Sun Microsystems VERSION 3.1.0_BETA2 User Manuals

Table of Contents

• 1 First steps

  9
  • 1.1 Why is virtualization useful?

    10
  • 1.2 Some terminology

    11
  • 1.3 Features overview

    12
  • 1.4 Supported host operating systems

    14
  • 1.5 Installing and starting VirtualBox

    15
  • 1.6 Creating your first virtual machine

    17
  • 1.7 Running your virtual machine

    21
    • 1.7.1 Keyboard and mouse support in virtual machines

      21
    • 1.7.2 Changing removable media

      23
    • 1.7.3 Saving the state of the machine

      24
  • 1.8 Snapshots

    25
  • 1.9 Virtual machine configuration

    27
  • 1.10 Deleting virtual machines

    29
  • 1.11 Importing and exporting virtual machines

    29
• 2 Installation details

  32
  • 2.1 Installing on Windows hosts

    32
    • 2.1.1 Prerequisites

      32
    • 2.1.2 Performing the installation

      32
    • 2.1.3 Uninstallation

      33
    • 2.1.4 Unattended installation

      33
  • 2.2 Installing on Mac OS X hosts

    33
    • 2.2.1 Performing the installation

      33
    • 2.2.2 Uninstallation

      34
    • 2.2.3 Unattended installation

      34
  • 2.3 Installing on Linux hosts

    34
    • 2.3.1 Prerequisites

      34
    • 2.3.2 The VirtualBox kernel module

      34
    • 2.3.3 USB and advanced networking support

      36
    • 2.3.4 Performing the installation

      36
    • 2.3.5 Starting VirtualBox on Linux

      41
  • 2.4 Installing on Solaris hosts

    41
    • 2.4.1 Performing the installation

      41
    • 2.4.2 Starting VirtualBox on Solaris

      42
    • 2.4.3 Uninstallation

      42
    • 2.4.4 Unattended installation

      42
    • 2.4.5 Configuring a zone for running VirtualBox

      43
• 3 Configuring virtual machines

  44
  • 3.1 Supported guest operating systems

    44
  • 3.2 64-bit guests

    45
  • 3.3 General settings

    46
    • 3.3.1 "Basic" tab

      46
    • 3.3.2 "Advanced" tab

      46
    • 3.3.3 "Description" tab

      47
  • 3.4 System settings

    47
    • 3.4.1 "Motherboard" tab

      47
    • 3.4.2 "Processor" tab

      48
    • 3.4.3 "Acceleration" tab: hardware vs. software virtualization

      49
  • 3.5 Display settings

    51
  • 3.6 Storage settings

    51
  • 3.7 Audio settings

    54
  • 3.8 Network settings

    54
  • 3.9 Serial ports

    55
  • 3.10 USB support

    56
    • 3.10.1 USB settings

      56
    • 3.10.2 Implementation notes for Windows and Linux hosts

      58
  • 3.11 Shared folders

    58
  • 3.12 Alternative firmware (EFI)

    58
• 4 Guest Additions

  60
  • 4.1 Introduction

    60
  • 4.2 Versions

    61
  • 4.3 Windows Guest Additions

    62
    • 4.3.1 Installing the Windows Guest Additions

      62
    • 4.3.2 Updating the Windows Guest Additions

      63
    • 4.3.3 Unattended Installation

      64
    • 4.3.4 Manual file extraction

      64
    • 4.3.5 Windows Vista networking

      64
  • 4.4 Linux Guest Additions

    65
    • 4.4.1 Installing the Linux Guest Additions

      65
    • 4.4.2 Video acceleration and high resolution graphics modes

      66
    • 4.4.3 Updating the Linux Guest Additions

      67
  • 4.5 Solaris Guest Additions

    67
    • 4.5.1 Installing the Solaris Guest Additions

      67
    • 4.5.2 Uninstalling the Solaris Guest Additions

      68
    • 4.5.3 Updating the Solaris Guest Additions

      68
  • 4.6 OS/2 Guest Additions

    68
  • 4.7 Folder sharing

    68
  • 4.8 Seamless windows

    71
  • 4.9 Hardware 3D acceleration (OpenGL and Direct3D 8/9)

