diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/pom.xml b/labs/virtualbox/pom.xml
index ecfa157bfd..5cce6e1562 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/pom.xml
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/pom.xml
@@ -102,6 +102,17 @@
       <version>0.9.29</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.testng</groupId>
+      <artifactId>testng</artifactId>
+      <version>6.3.1</version>
+      <exclusions>
+        <exclusion>
+          <artifactId>snakeyaml</artifactId>
+          <groupId>org.yaml</groupId>
+        </exclusion>
+      </exclusions>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
   
   <profiles>
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/VirtualBoxPropertiesBuilder.java b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/VirtualBoxPropertiesBuilder.java
index 2225281d11..dc427b69b0 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/VirtualBoxPropertiesBuilder.java
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/VirtualBoxPropertiesBuilder.java
@@ -71,7 +71,12 @@ public class VirtualBoxPropertiesBuilder extends PropertiesBuilder {
                + "initrd=/install/initrd.gz -- <Enter>");
       
       properties.put(VIRTUALBOX_WORKINGDIR, System.getProperty("user.home") + File.separator
-               + System.getProperty("test.virtualbox.workingDir", "jclouds-virtualbox-test"));
+               + System.getProperty("test.virtualbox.workingDir", ".jclouds-virtualbox"));
+      
+		properties.put(VIRTUALBOX_IMAGES_DESCRIPTOR,
+		               System.getProperty("user.home") + File.separator
+		                           + System.getProperty("test.virtualbox.image.descriptor.yaml", "images.yaml"));
+      
 
       properties.put(VIRTUALBOX_PRECONFIGURATION_URL, "http://10.0.2.2:8080/src/test/resources/preseed.cfg");
       
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/compute/VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter.java b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/compute/VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter.java
index 1b031d1370..738794b9b4 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/compute/VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter.java
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/compute/VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter.java
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ package org.jclouds.virtualbox.compute;
 
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
 import static com.google.common.collect.Iterables.filter;
-import static com.google.common.collect.Iterables.transform;
 import static org.jclouds.virtualbox.config.VirtualBoxConstants.VIRTUALBOX_IMAGE_PREFIX;
 
+import java.io.InputStream;
+
 import javax.inject.Inject;
 
 import org.jclouds.compute.ComputeServiceAdapter;
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@ import com.google.common.base.Function;
 import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
 import com.google.common.base.Supplier;
 import com.google.common.base.Throwables;
+import com.google.common.cache.LoadingCache;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
@@ -58,12 +60,18 @@ public class VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter implements ComputeServiceAdapter<IM
 
    private final Supplier<VirtualBoxManager> manager;
    private final Function<IMachine, Image> iMachineToImage;
+	private final Function<String, LoadingCache<String, Image>> images;
+	private final Supplier<String> imagesDescSupplier;
 
    @Inject
    public VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter(Supplier<VirtualBoxManager> manager,
-         Function<IMachine, Image> iMachineToImage) {
+         Function<IMachine, Image> iMachineToImage,
+         Function<String, LoadingCache<String, Image>> images,
+         Supplier<String> imagesStreamSupplier) {
       this.iMachineToImage = iMachineToImage;
       this.manager = checkNotNull(manager, "manager");
+      this.images = images;
+      this.imagesDescSupplier = imagesStreamSupplier;
    }
 
    @Override
@@ -89,10 +97,10 @@ public class VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter implements ComputeServiceAdapter<IM
       return imageMachines();
    }
 
-   @Override
-   public Iterable<Image> listImages() {
-      return transform(imageMachines(), iMachineToImage);
-   }
+	@Override
+	public Iterable<Image> listImages() {
+		return images.apply(imagesDescSupplier.get()).asMap().values();
+	}
 
