Oracle VirtualBox: User Guide for Release 7.

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 Preface
o Audience
o Related Documents
o Conventions
o Documentation Accessibility
o Access to Oracle Support for Accessibility
o Diversity and Inclusion
 First Steps
o Why is Virtualization Useful?
o Some Terminology
o Features Overview
 Alternative Front Ends
o Available Installation Packages
 Host and Guest Combinations
 Arm Host Limitations
 Intel Host CPU Requirements
o Installing Oracle VirtualBox and Extension Packs
o Starting Oracle VirtualBox
o Configuring Oracle VirtualBox
 Oracle VirtualBox Preferences
 Experience Levels for VirtualBox Manager
 Global Tools
o Adding Virtual Machines
o Creating a Virtual Machine
 Specify Name and Operating System
 Configure Unattended Guest OS Install
 Set Up VM Hardware
 Specify a Virtual Hard Disk
o Running a Virtual Machine
 Starting a New VM for the First Time
 Virtual Machine Status Bar
 Capturing and Releasing Keyboard and Mouse
 Typing Special Characters
 Changing Removable Media
 Resizing the Machine's Window
 Saving the State of the Machine
o Managing VMs
 Configure the Settings for a VM
 Using VM Groups
o Snapshots
 Taking, Restoring, and Deleting Snapshots
 Snapshot Contents
o Removing and Moving Virtual Machines

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 o Cloning a Virtual Machine
o Importing and Exporting Virtual Machines
 About the OVF Format
 Importing an Appliance in OVF Format
 Exporting an Appliance in OVF Format
o Integrating with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
 Preparing for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Integration
 Creating an API Signing Key Pair
 Uploading the Public Key to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
 Creating a Cloud Profile
 Using the Cloud Profile Manager
 Creating a New Cloud Profile
 Importing a Cloud Profile
 Using Oracle VirtualBox With Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
 Using Cloud Virtual Machines
 About the OCI VM Group
 Creating a New Cloud VM
 Adding a Cloud VM
 Cloning a Cloud VM
 Changing Settings for a Cloud VM
 Controlling a Cloud VM
 Monitoring Cloud VM Performance
 Removing a Cloud VM
 Creating an Instance Console Connection for a Cloud
VM
 Exporting an Appliance to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
 Preparing a VM for Export to Oracle Cloud
Infrastructure
 Importing an Instance from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
 Importing an Instance: Overview of Events
 Using a Cloud Network
 Using VBoxManage Commands With Oracle Cloud
Infrastructure
o Soft Keyboard
 Using the Soft Keyboard
 Creating a Custom Keyboard Layout
o Monitoring of Virtual Machines
 VM Activity Overview
 Session Information Dialog
 The Log Viewer
 Installation Details
o Installing on Windows Hosts
 Prerequisites
 Windows Installation Directory Security Requirements

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  Performing the Installation
 Uninstallation
 Unattended Installation
 Public Properties
o Installing on macOS Hosts
 Performing the Installation
 Uninstallation
 Unattended Installation
o Installing on Linux Hosts
 Prerequisites
 The Oracle VirtualBox Kernel Modules
 Kernel Modules and UEFI Secure Boot
 Performing the Installation
 Installing Oracle VirtualBox from a Debian or Ubuntu
Package
 Using the Alternative Generic Installer (VirtualBox.run)
 Performing a Manual Installation
 Updating and Uninstalling Oracle VirtualBox
 Automatic Installation of Debian Packages
 Automatic Installation of RPM Packages
 Automatic Installation Options
 The vboxusers Group
 Starting Oracle VirtualBox on Linux
o Installing on Oracle Solaris Hosts
 Performing the Installation
 The vboxuser Group
 Starting Oracle VirtualBox on Oracle Solaris
 Uninstallation
 Unattended Installation
 Configuring a Non-Global Zone for Running Oracle
VirtualBox
o Installing an Extension Pack
 The Extension Pack Manager
 Configuring Virtual Machines
o Guest Operating Systems
 x86 and x86-64 Guest Operating Systems
 Arm Guest Operating Systems
 Other Guest Operating Systems
 macOS Guests
 64-bit Guests
o Unattended Guest Installation
 Using VBoxManage Commands for Unattended Guest
Installation
o Emulated Hardware

