diff --git a/builder/virtualbox/step_upload_version.go b/builder/virtualbox/step_upload_version.go
index 5f825aaf9..b99cd7f12 100644
--- a/builder/virtualbox/step_upload_version.go
+++ b/builder/virtualbox/step_upload_version.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/multistep"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/packer/packer"
+	"log"
 )
 
 // This step uploads a file containing the VirtualBox version, which
@@ -17,6 +18,11 @@ func (s *stepUploadVersion) Run(state map[string]interface{}) multistep.StepActi
 	driver := state["driver"].(Driver)
 	ui := state["ui"].(packer.Ui)
 
+	if config.VBoxVersionFile == "" {
+		log.Println("VBoxVersionFile is empty. Not uploading.")
+		return multistep.ActionContinue
+	}
+
 	version, err := driver.Version()
 	if err != nil {
 		state["error"] = fmt.Errorf("Error reading version for metadata upload: %s", err)
diff --git a/website/source/docs/builders/virtualbox.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/builders/virtualbox.html.markdown
index e5df5066f..8a1ef1383 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/builders/virtualbox.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/builders/virtualbox.html.markdown
@@ -129,6 +129,12 @@ Optional:
   where the `Name` variable is replaced with the VM name. More details on how
   to use `VBoxManage` are below.
 
+* `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 upload it into
+  the home directory. If explicitly empty, the version file won't be uploaded.
+
 * `vm_name` (string) - This is the name of the VMX file for the new virtual
   machine, without the file extension. By default this is "packer".