You need a recent virtualbox, or the (proprietary) server version of it (which is free as in beer). In any case, the steps below work for me on Ubuntu intrepid:
/etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian intrepid non-free
Execute:
$ wajig install virtualbox-2.1
Answer yes to install the kernel module, it should just work. Create the virtual image:
$ VBoxManage createvm -name ubuntu -register $ VBoxManage modifyvm ubuntu -memory "2048MB" -acpi on -boot1 dvd -nic1 nat $ VBoxManage createvdi -filename ~/.VirtualBox/Machines/ubuntu/ubuntu.vdi -size 20000 -register $ VBoxManage modifyvm ubuntu -hdb ~/.VirtualBox/Machines/ubuntu/ubuntu.vdi $ VBoxManage registerimage dvd ~/ext/debian-40r6-i386-netinst.iso $ VBoxManage modifyvm ubuntu -dvd ~/ext/debian-40r6-i386-netinst.iso
Start the image
$ VBoxHeadless -startvm ubuntu VirtualBox Headless Interface 2.1.2 (C) 2008-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Listening on port 3389
Connect to the image (requires X) on the same machine:
rdesktop localhost
Or you can login remotely by forwarding the 3389 port:
$ ssh -L 3389:localhost:3389 server
And from your desktop computer
rdesktop localhost
Stop the image (do not save changes)
VBoxManage controlvm ubuntu poweroff
Stop the image (save changes)
VBoxManage controlvm ubuntu savestate
Networking
In order to be able to login using ssh, do:
VBoxManage setextradata ubuntu "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/guestssh/Protocol" TCP VBoxManage setextradata ubuntu "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/guestssh/GuestPort" 22 VBoxManage setextradata ubuntu "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/guestssh/HostPort" 2222
Then you can login on the server using:
ssh -p 2222 localhost