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 o The Settings Window
o General Settings
 Basic Tab
 Advanced Tab
 Description Tab
 Disk Encryption Tab
o System Settings
 Motherboard Tab
 Processor Tab
 Acceleration Tab
o Display Settings
 Screen Tab
 Remote Display Tab
 Recording Tab
o Storage Settings
o Audio Settings
o Network Settings
o Serial Ports
o USB Support
 USB Settings
 Implementation Notes for Windows and Linux Hosts
o Shared Folders
o User Interface
o Alternative Firmware (UEFI)
 Video Modes in EFI
 Specifying Boot Arguments
 Guest Additions
o Introduction to Guest Additions
o Installing and Maintaining Guest Additions
 Guest Additions for Windows
 Installing the Windows Guest Additions
 Updating the Windows Guest Additions
 Unattended Installation of the Windows Guest Additions
 Installing Code Signing Certificates
 Manual File Extraction
 Guest Additions for Linux
 Installing the Linux Guest Additions
 Unattended Installation of the Linux Guest Additions
 Graphics and Mouse Integration
 Updating the Linux Guest Additions
 Uninstalling the Linux Guest Additions
 Guest Additions for Oracle Solaris
 Installing the Oracle Solaris Guest Additions

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  Unattended Installation of the Oracle Solaris Guest
Additions
 Uninstalling the Oracle Solaris Guest Additions
 Updating the Oracle Solaris Guest Additions
 Guest Additions for OS/2
o Shared Folders
 Manual Mounting
 Automatic Mounting
o Clipboard
 Known Limitations
o Drag and Drop
 Supported Formats
 Known Limitations
o Hardware-Accelerated Graphics
o Seamless Windows
o Guest Properties
 Using Guest Properties to Wait on VM Events
o Guest Control File Manager
 Transferring Files
o Guest Control of Applications
o Memory Overcommitment
 Memory Ballooning
 Page Fusion
o Controlling Virtual Monitor Topology
 X11/Wayland Desktop Environments
 Known Limitations
 Virtual Storage
o Hard Disk Controllers
o Disk Image Files (VDI, VMDK, VHD, HDD)
o The Virtual Media Manager
 Creating a Virtual Hard Disk Image
 Creating a Virtual Optical Disk Image
 Creating a Virtual Floppy Disk Image
o Special Image Write Modes
o Differencing Images
o Cloning Disk Images
o Host Input/Output Caching
o Limiting Bandwidth for Disk Images
o CD/DVD Support
o iSCSI Servers
o vboximg-mount: A Utility for FUSE Mounting a Virtual Disk Image
 Viewing Detailed Information About a Virtual Disk Image
 Mounting a Virtual Disk Image
 Virtual Networking

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 o Virtual Networking Hardware
o Introduction to Networking Modes
o Network Address Translation (NAT)
 Configuring Port Forwarding with NAT
 PXE Booting with NAT
 NAT Limitations
o Network Address Translation Service
o Bridged Networking
o Internal Networking
o Host-Only Networking
o UDP Tunnel Networking
o VDE Networking
o Cloud Networks
o Network Manager
 Host-Only Networks Tab
 NAT Networks Tab
 Cloud Networks Tab
o Limiting Bandwidth for Network Input/Output
o Improving Network Performance
 Remote Virtual Machines
o Remote Display (VRDP Support)
 Common Third-Party RDP Viewers
 VBoxHeadless, the Remote Desktop Server
 Step by Step: Creating a Virtual Machine on a Headless Server
 Separate Mode
 Remote USB
 RDP Authentication
 RDP Encryption
 Multiple Connections to the VRDP Server
 Multiple Remote Monitors
 VRDP Video Redirection
 VRDP Customization
o Teleporting
o VBoxHeadless
 VBoxManage
o Introduction
o Commands Overview
o VBoxManage
o VBoxManage adoptstate
o VBoxManage bandwidthctl
o VBoxManage checkmediumpwd
o VBoxManage clonemedium
o VBoxManage clonevm
o VBoxManage closemedium

