TL;DR
When running VBoxManage in PowerShell results in an unrecognized command, it indicates that the VirtualBox executable isn't included in the PATH environment variable. This guide walks you through adding it for easier access.
What happened
A user encountered the error 'VBoxManage is not recognized as a cmdlet' when trying to use VBoxManage in PowerShell on Windows. The issue stems from the fact that the VirtualBox executable directory wasn't included in the PATH environment variable.
Why it matters for ops
The command-line utility VBoxManage isn’t automatically accessible because its full path hasn’t been added to the system's PATH variable, causing issues when trying to manage virtual machines directly from PowerShell without specifying the complete path to the VBoxManage.exe file.
Action items
- Open System Properties and locate the 'Environment Variables' section
- Edit the user or system PATH variable by adding C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox as a new entry
- Restart any open command prompt or PowerShell instances to recognize the updated PATH settings
Source link
https://dev.to/alok38/fixing-vboxmanage-is-not-recognized-in-powershell-windows-virtualbox-3ch0