutput>usbfilter
2804	modify</computeroutput>, you must specify the filter by index (see the
2805	output of <computeroutput>VBoxManage list usbfilters</computeroutput> to
2806	find global filter indexes and that of <computeroutput>VBoxManage
2807	showvminfo</computeroutput> to find indexes for individual machines) and
2808	by target, which is either a virtual machine or "global". The properties
2809	which can be changed are the same as for <computeroutput>usbfilter
2810	add</computeroutput>. To remove a filter, use <computeroutput>usbfilter
2811	remove</computeroutput> and specify the index and the target.</para>
2812	</sect1>
2813
2814	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-sharedfolder">
2815	<title>VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove</title>
2816
2817	<para>This command allows you to share folders on the host computer with
2818	guest operating systems. For this, the guest systems must have a version
2819	of the VirtualBox Guest Additions installed which supports this
2820	functionality.</para>
2821
2822	<para>Shared folders are described in detail in <xref
2823	linkend="sharedfolders" />.</para>
2824	</sect1>
2825
2826	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty">
2827	<title>VBoxManage guestproperty</title>
2828
2829	<para>The "guestproperty" commands allow you to get or set properties of a
2830	running virtual machine. Please see <xref linkend="guestadd-guestprops" />
2831	for an introduction. As explained there, guest properties are arbitrary
2832	key/value string pairs which can be written to and read from by either the
2833	guest or the host, so they can be used as a low-volume communication
2834	channel for strings, provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
2835	Additions installed. In addition, a number of values whose keys begin with
2836	"/VirtualBox/" are automatically set and maintained by the Guest
2837	Additions.</para>
2838
2839	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2840	<computeroutput><vm></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2841	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2842	<listitem>
2843	<para><computeroutput>enumerate <vm> [--patterns
2844	<pattern>]</computeroutput>: This lists all the guest
2845	properties that are available for the given VM, including the value.
2846	This list will be very limited if the guest's service process cannot
2847	be contacted, e.g. because the VM is not running or the Guest
2848	Additions are not installed.</para>
2849
2850	<para>If <computeroutput>--patterns <pattern></computeroutput>
2851	is specified, it acts as a filter to only list properties that match
2852	the given pattern. The pattern can contain the following wildcard
2853	characters:<itemizedlist>
2854	<listitem>
2855	<para><computeroutput>*</computeroutput> (asterisk):
2856	represents any number of characters; for example,
2857	"<computeroutput>/VirtualBox*</computeroutput>" would match
2858	all properties beginning with "/VirtualBox".</para>
2859	</listitem>
2860
2861	<listitem>
2862	<para><computeroutput>?</computeroutput> (question mark):
2863	represents a single arbitrary character; for example,
2864	"<computeroutput>fo?</computeroutput>" would match both "foo"
2865	and "for".</para>
2866	</listitem>
2867
2868	<listitem>
2869	<para><computeroutput>\|</computeroutput> (pipe symbol): can be
2870	used to specify multiple alternative patterns; for example,
2871	"<computeroutput>s\|t</computeroutput>" would match anything
2872	starting with either "s" or "t".</para>
2873	</listitem>
2874	</itemizedlist></para>
2875	</listitem>
2876
2877	<listitem>
2878	<para><computeroutput>get <vm> <property>
2879	</computeroutput>: This
2880	retrieves the value of a single property only. If the property
2881	cannot be found (e.g. because the guest is not running), this will
2882	print <screen>No value set!</screen></para>
2883	</listitem>
2884
2885	<listitem>
2886	<para><computeroutput>set <vm> <property> [<value>
2887	[--flags <flags>]]</computeroutput>: This allows you to set a
2888	guest property by specifying the key and value. If
2889	<computeroutput><value></computeroutput> is omitted, the
2890	property is deleted. With <computeroutput>--flags</computeroutput>
2891	you can optionally specify additional behavior (you can combine
2892	several by separating them with commas):<itemizedlist>
2893	<listitem>
2894	<para><computeroutput>TRANSIENT</computeroutput>: the value
2895	will not be stored with the VM data when the VM exits;</para>
2896	</listitem>
2897
2898	<listitem>
2899	<para><computeroutput>TRANSRESET</computeroutput>: the value
2900	will be deleted as soon as the VM restarts and/or exits;</para>
2901	</listitem>
2902
2903	<listitem>
2904	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYGUEST</computeroutput>: the value
2905	can only be changed by the host, but the guest can only read
2906	it;</para>
2907	</listitem>
2908
2909	<listitem>
2910	<para><computeroutput>RDONLYHOST</computeroutput>: reversely,
2911	the value can only be changed by the guest, but the host can
2912	only read it;</para>
2913	</listitem>
2914
2915	<listitem>
2916	<para><computeroutput>READONLY</computeroutput>: a combination
2917	of the two, the value cannot be changed at all.</para>
2918	</listitem>
2919	</itemizedlist></para>
2920	</listitem>
2921
2922	<listitem>
2923	<para><computeroutput>wait <vm> <pattern> --timeout
2924	<timeout></computeroutput>: This waits for a particular value
2925	described by "pattern" to change or to be deleted or created. The
2926	pattern rules are the same as for the "enumerate" subcommand
2927	above.</para>
2928	</listitem>
2929
2930	<listitem>
2931	<para><computeroutput>delete <vm> <property>
2932	</computeroutput>: Deletes a formerly set guest property.
2933	</para></listitem>
2934	</itemizedlist></para>
2935	</sect1>
2936
2937	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-guestcontrol">
2938	<title>VBoxManage guestcontrol</title>
2939
2940	<para>The <computeroutput>guestcontrol</computeroutput> commands allow you
2941	to control certain things inside a guest from the host. Please see <xref
2942	linkend="guestadd-guestcontrol" /> for an introduction.</para>
2943
2944	<para>Generally, the syntax is as follows:</para>
2945
2946	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> <command></screen>
2947
2948	<para>The following subcommands are available (where
2949	<computeroutput><uuid\|vmname></computeroutput>, in each case, can either be a
2950	VM name or a VM UUID, as with the other VBoxManage commands):<itemizedlist>
2951	<listitem>
2952	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>execute</computeroutput></emphasis>,
2953	which allows for
2954	executing a program/script (process) which already is installed and
2955	runnable on the guest. This command only works while a VM is up and
2956	running and has the following syntax:</para>
2957
2958	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> exec[ute]
2959	--image <path to program> --username <name>
2960	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
2961	[--environment "<NAME>=<VALUE> [<NAME>=<VALUE>]"]
2962	[--verbose] [--timeout <msec>]
2963	[--wait-exit] [--wait-stdout] [--wait-stderr]
2964	[--dos2unix] [--unix2dos]
2965	-- [[<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
2966
2967	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
2968	<glossentry>
2969	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
2970
2971	<glossdef>
2972	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
2973	</glossdef>
2974	</glossentry>
2975
2976	<glossentry>
2977	<glossterm><computeroutput>--image "<path to program>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
2978
2979	<glossdef>
2980	<para>Absolute path and process name of process to execute
2981	in the guest, e.g.
