HOWTOs, tips and tricks

HOWTO Create VirtualBox VM using command line

References

Full user manual: https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch08.html

Preparation

Before starting doing something you should think about the following things:

• name of VM to use it in command line tool parameters
• memory size; I use 1024Mb
• hard drive size, and location
• ports you will allocate on the host machine to connect your VM:
  • VNC port
  • SSH port - optional
• operating system type; I use Debian_64; you can list all OS types supported using VBoxManage list ostypes

For the sake of simplicity I will use the following variables below:

export VMNAME=<name>
export HDDNAME=${HOME}/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/${VMNAME}.vdi
export SSHPORT=<ssh-to-use-from-host-machine>
export VNCPORT=<vnc-to-use-from-host-machine>
export HOST=<host-machine>

Install VirtualBox

Install VirtualBox itself and extension pack to make VRDP work:

sudo apt-get install virtualbox virtualbox-ext-pack

Create VM

Create hard drive for the guest system.

VBoxManage createmedium disk --filename ${HDDNAME} --size <size> --format VDI
# old syntax: VBoxManage createhd --filename ${HDDNAME} --size <size> --format VDI

Create and register new virtual machine.

VBoxManage createvm --name ${VMNAME} --ostype Debian_64 --register

Modify VM properties to add VNC remote control, add network interface and change memory size if required:

VBoxManage modifyvm ${VMNAME} --memory 1024 --vrde on --vrdeport ${VNCPORT} --nic1 nat

Add port forwarding rules if required. --natpf<1-N> is an id of a NAT network interface to apply rule, if system has only network interface then all rules should be applied using --natpf1. For instance add forwarding for the SSH server port:

VBoxManage modifyvm ${VMNAME} --natpf1 ssh,tcp,127.0.0.1,${SSHPORT},,22
# full rule syntax: VBoxManage modifyvm ${VMNAME} --natpf<1-N> [<rulename>],tcp|udp,[<hostip>],<hostport>,[<guestip>],<guestport>

Add bootable SATA controller:

VBoxManage storagectl ${VMNAME} --name sata1 --add sata --bootable on

Add hard drive:

VBoxManage storageattach ${VMNAME} --storagectl sata1 --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd --medium ${HDDNAME}

Start/stop VM

Show VM information:

VBoxManage showvminfo ${VMNAME} | less

Start VM:

VBoxHeadless --startvm ${VMNAME}

Stop VM:

VBoxManage controlvm ${VMNAME} acpipowerbutton

Install operating system

Add DVD drive to install an operating system. I use Debian netinstall disk which is available at Getting Debian page.

VBoxManage storageattach ${VMNAME} --storagectl sata1 --port 1 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium ./debian-9.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso

Start your VM and connect to it using VNC client:

VBoxHeadless --startvm ${VMNAME}
vncviewer ${HOST}:${VNCPORT}

Install operating system. Remove install disk after installation:

VBoxManage storageattach ${VMNAME} --storagectl sata1 --port 1 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium none

Install guest additions. You can download guest additions for different virtual box versions at VirtualBox downloads