$Date: 2025-08-11 19:18:47 +0200 (Mon, 11 Aug 2025) $

VBoxManage

VBoxManage 1
VBoxManage &product-name; command-line interface &product-name;
`VBoxManage` -q --nologo --settingspw=password --settingspwfile=pw-file @response-file subcommand `VBoxManage help` subcommand `VBoxManage commands` `VBoxManage` -V --version `VBoxManage` --dump-build-type

## Description

The `VBoxManage` command is the command-line interface (CLI) for the &product-name; software. The CLI supports all the features that are available with the &product-name; graphical user interface (GUI). In addition, you can use the `VBoxManage` command to manage the features of the virtualization engine that cannot be managed by the GUI.

Each time you invoke the `VBoxManage` command, only one command is executed. Note that some `VBoxManage` subcommands invoke several subcommands.

Run the `VBoxManage` command from the command line of the host operating system (OS) to control &product-name; software.

The `VBoxManage` command is stored in the following locations on the host system:

- Linux: `/usr/bin/VBoxManage`

- Mac OS X: `/Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxManage`

- Oracle Solaris: `/opt/VirtualBox/bin/VBoxManage`

- Windows: `C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe`

The `VBoxManage` command performs particular tasks by using subcommands, such as `list`, `createvm`, and `startvm`. See the associated information for each `VBoxManage` subcommand.

If required, specify the VM by its name or by its Universally Unique Identifier (UUID).

Use the `VBoxManage list vms` command to obtain information about all currently registered VMs, including the VM names and associated UUIDs.

Note that VM names which contain spaces or special characters must be enclosed in quotes.

### General Options

`--nologo`

  Suppresses the output of the logo information, which is useful for scripts.

  The short version of this option is `-q`.

`--settingspw=[password]`

  Specifies the settings password. You can optionally specify the password as an argument to this option. If you do not specify the password in this way, the `VBoxManage` command prompts you for the password.

  The settings password is a security feature that encrypts stored settings, which are stored as plain text by default.

  Settings which have been encrypted are done so using a one-way encryption algorithm so cannot be decrypted. Thus, if the settings are encrypted you must include the `--settingspw` or `--settingspwfile` option every time `VBoxManage` is used.

  Only the iSCSI secret is encrypted at this time.

  This design does not conform to Oracle's security guidelines. You should not be able to specify a password on the command line because the password can be seen in a process listing.
`--settingspwfile=pw-filename`

  Specifies the file that contains the settings password.

`--version`

  Shows version information about the `VBoxManage` command.

  The short version of this option is `-V`.

@response-file

  Loads arguments from the specified Bourne shell response file.

subcommand

  Specifies one of the `VBoxManage` subcommands, such as `controlvm`, `createvm`, `list`, `modifyvm`, `showvminfo`, `startvm`, `storageattach`, and `storagectl`.

  Each subcommand is described in its own command topic, some of which are shown in See Also sections.

## Examples

The following command creates a virtual machine called `Win8` and registers it with &product-name; by using the `--register` option.

    $ VBoxManage createvm --name "Win8" --register
    Virtual machine 'Win8' is created.
    UUID: UUID-string
    Settings file: '/home/username/VirtualBox VMs/Win8/Win8.vbox'

The command output shows that the `Win8` VM is assigned a UUID and an XML machine settings file.

You can use the `VBoxManage showvminfo` command to view the configuration information of a VM.

The following example uses the `VBoxManage modifyvm` command to change the amount of memory for the `Windows XP` VM to be 1024 megabytes:

    $ VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --memory 1024

Note that you can use the `VBoxManage modifyvm` command only for VMs that are powered off.

You can use the `VBoxManage storagectl` command or the `VBoxManage storageattach` command to modify the storage configuration for a VM. For example, to create a SATA storage controller called `sata01` and add it to the `ol7` VM:

    $ VBoxManage storagectl ol7 --name "sata01" --add sata

Use the `VBoxManage startvm` command to start a VM that is currently powered off. For example, to start the `win7` VM:

    $ VBoxManage startvm win7

Use the `VBoxManage controlvm` command to pause or save a VM that is currently running. You can also use this command to modify settings for the VM. For example, to enable audio input for the `ol6u9` VM.

    $ VBoxManage controlvm ol6u9 audioin on

## See Also

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