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moving VDI from C: to D:

Posted: 12. Sep 2022, 19:12
by Tracey
I am trying out vb v6.1.38 and saw the feature of moving the VDI from C: to ...
I MOVEd the [VirtualBox VMs] from C: to D:, but it left behind [.VirtualBox] logs.
Can it be designed to MOVE the [.VirtualBox] with the [VirtualBox VMs]
Oversight maybe or would this cause other issues?
Please advise.
Thanks, Tracey [End-User]]

Re: moving VDI from C: to D:

Posted: 12. Sep 2022, 19:25
by scottgus1
Tracey wrote:[.VirtualBox]
The folder ".Virtualbox" with the period in the name is the global configuration folder for Virtualbox. It must always stay where Virtualbox expects it, unless you manually make the system variable VBOX_USER_HOME in the Windows host system variables. The folder stored in VBOX_USER_HOME will be where the config files will be made if the system variable exists.
Tracey wrote:I MOVEd the [VirtualBox VMs] from C: to D
Virtualbox can only move the VMs themselves or the disk files in the VMs, not the whole "Virtualbox VMs" folder. You can use the main Virtualbox window's File menu, Preferences, General, Default Machine Folder to set to a new folder where new VMs will go, but old VMs will remain where they were unless you use their right-click Move command to move them.

It is not recommended to have the disk file outside the VM's folder where the VM's .vbox file resides. Makes for more difficult backups. Move the whole VM instead.

Virtualbox does not contain any mechanism to move the existing C:\Users\{accountname}\Virtualbox VMs folder. If you manually move this folder elsewhere by dragging it, the VMs inside will become inaccessible to Virtualbox.
Tracey wrote:I MOVEd the [VirtualBox VMs] from C: to D:, but it left behind [.VirtualBox] logs.
As mentioned above, Virtualbox cannot move the "Virtualbox VMs" folder. And the ".Virtualbox" folder requires the system variable in order to be moved. Without the system variable, Virtualbox will remake and still use the original .Virtualbox folder and will still make its logs there.

Frame challenge: Why are you moving the .Virtualbox folder? That folder takes up very little space.

Re: moving VDI from C: to D:

Posted: 12. Sep 2022, 21:01
by Tracey
I do NOT really want to move [.VirtualBox].

I MOVEd the VMs to free up 10GB of space on C: and just expected the [.VirtualBox] to move with it because it is the log files for running VirtualBox.

Thanks, Tracey

Re: moving VDI from C: to D:

Posted: 13. Sep 2022, 09:20
by mpack
Tracey wrote: I ... just expected the [.VirtualBox] to move with it because it is the log files for running VirtualBox.
Not really. It's just the log files for the front end app (VirtualBox or VBoxManage) and the background service process, i.e. global stuff. The VMs all have their individual Logs folders.

See section 10.1 of the user manual.