Boxes is a simple graphical interface for managing and using virtual machines. Boxes can also connect to computers via VNC, SPICE, and Quemu. Boxes uses qemu-kvm, libvirt-glib, and spice-gtk to allow users to easily manage virtual machines and connect to remote machines.

Create, access, and manage, local virtual machines. Connect to remote machines (called connections) via SPICE, Quemu, or VNC protocols. Select and create favorite virtual machines or connections.

Download an ISO image of an operating system that will be used in the virtual machine. Launch Boxes from the application launcher, super key, or terminal. Click the New Button. Read the introduction and click continue in the upper right hand corner. Select the ISO Image that was previously downloaded to the Downloads folder, otherwise click select a file to find one somewhere else. Boxes will try to auto-detect ISO files in your Downloads folder, but it will not always recognize them. Boxes will then auto create settings, they can be edited by clicking customize. Memory and Disk allocation can be changed via the customize menu. Click Create. The new virtual machine will now boot.

Boxes Supports three protocols: SPICE, Qemu, and VNC. Open Boxes. Click Continue while the introduction is displayed. Click Enter URL. Enter the IP address or hostname of the remote machine you want to connect to. Remember to specify the protocol in the field. For example to connect to a computer via VNC at IP Address 192.168.1.115, you would type in vnc://192.168.1.115. Click Continue. The Review screen will now show you the type (protocol) and host (either hostname or IP address) of the remote connection. You can click customize at this screen to access different options that are available per protocol, for example USB redirection is available for the spice protocol. Or Read only is available for VNC. Click Create. The Remote connection is now available in the selection screen.

On the listing of machines, right click on the machine and then choose Properties. If the machine is running, click on the screwdriver and wrench icon. Once you have accessed the settings menu you can change various items of the virtual machine: Sharing the clipboard Resize Guest Redirect New USB Devices to the Virtual Machine Redirect currently plugged in USB devices to the Virtual machine Create Snapshots of the Virtual Machine from the snapshot heading Force Shutdown, by clicking "Force Shutdown" in the lower left hand corner To exit the settings menu, press the arrow pointing back or to the left on the top left hand side of the menu bar. This will return you to your virtual machine console.

$USER is a variable or place holder for whatever your username is on your system. For example: if your username is glen, /home/$USER would mean /home/glen Moving a virtual machine has three basic steps: Move or copy of the virtual hard drive that is kept in:/home/$USER/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images Export of the XML file via VIRSH dumpxml. Import of the XML file via VIRSH create. Open your home folder via files Press CTRL+H to view hidden files. Open the .local folder. Open the share folder. Open the gnome-boxes folder. Open the images folder. If You only have one virtual machine it will be called boxes-unknown by default. Right Click on the file of the virtual machine and copy it to the USB drive, network drive, or what ever media you will be using to copy your VM to the other computer. On the receiving computer, do the steps 1-6 again, but this time you will be copying/pasteing the drive image you found in step 7 into the folder: /home/$USER/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images Open a terminal window. type in virsh list --all If you only have one Virtual machine the default will be called boxes-unknown. To export the boxes-unknown machine configuration, issue the command: virsh dumpxml boxes-unknown >~/boxes-unknown.xml This will place the xml config file in the root of your home folder. So it would be located at: /home/$USER/boxes-unknown.xml Now that the configuration XML file "boxes-unknown.xml" is in the root of your home directory, copy it to the USB drive, network drive, or what ever media you will be using to copy your VM to the other/receiving computer. On the receiving computer, copy the boxes-unknown.xml into the root of your home folder: /home/$USER/boxes-unknown.xml On the receiving computer, open a terminal window. In the terminal window issue the command: virsh create boxes-unknown.xml Now Your virtual machine should be ready, open Boxes on the receiving / destination computer and turn it on

Deleting a box is simple: Open Boxes. Right Click the Box or Boxes you wish to delete. After the Boxes have a check mark on them that you wish to delete, click the Delete button. Click the X on the confirmation notification if you are sure you have deleted the correct boxes. Or click UNDO if you made a mistake.

Boxes uses libvertd and many libvertd commands can be used for Boxes virtual machines. Boxes keeps the virtual machine disks or images in:/home/$USER/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images

You can start and stop virtual machines from the command line as well as using the boxes interface . virsh shutdown or virsh reboot will use ACPI to shutdown or reboot the virtual machine. virsh destroy will mimic if you pulled the power from a running virtual machine. virsh start will power on or start the virtual machine. Do not use the virsh destory often or corruption and data loss will occur!