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

VBoxManage createmedium

VBoxManage-createmedium 1
VBoxManage-createmedium create a new medium &product-name;
`VBoxManage createmedium` disk dvd floppy --filename=filename --size=megabytes --sizebyte=bytes --diffparent= UUID filename --format= VDI VMDK VHD --variant= Standard Fixed Split2G Stream ESX Formatted RawDisk --property=name=value --property-file=name=/path/to/file/with/value

## Description

The `VBoxManage createmedium` command creates a new medium, such as a disk image file.

For compatibility with earlier versions of &product-name;, you can use the `createvdi` and `createhd` commands instead of the `createmedium` command.

disk | dvd | floppy

  Specifies the media type. The default value is `disk`.

`--filename=filename`

  Specifies the absolute path name to a file on the host file system.

`--size=megabytes`

  Specifies the image capacity in one megabyte units.

`--sizebyte=bytes`

  Specifies the image capacity in one byte units.

`--diffparent=UUID | filename`

  Specifies the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) or absolute path name of a differencing image parent file on the host file system.

  Use this file to share a base box disk image among VMs.

`--format=VDI | VMDK | VHD`

  Specifies the file format of the output file. Valid formats are `VDI`, `VMDK`, and `VHD`. The default format is `VDI`.

`--variant=Standard | Fixed | Split2G | Stream | ESX | Formatted | RawDisk [,...]`

  Specifies the file format variant for the target medium, which is a comma-separated list of variants. Following are the valid values:

  - `Standard` is the default disk image type, which has a dynamically allocated file size.

  - `Fixed` uses a disk image that has a fixed file size.

  - `Split2G` indicates that the disk image is split into 2GB segments. This value is valid for VMDK disk images only.

  - `Stream` optimizes the disk image for downloading. This value is valid for VMDK disk images only.

  - `ESX` is used for some VMWare products. This value is valid for VMDK disk images only.

  - `Formatted` formats the medium automatically. This value is valid for floppy images only.

  - `RawDisk` is used for creating a VMDK image which provides direct access to the hard disk on the host using its raw interface. This value is valid for VMDK disk images only. For detailed information about raw disk access, see .

  Note that not all variant combinations are valid. Specifying incompatible variant values in the list will produce an error message.

`--property=name=value`

  Specifies any required file format dependent parameters in `key=value` form. Optional.

`--property-file=name=/path/to/file/with/value`

  Specifies any required file format dependent parameters in `key=file/with/value` form. The value is taken from the file. Optional.

## Examples

The following command creates a new disk image file named `disk01.vdi`. The file size is 1024 megabytes.

    $ VBoxManage createmedium --filename disk01.vdi --size 1024

The following command creates a new floppy disk image file named `floppy01.vdi`. The file size is 1 megabyte.

    $ VBoxManage createmedium floppy --filename floppy01.img --size 1

The following command creates a raw disk image of an entire physical disk on a Linux host.

    $ VBoxManage createmedium disk --filename=/path/to/rawdisk.vmdk --variant=RawDisk --format=VMDK --property RawDrive=/dev/sda