2982	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput></para>
2983	</glossdef>
2984	</glossentry>
2985
2986	<glossentry>
2987	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
2988
2989	<glossdef>
2990	<para>Name of the user the process should run under. This
2991	user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
2992	</glossdef>
2993	</glossentry>
2994
2995	<glossentry>
2996	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
2997
2998	<glossdef>
2999	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3000	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3001	assumed.</para>
3002	</glossdef>
3003	</glossentry>
3004
3005	<glossentry>
3006	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3007
3008	<glossdef>
3009	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3010	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3011	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3012	</glossdef>
3013	</glossentry>
3014
3015	<glossentry>
3016	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dos2unix</computeroutput></glossterm>
3017
3018	<glossdef>
3019	Converts output from DOS/Windows guests to UNIX-compatible
3020	line endings (CR + LF -> LF). Not implemented yet.
3021	</glossdef>
3022	</glossentry>
3023
3024	<glossentry>
3025	<glossterm><computeroutput>--environment
3026	"<NAME>=<VALUE>"</computeroutput></glossterm>
3027
3028	<glossdef>
3029	<para>One or more environment variables to be set or
3030	unset.</para>
3031
3032	<para>By default, the new process in the guest will be
3033	created with the standard environment of the guest OS. This
3034	option allows for modifying that environment. To set/modify
3035	a variable, a pair of
3036	<computeroutput>NAME=VALUE</computeroutput> must be
3037	specified; to unset a certain variable, the name with no
3038	value must set, e.g.
3039	<computeroutput>NAME=</computeroutput>.</para>
3040
3041	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
3042	quotation marks. More than one
3043	<computeroutput>--environment</computeroutput> at a time can
3044	be specified to keep the command line tidy.</para>
3045	</glossdef>
3046	</glossentry>
3047
3048	<glossentry>
3049	<glossterm><computeroutput>--timeout <msec></computeroutput></glossterm>
3050
3051	<glossdef>
3052	<para>Value (in milliseconds) that specifies the time how
3053	long the started process is allowed to run and how long
3054	VBoxManage waits for getting output from that process. If no
3055	timeout is specified, VBoxManage will wait forever until the
3056	started process ends or an error occured.</para>
3057	</glossdef>
3058	</glossentry>
3059
3060	<glossentry>
3061	<glossterm><computeroutput>--unix2dos</computeroutput></glossterm>
3062
3063	<glossdef>
3064	Converts output from a UNIX/Linux guests to DOS-/Windows-compatible
3065	line endings (LF -> CR + LF). Not implemented yet.
3066	</glossdef>
3067	</glossentry>
3068
3069	<glossentry>
3070	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3071
3072	<glossdef>
3073	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3074	</glossdef>
3075	</glossentry>
3076
3077	<glossentry>
3078	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-exit</computeroutput></glossterm>
3079
3080	<glossdef>
3081	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
3082	exit code along with the exit reason/flags.</para>
3083	</glossdef>
3084	</glossentry>
3085
3086	<glossentry>
3087	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stdout</computeroutput></glossterm>
3088
3089	<glossdef>
3090	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
3091	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
3092	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stdout.</para>
3093	</glossdef>
3094	</glossentry>
3095
3096	<glossentry>
3097	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-stderr</computeroutput></glossterm>
3098
3099	<glossdef>
3100	<para>Waits until the process ends and outputs its
3101	exit code along with the exit reason/flags. While waiting
3102	VBoxManage retrieves the process output collected from stderr.</para>
3103	</glossdef>
3104	</glossentry>
3105
3106	<glossentry>
3107	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
3108
3109	<glossdef>
3110	<para>One or more arguments to pass to the process being
3111	executed.</para>
3112	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
3113	quotation marks.</para>
3114	</glossdef>
3115	</glossentry>
3116
3117	</glosslist></para>
3118
3119	<para><note>
3120	<para>On Windows there are certain limitations for graphical
3121	applications; please see <xref linkend="KnownIssues" /> for more
3122	information.</para>
3123	</note> Examples: <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls"
3124	--username foo --passwordfile bar.txt --wait-exit --wait-stdout -- -l /usr</screen> <screen>VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "c:\\windows\\system32\\ipconfig.exe"
3125	--username foo --passwordfile bar.txt --wait-exit --wait-stdout</screen> Note that
3126	the double backslashes in the second example are only required on
3127	Unix hosts.</para>
3128
3129	<para><note>
3130	<para>For certain commands a user name of an existing user account on the guest
3131	must be specified; anonymous executions are not supported for security reasons. A
3132	user account password, however, is optional and depends on the guest's OS security
3133	policy or rules. If no password is specified for a given user name, an empty password
3134	will be used. On certain OSes like Windows the security policy may needs to be adjusted
3135	in order to allow user accounts with an empty password set. Also, global domain rules might
3136	apply and therefore cannot be changed.</para>
3137	</note></para>
3138
3139	<para>Starting at VirtualBox 4.1.2 guest process execution by default is limited
3140	to serve up to 5 guest processes at a time. If a new guest process gets started
3141	which would exceed this limit, the oldest not running guest process will be discarded
3142	in order to be able to run that new process. Also, retrieving output from this
3143	old guest process will not be possible anymore then. If all 5 guest processes
3144	are still active and running, starting a new guest process will result in an
3145	appropriate error message.</para>
3146
3147	<para>To raise or lower the guest process execution limit, either the guest
3148	property <computeroutput>/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
3149	or VBoxService' command line by specifying <computeroutput>--control-procs-max-kept</computeroutput>
3150	needs to be modified. A restart of the guest OS is required afterwards. To serve unlimited
3151	guest processes, a value of <computeroutput>0</computeroutput> needs to be set (not recommended).</para>
3152	</listitem>
3153
3154	<listitem>
3155	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3156	which allows copying
3157	files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3158	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3159
3160	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> copyto\|cp
3161	<guest source> <host dest> --username <name>
3162	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3163	[--dryrun] [--follow] [--recursive] [--verbose]</screen>
3164
3165	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3166	<glossentry>
3167	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3168
3169	<glossdef>
3170	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3171	</glossdef>
3172	</glossentry>
3173
3174	<glossentry>
3175	<glossterm><computeroutput>source on host</computeroutput></glossterm>
3176
3177	<glossdef>
3178	<para>Absolute path of source file(s) on host to copy over
3179	to the guest, e.g.
