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<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
<topic xml:lang="en-us" id="frontends">
<title>Alternative Front Ends</title>
<body>
<p><ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> has a very flexible internal design that enables you to use
multiple interfaces to control the same virtual machines. For example, you can start a virtual machine with the
<ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/vbox-mgr"/> window and then stop it from the command line. With <ph
conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>'s support for the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), you can even
run virtual machines remotely on a headless server and have all the graphical output redirected over the network. </p>
<p>The following front ends are shipped in the standard <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>
package:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><b outputclass="bold">VirtualBox.</b> This is the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/vbox-mgr"/>, a
graphical user interface that uses the Qt toolkit. This interface is described throughout this user guide.
While this is the simplest and easiest front end to use, some of the more advanced <ph
conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> features are not included.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><b outputclass="bold">VBoxManage.</b> A command-line interface for automated and detailed control of every
aspect of <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>. See <xref href="vboxmanage.dita#vboxmanage"
/>. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p><b outputclass="bold">VBoxHeadless.</b> A front end that produces no visible output on
the host at all, but can act as a RDP server if the VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension
(VRDE) is installed and enabled for the VM. As opposed to the other graphical interfaces,
the headless front end requires no graphics support. This is useful, for example, if you
want to host your virtual machines on a headless Linux server that has no X Window system
installed. See <xref href="vboxheadless.dita">VBoxHeadless, the Remote Desktop
Server</xref>. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p><b>Separate mode.</b> A front end that is based on <userinput>VBoxHeadless</userinput>,
but does not require VRDE or an RDP viewer. See <xref href="vboxheadless-separate-mode.dita">Separate Mode</xref>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>If the above front ends still do not satisfy your particular needs, it is possible to create yet another front
end to the complex virtualization engine that is the core of <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"
/>, as the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> core neatly exposes all of its features in a
clean API. See <xref href="VirtualBoxAPI.dita"><ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> Programming
Interfaces</xref>. </p>
</body>
</topic>
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