The VBoxManage controlvm vmname pause command temporarily stops the execution of a VM. When paused, the VM's state is not permanently changed.

The VM window appears as gray and the title bar of the window indicates that the VM is currently Paused. This action is equivalent to selecting Pause from the Machine menu of the GUI.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname resume command restarts the execution of a paused VM. This action is equivalent to selecting Resume from the Machine menu of the GUI.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname reset command performs a cold reset the VM. This command has the same effect on a VM as pressing the Reset button on a physical computer.

The cold reboot immediately restarts and reboots the guest operating system (OS). The state of the VM is not saved prior to the reset, so data might be lost. This action is equivalent to selecting Reset from the Machine menu of the GUI.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname poweroff command powers off the VM. This command has the same effect on a VM as pulling the power cable on a physical computer.

The state of the VM is not saved prior to poweroff, so data might be lost. This action is equivalent to selecting Close from the Machine menu of the GUI or to clicking the VM window's Close button, and then selecting Power Off the Machine.

When in the powered off state, you can restart the VM. See Section 8.19, “VBoxManage startvm”.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname savestate command saves the current state of the VM to disk and then stops the VM.

This action is equivalent to selecting Close from the Machine menu of the GUI or to clicking the VM window's Close button, and then selecting Save the Machine State.

When in the saved state, you can restart the VM. It will continue exactly in the state you saved.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname acpipowerbutton command sends an ACPI shutdown signal to the VM. This command has the same effect on a VM as pressing the Power button on a physical computer.

So long as the VM runs a guest OS that provides appropriately configured ACPI support, this command triggers an operating system shutdown from within the VM.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname acpisleepbutton command sends an ACPI sleep signal to the VM.

So long as the VM runs a guest OS that provides appropriately configured ACPI support, this command triggers a sleep mechanism from within the VM.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname reboot command asks the guest OS to reboot itself.

This commands requires Guest Additions to be installed in the VM.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname shutdown command asks the guest OS to halt + shutdown, optionally forcing the shutdown.

This commands requires Guest Additions to be installed in the VM.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname keyboardputscancode command sends keyboard scancode commands to the VM.

For information about keyboard scancodes, see http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/kbd/scancodes-1.html.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname keyboardputstring command sends keyboard strings to the VM.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname keyboardputfile command sends a file to the VM.

VBoxManage controlvm vmname setlinkstateN command enables you to connect or disconnect the virtual network cable from the network interface instance (N). Valid values are on and off. The default value is on.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname nicN command specifies the type of networking to use on the specified VM's virtual network card. N numbering begins with 1.

The following valid network types are also described in Section 6.2, “Introduction to Networking Modes”:

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname nictraceN command enables you to trace the network traffic on the specified virtual network card (N). N numbering begins with 1. Valid values are on and off. The default value is off.

If you did not configure a file name for the trace file then a default one is used, placing it in the VM subdirectory.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname nictracefileN command enables you to specify the name of the network traffic trace log file for the specified virtual network card (N). N numbering begins with 1.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname nicpromiscN command enables you to specify how to handle promiscuous mode for a bridged network. The default value of deny hides any traffic that is not intended for this VM. The allow-vms value hides all host traffic from this VM but enables the VM to see traffic to and from other VMs. The allow-all value removes this restriction completely.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname nicpropertyNprop-name=prop-value command, in combination with nicgenericdrv, enables you to pass property values to rarely-used network backends.

Those properties are backend engine-specific, and are different between UDP Tunnel and the VDE backend drivers. See Section 6.8, “UDP Tunnel Networking”.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname natpfN command specifies a NAT port-forwarding rule. See Section 6.3.1, “Configuring Port Forwarding with NAT”.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname natpfN delete command deletes the specified NAT port-forwarding rule. See Section 6.3.1, “Configuring Port Forwarding with NAT”.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname guestmemoryballoon command changes the size of the guest memory balloon. The guest memory balloon is the memory allocated by the Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions from the guest OS and returned to the hypervisor for reuse by other VMs. The value you specify is in megabytes. See Section 4.10.1, “Memory Ballooning”.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname usbattach command dynamically attaches a host USB device to the VM, which makes it visible. You do not need to create a filter.