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o VBoxManage cloud
o VBoxManage cloudprofile
o VBoxManage controlvm
o VBoxManage convertfromraw
o VBoxManage createmedium
o VBoxManage createvm
o VBoxManage debugvm
o VBoxManage dhcpserver
o VBoxManage discardstate
o VBoxManage encryptmedium
o VBoxManage encryptvm
o VBoxManage export
o VBoxManage extpack
o VBoxManage getextradata
o VBoxManage guestcontrol
o VBoxManage guestproperty
o VBoxManage hostonlyif
o VBoxManage hostonlynet
o VBoxManage import
o VBoxManage list
o VBoxManage mediumio
o VBoxManage mediumproperty
o VBoxManage metrics
o VBoxManage modifymedium
o VBoxManage modifynvram
o VBoxManage modifyvm
o VBoxManage movevm
o VBoxManage natnetwork
o VBoxManage registervm
o VBoxManage setextradata
o VBoxManage setproperty
o VBoxManage sharedfolder
o VBoxManage showmediuminfo
o VBoxManage showvminfo
o VBoxManage signova
o VBoxManage snapshot
o VBoxManage startvm
o VBoxManage storageattach
o VBoxManage storagectl
o VBoxManage unattended
o VBoxManage unregistervm
o VBoxManage updatecheck
o VBoxManage usbdevsource
o VBoxManage usbfilter

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 o vboximg-mount
 Advanced Topics
o Automated Guest Logins
 Automated Windows Guest Logins
 Automated Linux and UNIX Guest Logins
 Oracle VirtualBox Greeter for Ubuntu/LightDM
o Advanced Configuration for Windows Guests
 Automated Windows System Preparation
o Advanced Configuration for Linux and Oracle Solaris Guests
 Manual Setup of Selected Guest Services on Linux
 Guest Graphics and Mouse Driver Setup in Depth
o CPU Hot-Plugging
o Webcam Passthrough
 Using a Host Webcam in the Guest
 Windows Hosts
 macOS Hosts
 Linux and Oracle Solaris Hosts
o Advanced Display Configuration
 Custom VESA Resolutions
 Configuring the Maximum Resolution of Guests When Using
the Graphical Frontend
o Advanced Storage Configuration
 Using a Raw Host Hard Disk From a Guest
 Access to Entire Physical Hard Disk
 Access to Individual Physical Hard Disk Partitions
 Configuring the Hard Disk Vendor Product Data (VPD)
 Access iSCSI Targets Using Internal Networking
o Fine Tuning the Oracle VirtualBox NAT Engine
 Configuring the Address of a NAT Network Interface
 Configuring the Boot Server (Next Server) of a NAT Network
Interface
 Tuning TCP/IP Buffers for NAT
 Binding NAT Sockets to a Specific Interface
 Enabling DNS Proxy in NAT Mode
 Using the Host's Resolver as a DNS Proxy in NAT Mode
 User-Defined Host Name Resolving
 Configuring Aliasing of the NAT Engine
o Configuring the BIOS DMI Information
o Configuring Custom ACPI Tables
o Fine Tuning Timers and Time Synchronization
 Configuring the Guest Time Stamp Counter (TSC) to Reflect
Guest Execution
 Accelerate or Slow Down the Guest Clock
 Tuning the Guest Additions Time Synchronization Parameters

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  Disabling the Guest Additions Time Synchronization
o Installing the Alternate Bridged Networking Driver on Oracle Solaris
11 Hosts
o Oracle VirtualBox VNIC Templates for VLANs on Oracle Solaris 11
Hosts
o Configuring Multiple Host-Only Network Interfaces on Oracle Solaris
Hosts
o Configuring the Oracle VirtualBox CoreDumper on Oracle Solaris
Hosts
o Oracle VirtualBox and Oracle Solaris Kernel Zones
o Locking Down VirtualBox Manager
 Customizing VirtualBox Manager
 VM Selector Customization
 Configure VM Selector Menu Entries
 Configure VM Window Menu Entries
 Configure VM Window Status Bar Entries
 Configure VM Window Visual Modes
 Host Key Customization
 Action when Terminating the VM
 Default Action when Terminating the VM
 Action for Handling a Guru Meditation
 Configuring Automatic Mouse Capturing
 Requesting Legacy Full-Screen Mode
 Removing Certain Modes of Networking From the GUI
o Starting the Oracle VirtualBox Web Service Automatically
 Linux: Starting the Web Service With init
 Oracle Solaris: Starting the Web Service With SMF
 macOS: Starting the Web Service With launchd
o Oracle VirtualBox Watchdog
 Memory Ballooning Control
 Host Isolation Detection
 More Information
 Linux: Starting the Watchdog Service With init
 Oracle Solaris: Starting the Watchdog Service With SMF
o Other Extension Packs
o Starting Virtual Machines During System Boot
 Linux: Starting the Autostart Service With init
 Oracle Solaris: Starting the Autostart Service With SMF
 macOS: Starting the Autostart Service With launchd
 Windows: Starting the Autostart Service
o Encryption of VMs
 Limitations of VM Encryption
 Encrypting a VM
 Opening the Encrypted VM