    private Iterable<IMachine> imageMachines() {
       final Predicate<? super IMachine> imagePredicate = new Predicate<IMachine>() {
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/LocalFileYamlStreamSupplier.java b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/LocalFileYamlStreamSupplier.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d6d1701f91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/LocalFileYamlStreamSupplier.java
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package org.jclouds.virtualbox.config;
+
+public class LocalFileYamlStreamSupplier {
+
+}
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/VirtualBoxComputeServiceContextModule.java b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/VirtualBoxComputeServiceContextModule.java
index 7a3c0c157b..f96d260f92 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/VirtualBoxComputeServiceContextModule.java
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/VirtualBoxComputeServiceContextModule.java
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ import org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.IMachineToHardware;
 import org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.IMachineToImage;
 import org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.IMachineToNodeMetadata;
 import org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.IMachineToSshClient;
+import org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.admin.ImageFromYamlString;
 import org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.admin.StartJettyIfNotAlreadyRunning;
 import org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.admin.StartVBoxIfNotAlreadyRunning;
 import org.jclouds.virtualbox.predicates.SshResponds;
@@ -106,6 +107,8 @@ public class VirtualBoxComputeServiceContextModule extends
       }).to((Class) StartJettyIfNotAlreadyRunning.class);
       bind(new TypeLiteral<Supplier<VirtualBoxManager>>() {
       }).to((Class) StartVBoxIfNotAlreadyRunning.class);
+      bind(new TypeLiteral<Function<InputStream, LoadingCache<String, Image>>>() {
+      }).to((Class) ImageFromYamlString.class);
       // for byon
       bind(new TypeLiteral<Function<URI, InputStream>>() {
       }).to(SupplyFromProviderURIOrNodesProperty.class);
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/VirtualBoxConstants.java b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/VirtualBoxConstants.java
index ae836e0fc4..451c4588d1 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/VirtualBoxConstants.java
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/config/VirtualBoxConstants.java
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ public interface VirtualBoxConstants {
    public static final String VIRTUALBOX_INSTALLATION_KEY_SEQUENCE = "jclouds.virtualbox.installationkeysequence";
 
    public static final String VIRTUALBOX_WORKINGDIR = "jclouds.virtualbox.workingdir";
+   
+   public static final String VIRTUALBOX_IMAGES_DESCRIPTOR = "jclouds.virtualbox.image.descriptor.yaml";
 
    public static final String VIRTUALBOX_ISO_URL = "jclouds.virtualbox.isourl";
 
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlStream.java b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlString.java
similarity index 87%
rename from labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlStream.java
rename to labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlString.java
index a84def5767..3f17a34676 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlStream.java
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/main/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlString.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ package org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.admin;
 
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkState;
 
-import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -29,7 +28,6 @@ import javax.inject.Singleton;
 
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.Image;
 import org.jclouds.virtualbox.domain.YamlImage;
-import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Loader;
 import org.yaml.snakeyaml.TypeDescription;
 import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml;
 import org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.Constructor;
@@ -47,7 +45,7 @@ import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
  * @author Andrea Turli
  */
 @Singleton
-public class ImageFromYamlStream implements Function<InputStream, LoadingCache<String, Image>> {
+public class ImageFromYamlString implements Function<String, LoadingCache<String, Image>> {
 
    /**
     * Type-safe config class for YAML
@@ -57,13 +55,8 @@ public class ImageFromYamlStream implements Function<InputStream, LoadingCache<S
       public List<YamlImage> images;
    }
 
-   private Object construct(String data) {
-      Yaml yaml = new Yaml();
-      return yaml.load(data);
-   }
-
    @Override
-   public LoadingCache<String, Image> apply(InputStream source) {
+   public LoadingCache<String, Image> apply(String source) {
 
       Constructor constructor = new Constructor(Config.class);
 
@@ -71,10 +64,11 @@ public class ImageFromYamlStream implements Function<InputStream, LoadingCache<S
       imageDesc.putListPropertyType("images", String.class);
       constructor.addTypeDescription(imageDesc);
 
-      Yaml yaml = new Yaml(new Loader(constructor));
+		Yaml yaml = new Yaml(constructor);
       Config config = (Config) yaml.load(source);
       checkState(config != null, "missing config: class");
       checkState(config.images != null, "missing images: collection");
+      
 
       Map<String, Image> backingMap = Maps.uniqueIndex(Iterables.transform(config.images, YamlImage.toImage),
             new Function<Image, String>() {
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/BaseVirtualBoxClientLiveTest.java b/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/BaseVirtualBoxClientLiveTest.java
index 354cd08d91..0c62b3aa72 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/BaseVirtualBoxClientLiveTest.java
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/BaseVirtualBoxClientLiveTest.java
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ public class BaseVirtualBoxClientLiveTest extends BaseVersionedServiceLiveTest {
    @BeforeClass(groups = "live")
    public void setupClient() {
       setupCredentials();
-      Properties overrides = setupProperties();
+      Properties overrides = new VirtualBoxPropertiesBuilder(setupProperties()).build();
 
       CacheNodeStoreModule hostModule = new CacheNodeStoreModule(
               ImmutableMap.of(
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/compute/VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapterTest.java b/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/compute/VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapterTest.java
index 819cf2b328..eba0e9858e 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/compute/VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapterTest.java
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/compute/VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapterTest.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import org.jclouds.compute.reference.ComputeServiceConstants;
 import org.jclouds.json.Json;
 import org.jclouds.json.config.GsonModule;
 import org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.IMachineToImage;
+import org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.admin.ImageFromYamlString;
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 import org.virtualbox_4_1.IGuestOSType;
 import org.virtualbox_4_1.IMachine;
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ import org.virtualbox_4_1.IVirtualBox;
 import org.virtualbox_4_1.VirtualBoxManager;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Function;
+import com.google.common.base.Supplier;
 import com.google.common.base.Suppliers;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterators;
 import com.google.inject.Guice;
@@ -83,11 +85,25 @@ public class VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapterTest {
       replay(manager, vBox, clonedMachine, imageMachine, osType);
 
