How to disable time sync with Windows 7 as host OS in VirtualBox?

I have a 64 bit Windows 7 with VirtualBox running the same 64 bit Windows 7 as a guest OS.

When I set a specific date and time, it will always revert to the host OS’s date and time on startup. How can I disable this?

Solution 1:

1. Find the location where your Virtual Machine is stored. You can do this by right clicking on the machine from the list in the VirtualBox Manager and selecting Show in Explorer

2. Backup the file called yourVMname.vbox

3. Open the file in a text editor and navigate to the <ExtraData> element which should contain a list of ExtraDataItem elements

4. Add the following item to the list: <ExtraDataItem name="VBoxInternal/Devices/VMMDev/0/Config/GetHostTimeDisabled" value="1"/>

5. The final section should look something like this:

source

Solution 2:

The command to disable time synchronization between host and guest in Virtualbox is:

VBoxManage setextradata "VM name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/VMMDev/0/Config/GetHostTimeDisabled" 1

See the Virtualbox manual, section 9.14, especially 9.14.4.

Note that in a Windows host your command window's default directory must be in the directory where Vboxmanage.exe exists (default: C:\Program Files\Oracle\Virtualbox) or you have to type the full path to Vboxmanage.exe.