Manage virtual machine guest properties.
VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate < uuid | vmname > [--no-timestamp] [--no-flags] [--relative] [--old-format] [patterns...]
The VBoxManage guestproperty command enables
you to set or retrieve the properties of a running virtual machine
(VM). See Section 4.7, “Guest Properties”. Guest properties
are arbitrary name-value string pairs that can be written to and
read from by either the guest or the host. As a result, these
properties can be used as a low-volume communication channel for
strings provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
Additions installed. In addition, the Guest Additions
automatically set and maintain values whose keywords begin with
/VirtualBox/.
VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate < uuid | vmname > [--no-timestamp] [--no-flags] [--relative] [--old-format] [patterns...]
The VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate command lists each guest property and value for the specified VM. Note that the output is limited if the guest's service is not updating the properties, for example because the VM is not running or because the Guest Additions are not installed.
--relative
Display the timestamp relative to current time.
--no-timestamp
Do not display the timestamp of the last update.
--no-flags
Do not display the flags.
--old-format
Use the output format from VirtualBox 6.1 and earlier.
patternFilters the list of properties based on the specified pattern, which can contain the following wildcard characters:
* (asterisk)
Represents any number of characters. For example,
the /VirtualBox* pattern matches
all properties that begin with
/VirtualBox.
? (question mark)
Represents a single arbitrary character. For
example, the fo? pattern matches
both foo and
for.
| (pipe)
Specifies multiple alternative patterns. For
example, the s*|t* pattern
matches any property that begins with
s or t.
VBoxManage guestproperty get < uuid | vmname > <property-name> [--verbose]
The VBoxManage guestproperty get command retrieves the value of the specified property. If the property cannot be found, for example because the guest is not running, the command issues the following message:
No value set!
property-name
Specifies the name of the property.
--verbose
Provides the property value, timestamp, and any specified value attributes.
VBoxManage guestproperty set < uuid | vmname > <property-name> [property-value [--flags=flags]]
The VBoxManage guestproperty set command enables you to set a guest property by specifying the property and its value. If you omit the value, the property is deleted.
property-name
Specifies the name of the property.
property-value
Specifies the value of the property. If no value is specified, any existing value is removed.
--flags=flags
Specify the additional attributes of the value. The following attributes can be specified as a comma-separated list:
TRANSIENT
Removes the value with the VM data when the VM exits.
TRANSRESET
Removes the value when the VM restarts or exits.
RDONLYGUEST
Specifies that the value can be changed only by the host and that the guest can read the value.
RDONLYHOST
Specifies that the value can be changed only by the guest and that the host can read the value.
READONLY
Specifies that the value cannot be changed.
VBoxManage guestproperty wait < uuid | vmname > <patterns> [--timeout=msec] [--fail-on-timeout]
The VBoxManage guestproperty wait command waits for a particular value that is described by the pattern string to change, to be deleted, or to be created.
patterns
Specifies a pattern that matches the properties on which
you want to wait. For information about the pattern
wildcards, see the description of the
--patterns option.
--timeoutmsec
Specifies the number of microseconds to wait.
--fail-on-timeout
Specifies that the command fails if the timeout is reached.
The following command lists the guest properties and their values
for the win8 VM.
$ VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate win8
The following command creates a guest property called
region for the win8 VM. The
value of the property is set to west.
$ VBoxManage guestproperty set win8 region west