3180	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe</computeroutput>.
3181	This also can be a wildcard expression, e.g.
3182	<computeroutput>C:\Windows\System32\*.dll</computeroutput></para>
3183	</glossdef>
3184	</glossentry>
3185
3186	<glossentry>
3187	<glossterm><computeroutput>destination on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3188
3189	<glossdef>
3190	<para>Absolute destination path on the guest, e.g.
3191	<computeroutput>C:\Temp</computeroutput></para>
3192	</glossdef>
3193	</glossentry>
3194
3195	<glossentry>
3196	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3197
3198	<glossdef>
3199	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3200	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3201	</glossdef>
3202	</glossentry>
3203
3204	<glossentry>
3205	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3206
3207	<glossdef>
3208	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3209	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3210	assumed.</para>
3211	</glossdef>
3212	</glossentry>
3213
3214	<glossentry>
3215	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3216
3217	<glossdef>
3218	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3219	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3220	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3221	</glossdef>
3222	</glossentry>
3223
3224	<glossentry>
3225	<glossterm><computeroutput>--dryrun</computeroutput></glossterm>
3226
3227	<glossdef>
3228	<para>Tells VBoxManage to only perform a dry run instead of
3229	really copying files to the guest.</para>
3230	</glossdef>
3231	</glossentry>
3232
3233	<glossentry>
3234	<glossterm><computeroutput>--follow</computeroutput></glossterm>
3235
3236	<glossdef>
3237	<para>Enables following symlinks on the host's
3238	source.</para>
3239	</glossdef>
3240	</glossentry>
3241
3242	<glossentry>
3243	<glossterm><computeroutput>--recursive</computeroutput></glossterm>
3244
3245	<glossdef>
3246	<para>Recursively copies files/directories of the specified
3247	source.</para>
3248	</glossdef>
3249	</glossentry>
3250
3251	<glossentry>
3252	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3253
3254	<glossdef>
3255	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3256	</glossdef>
3257	</glossentry>
3258
3259	<glossentry>
3260	<glossterm><computeroutput>--flags <flags></computeroutput></glossterm>
3261
3262	<glossdef>
3263	<para>Additional flags to set. This is not used at the
3264	moment.</para>
3265	</glossdef>
3266	</glossentry>
3267	</glosslist></para>
3268	</listitem>
3269
3270	<listitem>
3271	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>copyfrom</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3272	which allows copying
3273	files from the guest to the host (only with installed Guest
3274	Additions 4.0 and later). It has the same parameters as
3275	<computeroutput>copyto</computeroutput> above.</para>
3276	</listitem>
3277
3278	<listitem>
3279	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createdirectory</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3280	which allows
3281	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3282	Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3283
3284	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createdir[ectory]\|mkdir\|md
3285	<guest directory>... --username <name>
3286	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3287	[--parents] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3288
3289	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3290	<glossentry>
3291	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3292
3293	<glossdef>
3294	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3295	</glossdef>
3296	</glossentry>
3297
3298	<glossentry>
3299	<glossterm><computeroutput>directory to create on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3300
3301	<glossdef>
3302	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to create on
3303	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>.
3304	Parent directories need to exist (e.g. in this example
3305	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput>) when switch
3306	<computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput> is omitted. The
3307	specified user must have appropriate rights to create the
3308	specified directory.</para>
3309	</glossdef>
3310	</glossentry>
3311
3312	<glossentry>
3313	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3314
3315	<glossdef>
3316	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3317	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3318	</glossdef>
3319	</glossentry>
3320
3321	<glossentry>
3322	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3323
3324	<glossdef>
3325	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3326	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3327	assumed.</para>
3328	</glossdef>
3329	</glossentry>
3330
3331	<glossentry>
3332	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3333
3334	<glossdef>
3335	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3336	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3337	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3338	</glossdef>
3339	</glossentry>
3340
3341	<glossentry>
3342	<glossterm><computeroutput>--parents</computeroutput></glossterm>
3343
3344	<glossdef>
3345	<para>Also creates not yet existing parent directories of
3346	the specified directory, e.g. if the directory
3347	<computeroutput>D:\Foo</computeroutput> of
3348	<computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput> does not exist
3349	yet it will be created. Without specifying
3350	<computeroutput>--parent</computeroutput> the action would
3351	have failed.</para>
3352	</glossdef>
3353	</glossentry>
3354
3355	<glossentry>
3356	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3357
3358	<glossdef>
3359	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3360	Only octal modes (e.g.
