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Secrets for controlling VirtualBox from the command line

linux.com — Sun's recently released VirtualBox 2 is one of the best virtualization applications for desktop users. It's available in two wallet-friendly flavors, with a few extra features in the closed-source variant. The software sports a nice graphical user interface, but few users realize that it can also be completely controlled via command-line interface.

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 30, 2008

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  • mista, on 10/30/2008, -0/+23Secrets - Also know as "stuff you'll find in the documentation".
  • ivencente, on 10/29/2008, -3/+10great. i gave vista the finger 2 weeks ago and am happy as a clam now. will use this.
  • bluemist, on 10/30/2008, -0/+6You can clone vm's!

    You can do "VBoxManage clonevdi" from the command line.
  • javaroast, on 10/30/2008, -0/+5Eh sorry about that I just checked the HCL and it specifically says that Eezyville's graphic card is not and will not be supported.
  • Optimus55, on 10/30/2008, -2/+6VirtualBox is a great tool for new users to get familiar with virtual machines. Definitely gets my recommendation.
  • tgiles, on 10/30/2008, -1/+5I love VirtualBox and use it pretty much every day here at work. The only real snag that I ever run into with the application is the lack of cloning vm's. Otherwise, it's some pretty great stuff for free.
  • etx313, on 10/30/2008, -2/+6Wow man that's a good story. THANKS! /sarcasm
  • ErrorLoading, on 10/30/2008, -0/+2I was using Virtual PC for my desktop before I used VirtualBox. It was nice, but for some reason the virtual network driver killed the network connection to my PC. It worked, but incredibly slow.

    Vmware works wonders for servers. I use the esx stuff at work and love it. I haven't ever used their desktop client, but I'd imagine it is decent. But, VirtualBox is free and it works for everything I've needed it for, so I've never switched from it.
  • johnomaz, on 10/30/2008, -1/+2I like vista but didn't feel like doing a full re-install again. I do it on a 6month to yearly basis for maintenance. Ubuntu was much faster and since I don't play games on my PC anymore, its quite fun. Also, you can't really 'tweak' windows like you can Linux. I'm finding it way more fun to play with Linux.
  • lynx44, on 10/30/2008, -0/+1Anyone know how to get VirtualBox to avoid the dialog when you close it (the one that asks whether you want to save state, shutdown, etc)? Its annoying and causes some issues on my Fedora box (for example, if the VM is in another workspace and I try to shutdown the computer, I'm unable to switch to the workspace to answer the dialog).
  • johndavidjack, on 10/30/2008, -0/+1That is slow, and wastes a lot of space (especially if you want incremental clones)...

    If you run virtualbox on Solaris/Opensolaris, and you use ZFS. Just create a ZFS filesystems for each vm, snapshot a 'gold image' of the filesystem (which contains the VDI file), then clone/compress it. Assign a new UUID for the VDI, and you're set ( `VBoxManage internalcommands setvdiuuid diskname.vdi` ).

    I have 13 virtualbox fully functional, independent clones right now that take up a grand total of.... 1.16g of space. Cloning vms using ZFS is ridiculously simple, and is easily scripted.

    I agree with the OP in principle though, I think it virtualbox should have cloning (full or incremental) built into the GUI product, especially since I'm not big on the VBoxManage clonevdi command.
  • Trifold, on 10/30/2008, -3/+4I read this as "Secrets for controlling VirtualBoy from the command line", which would've been a strong contender for the title of "most useless information in Digg history."
  • johndavidjack, on 10/30/2008, -0/+1I'm not trying to be a dick, but seriously, people that use VirtualBox should read the manual it comes with. It covers almost every topic possible with the product, in good detail.

    I used to browse the net looking for virtualbox solutions too, so I was guilty as charged, but now I keep a copy of the manual in plain site, because it has just about everything you need in it...
  • johndavidjack, on 10/30/2008, -1/+2Hmmmm, not sure that's what virtualization is made for right now...
  • ChayesFSS, on 10/30/2008, -1/+1VBox > *
    I just looked and I'm still running 1.6.2 and loving it...Best thing out there for desktop usage, far far better than vmware or virtual pc although I wish I could get my virtual osx boxes running on vbox
  • Gundamdriver, on 10/30/2008, -1/+0The command utility is very important if you are going to manage virtual machines on a remote headless server, apparently VirtualBox has done a good job here.

    One thing I just wonder: How to install Guest Additions for Windows as guest running on Linux as host? Simply mounting VBoxGuestAdditions.iso file for the virtual machine? I installed VirtualBox OSE on my Debian box with APT.
  • DaleCo2k, on 10/30/2008, -2/+0Why didn't this show up yesterday. I literally spent all day trying to clone a disk and could find a how-to. Oh Well. Thank you Digg!!!!!
  • Eezyville, on 10/30/2008, -3/+1Can I use my graphics card yet?
  • LilJimmyNordin, on 10/30/2008, -5/+2I love VirtualBoy.
  • insanebrain, on 10/30/2008, -4/+1VirtualBox needs DirectX support so I can play games in my VirtualWindows.
  • inactive, on 10/29/2008, -44/+0nice
    www.fastfreephplearning.blogspot.com

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