8 VBoxManage reference
8.5.2 Storage settings
The following storage settings are available through VBoxManage modifyvm:
•--hd<abd> none<uuid><filename>: This specifies the settings for each of the three virtual hard disks that can be attached to a VM’s IDE con- troller (primary master and slave, and secondary slave; the secondary master is always reserved for the virtual CD/DVD drive). For each of these three, specify either the UUID or a filename of a virtual disk that you have
–either registered with VBoxManage openmedium; see chapter 8.12, VBox- Manage openmedium / closemedium, page 116;
–or created using VBoxManage createhd with the --register option; see chapter 8.14, VBoxManage createhd, page 117;
–alternatively, specify the UUID of an iSCSI target that you have registered with VBoxManage addiscsidisk; see chapter 8.18, VBoxManage ad- discsidisk, page 120.
•--sata onoff: this determines whether VirtualBox, in addition to the IDE controller, should also present an SATA controller as a second PCI device to the virtual machine. See chapter 5.1, Hard disk controllers: IDE, SATA (AHCI), SCSI, page 75 for additional information.
•--sataportcount <1-30>: if the SATA controller is enabled, this determines how many ports the SATA controller should support.
•--sataport<1-30> none<uuid><filename>: if the SATA controller is enabled, this specifies how an SATA slot should be occupied. This works just like the --hd options explained above.
•--sataideemulation<1-4> <1-30>: if the SATA controller is enabled, this specifies which SATA ports should operate in IDE emulation mode. As explained in chapter 5.1, Hard disk controllers: IDE, SATA (AHCI), SCSI, page 75, by default, this is the case for SATA ports 1-4; with this command, you can map four IDE channels to any of the 30 supported SATA ports.
•--dvd none<uuid><filename>host:<drive>: This specifies what VirtualBox should provide to the VM as the virtual CD/DVD drive; specify either the UUID or the filename of an image file that you have registered with VBoxManage openmedium (see chapter 8.12, VBoxManage openmedium
/closemedium, page 116). Alternatively, specify “host:“ with the drive specifica- tion of your host’s drive.
•--dvdpassthrough onoff: With this, you can enable DVD writing support (currently experimental; see chapter 3.7.5, CD/DVD-ROM and floppy settings, page 51).