3361	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3362	now.</para>
3363	</glossdef>
3364	</glossentry>
3365
3366	<glossentry>
3367	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3368
3369	<glossdef>
3370	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3371	</glossdef>
3372	</glossentry>
3373	</glosslist></para>
3374	</listitem>
3375
3376	<listitem>
3377	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>removedirectory</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3378	which allows deletion of guest directories (only with installed Guest
3379	Additions 4.3.2 and later).</para>
3380
3381	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> removedir[ectory]\|rmdir
3382	<guest directory>... --username <name>
3383	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3384	[--recursive\|-R\|-r] [--verbose]</screen>
3385
3386	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3387	<glossentry>
3388	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3389
3390	<glossdef>
3391	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3392	</glossdef>
3393	</glossentry>
3394
3395	<glossentry>
3396	<glossterm><computeroutput>directory to remove on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3397
3398	<glossdef>
3399	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to remove on
3400	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar</computeroutput>. The
3401	specified user must have appropriate rights to delete the
3402	specified guest directories.</para>
3403	</glossdef>
3404	</glossentry>
3405
3406	<glossentry>
3407	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3408
3409	<glossdef>
3410	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3411	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3412	</glossdef>
3413	</glossentry>
3414
3415	<glossentry>
3416	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3417
3418	<glossdef>
3419	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3420	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3421	assumed.</para>
3422	</glossdef>
3423	</glossentry>
3424
3425	<glossentry>
3426	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3427
3428	<glossdef>
3429	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3430	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3431	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3432	</glossdef>
3433	</glossentry>
3434
3435	<glossentry>
3436	<glossterm><computeroutput>--recursive</computeroutput></glossterm>
3437
3438	<glossdef>
3439	<para>Remove directories and their contents recursively.</para>
3440	</glossdef>
3441	</glossentry>
3442
3443	<glossentry>
3444	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3445
3446	<glossdef>
3447	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3448	</glossdef>
3449	</glossentry>
3450	</glosslist></para>
3451	</listitem>
3452
3453	<listitem>
3454	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>removefile</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3455	which allows deletion of guest files (only with installed Guest
3456	Additions 4.3.2 and later).</para>
3457
3458	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> removefile\|rm
3459	<guest file>... --username <name>
3460	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3461	[--verbose]</screen>
3462
3463	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3464	<glossentry>
3465	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3466
3467	<glossdef>
3468	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3469	</glossdef>
3470	</glossentry>
3471
3472	<glossentry>
3473	<glossterm><computeroutput>file to remove on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3474
3475	<glossdef>
3476	<para>Absolute path of a file/files to remove on
3477	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>D:\Foo\Bar\text.txt</computeroutput>. The
3478	specified user must have appropriate rights to delete the
3479	specified guest files.</para>
3480	</glossdef>
3481	</glossentry>
3482
3483	<glossentry>
3484	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3485
3486	<glossdef>
3487	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3488	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3489	</glossdef>
3490	</glossentry>
3491
3492	<glossentry>
3493	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3494
3495	<glossdef>
3496	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3497	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3498	assumed.</para>
3499	</glossdef>
3500	</glossentry>
3501
3502	<glossentry>
3503	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3504
3505	<glossdef>
3506	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3507	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3508	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3509	</glossdef>
3510	</glossentry>
3511
3512	<glossentry>
3513	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3514
3515	<glossdef>
3516	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3517	</glossdef>
3518	</glossentry>
3519	</glosslist></para>
3520	</listitem>
3521
3522	<listitem>
3523	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>ren[ame]\|mv</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3524	which allows renaming of guest files and/or directories (only with installed Guest
3525	Additions 4.3.2 and later).</para>
3526
3527	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> ren[ame]\|mv
3528	<source>... <dest> --username <name>
3529	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3530	[--verbose]</screen>
3531
3532	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3533	<glossentry>
3534	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3535
3536	<glossdef>
3537	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3538	</glossdef>
3539	</glossentry>
3540
3541	<glossentry>
3542	<glossterm><computeroutput>source</computeroutput></glossterm>
3543
3544	<glossdef>
3545	<para>Absolute path of one or more source(s) to move to
3546	destination. If more than one source is specified, destination
3547	must be an existing directory on the guest. The specified user
3548	must have appropriate rights to access source and destination
3549	files and directories.</para>
3550	</glossdef>
3551	</glossentry>
3552
3553	<glossentry>
3554	<glossterm><computeroutput>dest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3555
3556	<glossdef>
3557	<para>Absolute path of the destination to move the source(s)
3558	to. This can be a directory or a file, depending if one or more
3559	sources have been specified. The specified user
3560	must have appropriate rights to access the destination
3561	file and directory.</para>
3562	</glossdef>
3563	</glossentry>
3564
3565	<glossentry>
3566	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3567
3568	<glossdef>
3569	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3570	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3571	</glossdef>
3572	</glossentry>
3573
3574	<glossentry>
3575	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3576
3577	<glossdef>
3578	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3579	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3580	assumed.</para>
3581	</glossdef>
3582	</glossentry>
3583
3584	<glossentry>
3585	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3586
3587	<glossdef>
3588	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3589	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3590	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3591	</glossdef>
3592	</glossentry>
3593
3594	<glossentry>
3595	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3596
3597	<glossdef>
3598	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3599	</glossdef>
3600	</glossentry>
3601	</glosslist></para>
3602	</listitem>
3603
3604	<listitem>
3605	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>createtemporary</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3606	which allows
3607	copying files from the host to the guest (only with installed Guest
3608	Additions 4.2 and later).</para>
3609
3610	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> createtemp[orary]\|mktemp
3611	<template> --username <name>
3612	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3613	[--directory] [--secure] [--tmpdir <directory>]
3614	[--domain <domain>] [--mode <mode>] [--verbose]</screen>
3615
3616	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3617	<glossentry>
3618	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3619
3620	<glossdef>
3621	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3622	</glossdef>
3623	</glossentry>
3624
3625	<glossentry>
3626	<glossterm><computeroutput>template</computeroutput></glossterm>
3627
3628	<glossdef>
3629	<para>A file name without a path and with at least three consecutive 'X'
3630	characters or ending in 'X'
3631	</para>
3632	</glossdef>
3633	</glossentry>
3634
3635	<glossentry>
3636	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3637
3638	<glossdef>
3639	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3640	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3641	</glossdef>
3642	</glossentry>
3643
3644	<glossentry>
3645	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3646
3647	<glossdef>
3648	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3649	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3650	assumed.</para>
3651	</glossdef>
3652	</glossentry>
3653
3654	<glossentry>
3655	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3656
3657	<glossdef>
3658	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3659	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3660	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3661	</glossdef>
3662	</glossentry>
3663
3664	<glossentry>
3665	<glossterm><computeroutput>--directory</computeroutput></glossterm>
3666
3667	<glossdef>
3668	<para>Create a temporary directory instead of a file.</para>
3669	</glossdef>
3670	</glossentry>
3671
3672	<glossentry>
3673	<glossterm><computeroutput>--secure</computeroutput></glossterm>
3674
3675	<glossdef>
3676	<para>
3677	Secure creation. The file mode is fixed to
3678	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>. And the operation
3679	will fail if it cannot performed securely.
3680	</para>
3681	</glossdef>
3682	</glossentry>
3683
3684	<glossentry>
3685	<glossterm><computeroutput>--tmpdir <directory></computeroutput></glossterm>
3686
3687	<glossdef>
3688	<para>
3689	Directory where the file / directory is created. If not
3690	specified, the platform-specific temp directory is used.
3691	</para>
3692	</glossdef>
3693	</glossentry>
3694
3695	<glossentry>
3696	<glossterm><computeroutput>--mode <mode></computeroutput></glossterm>
3697
3698	<glossdef>
3699	<para>Sets the permission mode of the specified directory.
