Oracle VM VirtualBox R User Manual Version 3.2.14 c 2004-2011 Oracle Corporation http://www.virtualbox.org Contents 1 First steps 8 1.1 Why is virtualization useful?.............................8 1.2 Some terminology...................................9 1.3 Features overview................................... 10 1.4 Supported host operating systems.......................... 12 1.5 Installing and starting VirtualBox.......................... 13 1.6 Creating your first virtual machine......................... 14 1.7 Running your virtual machine............................ 17 1.7.1 Keyboard and mouse support in virtual machines............ 17 1.7.2 Changing removable media......................... 19 1.7.3 Saving the state of the machine...................... 20 1.8 Snapshots....................................... 20 1.9 Virtual machine configuration............................ 23 1.10 Deleting virtual machines.............................. 24 1.11 Importing and exporting virtual machines..................... 24 1.12 Alternative front-ends................................. 25 2 Installation details 27 2.1 Installing on Windows hosts............................. 27 2.1.1 Prerequisites................................. 27 2.1.2 Performing the installation......................... 27 2.1.3 Uninstallation................................ 28 2.1.4 Unattended installation........................... 28 2.2 Installing on Mac OS X hosts............................. 28 2.2.1 Performing the installation......................... 28 2.2.2 Uninstallation................................ 29 2.2.3 Unattended installation........................... 29 2.3 Installing on Linux hosts............................... 29 2.3.1 Prerequisites................................. 29 2.3.2 The VirtualBox kernel module....................... 29 2.3.3 USB and advanced networking support.................. 30 2.3.4 Performing the installation......................... 30 2.3.5 Starting VirtualBox on Linux........................ 34 2.4 Installing on Solaris hosts.............................. 35 2.4.1 Performing the installation......................... 35 2.4.2 Starting VirtualBox on Solaris....................... 35 2.4.3 Uninstallation................................ 36 2.4.4 Unattended installation........................... 36 2.4.5 Configuring a zone for running VirtualBox................ 36 3 Configuring virtual machines 37 3.1 Supported guest operating systems......................... 37 3.1.1 Mac OS X Server guests........................... 38 3.1.2 64-bit guests................................. 38 3.2 Emulated hardware.................................. 39 3.3 General settings.................................... 40 2 Contents 3.3.1 “Basic” tab.................................. 40 3.3.2 “Advanced” tab............................... 40 3.3.3 “Description” tab.............................. 40 3.4 System settings.................................... 40 3.4.1 “Motherboard” tab............................. 41 3.4.2 “Processor” tab............................... 42 3.4.3 “Acceleration” tab.............................. 42 3.5 Display settings.................................... 43 3.6 Storage settings.................................... 44 3.7 Audio settings..................................... 45 3.8 Network settings................................... 46 3.9 Serial ports...................................... 46 3.10 USB support...................................... 47 3.10.1 USB settings................................. 47 3.10.2 Implementation notes for Windows and Linux hosts........... 48 3.11 Shared folders..................................... 49 3.12 Alternative firmware (EFI).............................. 49 3.12.1 Video modes in EFI............................. 49 4 Guest Additions 50 4.1 Introduction...................................... 50 4.2 Installing and Maintaining Guest Additions..................... 51 4.2.1 Guest Additions for Windows........................ 51 4.2.2 Guest Additions for Linux.......................... 54 4.2.3 Guest Additions for Solaris......................... 59 4.2.4 Guest Additions for OS/2.......................... 60 4.3 Shared folders..................................... 60 4.4 Seamless windows.................................. 61 4.5 Hardware-accelerated graphics........................... 62 4.5.1 Hardware 3D acceleration (OpenGL and Direct3D 8/9)......... 62 4.5.2 Hardware 2D video acceleration for Windows guests........... 63 4.6 Guest properties.................................... 63 4.7 Guest control..................................... 65 4.8 Memory ballooning.................................. 66 4.9 Page Fusion...................................... 67 5 Virtual storage 68 5.1 Hard disk controllers: IDE, SATA (AHCI), SCSI, SAS................ 68 5.2 Disk image files (VDI, VMDK, VHD, HDD)..................... 