Oracle VM VirtualBox R User Manual Version 4.2.6 c 2004-2012 Oracle Corporation http://www.virtualbox.org Contents 1 First steps 10 1.1 Why is virtualization useful?............................. 11 1.2 Some terminology................................... 11 1.3 Features overview................................... 12 1.4 Supported host operating systems.......................... 14 1.5 Installing VirtualBox and extension packs...................... 15 1.6 Starting VirtualBox.................................. 16 1.7 Creating your first virtual machine......................... 17 1.8 Running your virtual machine............................ 20 1.8.1 Starting a new VM for the first time.................... 20 1.8.2 Capturing and releasing keyboard and mouse.............. 21 1.8.3 Typing special characters.......................... 22 1.8.4 Changing removable media......................... 23 1.8.5 Resizing the machine’s window...................... 23 1.8.6 Saving the state of the machine...................... 23 1.9 Using VM groups................................... 24 1.10 Snapshots....................................... 25 1.10.1 Taking, restoring and deleting snapshots................. 25 1.10.2 Snapshot contents.............................. 27 1.11 Virtual machine configuration............................ 28 1.12 Removing virtual machines.............................. 28 1.13 Cloning virtual machines............................... 28 1.14 Importing and exporting virtual machines..................... 29 1.15 Global Settings.................................... 31 1.16 Alternative front-ends................................. 31 2 Installation details 33 2.1 Installing on Windows hosts............................. 33 2.1.1 Prerequisites................................. 33 2.1.2 Performing the installation......................... 33 2.1.3 Uninstallation................................ 34 2.1.4 Unattended installation........................... 34 2.2 Installing on Mac OS X hosts............................. 35 2.2.1 Performing the installation......................... 35 2.2.2 Uninstallation................................ 35 2.2.3 Unattended installation........................... 35 2.3 Installing on Linux hosts............................... 35 2.3.1 Prerequisites................................. 35 2.3.2 The VirtualBox kernel module....................... 36 2.3.3 Performing the installation......................... 37 2.3.4 The vboxusers group............................ 40 2.3.5 Starting VirtualBox on Linux........................ 40 2.4 Installing on Solaris hosts.............................. 41 2.4.1 Performing the installation......................... 41 2.4.2 The vboxuser group............................. 41 2.4.3 Starting VirtualBox on Solaris....................... 42 2 Contents 2.4.4 Uninstallation................................ 42 2.4.5 Unattended installation........................... 42 2.4.6 Configuring a zone for running VirtualBox................ 42 3 Configuring virtual machines 43 3.1 Supported guest operating systems......................... 43 3.1.1 Mac OS X guests............................... 44 3.1.2 64-bit guests................................. 44 3.2 Emulated hardware.................................. 45 3.3 General settings.................................... 46 3.3.1 “Basic” tab.................................. 46 3.3.2 “Advanced” tab............................... 46 3.3.3 “Description” tab.............................. 46 3.4 System settings.................................... 47 3.4.1 “Motherboard” tab............................. 47 3.4.2 “Processor” tab............................... 48 3.4.3 “Acceleration” tab.............................. 49 3.5 Display settings.................................... 49 3.6 Storage settings.................................... 50 3.7 Audio settings..................................... 52 3.8 Network settings................................... 52 3.9 Serial ports...................................... 53 3.10 USB support...................................... 54 3.10.1 USB settings................................. 54 3.10.2 Implementation notes for Windows and Linux hosts........... 56 3.11 Shared folders..................................... 56 3.12 Alternative firmware (EFI).............................. 56 3.12.1 Video modes in EFI............................. 56 4 Guest Additions 58 4.1 Introduction...................................... 58 4.2 Installing and Maintaining Guest Additions..................... 59 4.2.1 Guest Additions for Windows........................ 59 4.2.2 Guest Additions for Linux.......................... 62 4.2.3 Guest Additions for Solaris......................... 66 4.2.4 Guest Additions for OS/2.......................... 