VM groups are groups of VMs that you can create as and when required. You can manage and perform functions on them collectively, as well as individually.

The following figure shows VM groups displayed in VirtualBox Manager.

The following features are available for groups:

• Create a group using VirtualBox Manager. Do one of the following:

  • Drag a VM on top of another VM.

  • Select multiple VMs and select Group from the right-click menu.

• Create and manage a group using the command line. Do one of the following:

  • Create a group and assign a VM. For example:

    VBoxManage modifyvm "vm01" --groups "/TestGroup"

    This command creates a group TestGroup and attaches the VM vm01 to that group.

  • Detach a VM from the group, and delete the group if empty. For example:

    VBoxManage modifyvm "vm01" --groups ""

    This command detaches all groups from the VM vm01 and deletes the empty group.

• Create multiple groups. For example:

  VBoxManage modifyvm "vm01" --groups "/TestGroup,/TestGroup2"

  This command creates the groups TestGroup and TestGroup2, if they do not exist, and attaches the VM vm01 to both of them.

• Create nested groups, having a group hierarchy. For example:

  VBoxManage modifyvm "vm01" --groups "/TestGroup/TestGroup2"

  This command attaches the VM vm01 to the subgroup TestGroup2 of the TestGroup group.

• Use VirtualBox Manager menu options to control and manage all the VMs in a group. For example: Start, Pause, Reset, Close (save state, send shutdown signal, poweroff), Discard Saved State, Show in Explorer, Sort.