5 vboxmanage modifyvm, 1 general settings, Vboxmanage modifyvm – Sun Microsystems VIRTUALBOX VERSION 3.1.0_BETA2 User Manual

Page 114: General settings, Vbox, Manage modifyvm, Vboxmanage, Modifyvm

8 VBoxManage reference

The --name parameter is required and must specify the name of

the machine.

Since this name is used by default as the file name of the set-

tings file (with the extension .xml) and the machine folder (a subfolder of the
.VirtualBox/Machines

folder), it must conform to your host operating system’s

requirements for file name specifications. If the VM is later renamed, the file and
folder names will change automatically.

However, if the --basefolder and the --settingsfile

options are used, the XML definition file will be given the name and
the machine folder will be named . In this case, the names of the file and the
folder will not change if the virtual machine is renamed.

By default, this command only creates the XML file without automatically registering

the VM with your VirtualBox installation. To register the VM instantly, use the optional
--register

option, or run VBoxManage registervm separately afterwards.

8.5 VBoxManage modifyvm

This command changes the properties of a registered virtual machine. Most of the
properties that this command makes available correspond to the VM settings that
VirtualBox graphical user interface displays in each VM’s “Settings” dialog; these were
described in chapter

Configuring virtual machines

, page

. Some of the more ad-

vanced settings, however, are only available through the VBoxManage interface.

8.5.1 General settings

The following general settings are available through VBoxManage modifyvm:

• --name : This changes the VM’s name and possibly renames the inter-

nal virtual machine files, as described with VBoxManage createvm above.

• --ostype : This specifies what guest operating system is supposed

to run in the VM. To learn about the various identifiers that can be used here,
use VBoxManage list ostypes.

• --memory : This sets the amount of RAM, in MB, that the vir-

tual machine should allocate for itself from the host. See the remarks in chapter