# Lack of RDP Server in VirtualBox OSE (VBoxHeadless): Alternatives?



## killspam (Apr 22, 2010)

I just installed VirtualBox on what pretended to be a headless server (only with support for GUESTADDITIONS, DBUS and HAL), just to find out that the OSE edition doesn't include the RDP server.


```
$ uname -v
FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE-p2 #0: Tue Jan  5 16:02:27 UTC 2010
root@i386-builder.daemonology.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC

$ pkg_info | grep virtualbox*
virtualbox-ose-3.1.6_3 A general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware
virtualbox-ose-kmod-3.1.6 VirtualBox kernel module for FreeBSD
```

I can import my available virtual drives and work with them, but I can't create new guests remotely and/or watch/supervise the boot process. 

What's your experience?, any workaround?

Regards


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## riku (Apr 22, 2010)

VBoxHeadless -s VMname

Default include VRDP support.


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## killspam (Apr 22, 2010)

riku said:
			
		

> VBoxHeadless -s VMname
> Default include VRDP support.



No, it doesn't. At least at this time and place.
Binaries do not exist for FreeBSD, and the OSE edition doesn't include the RDP server.
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Editions


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## carpenike (Aug 9, 2010)

Hi Killspam,

Not sure if you found the answer to your question or not, but you can start the VNC server instead of vrdp:


`$ VBoxHeadless -n -m 5901 -s "Mail Server"`

Thanks,
Ryan


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## Mad_Dud (Sep 11, 2010)

I might have the same issue. There is no new port opened after _VBoxHeadless -s_ command, the help output is also shorter then on Linux box.
Linux:

```
VBoxHeadless --help
Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 3.2.8
(C) 2008-2010 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

Usage:
   -s, -startvm, --startvm <name|uuid>   Start given VM (required argument)
   -v, -vrdp, --vrdp on|off|config       Enable (default) or disable the VRDP
                                         server or don't change the setting
   -p, -vrdpport, --vrdpport <ports>     Comma-separated list of ports the VRDP
                                         server can bind to. Use a dash between
                                         two port numbers to specify a range
   -a, -vrdpaddress, --vrdpaddress <ip>  Interface IP the VRDP will bind to 
   -c, -capture, --capture               Record the VM screen output to a file
   -w, --width                           Frame width when recording
   -h, --height                          Frame height when recording
   -r, --bitrate                         Recording bit rate when recording
   -f, --filename                        File name when recording.  The codec
                                         used will be chosen based on the
                                         file extension
```
FreeBSD:

```
Sun VirtualBox Headless Interface 3.1.6_OSE
(C) 2008-2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Unknown option: -n

Usage:
   -s, -startvm, --startvm <name|uuid>   Start given VM (required argument)
   -c, -capture, --capture               Record the VM screen output to a file
   -w, --width                           Frame width when recording
   -h, --height                          Frame height when recording
   -r, --bitrate                         Recording bit rate when recording
   -f, --filename                        File name when recording.  The codec
                                         used will be chosen based on the
                                         file extension
```

... so after executing your suggestion, I get 

```
Unknown option: -n
```


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## wblock@ (Sep 11, 2010)

Mad_Dud said:
			
		

> I might have the same issue. There is no new port opened after _VBoxHeadless -s_ command, the help output is also shorter then on Linux box.



There are two versions of VirtualBox.  There is the PUEL version, which includes RDP and USB support, but is not open source.

Then there's the Open Source Edition (OSE) included in ports, which does not include USB or RDP support.  It does, however, have VNC support which you can enable in the config screen.


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## Mad_Dud (Sep 11, 2010)

wblock: Thanks for info. However I don't see any option with "vnc" in the name:


```
â”Œâ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”                     
                    â”‚                Options for virtualbox-ose 3.1.6_3                  â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”Œâ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â” â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”‚      [X] QT4             Build with QT4 Frontend               â”‚ â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”‚      [ ] DEBUG           Build with debugging symbols          â”‚ â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”‚      [X] GUESTADDITIONS  Build with Guest Additions            â”‚ â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”‚      [X] DBUS            Build with D-Bus and HAL support      â”‚ â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”‚      [ ] PULSEAUDIO      Build with PulseAudio                 â”‚ â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”‚      [X] X11             Build with X11 support                â”‚ â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”‚      [X] NLS             Native language support               
                    â”‚ â”‚                                                                â”‚ â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”‚                                                                â”‚ â”‚                     
                    â”‚ â”‚                                                                â”‚ â”‚
```

EDIT: let me fetch new ports...
EDIT 2: yeah. My case is closed. After fetch update, the vnc option appeared in make config
Thanks for help!


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## kpa (Sep 11, 2010)

Your ports tree is way out of date, latest version of emulators/virtualbox-ose is 3.2.8.


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## sithclone (Jan 27, 2011)

RDP server just opens up a port on your host and forwards it to port 3389 on your virtual machine. The same thing can be accomplished in VirtualBox OSE with


```
VBoxManage modifyvm VMName --natpf1 â€œguestrdp,tcp,,3389,,3389â€
```

I'm using FreeBSD 8.1 and VirtualBox OSE 3.2.12 and it works great.


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