71 5.3 The Virtual Media Manager............................. 71 5.4 Special image write modes.............................. 73 5.5 Differencing images.................................. 74 5.6 Cloning disk images.................................. 76 5.7 Disk images and I/O caching............................. 76 5.8 CD/DVD drive operation............................... 77 5.9 Writing CDs and DVDs using the host drive..................... 78 5.10 iSCSI servers...................................... 79 5.10.1 Access iSCSI targets via Internal Networking............... 79 6 Virtual networking 80 6.1 Virtual networking hardware............................. 80 6.2 Introduction to networking modes.......................... 81 6.3 Network Address Translation (NAT)......................... 82 6.3.1 Configuring port forwarding with NAT.................. 82 3 Contents 6.3.2 PXE booting with NAT............................ 83 6.3.3 NAT limitations............................... 83 6.4 Bridged networking.................................. 84 6.5 Internal networking.................................. 85 6.6 Host-only networking................................. 86 7 Remote virtual machines 87 7.1 Remote display (VRDP support)........................... 87 7.1.1 Common third-party RDP viewers..................... 87 7.1.2 VBoxHeadless, the VRDP-only server.................... 88 7.1.3 Step by step: creating a virtual machine on a headless server...... 89 7.1.4 Remote USB................................. 90 7.1.5 RDP authentication............................. 91 7.1.6 RDP encryption............................... 91 7.1.7 Multiple VRDP connections......................... 92 7.1.8 Multiple remote monitors.......................... 92 7.1.9 VRDP video redirection........................... 92 7.1.10 VRDP customization............................. 93 7.2 Teleporting...................................... 93 8 VBoxManage 95 8.1 Introduction...................................... 95 8.2 Commands overview................................. 96 8.3 VBoxManage list................................... 102 8.4 VBoxManage showvminfo.............................. 102 8.5 VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm...................... 103 8.6 VBoxManage createvm................................ 104 8.7 VBoxManage modifyvm............................... 104 8.7.1 General settings............................... 104 8.7.2 Networking settings............................. 106 8.7.3 Serial port, audio, clipboard, VRDP and USB settings.......... 108 8.7.4 Remote machine settings.......................... 109 8.7.5 Teleporting settings............................. 109 8.8 VBoxManage import................................. 110 8.9 VBoxManage export.................................. 111 8.10 VBoxManage startvm................................. 111 8.11 VBoxManage controlvm............................... 112 8.12 VBoxManage discardstate.............................. 113 8.13 VBoxManage snapshot................................ 113 8.14 VBoxManage openmedium / closemedium..................... 114 8.15 VBoxManage storagectl / storageattach....................... 114 8.15.1 VBoxManage storagectl........................... 114 8.15.2 VBoxManage storageattach......................... 115 8.16 VBoxManage showhdinfo............................... 115 8.17 VBoxManage createhd................................ 116 8.18 VBoxManage modifyhd................................ 116 8.19 VBoxManage clonehd................................. 117 8.20 VBoxManage convertfromraw............................ 117 8.21 VBoxManage addiscsidisk.............................. 118 8.22 VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata....................... 118 8.23 VBoxManage setproperty............................... 119 8.24 VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove..................... 119 8.25 VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove....................... 119 8.26 VBoxManage metrics................................. 120 4 Contents 8.27 VBoxManage guestproperty............................. 121 8.28 VBoxManage guestcontrol.............................. 122 8.29 VBoxManage dhcpserver............................... 123 9 Advanced topics 125 9.1 VirtualBox configuration data............................ 125 9.2 VBoxSDL, the simplified VM displayer........................ 126 9.2.1 Introduction................................. 126 9.2.2 Secure labeling with VBoxSDL....................... 127 9.2.3 Releasing modifiers with VBoxSDL on Linux............... 128 9.3 Automated guest logons............................... 128 9.3.1 Automated Windows guest logons..................... 128 9.3.2 Automated Linux/Unix guest logons...................