--- modeline: | vim: set ft=pandoc: 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 ISO - Builders' sidebar_current: 'docs-builders-virtualbox-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: ``` json { "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. ## ISO Configuration Reference <%= partial "partials/common/ISOConfig" %> ### Required: <%= partial "partials/common/ISOConfig-required" %> ### Optional: <%= partial "partials/common/ISOConfig-not-required" %> ## Http directory configuration reference <%= partial "partials/common/HTTPConfig" %> ### Optional: <%= partial "partials/common/HTTPConfig-not-required" %> ## Floppy configuration reference <%= partial "partials/common/FloppyConfig" %> ### Optional: <%= partial "partials/common/FloppyConfig-not-required" %> ## Virtualbox ISO 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. ### 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 `10s` or 10 seconds. - `cpus` (number) - The number of cpus to use for building the VM. Defaults to `1`. - `export_opts` (array of strings) - Additional options to pass to the [VBoxManage export](https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch09.html#vboxmanage-export). This can be useful for passing product information to include in the resulting appliance file. Packer JSON configuration file example: ``` json { "type": "virtualbox-iso", "export_opts": [ "--manifest", "--vsys", "0", "--description", "{{user `vm_description`}}", "--version", "{{user `vm_version`}}" ], "format": "ova", } ``` A VirtualBox [VM description](https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch09.html#vboxmanage-export-ovf) may contain arbitrary strings; the GUI interprets HTML formatting. However, the JSON format does not allow arbitrary newlines within a value. Add a multi-line description by preparing the string in the shell before the packer call like this (shell `>` continuation character snipped for easier copy & paste): ``` {.shell} vm_description='some multiline description' vm_version='0.2.0' packer build \ -var "vm_description=${vm_description}" \ -var "vm_version=${vm_version}" \ "packer_conf.json" ``` - `format` (string) - Either `ovf` or `ova`, this specifies the output format of the exported virtual machine. This defaults to `ovf`. - `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. - `iso_target_extension` (string) - The extension of the iso file after download. This defaults to `iso`. - `iso_target_path` (string) - The path where the iso should be saved after download. By default will go in the packer cache, with a hash of the original filename as its name. - `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. - `memory` (number) - The amount of memory to use for building the VM in megabytes. Defaults to `512` megabytes. - `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. - `post_shutdown_delay` (string) - The amount of time to wait after shutting down the virtual machine. If you get the error `Error removing floppy controller`, you might need to set this to `5m` or so. By default, the delay is `0s` or disabled. - `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. - `sound` (string) - Defaults to `none`. The type of audio device to use for sound when building the VM. Some of the options that are available are `dsound`, `oss`, `alsa`, `pulse`, `coreaudio`, `null`. - `ssh_host_port_min` and `ssh_host_port_max` (number) - 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. By default this is `2222` to `4444`. - `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. - `usb` (boolean) - Specifies whether or not to enable the USB bus when building the VM. Defaults to `false`. - `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/engine.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. - `bundle_iso` (boolean) - Defaults to `false`. When enabled, Packer includes any attached ISO disc devices into the final virtual machine. Useful for some live distributions that require installation media to continue to be attached after installation. - `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. Set to an empty string to skip uploading this file, which can be useful when using the `none` communicator. - `vrdp_bind_address` (string / IP address) - The IP address that should be binded to for VRDP. By default packer will use `127.0.0.1` for this. If you wish to bind to all interfaces use `0.0.0.0`. - `vrdp_port_min` and `vrdp_port_max` (number) - The minimum and maximum port to use for VRDP access to the virtual machine. Packer uses a randomly chosen port in this range that appears available. By default this is `5900` to `6000`. The minimum and maximum ports are inclusive. ## Boot Configuration Reference <%= partial "partials/common/bootcommand/BootConfig" %> The boot command is sent to the VM through the `VBoxManage` utility in as few invocations as possible. We send each character in groups of 25, with a default delay of 100ms between groups. The delay alleviates issues with latency and CPU contention. If you notice missing keys, you can tune this delay by specifying "boot_keygroup_interval" in your Packer template, for example: ``` { "builders": [ { "type": "virtualbox", "boot_keygroup_interval": "500ms" ... } ] } ``` ### Optional: <%= partial "partials/common/bootcommand/BootConfig-not-required" %> <%= partial "partials/builders/boot-command" %> <%= partial "partials/builders/virtualbox-ssh-key-pair" %> Example boot command. This is actually a working boot command used to start an Ubuntu 12.04 installer: ``` text [ "", "/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 -- " ] ``` For more examples of various boot commands, see the sample projects from our [community templates page](/community-tools.html#templates). ## 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](https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch09.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 VRAM within the virtual machine: ``` json { "vboxmanage": [ ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--vram", "64"] ] } ``` 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/engine.html). The only available variable is `Name` which is replaced with the unique name of the VM, which is required for many VBoxManage calls.