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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--
manpage, user manual, usage: VBoxManage clonevm
-->
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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-clonevm" lang="en">
<refentryinfo>
<pubdate>$Date: 2023-01-17 15:15:46 +0100 (Tue, 17 Jan 2023) $</pubdate>
<title>VBoxManage clonevm</title>
</refentryinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>VBoxManage-clonevm</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>VBoxManage-clonevm</refname>
<refpurpose>create a clone of an existing virtual machine</refpurpose>
<refclass>&product-name;</refclass>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-clonevm">
<!-- The 'id' is mandatory and must start with 'synopsis-'. -->
<command>VBoxManage clonevm</command>
<arg choice="req"><replaceable>vmname|uuid</replaceable></arg>
<arg>--basefolder=<replaceable>basefolder</replaceable></arg>
<arg rep="repeat">--groups=<replaceable>group</replaceable>,</arg>
<group choice='opt'>
<arg choice='plain'>--mode=machine</arg>
<arg choice='plain'>--mode=machinechildren</arg>
<arg choice='plain'>--mode=all</arg>
</group>
<arg>--name=<replaceable>name</replaceable></arg>
<arg rep="repeat">--options=<replaceable>option</replaceable>,</arg>
<arg>--register</arg>
<arg>--snapshot=<replaceable>snapshot-name</replaceable></arg>
<arg>--uuid=<replaceable>uuid</replaceable></arg>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1>
<title>Description</title>
<para>
The <command>VBoxManage clonevm</command> command creates a clone
of an existing virtual machine (VM). The clone can be a full copy
of the VM or a linked copy of a VM.
</para>
<para>
You must specify the name or the universal unique identifier
(UUID) of the VM you want to clone.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Command Operand and Options</title>
<para>
The following list describes the operand and the options that you
can use with the <command>VBoxManage clonevm</command> command:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable>vmname|uuid</replaceable></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies the name or UUID of the VM to clone.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--basefolder=<replaceable>basefolder</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies the name of the folder in which to save the
configuration for the new VM.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--groups=<replaceable>group</replaceable>,...</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Assigns the clone to the specified group or groups. If you
specify more than one group, separate each group name with a
comma.
</para><para>
Note that each group is identified by a group ID that starts
with a slash character (<computeroutput>/</computeroutput>)
so that groups can be nested. By default, a clone is always
assigned membership to the
<computeroutput>/</computeroutput> group.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--mode=machine|machineandchildren|all</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies which of the following cloning modes to use:
</para><itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
<computeroutput>machine</computeroutput> mode clones the
current state of the existing VM without any snapshots.
This is the default mode.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<computeroutput>machineandchildren</computeroutput> mode
clones the snapshot specified by by the
<option>--snapshot</option> option and all child
snapshots.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<computeroutput>all</computeroutput> mode clones all
snapshots and the current state of the existing VM.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--name=<replaceable>name</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies a new name for the new VM. The default value is
<computeroutput><replaceable>original-name</replaceable>
Clone</computeroutput> where
<replaceable>original-name</replaceable> is the original
name of the VM.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--options=<replaceable>option</replaceable>,...</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies how to create the new clone.</para>
<para>The <option>--options</option> argument can be used multiple
times to enable multiple options, or the options can be given as a
comma separated list. The options are case insensitive.</para>
<para>The following options (case-insensitive) are recognized:</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>Link</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Creates a linked clone from a snapshot only.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>KeepAllMACs</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies that the new clone reuses the MAC addresses
of each virtual network card from the existing VM.
</para><para>
If you do not specify this option or the
<option>--options=keepnatmacs</option> option, the
default behavior is to reinitialize the MAC addresses
of each virtual network card.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>KeepNATMACs</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies that the new clone reuses the MAC addresses
of each virtual network card from the existing VM when
the network type is NAT.
</para><para>
If you do not specify this option or the
<option>KeepAllMACs</option> option, the
default behavior is to reinitialize the MAC addresses
of each virtual network card.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>KeepDiskNames</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies that the new clone reuses the disk image
names from the existing VM. By default, disk images
are renamed.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>KeepHwUUIDs</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies that the new clone reuses the hardware IDs
from the existing VM. By default, new UUIDs are used.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--register</option></term>
<listitem><para>
Automatically registers the new clone in this &product-name;
installation. You can manually register the new VM later by
using the <command>VBoxManage registervm</command> command.
See <xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" />.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--snapshot=<replaceable>snapshot-name</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies the snapshot on which to base the new VM. By
default, the clone is created from the current state of the
specified VM.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--uuid=<replaceable>uuid</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem><para>
Specifies the UUID for the new VM. Ensure that this ID is
unique for the &product-name; instance if you decide to
register this new VM. By default, &product-name; provides a
new UUID.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Examples</title>
<para>
The following command creates and registers an exact clone of the
<computeroutput>ol7</computeroutput> VM. The clone is called
<computeroutput>ol7-dev-001</computeroutput>.
</para>
<para>
The new clone includes all of the source VM's snapshots. The new
VM also reuses all network interface MAC addresses, disk names,
and UUIDs from the source VM.
</para>
<screen>
$ VBoxManage clonevm ol7 --name="ol7-dev-001" --register --mode=all \
--options=keepallmacs --options=keepdisknames --options=keephwuuids
</screen>
<para>
The following command creates and registers a clone of the
<computeroutput>Snapshot 1</computeroutput> snapshot of the
<computeroutput>ol7</computeroutput> VM. The clone is called
<computeroutput>ol7-dev-002</computeroutput>.
</para>
<screen>
$ VBoxManage clonevm ol7 --name="ol7-dev-002" --register --snapshot="Snapshot 1"
</screen>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>See Also</title>
<para>
<xref linkend="vboxmanage-registervm" />
</para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
|
