packer-cn/website/source/docs/builders/virtualbox-iso.html.markdown

---
description: |
    The VirtualBox Packer builder is able to create VirtualBox virtual machines and
    export them in the OVF format, starting from an ISO image.
layout: docs
page_title: 'VirtualBox Builder (from an ISO)'
...

# VirtualBox Builder (from an ISO)

Type: `virtualbox-iso`

The VirtualBox Packer builder is able to create
[VirtualBox](https://www.virtualbox.org/) virtual machines and export them in
the OVF format, starting from an ISO image.

The builder builds a virtual machine by creating a new virtual machine from
scratch, booting it, installing an OS, provisioning software within the OS, then
shutting it down. The result of the VirtualBox builder is a directory containing
all the files necessary to run the virtual machine portably.

## Basic Example

Here is a basic example. This example is not functional. It will start the OS
installer but then fail because we don't provide the preseed file for Ubuntu to
self-install. Still, the example serves to show the basic configuration:

``` {.javascript}
{
  "type": "virtualbox-iso",
  "guest_os_type": "Ubuntu_64",
  "iso_url": "http://releases.ubuntu.com/12.04/ubuntu-12.04.5-server-amd64.iso",
  "iso_checksum": "769474248a3897f4865817446f9a4a53",
  "iso_checksum_type": "md5",
  "ssh_username": "packer",
  "ssh_password": "packer",
  "shutdown_command": "echo 'packer' | sudo -S shutdown -P now"
}
```

It is important to add a `shutdown_command`. By default Packer halts the virtual
machine and the file system may not be sync'd. Thus, changes made in a
provisioner might not be saved.

## Configuration Reference

There are many configuration options available for the VirtualBox builder. They
are organized below into two categories: required and optional. Within each
category, the available options are alphabetized and described.

In addition to the options listed here, a
[communicator](/docs/templates/communicator.html) can be configured for this
builder.

### Required:

- `iso_checksum` (string) - The checksum for the OS ISO file. Because ISO files
  are so large, this is required and Packer will verify it prior to booting a
  virtual machine with the ISO attached. The type of the checksum is specified
  with `iso_checksum_type`, documented below.

- `iso_checksum_type` (string) - The type of the checksum specified in
  `iso_checksum`. Valid values are "none", "md5", "sha1", "sha256", or
  "sha512" currently. While "none" will skip checksumming, this is not
  recommended since ISO files are generally large and corruption does happen
  from time to time.

- `iso_url` (string) - A URL to the ISO containing the installation image. This
  URL can be either an HTTP URL or a file URL (or path to a file). If this is an
  HTTP URL, Packer will download it and cache it between runs.

- `ssh_username` (string) - The username to use to SSH into the machine once the
  OS is installed.

### Optional:

- `boot_command` (array of strings) - This is an array of commands to type when
  the virtual machine is first booted. The goal of these commands should be to
  type just enough to initialize the operating system installer. Special keys
  can be typed as well, and are covered in the section below on the
  boot command. If this is not specified, it is assumed the installer will
  start itself.

- `boot_wait` (string) - The time to wait after booting the initial virtual
  machine before typing the `boot_command`. The value of this should be
  a duration. Examples are "5s" and "1m30s" which will cause Packer to wait five
  seconds and one minute 30 seconds, respectively. If this isn't specified, the
  default is 10 seconds.

- `disk_size` (integer) - The size, in megabytes, of the hard disk to create for
  the VM. By default, this is 40000 (about 40 GB).

- `export_opts` (array of strings) - Additional options to pass to the
  `VBoxManage export`. This can be useful for passing product information to
  include in the resulting appliance file.

- `floppy_files` (array of strings) - A list of files to place onto a floppy
  disk that is attached when the VM is booted. This is most useful for
  unattended Windows installs, which look for an `Autounattend.xml` file on
  removable media. By default, no floppy will be attached. All files listed in
  this setting get placed into the root directory of the floppy and the floppy
  is attached as the first floppy device. Currently, no support exists for
  creating sub-directories on the floppy. Wildcard characters (\*, ?, and \[\])
  are allowed. Directory names are also allowed, which will add all the files
  found in the directory to the floppy.

- `format` (string) - Either "ovf" or "ova", this specifies the output format of
  the exported virtual machine. This defaults to "ovf".

- `guest_additions_mode` (string) - The method by which guest additions are made
  available to the guest for installation. Valid options are "upload", "attach",
  or "disable". If the mode is "attach" the guest additions ISO will be attached
  as a CD device to the virtual machine. If the mode is "upload" the guest
  additions ISO will be uploaded to the path specified by
  `guest_additions_path`. The default value is "upload". If "disable" is used,
  guest additions won't be downloaded, either.

