Disable the VirtualBox Manager for end-users

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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Lesley76
Posts: 2
Joined: 12. Oct 2017, 11:20

Disable the VirtualBox Manager for end-users

Post by Lesley76 »

Hi,

Can I disable the VirtualBox Manager for end-users?
What I mean is that end-users are supposed to use the desktop shortcut of the virtual machine and are not allowed access to the VB Manager to change or add a VM.
I cant find any related subjects and I assume that this is not a standard functionality of VirtualBox.
Perhaps there is a functionality of Windows 10 or third party software to achieve this?


Kind regards,

Lesley
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
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Re: Disable the VirtualBox Manager for end-users

Post by socratis »

The only thing I can thing of is to disable read/execute access to the actual "VirtualBox.exe" (and only that) for simple users. You'll have to do this from your host, either via the Windows Explorer or the command line.

But they could still do anything they want from the command line, with VBoxManage. And you do *not* want to change the permissions on that one. Bottom line, if they know what they're doing, they'll do whatever they want to do.
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Lesley76
Posts: 2
Joined: 12. Oct 2017, 11:20

Hide VM Manager behind password

Post by Lesley76 »

Hi,

Is it possible to protect the VM Manager with a password?
This way end users can only start the VM, but not change it (or create a new one).

Kind regards,

Lesley
Martin
Volunteer
Posts: 2560
Joined: 30. May 2007, 18:05
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP, Win7, Win10, Linux, OS/2

Re: Hide VM Manager behind password

Post by Martin »

No, VirtualBox is not designed for such a restriction.
klaus
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 1115
Joined: 10. May 2007, 14:57

Re: Hide VM Manager behind password

Post by klaus »

... and implementing such arbitrary restrictions isn't useful (can be considered fake security), as the entire VirtualBox API logic (on which both the GUI and CLI functionality is built) circles around the fact that users can make VM config changes. This is necessary for e.g. taking snapshots etc etc. - config files are far less static than the casual requester of such a lock-down functionality is thinking.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Hide VM Manager behind password

Post by socratis »

@Lesley76
This is a duplicate of your older post, "Disable the VirtualBox Manager for end-users". I'm going to merge them because users have already replied to your 2nd post. If they hadn't, I would simply have deleted your 2nd post. According to the forum rules, duplicate posts are not allowed. It's not good etiquette...


PS. What's also not good etiquette is to not reply to your previous posts (positively or negatively) before opening a new one...
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
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