Move and clone VirtualBox machines with filesystem commands

Posted by mit on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by mit
Published on 2010-12-22T17:54:34Z Indexed on 2010/12/22 17:56 UTC
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Filed under:

linux

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virtualization

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command-line

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virtualbox

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cloning

I know of 2 ways to clone a VirtualBox machine on a linux host, one is by using the VirtualBox gui and exporting and re-importing as Appliance (in the file menu of VirtualBox).

The other is by cloning only the virtual disk containers:

VBoxManage clonevdi source.vdi target.vdi

(Taken from http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?p=853#p858 )

I would have to create a new VM afterwards and use the cloned virtual disk.

Is there a way I can just copy a virtual disk and the and do the rest by hand?

I'd have to manually edit the ~/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml and insert a new disk and a new machine:

Can I just make up UUIDs or how would this work?

I would very much prefer this hardcore method of doing things as it allows me to freely and rapdily backup, restore, move or clone machines. Or ist there a better way to do this?

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