- `guest_additions_path` (string) - The path on the guest virtual machine where
  the VirtualBox guest additions ISO will be uploaded. By default this is
  "VBoxGuestAdditions.iso" which should upload into the login directory of
  the user. This is a [configuration
  template](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html) where the `Version`
  variable is replaced with the VirtualBox version.

- `guest_additions_sha256` (string) - The SHA256 checksum of the guest additions
  ISO that will be uploaded to the guest VM. By default the checksums will be
  downloaded from the VirtualBox website, so this only needs to be set if you
  want to be explicit about the checksum.

- `guest_additions_url` (string) - The URL to the guest additions ISO to upload.
  This can also be a file URL if the ISO is at a local path. By default, the
  VirtualBox builder will attempt to find the guest additions ISO on the local
  file system. If it is not available locally, the builder will download the
  proper guest additions ISO from the internet.

- `guest_os_type` (string) - The guest OS type being installed. By default this
  is "other", but you can get *dramatic* performance improvements by setting
  this to the proper value. To view all available values for this run
  `VBoxManage list ostypes`. Setting the correct value hints to VirtualBox how
  to optimize the virtual hardware to work best with that operating system.

- `hard_drive_interface` (string) - The type of controller that the primary hard
  drive is attached to, defaults to "ide". When set to "sata", the drive is
  attached to an AHCI SATA controller. When set to "scsi", the drive is attached
  to an LsiLogic SCSI controller.

- `headless` (boolean) - Packer defaults to building VirtualBox virtual machines
  by launching a GUI that shows the console of the machine being built. When
  this value is set to true, the machine will start without a console.

- `http_directory` (string) - Path to a directory to serve using an HTTP server.
  The files in this directory will be available over HTTP that will be
  requestable from the virtual machine. This is useful for hosting kickstart
  files and so on. By default this is "", which means no HTTP server will
  be started. The address and port of the HTTP server will be available as
  variables in `boot_command`. This is covered in more detail below.

- `http_port_min` and `http_port_max` (integer) - These are the minimum and
  maximum port to use for the HTTP server started to serve the `http_directory`.
  Because Packer often runs in parallel, Packer will choose a randomly available
  port in this range to run the HTTP server. If you want to force the HTTP
  server to be on one port, make this minimum and maximum port the same. By
  default the values are 8000 and 9000, respectively.

- `iso_interface` (string) - The type of controller that the ISO is attached to,
  defaults to "ide". When set to "sata", the drive is attached to an AHCI
  SATA controller.

- `iso_urls` (array of strings) - Multiple URLs for the ISO to download. Packer
  will try these in order. If anything goes wrong attempting to download or
  while downloading a single URL, it will move on to the next. All URLs must
  point to the same file (same checksum). By default this is empty and `iso_url`
  is used. Only one of `iso_url` or `iso_urls` can be specified.

- `output_directory` (string) - This is the path to the directory where the
  resulting virtual machine will be created. This may be relative or absolute.
  If relative, the path is relative to the working directory when `packer`
  is executed. This directory must not exist or be empty prior to running
  the builder. By default this is "output-BUILDNAME" where "BUILDNAME" is the
  name of the build.

- `shutdown_command` (string) - The command to use to gracefully shut down the
  machine once all the provisioning is done. By default this is an empty string,
  which tells Packer to just forcefully shut down the machine unless a shutdown
  command takes place inside script so this may safely be omitted. If one or
  more scripts require a reboot it is suggested to leave this blank since
  reboots may fail and specify the final shutdown command in your last script.

- `shutdown_timeout` (string) - The amount of time to wait after executing the
  `shutdown_command` for the virtual machine to actually shut down. If it
  doesn't shut down in this time, it is an error. By default, the timeout is
  "5m", or five minutes.

- `ssh_host_port_min` and `ssh_host_port_max` (integer) - The minimum and
  maximum port to use for the SSH port on the host machine which is forwarded to
  the SSH port on the guest machine. Because Packer often runs in parallel,
  Packer will choose a randomly available port in this range to use as the
  host port.

- `ssh_skip_nat_mapping` (boolean) - Defaults to false. When enabled, Packer
  does not setup forwarded port mapping for SSH requests and uses `ssh_port` on
  the host to communicate to the virtual machine

- `vboxmanage` (array of array of strings) - Custom `VBoxManage` commands to
  execute in order to further customize the virtual machine being created. The
  value of this is an array of commands to execute. The commands are executed in
  the order defined in the template. For each command, the command is defined
  itself as an array of strings, where each string represents a single argument
  on the command-line to `VBoxManage` (but excluding `VBoxManage` itself). Each
  arg is treated as a [configuration
  template](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html), where the `Name`
  variable is replaced with the VM name. More details on how to use `VBoxManage`
  are below.

