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VirtualBox

Information

  • List available virtual machines:

      vboxmanage list vms

  • List running virtual machines:

      vboxmanage list runningvms

  • Show information about a virtual machine:

      vboxmanage showvminfo <vmname|uuid>

Control VMs

  • Start virtual machine:

      vboxmanage startvm <vmname|uuid>

  • Start virtual machine in headless mode:

      vboxmanage startvm <vmname|uuid> --type headless

    or:

      vboxheadless --startvm <vmname|uuid>

  • Start virtual machine in headless mode with VRDP enabled:

      vboxmanage controlvm <vmname|uuid> --vrde on

    or:

      vboxheadless --startvm <vmname|uuid> --vrde on

  • Connect to virtual machine’s VRDP:

      rdesktop-vrdp localhost

  • Gracefully shutdown virtual machine:

      vboxmanage controlvm <vmname|uuid> acpipowerbutton

  • Power-off virtual machine:

      vboxmanage controlvm <vmname|uuid> poweroff

  • Reset virtual machine:

      vboxmanage controlvm <vmname|uuid> reset

  • Pause virtual machine:

      vboxmanage controlvm <vmname|uuid> pause

  • Resume paused virtual machine:

      vboxmanage controlvm <vmname|uuid> resume

  • Save and stop virtual machine:

      vboxmanage controlvm <vmname|uuid> savestate

  • Discard saved state of virtual machine:

      vboxmanage discardstate <vmname|uuid>

Configure VMs

  • Limit RAM to 256MB:

      vboxmanage modifyvm <vmname|uuid> --memory 256

  • Set number of virtual CPUs:

      vboxmanage modifyvm <vmname|uuid> --cpus 2

  • Cap CPU usage to 50%:

      vboxmanage modifyvm <vmname|uuid> --cpuexecutioncap 50

  • Offset BIOS time one year in the future:

      vboxmanage modifyvm <vmname|uuid> --biossystemtimeoffset +31536000000

Snapshots

  • Create snapshot of virtual machine:

      vboxmanage snapshot <vmname|uuid> take <snapname>

  • List snapshots for virtual machine:

      vboxmanage snapshot <vmname|uuid> list

  • Restore virtual machine to the current snapshot:

      vboxmanage snapshot <vmname|uuid> restorecurrent

  • Restore virtual machine to a snapshot:

      vboxmanage snapshot <vmname|uuid> restore <snapname>

  • Delete specific snapshot:

      vboxmanage snapshot <vmname|uuid> delete <snapname>