[vbox-dev] Location of VirtualBox configuration file
Maxime Dor
max at kamax.io
Fri Oct 28 15:59:37 GMT 2016
Which VirtualBox version are you using?
On 28/10/16 16:45, Malcolm Clarke wrote:
>
> Dear Maxine
>
> Regrettably I am not responsible for the configuration of our lab
> machines, this is done centrally by the University. I am just poor
> professor made to find workarounds for my labs.
>
> In time we shall use VBOX_USER_HOME, which ought to provide a proper
> fix as this can point at the home drive of each student (ie H:\).
>
> In the meantime I am only trying to understand why the students are
> losing their global configuration every time they restart the program,
> even though the files remain in the directory. Instead the old file is
> renamed and a new "empty" file is created in its place. This makes no
> sense if USERPROFILE is used every time.
>
> Regards
>
> Malcolm
>
>
> On 28/10/2016 15:34, Maxime Dor wrote:
>> I think the web documentation needs clarification on this matter, it
>> is missleading I think (but the devs will confirm the actual behaviour).
>>
>> Here, this is purely a matter of proprer configuration in terms of
>> Windows and user profile/env.
>> I'm surprised you don't have issues with other software doing it the
>> way you did so far.
>>
>> Could you give a try to USERPROFILE and see if that helps?
>>
>> On 28 October 2016 16:28:40 CEST, Malcolm Clarke
>> <Malcolm.Clarke at brunel.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Maxine
>>
>> It seems the web documentation is not keeping up with changes to
>> the software?
>>
>> Ideas why the global configuration is not being picked up? Could
>> it be using HOMEDRIVE HOMEPATH in one place and USERPROFILE
>> elsewhere?
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Malcolm
>>
>>
>> On 28/10/2016 15:13, Maxime Dor wrote:
>>> I believe the variable that is used by software to determine the
>>> actual home directory of a user is USERPROFILE which is computed
>>> from HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH.
>>> If you change HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH during login with a profile
>>> script, USERPROFILE is already set at that point
>>>
>>> On 28/10/16 15:38, Malcolm Clarke wrote:
>>>>
>>>> We continue to have problems with this location issue.
>>>>
>>>> In our labs the students have a profile script that set
>>>> HOMEDRIVE to h: and HOMEPATH to \. I am expecting directories
>>>> to be created and files stored in the locations H:\.
>>>>
>>>> This is not the case.
>>>>
>>>> Instead directories are created and files stored in
>>>>
>>>> c:\users\xxxxxx\.virtualbox , etc
>>>>
>>>> I might be able to understand this behaviour, but we are
>>>> finding that the global configuration file is reinitialised
>>>> every time the VirtualBox is started - the previous
>>>> configuration file being renamed to "-prev".
>>>>
>>>> Even if the HOMEDRIVE is not respected, I would at least expect
>>>> the global configuration file to be used again.
>>>>
>>>> Our environment is Windows 10.
>>>>
>>>> We are investigating, but this is the information we have so
>>>> far on the issue.
>>>>
>>>> We have yet to try VBOX_USER_HOME as a workaround, but I wanted
>>>> to bring the other behaviour to your intention in case it is
>>>> affecting others.
>>>>
>>>> You may understand the frustration of our students having to
>>>> set up the global and VM configuration every time they use
>>>> VirtualBox. I have a mutiny on my hands!
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>> Malcolm
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 16/10/2016 17:22, Andreas Löffler wrote:
>>>>> Hi Malcolm,
>>>>>
>>>>> VBOX_USER_HOME also should work on Windows if you set this as
>>>>> system-wide variable. This of course means that this only can
>>>>> point to one profile at a time.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you mount the current user's profile always to the same
>>>>> location (e.g. "X:\VirtualBox") you can give this at least a try.
>>>>>
>>>>> Kind regards / Mit freundlichen Grüßen
>>>>>
>>>>> ******************************************************************
>>>>>
>>>>> Andreas Löffler | VirtualBox Engineering
>>>>> Principal Software Engineer | Oracle Virtualization
>>>>>
>>>>> ORACLE Deutschland B.V. & Co. KG
>>>>> Hauptverwaltung: Riesstraße 25, D-80992 München
>>>>> Registergericht: Amtsgericht München, HRA 95603
>>>>>
>>>>> Komplementärin: ORACLE Deutschland Verwaltung B.V.
