Setup

Load the modules (or just reboot):

su root
modprobe vboxdrv
vboxreload

Make dd image into vdi

VBoxManage convertdd base.dd output.vdi --format VDI

If this doesn't work, try to make a new bite size with just

sudo dd if=image.dd of=image2.dd bs=512 conv=sync

Arch Linux

pacman -S virtualbox-host-modules-arch virtualbox-guest-iso

List boxes:

VBoxManage list vms

Start a headless instance

VBoxManage startvm "rata" --type headless

To pause the machine:

VBoxManage controlvm "rata" pause --type headless

You can do a number of things to the 'virtual boxes' this way:

Creating a VM requires registering it:

VBoxManage createvm --name Ubuntu19.04 --register --ostype Ubuntu

VBoxManage modifyvm Ubuntu19.04 --memory 1042

VBoxManage storagectl Ubuntu19.04 -name IDE --add ide --controller PIIX4  --bootable on

Create just a disk with:

VBoxManage createhd --filename "$diskname" --size 5120