How to Change the UUID of Virtual Disk (.VDI)

VirtualBox provides an utility named VBoxManage to create the clone of existing disk. In case you already created a copy of the disk and try to create the VM using this. You will face an issue of UUID already registered like below:

Now, you can use the same utility VBoxManage to change the UUID of .vdi disk

Change the UUID of Virtual Disk

VBoxManage command is installed with VirtualBox installation on your system. So, its available for all operating systems having VirtualBox installed.

Windows Users can use the following command to change UUID of D:\NewVM\myDisk1.vdi disk.

c:\> cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\"
c:\> VBoxManage.exe internalcommands sethduuid D:\NewVM\myDisk1.vdi

Linux Users can also use the VBoxManage command to change UUID of a disk.

$ VBoxManage internalcommands setvdiuuid /var/vdisks/myDisk1.vdi

Best Way to Clone VDI Disk:

VBoxManage provides an option to make a clone of the existing disk. Where the utility creates a copy of the disk with different UUID and you will not face above issue.

$ VBoxManage clonevdi myDisk1.vdi cloneDisk.vdi