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>>>>> Handelsregister der Handelskammer Midden-Nederland, Nr. 30143697
>>>>> Geschäftsführer: Alexander van der Ven, Jan Schultheiss, Val
>>>>> Maher
>>>>>
>>>>> Green Oracle <http://www.oracle.com/commitment>
>>>>> Oracle is committed to developing practices and products that
>>>>> help protect the environment
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 14.10.2016 19:19, Klaus Espenlaub wrote:
>>>>>> Max's answer is correct for every supported host OS besides
>>>>>> Windows. As
>>>>>> usual, on Windows everything is more difficult. On this OS
>>>>>> it's COM
>>>>>> which starts the API service, VBoxSVC.exe, and I don't know a
>>>>>> way right
>>>>>> now to reliably pass it the required env variable...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 14.10.2016 19:02, Maxime Dor wrote:
>>>>>>> Hi Malcolm,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> You can change the location using the ||VBOX_USER_HOME|| env
>>>>>>> variable.
>>>>>>> More info here:
>>>>>>> https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch10.html#idm9569
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Max
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 14/10/16 18:52, Malcolm Clarke wrote:
>>>>>>>> Dear All
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Although VirtualBox holds a parameter for the location of the
>>>>>>>> configuration files of the virtual machines, is there any
>>>>>>>> way to
>>>>>>>> control the location of the configuration file of Virtual Box?
>>>>>>>> Currently it installs itself in a directory ".VirtualBox"
>>>>>>>> in the
>>>>>>>> user's default directory.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Is there a switch or otherwise to place this directory and its
>>>>>>>> configuration file in another specified location?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I ask this because we are using Virtual Box with students
>>>>>>>> in a lab.
>>>>>>>> They are allocated a home drive which is connected every
>>>>>>>> time they
>>>>>>>> log on to a machine, but we do not operate roaming
>>>>>>>> profiles. Although
>>>>>>>> they can retain the VM configuration directories and files by
>>>>>>>> configuring to their home drive, they "lose" the Virtual Box
>>>>>>>> configuration file every time they move to another machine.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Regards
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Malcolm
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> *Malcolm Clarke *BSc (Hons), PhD
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Reader in Telemedicine and Data Communication Systems
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> T+44 (0) 1895 265053
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> *Brunel University London*
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Department of Computer Science
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> HNZW010, Heinz Wolff Building, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge,
>>>>>>>> Middlesex,
>>>>>>>> UB8 3PH
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> *www.brunel.ac.uk <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/>*
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Connect with the university on*Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook*
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> vbox-dev mailing list
>>>>>> vbox-dev at virtualbox.org
>>>>>> https://www.virtualbox.org/mailman/listinfo/vbox-dev
>>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> vbox-dev mailing list
>>>>> vbox-dev at virtualbox.org
>>>>> https://www.virtualbox.org/mailman/listinfo/vbox-dev
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> *Malcolm Clarke *BSc (Hons), PhD
>>>>
>>>> Reader in Telemedicine and Data Communication Systems
>>>>
>>>> T+44 (0) 1895 265053
>>>>
>>>> *Brunel University London*
>>>>
>>>> College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences
>>>>
>>>> Department of Computer Science
>>>>
>>>> HNZW010, Heinz Wolff Building, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge,
>>>> Middlesex, UB8 3PH
>>>>
>>>> *www.brunel.ac.uk <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/>*
>>>>
>>>> Connect with the university on*Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> vbox-dev mailing list
>>>> vbox-dev at virtualbox.org
>>>> https://www.virtualbox.org/mailman/listinfo/vbox-dev
>>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> *Malcolm Clarke *BSc (Hons), PhD
>>
>> Reader in Telemedicine and Data Communication Systems
>>
>> T+44 (0) 1895 265053
>>
>> *Brunel University London*
>>
>> College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences
>>
>> Department of Computer Science
>>
>> HNZW010, Heinz Wolff Building, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge,
>> Middlesex, UB8 3PH
>>
>> *www.brunel.ac.uk <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/>*
>>
>> Connect with the university on*Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook*
>>
>>
>> --
>> Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity or typos.
>
> --
>
> *Malcolm Clarke *BSc (Hons), PhD
>
> Reader in Telemedicine and Data Communication Systems
>
> T+44 (0) 1895 265053
>
> *Brunel University London*
>
> College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences
>
> Department of Computer Science
>
> HNZW010, Heinz Wolff Building, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH
>
> *www.brunel.ac.uk <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/>*
>
> Connect with the university on*Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook*
>
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