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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--
manpage, user manual, usage: VBoxManage
-->
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Copyright (C) 2006-2022 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
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This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
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This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
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-->
<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd"[
<!ENTITY % all.entities SYSTEM "all-entities.ent">
%all.entities;
]>
<refentry id="vboxmanage-common" lang="en">
<refentryinfo>
<pubdate>$Date: 2022-08-22 19:43:14 +0200 (Mon, 22 Aug 2022) $</pubdate>
<title>VBoxManage</title>
</refentryinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>VBoxManage</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>VBoxManage</refname>
<refpurpose>&product-name; command-line interface</refpurpose>
<refclass>&product-name;</refclass>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-common">
<!-- The 'id' is mandatory and must start with 'synopsis-'. -->
<command>VBoxManage</command>
<group>
<arg choice="plain">-V</arg>
<arg choice="plain">--version</arg>
</group>
<arg>--dump-build-type</arg>
<group>
<arg choice="plain">-q</arg>
<arg choice="plain">--nologo</arg>
</group>
<arg>--settingspw=<replaceable>password</replaceable></arg>
<arg>--settingspwfile=<replaceable>pw-file</replaceable></arg>
<arg>@<replaceable>response-file</replaceable></arg>
<arg><arg>help</arg> <replaceable>subcommand</replaceable></arg>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1>
<title>Description</title>
<para>
The <command>VBoxManage</command> command is the command-line
interface (CLI) for the &product-name; software. The CLI supports
all the features that are available with the &product-name;
graphical user interface (GUI). In addition, you can use the
<command>VBoxManage</command> command to manage the features of
the virtualization engine that cannot be managed by the GUI.
</para>
<para>
Each time you invoke the <command>VBoxManage</command> command,
only one command is executed. Note that some
<command>VBoxManage</command> subcommands invoke several
subcommands.
</para>
<para>
Run the <command>VBoxManage</command> command from the command
line of the host operating system (OS) to control &product-name;
software.
</para>
<para>
The <command>VBoxManage</command> command is stored in the
following locations on the host system:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
<emphasis role="bold">Linux:</emphasis>
<filename>/usr/bin/VBoxManage</filename>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<emphasis role="bold">Mac OS X:</emphasis>
<filename>/Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxManage</filename>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<emphasis role="bold">Oracle Solaris:</emphasis>
<filename>/opt/VirtualBox/bin/VBoxManage</filename>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<emphasis role="bold">Windows:</emphasis>
<filename>C:\Program
Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe</filename>
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
In addition to managing virtual machines (VMs) with this CLI or
the GUI, you can use the <command>VBoxHeadless</command> CLI to
manage VMs remotely.
</para>
<para>
The <command>VBoxManage</command> command performs particular
tasks by using subcommands, such as <command>list</command>,
<command>createvm</command>, and <command>startvm</command>. See
the associated information for each <command>VBoxManage</command>
subcommand.
</para>
<para>
If required, specify the VM by its name or by its Universally
Unique Identifier (UUID).
</para>
<para>
Use the <command>VBoxManage list vms</command> command to obtain
information about all currently registered VMs, including the VM
names and associated UUIDs.
</para>
<para>
Note that you must enclose the entire VM name in double quotes if
it contains spaces.
</para>
<refsect2 id="vboxmanage-common-options">
<title>General Options</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--nologo</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Suppresses the output of the logo information, which is
useful for scripts.
</para><para>
The short version of this option is <option>-q</option>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--settingspw=[<replaceable>password</replaceable>]</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies the settings password. You can optionally
specify the password as an argument to this option. If you
do not specify the password in this way, the
<command>VBoxManage</command> command prompts you for the
password.
</para><para>
The settings password is a security feature that encrypts
stored settings, which are stored as plain text by
default.
</para><para>
You cannot unencrypt encrypted settings. So, if the
settings are encrypted, you must continue to specify the
<option>--settingspw</option> or
<option>--settingspwfile</option> option.
</para><para>
Only the iSCSI secret is encrypted at this time.
</para><remark>
This design does not conform to Oracle's security
guidelines. You should not be able to specify a password
on the command line because the password can be seen in a
process listing.
</remark></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--settingspwfile=<replaceable>pw-filename</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies the file that contains the settings password.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--version</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Shows version information about the
<command>VBoxManage</command> command.
</para><para>
The short version of this option is <option>-V</option>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>@<replaceable>response-file</replaceable></term>
<listitem><para>
Loads arguments from the specified Bourne shell response
file.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable>subcommand</replaceable></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies one of the <command>VBoxManage</command>
subcommands, such as <command>controlvm</command>,
<command>createvm</command>, <command>list</command>,
<command>modifyvm</command>,
<command>showvminfo</command>, <command>startvm</command>,
<command>storageattach</command>, and
<command>storagectl</command>.
</para><para>
Each subcommand is described in its own command topic,
some of which are shown in See Also sections.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect2>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Examples</title>
<remark role="help-scope" condition="GLOBAL"/>
<para>
The following command creates a virtual machine called
<literal>Win8</literal> and registers it with &product-name; by
using the <option>--register</option> option.
</para>
<screen>$ VBoxManage createvm --name "Win8" --register
Virtual machine 'Win8' is created.
UUID: <replaceable>UUID-string</replaceable>
Settings file: '/home/<replaceable>username</replaceable>/VirtualBox VMs/Win8/Win8.vbox'</screen>
<para>
The command output shows that the <literal>Win8</literal> VM is
assigned a UUID and an XML machine settings file.
</para>
<para>
You can use the <command>VBoxManage showvminfo</command> command
to view the configuration information of a VM.
</para>
<para>
The following example uses the <command>VBoxManage
modifyvm</command> command to change the amount of memory for the
<literal>Windows XP</literal> VM to be 1024 megabytes:
</para>
<screen>$ VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --memory 1024</screen>
<para>
Note that you can use the <command>VBoxManage modifyvm</command>
command even when the VM is powered off.
</para>
<para>
You can use the <command>VBoxManage storagectl</command> command
or the <command>VBoxManage storageattach</command> command to
modify the storage configuration for a VM. For example, to create
a SATA storage controller called <literal>sata01</literal> and add
it to the <literal>ol7</literal> VM:
</para>
<screen>$ VBoxManage storagectl ol7 --name "sata01" --add sata</screen>
<para>
Use the <command>VBoxManage startvm</command> command to start a
VM that is currently powered off. For example, to start the
<literal>win7</literal> VM:
</para>
<screen>$ VBoxManage startvm win7</screen>
<para>
Use the <command>VBoxManage controlvm</command> command to pause
or save a VM that is currently running. You can also use this
command to modify settings for the VM. For example, to enable
audio input for the <literal>ol6u9</literal> VM.
</para>
<screen>$ VBoxManage controlvm ol6u9 audioin on</screen>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>See Also</title>
<para>
<xref linkend="vboxmanage-controlvm" />,
<xref linkend="vboxmanage-createvm" />,
<xref linkend="vboxmanage-list" />,
<xref linkend="vboxmanage-modifyvm" />,
<xref linkend="vboxmanage-showvminfo" />,
<xref linkend="vboxmanage-startvm" />,
<xref linkend="vboxmanage-storageattach" />,
<xref linkend="vboxmanage-storagectl" />
</para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
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