Paul Ligocki

Create VirtualBox VM from command line

This will be a walk-through of installing Ubuntu 22.04 on VirtualBox using the command line.

List Available Guest OS’

VBoxManage list ostypes | grep -i ubuntu

  • ID: Ubuntu
    Description: Ubuntu (32-bit)
  • ID: Ubuntu_64
    Description: Ubuntu (64-bit)

Create VM Skeleton and Register VM

VBoxManage createvm --name Ubuntu-22-04-test --ostype Ubuntu_64 --register
Virtual machine 'Ubuntu-22-04-test' is created and registered.
UUID: 99999999-9999-9999-9999-999999999999
Settings file: '/home/user/VirtualBox VMs/Ubuntu-22-04-test/Ubuntu-22-04-test.vbox'

Inspect VM

VBoxManage showvminfo Ubuntu-22-04-test

Add CPU, RAM, and Video RAM

VBoxManage modifyvm Ubuntu-22-04-test --cpus 4 --memory 4096 --vram 12

Configuring a Virtual Network Adapter

VBoxManage modifyvm Ubuntu-22-04-test --nic1 bridged --bridgeadapter1 eth0

Create Virtual Hard Disk

VBoxManage createhd --filename /path/to/hard_drive_image/Ubuntu-22-04-test.vdi --size 5120 
--variant Standard
  • –size = in Mega Bytes
  • –variant Standard = Dynamically Allocated / Thin Provisioned
  • –variant Fixed = Thick Provisioned / Pre Allocated

Delete Virtual Hard Disk

VBoxManage closemedium disk '/path/to/hard_drive_image/Ubuntu-22-04-test.vdi' --delete

Add Storage Controller to Virtual Machine

VBoxManage storagectl Ubuntu-22-04-test --name "SATA Controller" --add sata --bootable on

Attach Virtual Hard Disk to Virtual Storage Controller

VBoxManage storageattach Ubuntu-22-04-test --storagectl "SATA Controller" 
--port 0 --device 0 --type hdd 
--medium /path/to/hard_drive_image/Ubuntu-22-04-test.vdi

Add IDE Controller to Virtual Machine (To Later Connect ISO/CD/DVD)

VBoxManage storagectl Ubuntu-22-04-test --name "IDE Controller" --add ide

Attach ISO

VBoxManage storageattach Ubuntu-22-04-test --storagectl "IDE Controller" 
--port 0  --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium /home/user/dvd.iso

VirtualBox Remote Display Protocol (VRDP)

VBoxManage modifyvm Ubuntu-22-04-test --vrde on

To Do: Start the Virtual Machine in Headless Mode

VBoxManage startvm Ubuntu-22-04-test --type headless
Waiting for VM "Ubuntu-22-04-test" to power on…
VM "Ubuntu-22-04-test" has been successfully started.

Have not managed to connect to the headless Virtual Machine using VirualBox VRDE.

Have tried running as root. Had to sudo VBoxManage registervm /path/to/vm.vbox This did not help

Delete VM

VBoxManage unregistervm --delete Ubuntu-22-04-test

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