vbox error

gistfile1.sh

# The problem seems to be that createhd / storageattach do not register the
# media in any media registry, so non-standard media locations aren't
# findable.
#
# The quick hack vb_register_drive.py below can be used to register the media in
# either Virtualbox.xml or the .vbox file of a machine, and then everything works.
# vb_register_drive.py is a quick and dirty hack with lots of assumptions

# this is my recipe for making a vm on a headless machine which fails as seen
# below

 DRIVE_PATH=/home/share/images/vbox/hdds/chk5.vdi
 VM_NAME=chk5
 
 VBoxManage createhd --filename $DRIVE_PATH --diffparent \
>     c885180a-173c-447f-9150-1ae2fe368f63
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Disk image created. UUID: 0677f50a-9ba2-4991-b5c6-7b30711877e8
 
 VBoxManage createvm --name $VM_NAME --ostype Ubuntu_64 \
>   --register --basefolder /home/share/images/vbox/vms
Virtual machine 'chk5' is created and registered.
UUID: a398cb5d-fa53-410c-808c-6b318c6979de
Settings file: '/home/share/images/vbox/vms/chk5/chk5.vbox'
 
 VBoxManage list vms
"u1404base" {63b15952-f945-4f6b-9f66-5e623723d8bc}
"chk5" {a398cb5d-fa53-410c-808c-6b318c6979de}
 
 VBoxManage modifyvm $VM_NAME --hwvirtex on --pae on --ioapic on - 
-cpus 2 \
>     --memory 2024 --acpi on
 
 VBoxManage list vms
"u1404base" {63b15952-f945-4f6b-9f66-5e623723d8bc}
"chk5" {a398cb5d-fa53-410c-808c-6b318c6979de}
 
 VBoxManage storagectl $VM_NAME --name "SATA Controller" --add sat 
a \
>     --controller IntelAhci --bootable on
 
 VBoxManage list vms
"u1404base" {63b15952-f945-4f6b-9f66-5e623723d8bc}
"chk5" {a398cb5d-fa53-410c-808c-6b318c6979de}
 
 VBoxManage storageattach $VM_NAME --storagectl "SATA Controller"  
\
>     --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd \
>     --medium $DRIVE_PATH
 
 VBoxManage list vms
"u1404base" {63b15952-f945-4f6b-9f66-5e623723d8bc}
"chk5" {a398cb5d-fa53-410c-808c-6b318c6979de}
 
 VBoxManage modifyvm $VM_NAME --nic1 nat \
>     --natpf1 ,tcp,,20022,,22
     
 VBoxManage list vms
"u1404base" {63b15952-f945-4f6b-9f66-5e623723d8bc}
"chk5" {a398cb5d-fa53-410c-808c-6b318c6979de}
 
 VBoxManage modifyvm $VM_NAME --natpf1 ,tcp,,28082,,8082
 
 VBoxManage list vms
"u1404base" {63b15952-f945-4f6b-9f66-5e623723d8bc}
"chk5" {a398cb5d-fa53-410c-808c-6b318c6979de}
 
 VBoxManage showvminfo $VM_NAME
VBoxManage: error: Could not find a registered machine named 'chk5'
VBoxManage: error: Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
VBoxManage: error: Context: "FindMachine(Bstr(VMNameOrUuid).raw(), machine.asOutParam())" at line 2610 of file VBoxManageInfo.cpp
 
 VBoxManage list vms
"u1404base" {63b15952-f945-4f6b-9f66-5e623723d8bc}
"<inaccessible>" {a398cb5d-fa53-410c-808c-6b318c6979de}
 

vb_register_drive.py

# this is just an assumption laden hack to make things work

import subprocess
import sys

from lxml import etree

VB = "http://www.innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings"
NS = {'vb': VB}

machine_xml = sys.argv[1]
drive_file = sys.argv[2]

dom = etree.parse(open(machine_xml))

cmd = subprocess.Popen(["VBoxManage", "showhdinfo", drive_file],
                       stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
out, err = cmd.communicate()
drive_uuid = out.split()[1]
parent_uuid = out.split()[4]

print "Drive UUID", drive_uuid
print "Parent UUID", parent_uuid

hds = dom.xpath("//vb:HardDisks", namespaces=NS)[0]
hd = hds.xpath('.//vb:HardDisk[@uuid="{%s}"]' % drive_uuid, namespaces=NS)
if hd:
    raise Exception("Drive already registered for machine")

if parent_uuid != 'base':
    parent = hds.xpath('.//vb:HardDisk[@uuid="{%s}"]' % 
        parent_uuid, namespaces=NS)
    if not parent:
        cmd = subprocess.Popen(["VBoxManage", "showhdinfo", parent_uuid],
            stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
        out, err = cmd.communicate()
        out = out.split()
        parent_location = out[out.index("Location:")+1]

        parent = etree.Element("{%s}HardDisk" % VB)
        parent.set('uuid', "{%s}" % parent_uuid)
        parent.set('format', 'VDI')
        parent.set('type', 'Normal')
        parent.set('location', parent_location)
        hds.append(parent)
else:
    parent = hds

hd = etree.Element("{%s}HardDisk" % VB)
hd.set('uuid', "{%s}" % drive_uuid)
hd.set('location', drive_file)
hd.set('format', 'VDI')
if parent_uuid == 'base':
    hd.set('type', 'Normal')
parent.append(hd)

open(machine_xml+'.bak', 'w').write(open(machine_xml).read())

open(machine_xml, 'w').write(etree.tostring(
    dom, xml_declaration=True, pretty_print=True))