VirtualBox

source: vbox/trunk/doc/manual/en_US/man_VBoxManage-guestproperty.xml

Last change on this file was 99497, checked in by vboxsync, 13 months ago

manual: Split out the topics of converted manpages into separate files and generate ditamap files for each manpage to avoid needing to hardcode anything in UserManual.xml. This means that the topics inside a manpage can be supressed from the toc, but otoh, they get numbered (with 4.x). The per-topic files are named by refentry/refsect1/refsect2 @id and are currently not cleaned up by 'kmk clean'. bugref:10302

  • Property svn:eol-style set to native
  • Property svn:keywords set to Author Date Id Revision
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1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<!--
3 manpage, user manual, usage: VBoxManage guestproperty
4-->
5<!--
6 Copyright (C) 2006-2023 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
7
8 This file is part of VirtualBox base platform packages, as
9 available from https://www.virtualbox.org.
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11 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
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19 General Public License for more details.
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25-->
26<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
27 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd"[
28<!ENTITY % all.entities SYSTEM "all-entities.ent">
29%all.entities;
30]>
31<refentry id="vboxmanage-guestproperty" lang="en">
32 <refentryinfo>
33 <pubdate>$Date: 2023-04-21 01:55:02 +0000 (Fri, 21 Apr 2023) $</pubdate>
34 <title>VBoxManage guestproperty</title>
35 </refentryinfo>
36
37 <refmeta>
38 <refentrytitle>VBoxManage-guestproperty</refentrytitle>
39 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
40 </refmeta>
41
42 <refnamediv>
43 <refname>VBoxManage-guestproperty</refname>
44 <refpurpose>manage virtual machine guest properties</refpurpose>
45 <refclass>&product-name;</refclass>
46 </refnamediv>
47
48 <refsynopsisdiv>
49<!-- The 'id' is mandatory and must start with 'synopsis-'. -->
50 <cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-guestproperty-get">
51 <command>VBoxManage guestproperty get</command>
52 <group choice="req">
53 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>uuid</replaceable></arg>
54 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>vmname</replaceable></arg>
55 </group>
56 <arg choice="req"><replaceable>property-name</replaceable></arg>
57 <arg>--verbose</arg>
58 </cmdsynopsis>
59
60 <cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-guestproperty-enumerate">
61 <command>VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate</command>
62 <group choice="req">
63 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>uuid</replaceable></arg>
64 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>vmname</replaceable></arg>
65 </group>
66 <arg>--no-timestamp</arg>
67 <arg>--no-flags</arg>
68 <arg>--relative</arg>
69 <arg>--old-format</arg>
70 <arg rep="repeat"><replaceable>patterns</replaceable></arg>
71 </cmdsynopsis>
72
73 <cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-guestproperty-set">
74 <command>VBoxManage guestproperty set</command>
75 <group choice="req">
76 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>uuid</replaceable></arg>
77 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>vmname</replaceable></arg>
78 </group>
79 <arg choice="req"><replaceable>property-name</replaceable></arg>
80 <arg><replaceable>property-value</replaceable><arg>--flags=<replaceable>flags</replaceable></arg></arg>
81 </cmdsynopsis>
82
83 <cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-guestproperty-unset">
84 <command>VBoxManage guestproperty unset</command>
85 <group choice="req">
86 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>uuid</replaceable></arg>
87 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>vmname</replaceable></arg>
88 </group>
89 <arg choice="req"><replaceable>property-name</replaceable></arg>
90 </cmdsynopsis>
91
92 <cmdsynopsis id="synopsis-vboxmanage-guestproperty-wait">
93 <command>VBoxManage guestproperty wait</command>
94 <group choice="req">
95 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>uuid</replaceable></arg>
96 <arg choice="plain"><replaceable>vmname</replaceable></arg>
97 </group>
98 <arg choice="req"><replaceable>patterns</replaceable></arg>
99 <arg>--timeout=<replaceable>msec</replaceable></arg>
100 <arg>--fail-on-timeout</arg>
101 </cmdsynopsis>
102 </refsynopsisdiv>
103
104 <refsect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty-description">
105 <title>Description</title>
106 <para>
107 The <command>VBoxManage guestproperty</command> command enables
108 you to set or retrieve the properties of a running virtual machine
109 (VM). See <xref linkend="guestadd-guestprops" />. Guest properties
110 are arbitrary name-value string pairs that can be written to and
111 read from by either the guest or the host. As a result, these
112 properties can be used as a low-volume communication channel for
113 strings provided that a guest is running and has the Guest
114 Additions installed. In addition, the Guest Additions
115 automatically set and maintain values whose keywords begin with
116 <literal>/VirtualBox/</literal>.