3700	Only octal modes (e.g.
3701	<computeroutput>0755</computeroutput>) are supported right
3702	now.</para>
3703	</glossdef>
3704	</glossentry>
3705
3706	<glossentry>
3707	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3708
3709	<glossdef>
3710	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3711	</glossdef>
3712	</glossentry>
3713	</glosslist></para>
3714	</listitem>
3715
3716	<listitem>
3717	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3718	which lists various guest control information such as open guest sessions,
3719	guest processes and guest files.</para>
3720
3721	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> list
3722	<all\|sessions\|processes\|files> [--verbose]</screen>
3723
3724	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3725	<glossentry>
3726	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3727
3728	<glossdef>
3729	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3730	</glossdef>
3731	</glossentry>
3732
3733	<glossentry>
3734	<glossterm><computeroutput>all\|sessions\|processes\|files</computeroutput></glossterm>
3735
3736	<glossdef>
3737	<para>Whether to list guest sessions, guest processes, guest files
3738	or all information available. Mandatory.</para>
3739	</glossdef>
3740	</glossentry>
3741
3742	<glossentry>
3743	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3744
3745	<glossdef>
3746	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3747	</glossdef>
3748	</glossentry>
3749	</glosslist></para>
3750	</listitem>
3751
3752	<listitem>
3753	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>process kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3754	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3755	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3756
3757	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3758	--session-id <ID>
3759	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3760	[--verbose]
3761	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3762
3763	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3764	<glossentry>
3765	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3766
3767	<glossdef>
3768	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3769	</glossdef>
3770	</glossentry>
3771
3772	<glossentry>
3773	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3774
3775	<glossdef>
3776	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
3777	</glossdef>
3778	</glossentry>
3779
3780	<glossentry>
3781	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3782
3783	<glossdef>
3784	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
3785	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3786	</glossdef>
3787	</glossentry>
3788
3789	<glossentry>
3790	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3791
3792	<glossdef>
3793	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3794	</glossdef>
3795	</glossentry>
3796
3797	<glossentry>
3798	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
3799
3800	<glossdef>
3801	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
3802	</glossdef>
3803	</glossentry>
3804	</glosslist></para>
3805	</listitem>
3806
3807	<listitem>
3808	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>[p[s]]kill</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3809	which terminates specific guest processes of a guest session, based on either the
3810	session's ID or the session's name.</para>
3811
3812	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> process kill
3813	--session-id <ID>
3814	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3815	[--verbose]
3816	<PID> ... <PID n></screen>
3817
3818	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3819	<glossentry>
3820	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3821
3822	<glossdef>
3823	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3824	</glossdef>
3825	</glossentry>
3826
3827	<glossentry>
3828	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3829
3830	<glossdef>
3831	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its ID.</para>
3832	</glossdef>
3833	</glossentry>
3834
3835	<glossentry>
3836	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3837
3838	<glossdef>
3839	<para>Specifies the guest session to use by its name. Multiple
3840	sessions can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3841	</glossdef>
3842	</glossentry>
3843
3844	<glossentry>
3845	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3846
3847	<glossdef>
3848	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3849	</glossdef>
3850	</glossentry>
3851
3852	<glossentry>
3853	<glossterm><computeroutput><PID> ... <PID n></computeroutput></glossterm>
3854
3855	<glossdef>
3856	<para>List of process identifiers (PIDs) to terminate.</para>
3857	</glossdef>
3858	</glossentry>
3859	</glosslist></para>
3860	</listitem>
3861
3862	<listitem>
3863	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>session close</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3864	which closes specific guest sessions, based on either the session's ID or the
3865	session's name.</para>
3866
3867	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> session close
3868	--session-id <ID>
3869	\| --session-name <name or pattern>
3870	\| --all
3871	[--verbose]</screen>
3872
3873	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3874	<glossentry>
3875	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3876
3877	<glossdef>
3878	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3879	</glossdef>
3880	</glossentry>
3881
3882	<glossentry>
3883	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-id</computeroutput></glossterm>
3884
3885	<glossdef>
3886	<para>Close a guest session specified by its ID.</para>
3887	</glossdef>
3888	</glossentry>
3889
3890	<glossentry>
3891	<glossterm><computeroutput>--session-name</computeroutput></glossterm>
3892
3893	<glossdef>
3894	<para>Close a guest session specified by its name. Multiple sessions
3895	can be closed when specifying * or ? wildcards.</para>
3896	</glossdef>
3897	</glossentry>
3898
3899	<glossentry>
3900	<glossterm><computeroutput>--all</computeroutput></glossterm>
3901
3902	<glossdef>
3903	<para>Close all guest sessions.</para>
3904	</glossdef>
3905	</glossentry>
3906
3907	<glossentry>
3908	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3909
3910	<glossdef>
3911	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3912	</glossdef>
3913	</glossentry>
3914	</glosslist></para>
3915	</listitem>
3916
3917	<listitem>
3918	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>stat</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3919	which displays file
3920	or file system status on the guest.</para>
3921
3922	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> stat
3923	<file>... --username <name>
3924	[--passwordfile <file> \| --password <password>]
3925	[--verbose]</screen>
3926
3927	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3928	<glossentry>
3929	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3930
3931	<glossdef>
3932	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
3933	</glossdef>
3934	</glossentry>
3935
3936	<glossentry>
3937	<glossterm><computeroutput>file element(s) to check on guest</computeroutput></glossterm>
3938
3939	<glossdef>
3940	<para>Absolute path of directory/directories to check on
3941	guest, e.g. <computeroutput>/home/foo/a.out</computeroutput>.
3942	The specified user must have appropriate rights to access
3943	the given file element(s).</para>
3944	</glossdef>
3945	</glossentry>
3946
3947	<glossentry>
3948	<glossterm><computeroutput>--username <name></computeroutput></glossterm>
3949
3950	<glossdef>
3951	<para>Name of the user the copy process should run under.