- `vboxmanage_post` (array of array of strings) - Identical to `vboxmanage`,
  except that it is run after the virtual machine is shutdown, and before the
  virtual machine is exported.

- `virtualbox_version_file` (string) - The path within the virtual machine to
  upload a file that contains the VirtualBox version that was used to create
  the machine. This information can be useful for provisioning. By default this
  is ".vbox\_version", which will generally be upload it into the
  home directory.

- `vm_name` (string) - This is the name of the OVF file for the new virtual
  machine, without the file extension. By default this is "packer-BUILDNAME",
  where "BUILDNAME" is the name of the build.

## Boot Command

The `boot_command` configuration is very important: it specifies the keys to
type when the virtual machine is first booted in order to start the OS
installer. This command is typed after `boot_wait`, which gives the virtual
machine some time to actually load the ISO.

As documented above, the `boot_command` is an array of strings. The strings are
all typed in sequence. It is an array only to improve readability within the
template.

The boot command is "typed" character for character over a VNC connection to the
machine, simulating a human actually typing the keyboard. There are a set of
special keys available. If these are in your boot command, they will be replaced
by the proper key:

- `<bs>` - Backspace

- `<del>` - Delete

- `<enter>` and `<return>` - Simulates an actual "enter" or "return" keypress.

- `<esc>` - Simulates pressing the escape key.

- `<tab>` - Simulates pressing the tab key.

- `<f1>` - `<f12>` - Simulates pressing a function key.

- `<up>` `<down>` `<left>` `<right>` - Simulates pressing an arrow key.

- `<spacebar>` - Simulates pressing the spacebar.

- `<insert>` - Simulates pressing the insert key.

- `<home>` `<end>` - Simulates pressing the home and end keys.

- `<pageUp>` `<pageDown>` - Simulates pressing the page up and page down keys.

- `<wait>` `<wait5>` `<wait10>` - Adds a 1, 5 or 10 second pause before sending
  any additional keys. This is useful if you have to generally wait for the UI
  to update before typing more.

In addition to the special keys, each command to type is treated as a
[configuration template](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html). The
available variables are:

- `HTTPIP` and `HTTPPort` - The IP and port, respectively of an HTTP server that
  is started serving the directory specified by the `http_directory`
  configuration parameter. If `http_directory` isn't specified, these will be
  blank!

Example boot command. This is actually a working boot command used to start an
Ubuntu 12.04 installer:

``` {.text}
[
  "<esc><esc><enter><wait>",
  "/install/vmlinuz noapic ",
  "preseed/url=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/preseed.cfg ",
  "debian-installer=en_US auto locale=en_US kbd-chooser/method=us ",
  "hostname={{ .Name }} ",
  "fb=false debconf/frontend=noninteractive ",
  "keyboard-configuration/modelcode=SKIP keyboard-configuration/layout=USA ",
  "keyboard-configuration/variant=USA console-setup/ask_detect=false ",
  "initrd=/install/initrd.gz -- <enter>"
]
```

## Guest Additions

Packer will automatically download the proper guest additions for the version of
VirtualBox that is running and upload those guest additions into the virtual
machine so that provisioners can easily install them.

Packer downloads the guest additions from the official VirtualBox website, and
verifies the file with the official checksums released by VirtualBox.

After the virtual machine is up and the operating system is installed, Packer
uploads the guest additions into the virtual machine. The path where they are
uploaded is controllable by `guest_additions_path`, and defaults to
"VBoxGuestAdditions.iso". Without an absolute path, it is uploaded to the home
directory of the SSH user.

## VBoxManage Commands

In order to perform extra customization of the virtual machine, a template can
define extra calls to `VBoxManage` to perform.
[VBoxManage](http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch08.html) is the command-line
interface to VirtualBox where you can completely control VirtualBox. It can be
used to do things such as set RAM, CPUs, etc.

Extra VBoxManage commands are defined in the template in the `vboxmanage`
section. An example is shown below that sets the memory and number of CPUs
within the virtual machine:

``` {.javascript}
{
  "vboxmanage": [
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--memory", "1024"],
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--cpus", "2"]
  ]
}
```

The value of `vboxmanage` is an array of commands to execute. These commands are
executed in the order defined. So in the above example, the memory will be set
followed by the CPUs.

Each command itself is an array of strings, where each string is an argument to
`VBoxManage`. Each argument is treated as a [configuration
template](/docs/templates/configuration-templates.html). The only available
variable is `Name` which is replaced with the unique name of the VM, which is
required for many VBoxManage calls.