Compacting VirtualBox’s VDI file size? Rumi, February 8, 2017 Run defrag in the guest (Windows only) Nullify free space: With a Linux Guest run this: sudo dd if=/dev/zero | pv | sudo dd of=/bigemptyfile bs=4096k sudo rm -rf /bigemptyfile Or: telinit 1 mount -o remount,ro /dev/sda1 zerofree -v /dev/sda1 With a Windows Guest, download SDelete from Sysinternals and run this: sdelete.exe c: -z (replace C: with the drive letter of the VDI) Shutdown the guest VM Now run VBoxManage’s modifyhd command with the –compact option: With a Linux Host run this: vboxmanage modifyhd /path/to/thedisk.vdi --compact With a Windows Host run this: VBoxManage.exe modifyhd c:\path\to\thedisk.vdi --compact With a Mac Host run this: VBoxManage modifyhd /path/to/thedisk.vdi --compact This reduces the vdi size. Related Virtualbox
Importing Legacy Windows XP or Windows 2003 from Virtualbox to Proxmox December 28, 2023 Problem Statement: I have an old Windows 2003 32 bit server running in Virtualbox. Since Virtualbox is under decommissioned, it is intended to be migrated to Proxmox VE Before Migration or export of VM from Virtualbox, following .reg file is required to be installed on Windows 2003 server to avoid… Read More
VBoxHeadless – Running Virtual Machines With VirtualBox 4.0 On A Headless CentOS 5.6 Server December 14, 2011December 14, 2011 This guide explains how you can run virtual machines with VirtualBox 4.0 on a headless CentOS 5.6 server. Normally you use the VirtualBox GUI to manage your virtual machines, but a server does not have a desktop environment. Fortunately, VirtualBox comes with a tool called VBoxHeadless that allows you to… Read More
VBoxTool May 6, 2011June 11, 2018 Provides effective control of virtual machines of VirtualBox (virtualization solution) on a Linux headless server, published as free and open source software. Currently VirtualBox lacks a decent management environment for controlling virtual sessions on a headless server environment. VBoxTool mimics partly Virtual Machine Manager which controls sessions for other virtualization solutions like… Read More