67 4.3 Shared folders..................................... 67 4.3.1 Manual mounting.............................. 68 4.3.2 Automatic mounting............................ 69 4.4 Hardware-accelerated graphics........................... 69 4.4.1 Hardware 3D acceleration (OpenGL and Direct3D 8/9)......... 69 4.4.2 Hardware 2D video acceleration for Windows guests........... 71 4.5 Seamless windows.................................. 71 4.6 Guest properties.................................... 72 4.7 Guest control..................................... 74 4.8 Memory overcommitment.............................. 74 4.8.1 Memory ballooning............................. 74 4.8.2 Page Fusion................................. 75 5 Virtual storage 77 5.1 Hard disk controllers: IDE, SATA (AHCI), SCSI, SAS................ 77 5.2 Disk image files (VDI, VMDK, VHD, HDD)..................... 79 5.3 The Virtual Media Manager............................. 80 5.4 Special image write modes.............................. 82 3 Contents 5.5 Differencing images.................................. 83 5.6 Cloning disk images.................................. 85 5.7 Host I/O caching................................... 86 5.8 Limiting bandwidth for disk images......................... 86 5.9 CD/DVD support................................... 87 5.10 iSCSI servers...................................... 88 6 Virtual networking 89 6.1 Virtual networking hardware............................. 89 6.2 Introduction to networking modes.......................... 90 6.3 Network Address Translation (NAT)......................... 91 6.3.1 Configuring port forwarding with NAT.................. 91 6.3.2 PXE booting with NAT............................ 92 6.3.3 NAT limitations............................... 92 6.4 Bridged networking.................................. 93 6.5 Internal networking.................................. 94 6.6 Host-only networking................................. 95 6.7 UDP Tunnel networking............................... 96 6.8 VDE networking.................................... 96 6.9 Limiting bandwidth for network I/O......................... 97 6.10 Improving network performance........................... 98 7 Remote virtual machines 99 7.1 Remote display (VRDP support)........................... 99 7.1.1 Common third-party RDP viewers..................... 99 7.1.2 VBoxHeadless, the remote desktop server................. 100 7.1.3 Step by step: creating a virtual machine on a headless server...... 101 7.1.4 Remote USB................................. 102 7.1.5 RDP authentication............................. 103 7.1.6 RDP encryption............................... 104 7.1.7 Multiple connections to the VRDP server................. 105 7.1.8 Multiple remote monitors.......................... 105 7.1.9 VRDP video redirection........................... 106 7.1.10 VRDP customization............................. 106 7.2 Teleporting...................................... 107 8 VBoxManage 109 8.1 Introduction...................................... 109 8.2 Commands overview................................. 110 8.3 General options.................................... 117 8.4 VBoxManage list................................... 117 8.5 VBoxManage showvminfo.............................. 118 8.6 VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm...................... 119 8.7 VBoxManage createvm................................ 119 8.8 VBoxManage modifyvm............................... 120 8.8.1 General settings............................... 120 8.8.2 Networking settings............................. 122 8.8.3 Serial port, audio, clipboard, remote desktop and USB settings..... 124 8.8.4 Remote machine settings.......................... 125 8.8.5 Teleporting settings............................. 125 8.9 VBoxManage clonevm................................ 126 8.10 VBoxManage import................................. 127 8.11 VBoxManage export.................................. 128 8.12 VBoxManage startvm................................. 128 4 Contents 8.13 VBoxManage controlvm............................... 128 8.14 VBoxManage discardstate.............................. 130 8.15 VBoxManage adoptstate............................... 130 8.16 VBoxManage snapshot................................ 130 8.17 VBoxManage closemedium.............................. 131 8.18 VBoxManage storageattach.............................. 131 8.19 VBoxManage storagectl................................ 133 8.20 VBoxManage bandwidthctl.............................. 134 8.21 VBoxManage showhdinfo............................... 134 8.22 VBoxManage createhd................................ 135 8.23 VBoxManage modifyhd................................ 135 8.24 VBoxManage clonehd................................. 136 8.25 VBoxManage