    72
  • 4.10 Hardware 2D video acceleration for Windows guests

    73
  • 4.11 Guest properties

    73
• 5 Virtual storage

  76
  • 5.1 Hard disk controllers: IDE, SATA (AHCI), SCSI

    76
  • 5.2 Disk image files (VDI, VMDK, VHD, HDD)

    79
  • 5.3 The Virtual Media Manager

    80
  • 5.4 Special image write modes

    81
  • 5.5 Differencing images

    83
  • 5.6 Cloning disk images

    85
  • 5.7 Writing CDs and DVDs using the host drive

    85
  • 5.8 iSCSI servers

    86
    • 5.8.1 Access iSCSI targets via Internal Networking

      86
• 6 Virtual networking

  88
  • 6.1 Virtual networking hardware

    88
  • 6.2 Introduction to networking modes

    89
  • 6.3 Network Address Translation (NAT)

    90
    • 6.3.1 Configuring port forwarding with NAT

      90
    • 6.3.2 PXE booting with NAT

      91
    • 6.3.3 NAT limitations

      91
  • 6.4 Bridged networking

    92
  • 6.5 Internal networking

    93
  • 6.6 Host-only networking

    94
• 7 Alternative front-ends; remote virtual machines

  96
  • 7.1 Introduction

    96
  • 7.2 Using VBoxManage to control virtual machines

    97
  • 7.3 VBoxSDL, the simplified VM displayer

    98
  • 7.4 Remote virtual machines (VRDP support)

    99
    • 7.4.1 Common third-party RDP viewers

      100
    • 7.4.2 VBoxHeadless, the VRDP-only server

      101
    • 7.4.3 Step by step: creating a virtual machine on a headless server

      102
    • 7.4.4 Remote USB

      103
    • 7.4.5 RDP authentication

      104
    • 7.4.6 RDP encryption

      105
    • 7.4.7 VRDP multiple connections

      105
• 8 VBoxManage reference

  106
  • 8.1 VBoxManage list

    111
  • 8.2 VBoxManage showvminfo

    112
  • 8.3 VBoxManage registervm / unregistervm

    113
  • 8.4 VBoxManage createvm

    113
  • 8.5 VBoxManage modifyvm

    114
    • 8.5.1 General settings

      114
    • 8.5.2 Networking settings

      116
    • 8.5.3 Serial port, audio, clipboard, VRDP and USB settings

      117
  • 8.6 VBoxManage import

    118
  • 8.7 VBoxManage export

    120
  • 8.8 VBoxManage startvm

    120
  • 8.9 VBoxManage controlvm

    121
  • 8.10 VBoxManage discardstate

    122
  • 8.11 VBoxManage snapshot

    122
  • 8.12 VBoxManage openmedium / closemedium

    123
  • 8.13 VBoxManage storagectl / storageattach

    123
    • 8.13.1 VBoxManage storagectl

      124
    • 8.13.2 VBoxManage storageattach

      124
  • 8.14 VBoxManage showhdinfo

    125
  • 8.15 VBoxManage createhd

    125
  • 8.16 VBoxManage modifyhd

    126
  • 8.17 VBoxManage clonehd

    127
  • 8.18 VBoxManage convertfromraw

    127
  • 8.19 VBoxManage addiscsidisk

    128
  • 8.20 VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata

    129
  • 8.21 VBoxManage setproperty

    130
  • 8.22 VBoxManage usbfilter add/modify/remove

    130
  • 8.23 VBoxManage sharedfolder add/remove

    131
  • 8.24 VBoxManage metrics

    131
  • 8.25 VBoxManage guestproperty

    132
  • 8.26 VBoxManage dhcpserver

    133
• 9 Advanced topics

  135
  • 9.1 VirtualBox configuration data

    135
  • 9.2 Automated Windows guest logons

    137
  • 9.3 Automated Windows system preparation

    138
  • 9.4 Custom external VRDP authentication

    139
  • 9.5 Secure labeling with VBoxSDL

    141
  • 9.6 Custom VESA resolutions

    142
  • 9.7 Multiple monitors for the guest

    143
  • 9.8 Releasing modifiers with VBoxSDL on Linux

    143
  • 9.9 Launching more than 120 VMs on Solaris hosts

    144
  • 9.10 Using serial ports

    144
  • 9.11 Using a raw host hard disk from a guest

    145
    • 9.11.1 Access to entire physical hard disk

      145
    • 9.11.2 Access to individual physical hard disk partitions

      146
  • 9.12 Allowing a virtual machine to start even with unavailable CD/DVD/floppy devices

