Move and clone VirtualBox machines with filesystem commands
- by mit
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?