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  Decrypting Encrypted VMs
o Oracle VirtualBox Expert Storage Management
o Handling of Host Power Management Events
o Passing Through SSE4.1/SSE4.2 Instructions
o Support for Keyboard Indicator Synchronization
o Capturing USB Traffic for Selected Devices
o Configuring the Heartbeat Service
o Encryption of Disk Images
 Limitations of Disk Encryption
 Encrypting Disk Images
 Starting a VM with Encrypted Images
 Decrypting Encrypted Images
o Paravirtualized Debugging
 Hyper-V Debug Options
 Setting up Windows Guests for Debugging with the
Hyper-V Paravirtualization Provider
o PC Speaker Passthrough
o Accessing USB devices Exposed Over the Network with USB/IP
 Setting up USB/IP Support on a Linux System
 Security Considerations
o Using Hyper-V with Oracle VirtualBox
o Nested Virtualization
o VBoxSVC running in Windows Session 0
 Known Issues
o VISO file format / RTIsoMaker
 Technical Background
o Where Oracle VirtualBox Stores its Files
 The Machine Folder
 Global Settings
 Summary of Configuration Data Locations
 Oracle VirtualBox XML Files
o Oracle VirtualBox Executables and Components
o Hardware Virtualization
o Details About Hardware Virtualization
o Paravirtualization Providers
o Nested Paging and VPIDs
 Oracle VirtualBox Programming Interfaces
 Troubleshooting
o Procedures and Tools
 Categorizing and Isolating Problems
 Collecting Debugging Information
 Using the VBoxBugReport Command to Collect Debug
Information Automatically
 The Built-In VM Debugger

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  VM Core Format
o General Troubleshooting
 Guest Shows IDE/SATA Errors for File-Based Images on Slow
Host File System
 Responding to Guest IDE/SATA Flush Requests
 Performance Variation with Frequency Boosting
 Frequency Scaling Effect on CPU Usage
 Inaccurate Windows CPU Usage Reporting
 Poor Performance Caused by Host Power Management
o Windows Guests
 No USB 3.0 Support in Windows 7 Guests
 Windows Bluescreens After Changing VM Configuration
 Windows 0x101 Bluescreens with SMP Enabled (IPI Timeout)
 Windows 2000 Installation Failures
 How to Record Bluescreen Information from Windows Guests
 No Networking in Windows Vista Guests
 Windows Guests Cause a High CPU Load
 Long Delays When Accessing Shared Folders
 USB Tablet Coordinates Wrong in Windows 98 Guests
 Windows Guests are Removed From an Active Directory
Domain After Restoring a Snapshot
 Windows 3.x Limited to 64 MB RAM
o Linux and X11 Guests
 Linux Guests May Cause a High CPU load
 Buggy Linux 2.6 Kernel Versions
 Shared Clipboard, Auto-Resizing, and Seamless Desktop in
X11 Guests
o Oracle Solaris Guests
 Certain Oracle Solaris 10 Releases May Take a Long Time to
Boot with SMP
 Older Solaris Releases Do Not Work with E1000 Ethernet
o Windows Hosts
 Drag'n Drop not Working
 VBoxSVC Out-of-Process COM Server Issues
 CD and DVD Changes Not Recognized
 Sluggish Response When Using Microsoft RDP Client
 Running an iSCSI Initiator and Target on a Single System
 Bridged Networking Adapters Missing
 Host-Only Networking Adapters Cannot be Created
o Linux Hosts
 Linux Kernel Module Refuses to Load
 Linux Host CD/DVD or Floppy Disk Drive Not Found
 Strange Guest IDE Error Messages When Writing to CD or
DVD

