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<topic xml:lang="en-us" id="ct_virtual-media-manager">
   <title>The Virtual Media Manager</title>
   <body>
      <p><ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> keeps track of all the hard disk, CD/DVD-ROM, and floppy disk images which are in use by virtual machines. These are often referred to as <i>known media</i> and come from two sources:</p>
      <ul>
         <li>
            <p>All media currently attached to virtual machines.</p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p>Registered media, for compatibility with legacy <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> versions.</p>
         </li>
      </ul>
      <p>To view and change the known media, click <uicontrol>Media</uicontrol> in <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/vbox-mgr"/>.</p>
      <p>The known media are conveniently grouped in separate tabs for the supported formats. These formats are: </p>
      <ul>
         <li>
            <p>Hard disk images, either in <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>'s own Virtual Disk Image (VDI) format, or in the third-party formats listed in <xref href="vdidetails.dita#vdidetails"/>. </p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p>CD/DVD images in standard ISO format. </p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p>Floppy images in standard RAW format. </p>
         </li>
      </ul>
      <p>For each image, the Virtual Media Manager shows you the full path of the image file and other information, such as the virtual machine the image is currently attached to. </p>
      <p>The Virtual Media Manager enables you to do the following: </p>
      <ul>
         <li>
            <p><b outputclass="bold">Add</b> an image to the known media. </p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p><b outputclass="bold">Create</b> a new disk image. </p>
            <ul>
               <li>
                  <p>For hard disks, the <b outputclass="bold">Create Virtual Hard Disk</b> wizard is shown. See <xref href="create-virtual-hard-disk-image.dita"/>.</p>
               </li>
               <li>
                  <p>For optical disks, the <b outputclass="bold">VISO Creator</b> tool is shown. See <xref href="create-optical-disk-image.dita"/>.</p>
               </li>
               <li>
                  <p>For floppy disks, the <b outputclass="bold">Floppy Disk Creator</b> tool is shown. See <xref href="create-floppy-disk-image.dita"/>.</p>
               </li>
            </ul>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p><b outputclass="bold">Copy</b> an image to create another one. </p>
            <p>For virtual hard disks, you can specify one of the following target types: VDI, VHD, or VMDK. </p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p><b outputclass="bold">Move</b> an image to another location. </p>
            <p>A file dialog prompts you for the new image file location. </p>
            <p>When you use the Virtual Media Manager to move a disk image, <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> updates all related configuration files automatically. </p>
            <note>
               <p>Always use the Virtual Media Manager or the <userinput>VBoxManage modifymedium</userinput> command to move a disk image. </p>
               <p>If you use a file management feature of the host OS to move a disk image to a new location, run the <userinput>VBoxManage modifymedium --setlocation</userinput> command to configure the new path of the disk image on the host file system. This command updates the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> configuration automatically. </p>
            </note>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p><b outputclass="bold">Remove</b> an image from the known media. You can optionally delete the image file when removing the image.</p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p><b outputclass="bold">Release</b> an image to detach it from a VM. This action only applies if the image is currently attached to a VM as a virtual hard disk.</p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p><b outputclass="bold">Clear</b> all inaccessible disk images from the list. The disk images are released from the VMs they are attached to and removed from the known media.</p>
            <note>
               <p>This option is for optical disks and floppy disks only.</p>
            </note>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p><b outputclass="bold">Search</b> for an image by name or UUID.</p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p>View and edit the <b outputclass="bold">Properties</b> of a disk image.</p>
            <p>Available properties include the following:</p>
            <ul>
               <li>
                  <p><b outputclass="bold">Type:</b> Specifies the snapshot behavior of the disk. See <xref href="hdimagewrites.dita#hdimagewrites"/>. </p>
               </li>
               <li>
                  <p><b outputclass="bold">Location:</b> Specifies the location of the disk image file on the host system. You can use a file dialog to browse for the disk image location.</p>
               </li>
               <li>
                  <p><b outputclass="bold">Description:</b> Specifies a short description of the disk image.</p>
               </li>
               <li>
                  <p><b outputclass="bold">Size:</b> Specifies the size of the disk image. You can use the slider to increase or decrease the disk image size.</p>
               </li>
               <li>
                  <p><b outputclass="bold">Information:</b> Specifies detailed information about the disk image.</p>
               </li>
            </ul>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p><b outputclass="bold">Refresh</b> the property values of the selected disk image.</p>
         </li>
      </ul>
      <p>To perform these actions, highlight the medium in the Virtual Media Manager and then do one of the following: </p>
      <ul>
         <li>
            <p>Click an icon in the Virtual Media Manager toolbar. </p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p>Right-click the medium and select an option. </p>
         </li>
      </ul>
      <p>Use the <b outputclass="bold">Storage</b> page in a VM's <b outputclass="bold">Settings</b> window to create a new disk image. By default, disk images are stored in the VM's folder. </p>
      <p>You can copy hard disk image files to other host systems and then import them in to VMs from the host system. However, some Windows guest OSes may require that you configure the new VM in a similar way to the old one. </p>
      <note>
         <p>Do not simply make copies of virtual disk images. If you import such a second copy into a VM, <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> issues an error because <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> assigns a universally unique identifier (UUID) to each disk image to ensure that it is only used one time. See <xref href="cloningvdis.dita#cloningvdis"/>. Also, if you want to copy a VM to another system, use the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> import and export features. See <xref href="ovf.dita#ovf"/>. </p>
      </note>
   </body>
</topic>
