CLI for disabling 'Check for Update'

[arend]

Hi,

How can I disable the 'check for updates' feature from the CLI without using the GUI?

I would have thought that as a global property 'VBoxManage setproperty' would have an option but I could not find any.

Any idea is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Arend

[arend]

After digging a little deeper I found the answer

Code: Select all

VBoxManage setextradata global GUI/UpdateDate never

The documentation on 'VBoxManage getextradata/setextradata' is a little confusing ...

These commands let you attach and retrieve string data to a virtual machine or to a VirtualBox configuration

This lead me at first to believe that these attached pieces of information are just for manageability purposes without implying that VirtualBox behavior can actually be changed.

[Perryg]

Code: Select all

VBoxManage setextradata global "GUI/UpdateDate" value="never"

Ooops see you found it. But i would test it. it may require the" "

[arend]

Thank you Perry.

[mikep345678]

in case anyone else finds this thread (it was near the top Google hit for "virtualbox disable updates cli"), the correct syntax is:

Code: Select all

VBoxManage setextradata global GUI/UpdateDate never

(no quotes!)


Mike

[loosus]

An additional note: the auto-update setting is per-user (not per-system). What this means is that you have to run the command as the user for whom you wish to change the auto-update setting.

[scottgus1]

auto-update setting is per-user (not per-system).

This is because the file that stores these main-program settings is in the .Virtualbox folder in the user's home folder (Like C:\users\{yourusername}\.Virtualbox).

There is a way to change where Virtualbox looks for the info in the .Virtualbox folder to a common system-wide location, not in the user-centric environment. It involves the "VBOX_USER_HOME" environment variable. See the manual, section 10.1.3.