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  VBoxSVC IPC Issues
 USB Not Working
 PAX/grsec Kernels
 Linux Kernel vmalloc Pool Exhausted
o Oracle Solaris Hosts
 Cannot Start VM, Not Enough Contiguous Memory
 Security Guide
o General Security Principles
o Secure Installation and Configuration
 Installation Overview
 Post Installation Configuration
o Security Features
 The Security Model
 Secure Configuration of Virtual Machines
 Networking
 Security of Remote VMs
 VRDP Remote Desktop Authentication
 Clipboard
 Shared Folders
 CD/DVD Passthrough
 USB Passthrough
 Configuring and Using Authentication
 Potentially Insecure Operations
 Encryption
o Security Recommendations
 CVE-2018-3646
 Disable Nested Paging
 Flushing the Level 1 Data Cache
 CVE-2018-12126, CVE-2018-12127, CVE-2018-12130, CVE-
2019-11091
 Buffer Overwriting and Disabling Hyper-Threading
 Known Limitations
o Experimental Features
o Known Issues
 Change Log
o Version 7.1.10 (2025-06-03)
o Version 7.1.8 (2025-04-15)
o Version 7.1.6 (2025-01-21)
o Version 7.1.4 (2024-10-15)
o Version 7.1.2 (2024-09-26)
o Version 7.1.0 (2024-09-09)
o Change Logs for Legacy Versions
 Licensing Information User Manual for Release 7.1
o Preface

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  Audience
 Related Documents
o Introduction
o Oracle VirtualBox Base Package Licensing Information
 Third-Party Notices and/or Licenses
 Open Source or Other Separately Licensed Software
 Software Licenses
 alsa-lib
 Bochs ROM BIOS
 cereal
 compositeproto
 curl
 Digia QT
 dnsproxy
 dri2proto
 dxvk
 EDK2
 EGL-Registry
 fixesproto
 fontsproto
 Glib
 glibc
 glproto
 gSOAP
 gtk3 (GNOME desktop)
 inputproto
 iPXE
 JPEG Image Decoding Software
 kbproto
 libdevmapper
 libdrm
 LibGD
 libjpeg-turbo
 libogg
 libpam
 libpciaccess
 libpng
 libslirp
 libssh
 libtpms
 libvorbis
 libvpx
 libXcomposite
 libXdamage
 libXext

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 libXfixes
 Libxml2
 libxshmfence
 Linux Kernel
 LZF
 MoltenVK
 Mozilla Suite
 nasm 2.12.02
 NASM 2.16.01
 NSIS AccessControl plugin
 NSIS NsProcess plugin
 nullsoft scriptable install system (NSIS) 3.08
 nullsoft scriptable install system (NSIS) 3.09
 OpenSSL 3.3.0
 OpenSSL 3.1.7
 opus
 pixman
 Plex86/Bochs LGPL VGABios
 pulseaudio
 QEMU
 randrproto
 Reference Implementations for Intel® Architecture
Approximation Instructions VRCP14, VRSQRT14,
VRCP28, VRSQRT28, and VEXP2
 renderproto
 Slirp
 SoftFloat
 SPIR-V Headers
 Vulkan-Headers
 Wayland
 Wayland protocols
 Wine
 WiX (Windows Installer XML toolset)
 xextproto
 xf86-input-mouse
 xf86-video-vesa
 xf86driproto
 XFree86 -VidMode Extension
 xorg-server 1.0.1
 xorg-server 1.1.0
 xorg-server 1.3.0.0
 xorg-server 1.4.2
 xorg-server 1.5.3
 xorg-server 1.6.5
 xorg-server 1.7.7

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  xorg-server 1.8.0
 xorg-server 1.9.0
 xorg-server 1.10.0
 xorg-server 1.11.0
 xorg-server 1.12.0
 xorg-server 1.13.0
 xorg-server 1.14.0
 xorg-server 1.15.0
 xorg-server 1.16.0
 xorg-server 1.17.1
 xorg-server 1.18.0
 xproto
 Zlib Data Compression Library
o Oracle VirtualBox Extension Pack Licensing Information
 Third-Party Notices and/or Licenses
 Open Source or Other Separately Licensed Software
 Software Licenses
 curl
 glibc
 Mozilla Suite
 OpenSSL
 QEMU
 Wine
 Zlib Data Compression Library
 Oracle VirtualBox Privacy Information
 Glossary

https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/

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