Headless VirtualBox on Ubuntu Server 20.04

As expected, first we need to install VirtualBox.

sudo wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian focal contrib" \
    | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install --yes virtualbox-6.1
sudo systemctl status vboxdrv

sudo usermod -aG vboxusers $USER

Since our server is headless, we will need a remote acces. This means installing Oracle’s extension pack with RDP support. You should be good installing this on your home system but you will need license for production deployments.

VBOXVER=`vboxmanage -v | cut -dr -f1`
wget -P /tmp \
    https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/$VBOXVER/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-$VBOXVER.vbox-extpack
vboxmanage extpack install /tmp/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-$VBOXVER.vbox-extpack

With installation ready, we can approach creating VM. I’ll give an example of the Ubuntu Desktop but really anything goes.

mkdir -p /srv/virtualbox

vboxmanage createvm \
    --ostype Ubuntu_64 \
    --basefolder "^^/srv/virtualbox^^" \
    --register \
    --name "^^Test^^"

vboxmanage modifyvm "^^Test^^" \
    --memory 1024 \
    --nic1 nat \
    --vrde on --vrdeport ^^33890^^

vboxmanage createhd \
    --filename "^^/srv/virtualbox/Test/Test.vdi^^" \
    --format VDI --size ^^10240^^

vboxmanage storagectl "^^Test^^" \
    --name "SATA" \
    --add sata

vboxmanage storageattach "^^Test^^" \
    --storagectl SATA --port 0 --type hdd \
    --medium "/srv/virtualbox/Test/Test.vdi"

vboxmanage storageattach "^^Test^^" \
    --storagectl SATA --port 15 --type dvddrive \
    --medium ^^/tmp/ubuntu-20.04-desktop-amd64.iso^^

If you are using firewall, make sure to allow port through. For example, iptables would need the following adjustment.

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 33890 -j ACCEPT

With this, we’re finally ready to start the virtual machine.

vboxmanage startvm "^^Test^^" --type headless

To connect to it just use any Remote Desktop application.

PS: Authentication for RDP is highly recommended and you should probably check documentation to see what works best for you.