create-vm-wizard-virtual-hard-disk.dita@ 103992

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1	<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
2	<!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
3	<topic xml:lang="en-us" id="create-vm-wizard-virtual-hard-disk">
4	<title>Create Virtual Machine Wizard: Virtual Hard Disk</title>
5
6	<body>
7	<p>
8	Use this page to specify a virtual hard disk for the virtual
9	machine.
10	</p>
11	<p>
12	There are many ways in which <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> can provide hard
13	disk space to a VM, see <xref href="storage.dita#storage"/>. The most
14	common way is to use a large image file on your physical hard
15	disk, whose contents <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> presents to your VM as if it
16	were a complete hard disk. This file then represents an entire
17	hard disk, so you can even copy it to another host and use it
18	with another <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> installation.
19	</p>
20	<fig id="fig-create-vm-hard-disk">
21	<title>Creating a New Virtual Machine: Virtual Hard Disk</title>
22	<xref href="images/create-vm-4.png" format="png" platform="htmlhelp">
23	<image href="images/create-vm-4.png" width="10cm" placement="break">
24	<alt>Creating a New Virtual Machine: Virtual Hard Disk</alt>
25	</image>
26	</xref>
27	<image platform="ohc" href="images/create-vm-4.png" width="10cm" placement="break">
28	<alt>Creating a New Virtual Machine: Virtual Hard Disk</alt>
29	</image>
30	</fig>
31	<p>
32	The following fields are available on this wizard page:
33	</p>
34	<ul>
35	<li>
36	<p><b outputclass="bold">Create a Virtual Hard Disk
37	Now</b>. Creates a new empty virtual hard disk image,
38	located in the VM's machine folder.
39	</p>
40	<p>
41	Enter the following settings:
42	</p>
43	<ul>
44	<li>
45	<p><b outputclass="bold">Disk Size</b>. Use the
46	slider to select a maximum size for the hard disk in the
47	new VM.
48	</p>
49	</li>
50	<li>
51	<p><b outputclass="bold">Pre-Allocate Full Size.</b>
52	This setting determines the type of image file used for
53	the disk image. Select this setting to use a
54	<i>fixed-size file</i> for the disk image.
55	Deselect this setting to use a <i>dynamically
56	allocated file</i> for the disk image.
57	</p>
58	<p>
59	The different types of image file behave as follows:
60	</p>
61	<ul>
62	<li>
63	<p><b outputclass="bold">Dynamically allocated
64	file.</b> This type of image file only grows
65	in size when the guest actually stores data on its
66	virtual hard disk. Therefore, this file is small
67	initially. As the drive is filled with data, the
68	file grows to the specified size.
69	</p>
70	</li>
71	<li>
72	<p><b outputclass="bold">Fixed-size file.</b>
73	This type of image file immediately occupies the
74	file specified, even if only a fraction of that
75	virtual hard disk space is actually in use. While
76	occupying much more space, a fixed-size file incurs
77	less overhead and is therefore slightly faster than
78	a dynamically allocated file.
79	</p>
80	</li>
81	</ul>
82	<p>
83	For more details about the differences, see
84	<xref href="vdidetails.dita#vdidetails"/>.
85	</p>
86	</li>
87	</ul>
88	</li>
89	<li>
90	<p><b outputclass="bold">Use an Existing Hard Disk
91	File.</b> Enables you to select an
92	<i>existing</i> disk image file to use with
93	the new VM.
94	</p>
95	<p>
96	The drop-down list presented in the window lists all disk
97	images which are known by <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>. These disk images
98	are currently attached to a virtual machine, or have been
99	attached to a virtual machine.
100	</p>
101	<p>
102	Alternatively, click on the small folder icon next to the
103	drop-down list. In the <b outputclass="bold">Hard Disk
104	Selector</b> window that is displayed, click
105	<b outputclass="bold">Add</b> to select a disk image
106	file on your host disk.
107	</p>
108	</li>
109	<li>
110	<p><b outputclass="bold">Do Not Add a Virtual Hard
111	Disk.</b> The new VM is created without a hard disk.
112	</p>
113	</li>
114	</ul>
115	<p>
116	To prevent your physical hard disk on the host OS from filling
117	up, <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> limits the size of the image file. But the
118	image file must be large enough to hold the contents of the
119	guest OS and the applications you want to install. For a Windows
120	or Linux guest, you will probably need several gigabytes for any
121	serious use. The limit of the image file size can be changed
122	later, see <xref href="vboxmanage-modifymedium.dita"/>.
123	</p>
124	<note>
125	<p>
126	You can skip attaching a virtual hard disk file to the new
127	virtual machine you are creating. But you will then need to
128	attach an hard disk later on, in order to install a guest
129	operating system.
130	</p>
131	</note>
132	<p>
133	After having selected or created your image file, click
134	<b outputclass="bold">Next</b> to go to the next wizard
135	page.
136	</p>
137	</body>
138
139	</topic>

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