Oracle VirtualBox#

Port Forwarding for NAT Connection on Oracle VirtualBox#

  1. Open VirtualBox:

    • Start Oracle VirtualBox and make sure your virtual machine (VM) is powered off.

  2. Access VM Settings:

    • Select the VM you want to configure and click on the Settings button.

  3. Network Settings:

    • In the Settings window, go to the Network section.

    • Make sure Attached to is set to NAT.

  4. Port Forwarding:

    • Click on the Advanced dropdown to expand it.

    • Click on Port Forwarding.

  5. Add New Rule:

    • In the Port Forwarding Rules window, click on the + icon to add a new rule.

  6. Configure Rule:

    • Name: Give a descriptive name for the rule.

    • Protocol: Choose TCP or UDP depending on your requirements.

    • Host IP: Leave it blank or set it to 0.0.0.0 if you want it to listen on all interfaces. you can also use 127.0.0.1 as localhost

    • Host Port: Specify the port number on the host machine.

    • Guest IP: Leave it blank (it will default to the guest’s internal IP). you can also use guest ip as ***.*.*.*

    • Guest Port: Specify the port number on the guest machine.

  • For example, if you want to forward port 8080 on the host to port 80 on the guest:

    • Name: webserver

    • Protocol: TCP

    • Host IP: Leave blank

    • Host Port: 8080

    • Guest IP: Leave blank

    • Guest Port: 80

  1. Save and Start:

    • Click OK to save the rule.

    • Click OK again to close the Settings window.

    • Start your VM.

Example Usage#

Assuming you have a web server running on port 80 inside your VM, you can access it from your host machine using http://localhost:8080 after setting up port forwarding as described.

you can do same for ssh where your NAT virtual OS will remotely access by another port like#

  • For example, if you want to forward port 8080 on the host to port 80 on the guest:

    • Name: ssh

    • Protocol: TCP

    • Host IP: 127.0.0.1

    • Host Port: 2200

    • Guest IP: ***.*.*.* example 10.0.0.1

    • Guest Port: 22

now access from remote ssh like :

ssh username@127.0.0.1 -p 2200

Troubleshooting#

  • Check Firewall Settings: Ensure that the firewall on both the host and guest OS is not blocking the forwarded ports.

  • Verify Services: Make sure that the service (e.g., a web server) inside the VM is running and listening on the correct port.

  • Correct Ports: Double-check that you’ve entered the correct ports for both the host and guest.

Additional Tips#

  • You can add multiple port forwarding rules if you need to forward different ports for different services.

  • If you have multiple VMs and need unique port forwarding rules, make sure to use different host ports to avoid conflicts.

By following these steps, you should be able to set up port forwarding for a NAT connection in Oracle VirtualBox successfully.

Running VirtualBox Headless from the Terminal#

Prerequisites#

  1. Install VirtualBox:

  2. Install the VirtualBox Extension Pack:

    • Download the “Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack” from the official VirtualBox download page.

      • Download the file under “All supported platforms”.

    • Open VirtualBox.

    • Go to File -> Preferences -> Extensions.

    • Click the + button and add the downloaded Extension Pack.

    • Save the changes.

Running VirtualBox Headless#

List Installed VMs as an example#

To see all installed VirtualBox OS instances, open your terminal and run:

$ VBoxManage list vms

Example output look like:

    "ubuntu 22.04 server" {0f00c3b4-c6b8-46f0-9285-374b7cca8732}
    "kali-linux-2022.3-virtualbox-amd64" {724bd8df-0804-4d30-9dbd-d8a1c55d8755}

Start a VM in Headless Mode#

To start a specific VM in headless mode, use the following command:

$ VBoxHeadless -s "ubuntu 22.04 server"

for Windows Specific Instructions#

If you are using Windows , you may need to add VirtualBox to your system’s PATH environment variable.

Add VirtualBox to PATH:#

  • Open Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced system settings.

  • Click on Environment Variables.

  • Under System variables, find the Path variable, select it, and click Edit.

  • Add the path to your VirtualBox installation, typically C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox.

List Installed VMs:#

Open Command Prompt and run:

C:\Users\rcare>VBoxManage list vms

Example output:

VBoxManage list vms
"fedora_37" {f6ec3e86-eba9-4ee8-a6f5-2525f79b94de}
Start a VM in Headless Mode:

C:\Users\rcare>VBoxHeadless -s "fedora_37"

Example output:

Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 7.0.4
Copyright (C) 2008-2022 Oracle and/or its affiliates

Starting virtual machine: 10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%

By following these steps, you can successfully run VirtualBox VMs in headless mode from the terminal on both Linux and Windows.

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