How to disable a VirtualBox network interface using a command-line?

Question

When list virtual network interfaces, some of them are not anymore needed:

vboxnet1: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether 0a:00:27:00:00:01 
vboxnet8: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether 0a:00:27:00:00:08 
vboxnet9: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether 0a:00:27:00:00:09 
vboxnet11: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether 0a:00:27:00:00:0b 
vboxnet12: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether 0a:00:27:00:00:0c

How can I make them disable them for good?

@PineappleUndertheSea, you can use the `ip addr` command – Thierry Marianne Apr 29 '15 at 08:38 — Thierry Marianne, Apr 29 '15 at 08:38

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 03 '14 at 21:31

16

It turns out VirtualBox comes natively with a special command dedicated to this need:

e.g. to remove the network interface vboxnet0, execute the following command

VBoxManage hostonlyif remove vboxnet0

answered Jun 03 '14 at 21:31

Thierry Marianne

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Via a script if there are dozens of them: `for i in {1..130}; do VBoxManage hostonlyif remove vboxnet$i ; done` (replace 130 as needed, this removes vbnoxnet1 to vboxnet130). – sup Jan 17 '17 at 11:57
1

Taht should have been `{0..130}` - Virtualbox starts numbering interfaces at zero. – sup Jan 17 '17 at 16:11

tk_ · Answer 2 · 2017-01-20T16:24:07.013

2

Using GUI,

Open Virtualbox, click File -> Preferences -> Network -> Host-only Network, remove Vboxnet#

Using command line,

VBoxManage hostonlyif remove vboxnet#

(replace the '#' accordingly, in your case 1, 8, 9, 11, 12)

edited Jan 20 '17 at 16:24

answered Aug 18 '16 at 06:07

tk_

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How to disable a VirtualBox network interface using a command-line?

2 Answers2