117 </para>
118 <refsect2 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty-common">
119 <title>General Command Operand</title>
120 <variablelist>
121 <varlistentry>
122 <term><option><replaceable>uuid</replaceable> | <replaceable>vmname</replaceable></option></term>
123 <listitem><para>
124 Specifies the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) or name
125 of the VM.
126 </para></listitem>
127 </varlistentry>
128 </variablelist>
129 </refsect2>
130 <refsect2 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty-enumerate">
131 <title>List All Properties for a Virtual Machine</title>
132 <remark role="help-copy-synopsis"/>
133 <para>
134 <!-- @todo the help output doesn't correctly insert a space after the /command tag if it comes last on a line... -->
135 The <command>VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate</command> command
136 lists each guest property and value for the specified
137 VM. Note that the output is limited if the guest's service is
138 not updating the properties, for example because the VM is not
139 running or because the Guest Additions are not installed.
140 </para>
141 <variablelist>
142 <varlistentry>
143 <term><option>--relative</option></term>
144 <listitem><para>Display the timestamp relative to current time.</para></listitem>
145 </varlistentry>
146 <varlistentry>
147 <term><option>--no-timestamp</option></term>
148 <listitem><para>Do not display the timestamp of the last update.</para></listitem>
149 </varlistentry>
150 <varlistentry>
151 <term><option>--no-flags</option></term>
152 <listitem><para>Do not display the flags.</para></listitem>
153 </varlistentry>
154 <varlistentry>
155 <term><option>--old-format</option></term>
156 <listitem><para>Use the output format from VirtualBox 6.1 and earlier.</para></listitem>
157 </varlistentry>
158 <varlistentry>
159 <term><option><replaceable>pattern</replaceable></option></term>
160 <listitem><para>
161 Filters the list of properties based on the specified
162 pattern, which can contain the following wildcard
163 characters:
164 </para><variablelist>
165 <varlistentry>
166 <term><literal>*</literal> (asterisk)</term>
167 <listitem><para>
168 Represents any number of characters. For example,
169 the <literal>/VirtualBox*</literal> pattern matches
170 all properties that begin with
171 <literal>/VirtualBox</literal>.
172 </para></listitem>
173 </varlistentry>
174 <varlistentry>
175 <term><literal>?</literal> (question mark)</term>
176 <listitem><para>
177 Represents a single arbitrary character. For
178 example, the <literal>fo?</literal> pattern matches
179 both <literal>foo</literal> and
180 <literal>for</literal>.
181 </para></listitem>
182 </varlistentry>
183 <varlistentry>
184 <term><literal>|</literal> (pipe)</term>
185 <listitem><para>
186 Specifies multiple alternative patterns. For
187 example, the <literal>s*|t*</literal> pattern
188 matches any property that begins with
189 <literal>s</literal> or <literal>t</literal>.
190 </para></listitem>
191 </varlistentry>
192 </variablelist></listitem>
193 </varlistentry>
194
195 </variablelist>
196 </refsect2>
197 <refsect2 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty-get">
198 <title>Retrieve a Property Value for a Virtual Machine</title>
199 <remark role="help-copy-synopsis"/>
200 <para>
201 The <command>VBoxManage guestproperty get</command> command
202 retrieves the value of the specified property. If the property
203 cannot be found, for example because the guest is not running,
204 the command issues the following message:
205 </para>
206<screen>No value set!</screen>
207 <variablelist>
208 <varlistentry>
209 <term><replaceable>property-name</replaceable></term>
210 <listitem><para>
211 Specifies the name of the property.
212 </para></listitem>
213 </varlistentry>
214 <varlistentry>
215 <term><option>--verbose</option></term>
216 <listitem><para>
217 Provides the property value, timestamp, and any specified
218 value attributes.
219 </para></listitem>
220 </varlistentry>
221 </variablelist>
222 </refsect2>
223 <refsect2 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty-set">
224 <title>Set a Property Value for a Virtual Machine</title>
225 <remark role="help-copy-synopsis"/>
226 <para>
227 The <command>VBoxManage guestproperty set</command> command
228 enables you to set a guest property by specifying the property
229 and its value. If you omit the value, the property is deleted.