       Function<IMachine, Image> iMachineToImage = new IMachineToImage(Suppliers.ofInstance(manager), osMap);
-      VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter adapter = new VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter(Suppliers.ofInstance(manager), iMachineToImage);
+      VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter adapter = new VirtualBoxComputeServiceAdapter(Suppliers.ofInstance(manager), iMachineToImage, new ImageFromYamlString(), new Supplier<String>() {
+
+			@Override
+         public String get() {
+	         return "images:\n" + 
+	         		"    - id: myTestId\n" + 
+	         		"      name: ubuntu-11.04-server-i386\n" + 
+	         		"      description: ubuntu 11.04 server (i386)\n" + 
+	         		"      os_arch: x86\n" + 
+	         		"      os_family: ubuntu\n" + 
+	         		"      os_description: ubuntu\n" + 
+	         		"      os_version: 11.04\n" + 
+	         		"      iso: http://releases.ubuntu.com/11.04/ubuntu-11.04-server-i386.iso";
+         }
+		});
 
       Iterator<Image> iterator = adapter.listImages().iterator();
       Image image = Iterators.getOnlyElement(iterator);
-      assertEquals(image.getDescription(), VIRTUALBOX_IMAGE_PREFIX + "ubuntu-10.04");
+      assertEquals(image.getDescription(), "ubuntu 11.04 server (i386)");
 
    }
 }
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlStreamTest.java b/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlStreamTest.java
index 3061979225..89f42a1137 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlStreamTest.java
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/test/java/org/jclouds/virtualbox/functions/admin/ImageFromYamlStreamTest.java
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ package org.jclouds.virtualbox.functions.admin;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
 
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.Image;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.ImageBuilder;
 import org.jclouds.compute.domain.OperatingSystem;
@@ -37,20 +39,23 @@ import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 @Test(groups = "unit")
 public class ImageFromYamlStreamTest {
 
-   public static final Image TEST1 = new ImageBuilder()
-         .id("myTestId")
-         .name("ubuntu-11.04-server-i386")
-         .description("ubuntu 11.04 server (i386)")
-         .operatingSystem(
-               OperatingSystem.builder().description("ubuntu").family(OsFamily.UBUNTU).version("11.04").build())
-         .build();
+	public static final Image TEST1 = new ImageBuilder()
+	            .id("myTestId")
+	            .name("ubuntu-11.04-server-i386")
+	            .description("ubuntu 11.04 server (i386)")
+	            .operatingSystem(OperatingSystem.builder().description("ubuntu").family(OsFamily.UBUNTU)
+	                                         .version("11.04").build()).build();
 
-   @Test
-   public void testNodesParse() throws Exception {
-      InputStream is = getClass().getResourceAsStream("/testImages.yaml");
-      ImageFromYamlStream parser = new ImageFromYamlStream();
-      assertEquals(parser.apply(is).asMap(), ImmutableMap.of(TEST1.getId(), TEST1));
-      is.close();
-   }
+	@Test
+	public void testNodesParse() throws Exception {
+
+		StringBuilder yamlFileLines = new StringBuilder();
+		for (Object line : IOUtils.readLines(new InputStreamReader(getClass().getResourceAsStream("/testImages.yaml")))) {
+			yamlFileLines.append(line).append("\n");
+		}
+
+		ImageFromYamlString parser = new ImageFromYamlString();
+		assertEquals(parser.apply(yamlFileLines.toString()).asMap(), ImmutableMap.of(TEST1.getId(), TEST1));
+	}
 
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/labs/virtualbox/src/test/resources/logback.xml b/labs/virtualbox/src/test/resources/logback.xml
index c1bb1b78c4..4765287d3f 100644
--- a/labs/virtualbox/src/test/resources/logback.xml
+++ b/labs/virtualbox/src/test/resources/logback.xml
@@ -31,9 +31,16 @@
             <Pattern>%d %-5p [%c] (%t) %m%n</Pattern>
         </layout>
     </appender>
+    
+    <appender name="CONSOLE" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
+        <encoder>
+            <Pattern>%-4r [%thread] %-5level - %msg%n</Pattern>
+        </encoder>
+    </appender>
 
     <root>
-        <level value="warn" />
+        <level value="debug" />
+        <appender-ref ref="CONSOLE" />
     </root>
 
     <logger name="org.jclouds">