    148
  • 9.13 Fine-tuning the VirtualBox NAT engine

    148
    • 9.13.1 Configuring the address of a NAT network interface

      148
    • 9.13.2 Configuring the boot server (next server) of a NAT network interface

      149
    • 9.13.3 Tuning TCP/IP buffers for NAT

      149
    • 9.13.4 Binding NAT sockets to a specific interface

      149
    • 9.13.5 Enabling DNS proxy in NAT mode

      150
    • 9.13.6 Using the host's resolver as a DNS proxy in NAT mode

      150
  • 9.14 Configuring the maximum resolution of guests when using the graphical frontend

    150
  • 9.15 Configuring the BIOS DMI information

    151
  • 9.16 Configuring the guest time stamp counter (TSC) to reflect guest execution

    152
  • 9.17 Configuring the hard disk vendor product data (VPD)

    152
• 10 VirtualBox programming interfaces

  154
• 11 Troubleshooting

  155
  • 11.1 General

    155
    • 11.1.1 Collecting debugging information

      155
    • 11.1.2 Guest shows IDE/SATA errors for file-based images on slow host file system

      155
    • 11.1.3 Responding to guest IDE/SATA flush requests

      156
  • 11.2 Windows guests

    157
    • 11.2.1 Windows bluescreens after changing VM configuration

      157
    • 11.2.2 Windows 0x101 bluescreens with SMP enabled (IPI timeout)

      157
    • 11.2.3 Windows 2000 installation failures

      157
    • 11.2.4 How to record bluescreen information from Windows guests

      158
    • 11.2.5 No networking in Windows Vista guests

      158
    • 11.2.6 Windows guests may cause a high CPU load

      158
  • 11.3 Linux and X11 guests

    159
    • 11.3.1 Linux guests may cause a high CPU load

      159
    • 11.3.2 AMD Barcelona CPUs

      159
    • 11.3.3 Buggy Linux 2.6 kernel versions

      159
    • 11.3.4 Shared clipboard, auto-resizing and seamless desktop in X11 guests

      159
  • 11.4 Windows hosts

    160
    • 11.4.1 VBoxSVC out-of-process COM server issues

      160
    • 11.4.2 CD/DVD changes not recognized

      160
    • 11.4.3 Sluggish response when using Microsoft RDP client

      161
    • 11.4.4 Running an iSCSI initiator and target on a single system

      161
  • 11.5 Linux hosts

    162
    • 11.5.1 Linux kernel module refuses to load

      162
    • 11.5.2 Linux host CD/DVD drive not found

      162
    • 11.5.3 Linux host CD/DVD drive not found (older distributions)

      162
    • 11.5.4 Linux host floppy not found

      163
    • 11.5.5 Strange guest IDE error messages when writing to CD/DVD

      163
    • 11.5.6 VBoxSVC IPC issues

      163
    • 11.5.7 USB not working

      164
    • 11.5.8 PAX/grsec kernels

      165
    • 11.5.9 Linux kernel vmalloc pool exhausted

      165
  • 11.6 Solaris hosts

    165
    • 11.6.1 Cannot start VM, not enough contiguous memory

      165
    • 11.6.2 VM aborts with out of memory errors on Solaris 10 hosts

      166
• 12 Change log

  167
  • 12.1 Version 3.1.0 Beta 2 (2009-11-19)

    167
  • 12.2 Version 3.0.12 (2009-11-10)

    169
  • 12.3 Version 3.0.10 (2009-10-29)

    170
  • 12.4 Version 3.0.8 (2009-10-02)

    171
  • 12.5 Version 3.0.6 (2009-09-09)

