I have a VirtualBox VM that has a project I'm working on. I'd like to be able to use this VM on two separate computers, so I can work on it where I happen to be at that time. I've seen answers on transferring, cloning, and backing up VMs, but nothing on having two copies and keeping them in sync.
What's the easiest (fewest or simplest steps) or best (lowest risk of problems) way to maintain a single VM image on multiple computers?
Ideally, I'd rather not run the VM from a USB drive as one of the two computers has very few USB ports, but if that's going to be best, then I'll take it (I'm actually not sure if there are any problems with running a VM from a USB drive). I would, however, plan on using a USB drive to transfer any files between computers.
Best Answer
I think that you have two options here: the first one is to set (in the installations of Virtualbox on both computers) the folder where the VMs are stored on some kind of portable or remote hard drive; if the computers that you will be using are linked together on a network, you can use a shared folder, if not, I fear that the only solution is a USB pendrive or an external harddrive. To set the folder, go to
File > Preferences > General > Default Machine Folder. The speed of the USB key could be a limit on the overall performance.The second solution, that also require a pendrive or something similar (but just to carry around your VM files), is to manually export and import the desired VM every time that you need to carry it away. You can do this by selecting the VM and go with
File > Export ApplianceandFile > Import Appliance. By exporting, a file with the .ova format will be created, it is an archive that contains all the files needed to use the VM, by importing it in another installation, you will have the same VM on the second computer. This way you are using the pendrive to simply carry around your files, that when reimported will be stored and accessed from your computer, thus the USB speed is not a concern.