diff --git a/builder/virtualbox/builder.go b/builder/virtualbox/builder.go
index 051d0cfe3..ec882ef0c 100644
--- a/builder/virtualbox/builder.go
+++ b/builder/virtualbox/builder.go
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ func (b *Builder) Run(ui packer.Ui, hook packer.Hook, cache packer.Cache) packer
 		new(stepPrepareOutputDir),
 		new(stepSuppressMessages),
 		new(stepCreateVM),
+		new(stepCreateDisk),
 	}
 
 	// Setup the state bag
diff --git a/builder/virtualbox/step_create_disk.go b/builder/virtualbox/step_create_disk.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a558e6b99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/builder/virtualbox/step_create_disk.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package virtualbox
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"github.com/mitchellh/multistep"
+	"github.com/mitchellh/packer/packer"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// This step creates the virtual disk that will be used as the
+// hard drive for the virtual machine.
+type stepCreateDisk struct{
+	diskPath string
+}
+
+func (s *stepCreateDisk) Run(state map[string]interface{}) multistep.StepAction {
+	config := state["config"].(*config)
+	driver := state["driver"].(Driver)
+	ui := state["ui"].(packer.Ui)
+
+	format := "VDI"
+	path := filepath.Join(config.OutputDir, fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s", config.VMName, strings.ToLower(format)))
+
+	command := []string{
+		"createhd",
+		"--filename", path,
+		"--size", "40",
+		"--format", format,
+		"--variant", "Standard",
+	}
+
+	ui.Say("Creating hard drive...")
+	err := driver.VBoxManage(command...)
+	if err != nil {
+		ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Error creating hard drive: %s", err))
+		return multistep.ActionHalt
+	}
+
+	// Set the path so that we can delete it later
+	s.diskPath = path
+
+	time.Sleep(15 * time.Second)
+	return multistep.ActionContinue
+}
+
+func (s *stepCreateDisk) Cleanup(state map[string]interface{}) {
+	if s.diskPath == "" {
+		return
+	}
+
+	driver := state["driver"].(Driver)
+	ui := state["ui"].(packer.Ui)
+
+	ui.Say("Unregistering and deleting hard disk...")
+	if err := driver.VBoxManage("closemedium", "disk", s.diskPath, "--delete"); err != nil {
+		ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Error deleting hard drive: %s", err))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/builder/virtualbox/step_create_vm.go b/builder/virtualbox/step_create_vm.go
index a27dbd087..da61ff986 100644
--- a/builder/virtualbox/step_create_vm.go
+++ b/builder/virtualbox/step_create_vm.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/multistep"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/packer/packer"
-	"time"
 )
 
 // This step creates the actual virtual machine.
@@ -42,7 +41,6 @@ func (s *stepCreateVM) Run(state map[string]interface{}) multistep.StepAction {
 		}
 	}
 
-	time.Sleep(15 * time.Second)
 	return multistep.ActionContinue
 }