55 lines
3.1 KiB
XML
55 lines
3.1 KiB
XML
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
|
|
<topic xml:lang="en-us" id="intro-save-machine-state">
|
|
<title>Saving the State of the Machine</title>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<p>When you click the <b outputclass="bold">Close</b> button of your virtual machine window, at the top right of the
|
|
window, just like you would close any other window on your system, <ph
|
|
conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> asks you whether you want to save or power off the VM. As a
|
|
shortcut, you can also press <b outputclass="bold">Host key + Q</b>. </p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The difference between the three options is crucial. They mean
|
|
the following:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p><b outputclass="bold">Save the machine state:</b>
|
|
With this option, <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>
|
|
<i>freezes</i> the virtual machine by
|
|
completely saving its state to your local disk.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>When you start the VM again later, you will find that the VM continues exactly where it was left off. All
|
|
your programs will still be open, and your computer resumes operation. Saving the state of a virtual machine
|
|
is thus in some ways similar to suspending a laptop computer by closing its lid. </p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p><b outputclass="bold">Send the shutdown signal.</b>
|
|
This will send an ACPI shutdown signal to the virtual
|
|
machine, which has the same effect as if you had pressed the
|
|
power button on a real computer. This should trigger a
|
|
proper shutdown mechanism from within the VM.
|
|
</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p><b outputclass="bold">Power off the machine:</b> With
|
|
this option, <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> also stops running the virtual
|
|
machine, but <i>without</i> saving its state.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<note type="caution">
|
|
<p>This is equivalent to pulling the power plug on a real computer without shutting it down properly. If you
|
|
start the machine again after powering it off, your OS will have to reboot completely and may begin a
|
|
lengthy check of its virtual system disks. As a result, this should not normally be done, since it can
|
|
potentially cause data loss or an inconsistent state of the guest system on disk. </p>
|
|
</note>
|
|
<p>As an exception, if your virtual machine has any snapshots, see <xref href="snapshots.dita#snapshots"/>, you
|
|
can use this option to quickly <b outputclass="bold">restore the current snapshot</b> of the virtual machine.
|
|
In that case, powering off the machine will discard the current state and any changes made since the previous
|
|
snapshot was taken will be lost. </p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>The <b outputclass="bold">Discard</b> button in the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/vbox-mgr"/> window
|
|
discards a virtual machine's saved state. This has the same effect as powering it off, and the same warnings
|
|
apply. </p>
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
</topic>
|