Specify a USB device by its Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) or by its address on the host system. Use the VBoxManage list usbhost command to obtain information about USB devices on the host system.

Use the --capturefile option to specify the absolute path of a file in which to write logging data.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname usbdetach command dynamically detaches a host USB device from the VM, which makes it invisible. You do not need to create a filter.

Specify a USB device by its UUID or by its address on the host system. Use the VBoxManage list usbhost command to obtain information about USB devices on the host system.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname audioin command specifies whether to enable or disable audio capture from the host system. Valid values are on, which enables audio capture and off, which disables audio capture. The default value is off.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname audioout command specifies whether to enable or disable audio playback from the guest VM. Valid values are on, which enables audio playback and off, which disables audio playback. The default value is off.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname clipboard mode command specifies how to share the guest or host OS's clipboard with the host system or VM. Valid values are disabled, hosttoguest, guesttohost, and bidirectional. The default value is disabled. See Section 3.4, “General Settings”.

This feature requires that the Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions are installed in the VM.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname clipboard filetransfers command specifies if it is possible to transfer files through the clipboard between the host and VM, in the direction which is allowed. Valid values are off and on. The default value is off.

This feature requires that the Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions are installed in the VM.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname draganddrop command specifies the current drag and drop mode to use between the host system and the VM. Valid values are disabled, hosttoguest, guesttohost, and bidirectional. The default value is disabled. See Section 4.4, “Drag and Drop”.

This feature requires that the Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions are installed in the VM.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname vrde command enables or disables the VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension (VRDE) server, if installed. Valid values are on and off. The default value is off.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname vrdeport command specifies the port or range of ports to which the VRDE server can bind. The default value is default or 0, which is the standard RDP port, 3389.

Also see the --vrde-port option description in Section 8.10.2.6, “Remote Machine Settings”.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname vrdeproperty command specifies the port numbers and IP address on the VM to which the VRDE server can bind.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname vrdevideochannelquality command sets the image quality, as a JPEG compression level value, for video redirection. Valid values are between 10% and 100%, inclusive. Lower values mean lower quality but higher compression. See Section 7.1.9, “VRDP Video Redirection”.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname setvideomodehint command specifies the video mode for the guest VM to use. You must have the Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions installed. Note that this feature does not work for all guest systems.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname setscreenlayout command can be used to configure multiscreen displays. The specified screen on the guest VM can be enabled or disabled, or a custom screen layout can be configured.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname screenshotpng command takes a screenshot of the guest display and saves it as PNG in the specified file.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname recording command enables or disables the recording of a VM session into a WebM/VP8 file. Valid values are on, which begins recording when the VM session starts and off, which disables recording. The default value is off.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname recording screens command enables you to specify which VM screens to record. The recording for each screen that you specify is saved to its own file in the machine folder. You cannot modify this setting while recording is enabled.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname recording filename command specifies the file in which to save the recording. You cannot modify this setting while recording is enabled.

The default setting is to store a recording in the machine folder, using the VM name as the file name, with a webm file name extension.

VBoxManage controlvm vmname recording videores command specifies the resolution of the recorded video in pixels. You cannot modify this setting while recording is enabled.

Use the Settings tool to view the video recording settings, which are based on the resolution (frame size). See the Frame Size field on the Recording tab of the Display page to view the default value.

Specify the resolution as widthxheight:

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname recording videorate command specifies the bit rate, bit-rate, of the video in kilobits per second. Increasing this value improves the appearance of the video at the cost of an increased file size. You cannot modify this setting while recording is enabled.

Use the Settings tool to view the video recording settings, which are based on the frame size. See the Video Quality field on the Recording tab of the Display page to view the default value.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname recording videofps command specifies the maximum frequency of the video to record. Video frequency is measured in frames per second (FPS). The recording skips any frames that have a frequency higher than the specified maximum. Increasing the frequency reduces the number of skipped frames and increases the file size. You cannot modify this setting while recording is enabled.

Use the Settings tool to view the video recording settings, which are based on the frame size. See the Frame Rate field on the Recording tab of the Display page to view the default value.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname recording maxtime command specifies the maximum amount time to record in seconds. The recording stops after the specified number of seconds elapses. If this value is zero, the recording continues until you stop the recording.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname recording maxfilesize command specifies the maximum size of the recorded video file in megabytes. The recording stops when the file reaches the specified size. If this value is zero, the recording continues until you stop the recording. You cannot modify this setting while recording is enabled.