    173
  • 12.6 Version 3.0.4 (2009-08-04)

    176
  • 12.7 Version 3.0.2 (2009-07-10)

    177
  • 12.8 Version 3.0.0 (2009-06-30)

    179
  • 12.9 Version 2.2.4 (2009-05-29)

    182
  • 12.10 Version 2.2.2 (2009-04-27)

    183
  • 12.11 Version 2.2.0 (2009-04-08)

    185
  • 12.12 Version 2.1.4 (2009-02-16)

    188
  • 12.13 Version 2.1.2 (2009-01-21)

    190
  • 12.14 Version 2.1.0 (2008-12-17)

    194
  • 12.15 Version 2.0.8 (2009-03-10)

    196
  • 12.16 Version 2.0.6 (2008-11-21)

    197
  • 12.17 Version 2.0.4 (2008-10-24)

    198
  • 12.18 Version 2.0.2 (2008-09-12)

    199
  • 12.19 Version 2.0.0 (2008-09-04)

    201
  • 12.20 Version 1.6.6 (2008-08-26)

    202
  • 12.21 Version 1.6.4 (2008-07-30)

    204
  • 12.22 Version 1.6.2 (2008-05-28)

    205
  • 12.23 Version 1.6.0 (2008-04-30)

    207
  • 12.24 Version 1.5.6 (2008-02-19)

    209
  • 12.25 Version 1.5.4 (2007-12-29)

    211
  • 12.26 Version 1.5.2 (2007-10-18)

    213
  • 12.27 Version 1.5.0 (2007-08-31)

    215
  • 12.28 Version 1.4.0 (2007-06-06)

    218
  • 12.29 Version 1.3.8 (2007-03-14)

    221
  • 12.30 Version 1.3.6 (2007-02-20)

    222
  • 12.31 Version 1.3.4 (2007-02-12)

    223
  • 12.32 Version 1.3.2 (2007-01-15)

    224
  • 12.33 Version 1.2.4 (2006-11-16)

    225
  • 12.34 Version 1.2.2 (2006-11-14)

    225
  • 12.35 Version 1.1.12 (2006-11-14)

    226
  • 12.36 Version 1.1.10 (2006-07-28)

    227
  • 12.37 Version 1.1.8 (2006-07-17)

    227
  • 12.38 Version 1.1.6 (2006-04-18)

    228
  • 12.39 Version 1.1.4 (2006-03-09)

    228
  • 12.40 Version 1.1.2 (2006-02-03)

    229
  • 12.41 Version 1.0.50 (2005-12-16)

    231
  • 12.42 Version 1.0.48 (2005-11-23)

    231
  • 12.43 Version 1.0.46 (2005-11-04)

    232
  • 12.44 Version 1.0.44 (2005-10-25)

    232
  • 12.45 Version 1.0.42 (2005-08-30)

    233
  • 12.46 Version 1.0.40 (2005-06-17)

    234
  • 12.47 Version 1.0.39 (2005-05-05)

    235
  • 12.48 Version 1.0.38 (2005-04-27)

    235
  • 12.49 Version 1.0.37 (2005-04-12)

    236
• 13 Known limitations

  237
• 14 Third-party licenses

  240
  • 14.1 Materials

    240
  • 14.2 Licenses

    242
    • 14.2.1 GNU General Public License (GPL)

      242
    • 14.2.2 GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

      247
    • 14.2.3 Mozilla Public License (MPL)

      254
    • 14.2.4 MIT License

      261
    • 14.2.5 X Consortium License (X11)

      262
    • 14.2.6 zlib license

      262
    • 14.2.7 OpenSSL license

      262
    • 14.2.8 Slirp license

      263
    • 14.2.9 liblzf license

      264
    • 14.2.10 libpng license

      264
    • 14.2.11 lwIP license

      265
    • 14.2.12 libxml license

      265
    • 14.2.13 libxslt licenses

      266
    • 14.2.14 gSOAP Public License Version 1.3a

      267
    • 14.2.15 Chromium licenses

      273
    • 14.2.16 curl license

      276
• 15 VirtualBox privacy policy

  277
• Glossary

  279