3952	This user must exist on the guest OS.</para>
3953	</glossdef>
3954	</glossentry>
3955
3956	<glossentry>
3957	<glossterm><computeroutput>--passwordfile <file></computeroutput></glossterm>
3958
3959	<glossdef>
3960	<para>Password of the user account specified to be read from
3961	the given file. If not given, an empty password is
3962	assumed.</para>
3963	</glossdef>
3964	</glossentry>
3965
3966	<glossentry>
3967	<glossterm><computeroutput>--password <password></computeroutput></glossterm>
3968
3969	<glossdef>
3970	<para>Password of the user account specified with
3971	<computeroutput>--username</computeroutput>. If not given,
3972	an empty password is assumed.</para>
3973	</glossdef>
3974	</glossentry>
3975
3976	<glossentry>
3977	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
3978
3979	<glossdef>
3980	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
3981	</glossdef>
3982	</glossentry>
3983	</glosslist></para>
3984	</listitem>
3985
3986	<listitem>
3987	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>updateadditions</computeroutput></emphasis>,
3988	which allows
3989	for updating an already installed Guest Additions version on the
3990	guest (only already installed Guest Additions 4.0 and later).</para>
3991
3992	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> updateadditions
3993	[--source "<guest additions .ISO file to use>"] [--verbose]
3994	[--wait-start] [-- [<argument1>] ... [<argumentN>]]</screen>
3995
3996	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
3997	<glossentry>
3998	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
3999
4000	<glossdef>
4001	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
4002	</glossdef>
4003	</glossentry>
4004
4005	<glossentry>
4006	<glossterm><computeroutput>--source</computeroutput> "<guest additions .ISO file to
4007	use>"</glossterm>
4008
4009	<glossdef>
4010	<para>Full path to an alternative VirtualBox Guest Additions
4011	.ISO file to use for the Guest Additions update.</para>
4012	</glossdef>
4013	</glossentry>
4014
4015	<glossentry>
4016	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
4017
4018	<glossdef>
4019	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
4020	</glossdef>
4021	</glossentry>
4022
4023	<glossentry>
4024	<glossterm><computeroutput>--wait-start</computeroutput></glossterm>
4025	<glossdef>
4026	<para>Starts the regular updating process and waits until the
4027	actual Guest Additions update inside the guest was started.
4028	This can be necessary due to needed interaction with the
4029	guest OS during the installation phase.</para>
4030	<para>When omitting this flag VBoxManage will wait for the
4031	whole Guest Additions update to complete.</para>
4032	</glossdef>
4033	</glossentry>
4034
4035	<glossentry>
4036	<glossterm><computeroutput>[-- [<argument1s>] ... [<argumentNs>]]</computeroutput></glossterm>
4037
4038	<glossdef>
4039	<para>Optional command line arguments to use for the Guest Additions
4040	installer. Useful for retrofitting features which weren't installed
4041	before on the guest.</para>
4042	<para>Arguments containing spaces must be enclosed in
4043	quotation marks.</para>
4044	</glossdef>
4045	</glossentry>
4046	</glosslist></para>
4047	</listitem>
4048	<listitem>
4049	<para><emphasis role="bold"><computeroutput>watch</computeroutput></emphasis>,
4050	which prints current guest control activity.</para>
4051
4052	<screen>VBoxManage guestcontrol <uuid\|vmname> watch
4053	[--verbose]</screen>
4054
4055	<para>where the parameters mean: <glosslist>
4056	<glossentry>
4057	<glossterm><computeroutput>uuid\|vmname</computeroutput></glossterm>
4058
4059	<glossdef>
4060	<para>The VM UUID or VM name. Mandatory.</para>
4061	</glossdef>
4062	</glossentry>
4063
4064	<glossentry>
4065	<glossterm><computeroutput>--verbose</computeroutput></glossterm>
4066
4067	<glossdef>
4068	<para>Tells VBoxManage to be more verbose.</para>
4069	</glossdef>
4070	</glossentry>
4071	</glosslist></para>
4072	</listitem>
4073	</itemizedlist></para>
4074	</sect1>
4075
4076	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-debugvm">
4077	<title>VBoxManage debugvm</title>
4078
4079	<para>The "debugvm" commands are for experts who want to tinker with the
4080	exact details of virtual machine execution. Like the VM debugger described
4081	in <xref linkend="ts_debugger" />, these commands are only useful if you are
4082	very familiar with the details of the PC architecture and how to debug
4083	software.</para>
4084
4085	<para>The subcommands of "debugvm" all operate on a running virtual
4086	machine. The following are available:<itemizedlist>
4087	<listitem>
4088	<para>With <computeroutput>dumpguestcore --filename
4089	<name></computeroutput>, you can create a system dump of the
4090	running VM, which will be written into the given file. This file
4091	will have the standard ELF core format (with custom sections); see
4092	<xref linkend="ts_guest-core-format" />.</para>
4093
4094	<para>This corresponds to the
4095	<computeroutput>writecore</computeroutput> command in the debugger.
4096	</para>
4097	</listitem>
4098
4099	<listitem>
4100	<para>The <computeroutput>info</computeroutput> command is used to
4101	display info items relating to the VMM, device emulations and
4102	associated drivers. This command takes one or two arguments: the
4103	name of the info item, optionally followed by a string containing
4104	arguments specific to the info item.
4105	The <computeroutput>help</computeroutput> info item provides a
4106	listning of the available items and hints about any optional
4107	arguments.</para>
4108
4109	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>info</computeroutput>
4110	command in the debugger.</para>
4111	</listitem>
4112
4113	<listitem>
4114	<para>The <computeroutput>injectnmi</computeroutput> command causes
4115	a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) in the guest, which might be useful
4116	for certain debugging scenarios. What happens exactly is dependent
4117	on the guest operating system, but an NMI can crash the whole guest
4118	operating system. Do not use unless you know what you're
4119	doing.</para>
4120	</listitem>
4121
4122	<listitem>
4123	<para>The <computeroutput>osdetect</computeroutput> command makes the
4124	VMM's debugger facility (re-)detection the guest operation
4125	system.</para>
4126
4127	<para>This corresponds to the <computeroutput>detect</computeroutput>
4128	command in the debugger.</para>
4129	</listitem>
4130
4131	<listitem>
4132	<para>The <computeroutput>osinfo</computeroutput> command is used to
4133	display info about the operating system (OS) detected by the VMM's
4134	debugger facility.</para>
4135	</listitem>
4136
4137	<listitem>
4138	<para>The <computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command is
4139	used to display CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
4140	of registers, each having one of the following forms:
4141	<itemizedlist>
4142	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
4143	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
4144	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field</computeroutput></listitem>
4145	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name</computeroutput></listitem>
4146	<listitem><computeroutput>all</computeroutput></listitem>
4147	</itemizedlist>
4148	The <computeroutput>all</computeroutput> form will cause all
4149	registers to be shown (no sub-fields). The registers names are
4150	case-insensitive. When requesting a CPU register the register set
4151	can be omitted, it will be selected using the value of the
4152	<computeroutput>--cpu</computeroutput> option (defaulting to 0).