The setcredentials command enables you to specify the credentials for remotely logging in to Windows VMs. See Section 9.1, “Automated Guest Logins”.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname teleport command initiates a teleporting operation between the specified VM and the specified host system. See Section 7.2, “Teleporting”.

If you specify a password, it must match the password you specified when you issued the VBoxManage modifyvm command for the target machine.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname plugcpu command adds a virtual CPU to the specified VM if CPU hot-plugging is enabled. ID specifies the index of the virtual CPU to be added and must be a number from 0 to the maximum number of CPUs configured.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname unplugcpu command removes a virtual CPU from the specified VM if CPU hot-plugging is enabled. ID specifies the index of the virtual CPU to be removed and must be a number from 0 to the maximum number of CPUs configured. You cannot remove CPU 0.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname cpuexecutioncap command specifies how the maximum amount of physical CPU time used by a virtual CPU. Valid values are a percentage between 1 and 100. A value of 50 specifies that a single virtual CPU can use up to 50% of a physical CPU. The default value is 100.

Use this feature with caution, it can have unexpected results including timekeeping problems and lower performance than specified. If you want to limit the resource usage of a VM it is more reliable to pick an appropriate number of VCPUs.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname vm-process-priority command specifies the priority scheme of the VM process to use when starting the specified VM and while the VM runs.

Valid values are:

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname webcam attach command attaches a webcam to a running VM. Specify the webcam as the absolute path of the webcam on the host OS or as an alias. Use the VBoxManage list webcams command to obtain the webcam alias.

Note that the .0 alias is the default video input device on the host OS. .1 is the first video input device, .2 is the second video input device, and so on. The order of the devices is specific to the host system.

You can specify optional settings in the form of semi-colon-separated (;) name-value pairs. These properties enable you to configure the emulated webcam device.

The following settings are supported:

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname webcam detach command detaches a webcam from a running VM. Specify the webcam as the absolute path of the webcam on the host OS or as an alias. Use the VBoxManage list webcams to obtain the webcam alias.

When a webcam device is detached from the host, the host OS determines how the emulated webcam behaves.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname webcam list command lists webcams that are attached to the running VM. The output shows a list of absolute paths or aliases that attached the webcams to the VM by using the VBoxManage controlvm vmname webcam attach command.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname addencpassword command provides the vmname encrypted VM with the encryption password to enable a headless start. Specify the absolute path of a password file on the host system. If filename is -, VBoxManage prompts for the encryption password.

Use the --removeonsuspend option to specify whether to save the passsword or clear it from VM memory when the VM is suspended.

If the VM is suspended and the password is cleared, use the VBoxManage controlvm vmname addencpassword to provide the password to resume execution on the VM. Use this feature when you do not want to store the password in VM memory while the VM is suspended by a host suspend event.

Use the VBoxManage encryptmedium command to create a DEK encrypted medium. See Section 9.29.2, “Encrypting Disk Images”.

The Oracle VM VirtualBox GUI prompts you for the encryption password when you start an encrypted VM.

Use the following command to perform a headless start of an encrypted VM:

          $ VBoxManage startvm vmname --type headless
        

Then, use the following command to provide the encryption password:

          $ VBoxManage vmname controlvm addencpassword vmname -
          Password: encryption-password

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname removeencpassword command disables a specific encryption password for all encrypted media attached to the VM.

ID is the password identifier for the encryption password that you want to disable.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname removeallencpasswords command disables all encryption passwords for all encrypted media attached to the VM.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname changeuartmode command changes the connection mode for the specified virtual serial port. Valid serial port values are integers that start from 1.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname autostart-enabled command specifies whether to enable or disable automatically start the VM at host system boot-up. You must do some host system configuration before you can use this feature. See Section 9.21, “Starting Virtual Machines During System Boot”. Valid values are on, which enables autostart feature for the VM and off, which disables it. The default value is off.

The VBoxManage controlvm vmname autostart-delay command specifies the delay in seconds before the VM starts on host system boot-up. See Section 9.21, “Starting Virtual Machines During System Boot”.