230 </para>
231 <variablelist>
232 <varlistentry>
233 <term><replaceable>property-name</replaceable></term>
234 <listitem><para>
235 Specifies the name of the property.
236 </para></listitem>
237 </varlistentry>
238 <varlistentry>
239 <term><replaceable>property-value</replaceable></term>
240 <listitem><para>
241 Specifies the value of the property. If no value is
242 specified, any existing value is removed.
243 </para></listitem>
244 </varlistentry>
245 <varlistentry>
246 <term><option>--flags=<replaceable>flags</replaceable></option></term>
247 <listitem><para>
248 Specify the additional attributes of the value. The
249 following attributes can be specified as a comma-separated
250 list:
251 </para><variablelist>
252 <varlistentry>
253 <term><literal>TRANSIENT</literal></term>
254 <listitem><para>
255 Removes the value with the VM data when the VM
256 exits.
257 </para></listitem>
258 </varlistentry>
259 <varlistentry>
260 <term><literal>TRANSRESET</literal></term>
261 <listitem><para>
262 Removes the value when the VM restarts or exits.
263 </para></listitem>
264 </varlistentry>
265 <varlistentry>
266 <term><literal>RDONLYGUEST</literal></term>
267 <listitem><para>
268 Specifies that the value can be changed only by the
269 host and that the guest can read the value.
270 </para></listitem>
271 </varlistentry>
272 <varlistentry>
273 <term><literal>RDONLYHOST</literal></term>
274 <listitem><para>
275 Specifies that the value can be changed only by the
276 guest and that the host can read the value.
277 </para></listitem>
278 </varlistentry>
279 <varlistentry>
280 <term><literal>READONLY</literal></term>
281 <listitem><para>
282 Specifies that the value cannot be changed.
283 </para></listitem>
284 </varlistentry>
285 </variablelist></listitem>
286 </varlistentry>
287 </variablelist>
288 </refsect2>
289 <refsect2 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty-wait">
290 <title>Wait for a Property Value to Be Created, Deleted, or Changed</title>
291 <remark role="help-copy-synopsis"/>
292 <para>
293 The <command>VBoxManage guestproperty wait</command> command
294 waits for a particular value that is described by the pattern
295 string to change, to be deleted, or to be created.
296 </para>
297 <variablelist>
298 <varlistentry>
299 <term><replaceable>patterns</replaceable></term>
300 <listitem><para>
301 Specifies a pattern that matches the properties on which
302 you want to wait. For information about the pattern
303 wildcards, see the description of the
304 <option>--patterns</option> option.
305 </para></listitem>
306 </varlistentry>
307 <varlistentry>
308 <term><option>--timeout<replaceable>msec</replaceable></option></term>
309 <listitem><para>
310 Specifies the number of microseconds to wait.
311 </para></listitem>
312 </varlistentry>
313 <varlistentry>
314 <term><option>--fail-on-timeout</option></term>
315 <listitem><para>
316 Specifies that the command fails if the timeout is
317 reached.
318 </para></listitem>
319 </varlistentry>
320 </variablelist>
321 </refsect2>
322 <refsect2 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty-unset">
323 <title>Unset a Virtual Machine Property Value</title>
324 <remark role="help-copy-synopsis"/>
325 <para>
326 The <command>VBoxManage guestproperty unset</command> command
327 unsets the value of a guest property.
328 </para>
329 <para>
330 The alternate form of this subcommand is
331 <command>delete</command>.
332 </para>
333 <variablelist>
334 <varlistentry>
335 <term><replaceable>property-name</replaceable></term>
336 <listitem><para>
337 Specifies the name of the property.
338 </para></listitem>
339 </varlistentry>
340 </variablelist>
341 </refsect2>
342 </refsect1>
343
344 <refsect1 id="vboxmanage-guestproperty-examples">
345 <title>Examples</title>
346 <remark role="help-scope" condition="GLOBAL" />
347 <para>
348 The following command lists the guest properties and their values
349 for the <literal>win8</literal> VM.
350 </para>
351<screen>$ VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate win8</screen>
352 <para>
353 The following command creates a guest property called
354 <literal>region</literal> for the <literal>win8</literal> VM. The
355 value of the property is set to <literal>west</literal>.
356 </para>
357<screen>$ VBoxManage guestproperty set win8 region west</screen>
358 </refsect1>
359</refentry>
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