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

VBoxManage startvm

VBoxManage-startvm 1
VBoxManage-startvm start a virtual machine &product-name;
`VBoxManage startvm` --putenv=name[=value] --type= gui headless sdl separate --password=file --password-id=password-identifier uuid vmname

## Description

The `VBoxManage startvm` command starts an &product-name; virtual machine (VM) that is in the Powered Off or Saved state.

`uuid | vmname`

  Specifies the name or Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) of the VM.

`--putenv=name=value`

  Assigns a value to an environment variable as a name-value pair. For example, VBOX_DISABLE_HOST_DISK_CACHE=1.

  The short form of this option is `-E`.

`--type=gui | headless | sdl | separate`

  Specifies the frontend used to start the VM.

  You can use the `VBoxManage setproperty` command to set a global default value for the frontend. Alternatively, you can use the `VBoxManage modifyvm` command to specify a default frontend value for a specific VM. If neither a global or per-VM default value is set and you do not specify the `--type` option, then the VM opens in a window on the host desktop.

  The `--type` option accepts the following values:

  `gui`

    Starts a VM in a graphical user interface (GUI) window. This is the default.

  `headless`

    Starts a VM for remote display only.

  `sdl`

    Starts a VM using the VBoxSDL frontend.

  `separate`

    Starts a VM with a detachable user interface (UI), which means that the VM runs headless with the UI in a separate process.

`--password`

  Use the `--password` to supply the encryption password. Either specify the absolute pathname of a password file on the host operating system, or `-` to prompt you for the password on the command line.

`--password-id`

  Use the `--password-id` option to specify the id the password is supplied for.

If a VM fails to start with a particular frontend and the error information is inconclusive, consider starting the VM directly by running the frontend. This workaround might provide additional error information.

## Examples

The following command starts the `ol7u6` VM:

    $ VBoxManage startvm ol7u6

The following command starts the `ol7u6-mininstall` VM in headless mode.

    $ VBoxManage startvm ol7u6-mininstall --type headless

## See Also

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