4153	</para>
4154	</listitem>
4155
4156	<listitem>
4157	<para>The <computeroutput>setregisters</computeroutput> command is
4158	used to change CPU and device registers. The command takes a list
4159	of register assignments, each having one of the following forms:
4160	<itemizedlist>
4161	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
4162	<listitem><computeroutput>register-set.register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
4163	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name.sub-field=value</computeroutput></listitem>
4164	<listitem><computeroutput>cpu-register-name=value</computeroutput></listitem>
4165	</itemizedlist>
4166	The value format should be in the same style as what
4167	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> displays, with the
4168	exception that both octal and decimal can be used instead of
4169	hexadecimal. The register naming and the default CPU register set
4170	are handled the same way as with the
4171	<computeroutput>getregisters</computeroutput> command.</para>
4172	</listitem>
4173
4174	<listitem>
4175	<para>The <computeroutput>statistics</computeroutput> command can be
4176	used to display VMM statistics on the command line. The
4177	<computeroutput>--reset</computeroutput> option will reset
4178	statistics. The affected statistics can be filtered with the
4179	<computeroutput>--pattern</computeroutput> option, which accepts
4180	DOS/NT-style wildcards (<computeroutput>?</computeroutput> and
4181	<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>).</para>
4182	</listitem>
4183	</itemizedlist></para>
4184	</sect1>
4185
4186	<sect1 id="metrics">
4187	<title>VBoxManage metrics</title>
4188
4189	<para>This command supports monitoring the usage of system resources.
4190	Resources are represented by various metrics associated with the host
4191	system or a particular VM. For example, the host system has a
4192	<computeroutput>CPU/Load/User</computeroutput> metric that shows the
4193	percentage of time CPUs spend executing in user mode over a specific
4194	sampling period.</para>
4195
4196	<para>Metric data is collected and retained internally; it may be
4197	retrieved at any time with the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
4198	query</computeroutput> subcommand. The data is available as long as the
4199	background <computeroutput>VBoxSVC</computeroutput> process is alive. That
4200	process terminates shortly after all VMs and frontends have been
4201	closed.</para>
4202
4203	<para>By default no metrics are collected at all. Metrics collection does
4204	not start until <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics setup</computeroutput>
4205	is invoked with a proper sampling interval and the number of metrics to be
4206	retained. The interval is measured in seconds. For example, to enable
4207	collecting the host processor and memory usage metrics every second and
4208	keeping the 5 most current samples, the following command can be
4209	used:</para>
4210
4211	<screen>VBoxManage metrics setup --period 1 --samples 5 host CPU/Load,RAM/Usage</screen>
4212
4213	<para>Metric collection can only be enabled for started VMs. Collected
4214	data and collection settings for a particular VM will disappear as soon as
4215	it shuts down. Use <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics list
4216	</computeroutput> subcommand to see which metrics are currently available.
4217	You can also use <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option with any
4218	subcommand that modifies metric settings to find out which metrics were
4219	affected.</para>
4220
4221	<para>Note that the <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
4222	setup</computeroutput> subcommand discards all samples that may have been
4223	previously collected for the specified set of objects and metrics.</para>
4224
4225	<para>To enable or disable metrics collection without discarding the data
4226	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics enable</computeroutput> and
4227	<computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics disable</computeroutput> subcommands
4228	can be used. Note that these subcommands expect metrics, not submetrics,
4229	like <code>CPU/Load</code> or <code>RAM/Usage</code> as parameters. In
4230	other words enabling <code>CPU/Load/User</code> while disabling
4231	<code>CPU/Load/Kernel</code> is not supported.</para>
4232
4233	<para>The host and VMs have different sets of associated metrics.
4234	Available metrics can be listed with <computeroutput>VBoxManage metrics
4235	list</computeroutput> subcommand.</para>
4236
4237	<para>A complete metric name may include an aggregate function. The name
4238	has the following form:
4239	<computeroutput>Category/Metric[/SubMetric][:aggregate]</computeroutput>.
4240	For example, <computeroutput>RAM/Usage/Free:min</computeroutput> stands
4241	for the minimum amount of available memory over all retained data if
4242	applied to the host object.</para>
4243
4244	<para>Subcommands may apply to all objects and metrics or can be limited
4245	to one object or/and a list of metrics. If no objects or metrics are given
4246	in the parameters, the subcommands will apply to all available metrics of
4247	all objects. You may use an asterisk
4248	("<computeroutput>*</computeroutput>") to explicitly specify that the
4249	command should be applied to all objects or metrics. Use "host" as the
4250	object name to limit the scope of the command to host-related metrics. To
4251	limit the scope to a subset of metrics, use a metric list with names
4252	separated by commas.</para>
4253
4254	<para>For example, to query metric data on the CPU time spent in user and
4255	kernel modes by the virtual machine named "test", you can use the
4256	following command:</para>
4257
4258	<screen>VBoxManage metrics query test CPU/Load/User,CPU/Load/Kernel</screen>
4259
4260	<para>The following list summarizes the available subcommands:</para>
4261
4262	<glosslist>
4263	<glossentry>
4264	<glossterm><computeroutput>list</computeroutput></glossterm>
4265
4266	<glossdef>
4267	<para>This subcommand shows the parameters of the currently existing
4268	metrics. Note that VM-specific metrics are only available when a
4269	particular VM is running.</para>
4270	</glossdef>
4271	</glossentry>
4272
4273	<glossentry>
4274	<glossterm><computeroutput>setup</computeroutput></glossterm>
4275
4276	<glossdef>
4277	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
4278	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
4279	retained data is available for displaying with the
4280	<code>query</code> subcommand. The <computeroutput>--list
4281	</computeroutput> option shows which metrics have been modified as
4282	the result of the command execution.</para>
4283	</glossdef>
4284	</glossentry>
4285
4286	<glossentry>
4287	<glossterm><computeroutput>enable</computeroutput></glossterm>
4288
4289	<glossdef>
4290	<para>This subcommand "resumes" data collection after it has been
4291	stopped with <code>disable</code> subcommand. Note that specifying
4292	submetrics as parameters will not enable underlying metrics. Use
4293	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
4294	did what was expected.</para>
4295	</glossdef>
4296	</glossentry>
4297
4298	<glossentry>
4299	<glossterm><computeroutput>disable</computeroutput></glossterm>
4300
4301	<glossdef>
4302	<para>This subcommand "suspends" data collection without affecting
4303	collection parameters or collected data. Note that specifying
4304	submetrics as parameters will not disable underlying metrics. Use
4305	<computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> to find out if the command
4306	did what was expected.</para>
4307	</glossdef>
4308	</glossentry>
4309
