VirtualBox Concepts

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Internal

Networking

VirtualBox Networking Concepts

Current State

The "current state" represents the "now" point in the life time of the virtual machine. The current state can be preserved by taking a snapshot.

Clone

Full Clone

A clone that copies all depending disk images into the new VM folder. A full clone can fully operate without the source VM.

Linked Clone

A linked clone refers to parent disk images.

Cloning "Everything"

If "Everything" is chosen when cloning, the current state of the VM and all snapshots are cloned.

Snapshot

A snapshot contains the current state of the virtual machine, which consists of:

  • the complete copy of the VM settings, including the hardware configuration.
  • the complete state of all virtual disks attached to the VM. Going back to a past snapshot means that all changes that have been made since the snapshot has been taken will be discarded.
  • if the snapshot was taken when the machine is running, the memory state is preserved as well.

The procedure to restore a VM from a snapshot is available here:

Restoring a VM from a Snapshot