4310	<glossentry>
4311	<glossterm><computeroutput>query</computeroutput></glossterm>
4312
4313	<glossdef>
4314	<para>This subcommand retrieves and displays the currently retained
4315	metric data.<note>
4316	<para>The <code>query</code> subcommand does not remove or
4317	"flush" retained data. If you query often enough you will see
4318	how old samples are gradually being "phased out" by new
4319	samples.</para>
4320	</note></para>
4321	</glossdef>
4322	</glossentry>
4323
4324	<glossentry>
4325	<glossterm><computeroutput>collect</computeroutput></glossterm>
4326
4327	<glossdef>
4328	<para>This subcommand sets the interval between taking two samples
4329	of metric data and the number of samples retained internally. The
4330	collected data is displayed periodically until Ctrl-C is pressed
4331	unless the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput> option is
4332	specified. With the <computeroutput>--detach</computeroutput>
4333	option, this subcommand operates the same way as <code>setup</code>
4334	does. The <computeroutput>--list</computeroutput> option shows which
4335	metrics match the specified filter.</para>
4336	</glossdef>
4337	</glossentry>
4338	</glosslist>
4339	</sect1>
4340
4341	<sect1>
4342	<title>VBoxManage hostonlyif</title>
4343
4344	<para>With "hostonlyif" you can change the IP configuration of a host-only
4345	network interface. For a description of host-only networking, please
4346	refer to <xref linkend="network_hostonly" />. Each host-only interface is
4347	identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a
4348	manual IP configuration (both IP4 and IP6).</para>
4349	</sect1>
4350
4351	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-dhcpserver">
4352	<title>VBoxManage dhcpserver</title>
4353
4354	<para>The "dhcpserver" commands allow you to control the DHCP server that
4355	is built into VirtualBox. You may find this useful when using internal or
4356	host-only networking. (Theoretically, you can enable it for a bridged
4357	network as well, but that will likely cause conflicts with other DHCP
4358	servers in your physical network.)</para>
4359
4360	<para>Use the following command line options:<itemizedlist>
4361	<listitem>
4362	<para>If you use internal networking for a virtual network adapter
4363	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
4364	--netname <network_name></computeroutput>, where
4365	<computeroutput><network_name></computeroutput> is the same
4366	network name you used with <computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm
4367	<vmname> --intnet<X>
4368	<network_name></computeroutput>.</para>
4369	</listitem>
4370
4371	<listitem>
4372	<para>If you use host-only networking for a virtual network adapter
4373	of a virtual machine, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add
4374	--ifname <hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> instead, where
4375	<computeroutput><hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> is the
4376	same host-only interface name you used with
4377	<computeroutput>VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname>
4378	--hostonlyadapter<X>
4379	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput>.</para>
4380
4381	<para>Alternatively, you can also use the --netname option as with
4382	internal networks if you know the host-only network's name; you can
4383	see the names with <computeroutput>VBoxManage list
4384	hostonlyifs</computeroutput> (see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />
4385	above).</para>
4386	</listitem>
4387	</itemizedlist></para>
4388
4389	<para>The following additional parameters are required when first adding a
4390	DHCP server:<itemizedlist>
4391	<listitem>
4392	<para>With <computeroutput>--ip</computeroutput>, specify the IP
4393	address of the DHCP server itself.</para>
4394	</listitem>
4395
4396	<listitem>
4397	<para>With <computeroutput>--netmask</computeroutput>, specify the
4398	netmask of the network.</para>
4399	</listitem>
4400
4401	<listitem>
4402	<para>With <computeroutput>--lowerip</computeroutput> and
4403	<computeroutput>--upperip</computeroutput>, you can specify the
4404	lowest and highest IP address, respectively, that the DHCP server
4405	will hand out to clients.</para>
4406	</listitem>
4407	</itemizedlist></para>
4408
4409	<para>Finally, you must specify <computeroutput>--enable</computeroutput>
4410	or the DHCP server will be created in the disabled state, doing
4411	nothing.</para>
4412
4413	<para>After this, VirtualBox will automatically start the DHCP server for
4414	given internal or host-only network as soon as the first virtual machine
4415	which uses that network is started.</para>
4416
4417	<para>Reversely, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver
4418	remove</computeroutput> with the given <computeroutput>--netname
4419	<network_name></computeroutput> or <computeroutput>--ifname
4420	<hostonly_if_name></computeroutput> to remove the DHCP server again
4421	for the given internal or host-only network.</para>
4422
4423	<para>To modify the settings of a DHCP server created earlier with
4424	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver add</computeroutput>, you can use
4425	<computeroutput>VBoxManage dhcpserver modify</computeroutput> for a given
4426	network or host-only interface name.</para>
4427	</sect1>
4428
4429	<sect1 id="vboxmanage-extpack">
4430	<title>VBoxManage extpack</title>
4431
4432	<para>The "extpack" command allows you to add or remove VirtualBox
4433	extension packs, as described in <xref
4434	linkend="intro-installing" />.<itemizedlist>
4435	<listitem>
4436	<para>To add a new extension pack, use <computeroutput>VBoxManage
4437	extpack install <.vbox-extpack></computeroutput>. This command
4438	will fail if an older version of the same extension pack is already
4439	installed. The optional <computeroutput>--replace</computeroutput>
4440	parameter can be used to uninstall the old package before the new
4441	package is installed.</para>
4442	</listitem>
4443
4444	<listitem>
4445	<para>To remove a previously installed extension pack, use
4446	<computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack uninstall
4447	<name></computeroutput>. You can use
4448	<computeroutput>VBoxManage list extpacks</computeroutput> to show
4449	the names of the extension packs which are currently installed;
4450	please see <xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" /> also. The optional
4451	<computeroutput>--force</computeroutput> parameter can be used to
4452	override the refusal of an extension pack to be uninstalled.</para>
4453	</listitem>
4454
4455	<listitem>
4456	<para>The <computeroutput>VBoxManage extpack
4457	cleanup</computeroutput> command can be used to remove temporary
4458	files and directories that may have been left behind if a previous
4459	install or uninstall command failed.</para>
4460	</listitem>
4461	</itemizedlist></para>
4462	<para>The following commands show examples how to list extension packs and
4463	remove one:<screen>
4464	$ VBoxManage list extpacks
4465	Extension Packs: 1
4466	Pack no. 0: Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
4467	Version: 4.1.12
4468	Revision: 77218
4469	Edition:
4470	Description: USB 2.0 Host Controller, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM with E1000 support.
4471	VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP
4472	Usable: true
4473	Why unusable:
4474	$ VBoxManage extpack uninstall "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack"
4475	0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
4476	Successfully uninstalled "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack".</screen></para>
4477	</sect1>
4478	</chapter>

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