Manual Zone

 $ vboxmanage createvm --name "WindowsXPVM1" --ostype WindowsXP --register 
 $ vboxmanage modifyvm "WindowsXPVM1" --memory 1000 --acpi on --boot1 dvd --nic1 nat 
 $ vboxmanage createhd --filename "WinXP.vdi" --size 20000 
 $ vboxmanage storagectl "WindowsXPVM1" --name "IDE Controller" --add ide --controller PIIX4 
 $ vboxmanage storageattach "WindowsXPVM1" --storagectl "IDE Controller" --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd --medium "WinXP.vdi" 
 $ vboxmanage storageattach "WindowsXPVM1" --storagectl "IDE Controller" --port 0 --device 1 --type dvddrive --medium /pathtoyouriso/windowsxp.iso 

At this point we can start the virtual machine to start the Windows installation procedure.

 $ VBoxHeadless --startvm "WindowsXPVM1" 

In order to connect to the system we can both use Phpvirtualbox console or directly connect through Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to the host.

2.- Installing guest additions in our virtual machine

 $ wget http://dlc.sun.com.edgesuite.net/virtualbox/4.1.12/VBoxGuestAdditions_4.1.12.iso 

Once downloaded we need to mount the ISO file at the Windows XP and follow the installation wizard.

3.- Adding a shared folder and recording the network traffic

 $ vboxmanage controlvm "WindowsXPVM1" poweroff 
 $ mkdir -p /home/santiago/cuckoo/shares/WindowsXPVM1 
 $ vboxmanage sharedfolder add "WindowsXPVM1" --name "WindowsXPVM1" --hostpath /home/santiago/cuckoo/shares/WindowsXPVM1 --automount 
 $ vboxmanage sharedfolder add "WindowsXPVM1" --name setup --hostpath /home/santiago/cuckoo/shares/setup --automount --readonly 
 $ vboxmanage modifyvm "WindowsXPVM1" --nictrace1 on --nictracefile1 /home/santiago/cuckoo/shares/WindowsXPVM1/dump.pcap 
 $ vboxheadless --startvm "WindowsXPVM1" 

4.- Configuring virtual machine to use a host-only adapter

 $ lsmod | grep vboxnetadp # module needed to add a new host-only interface at the host 
 $ vboxmanage list hostonlyifs # checks host-only interfaces at the host 
 $ vboxmanage hostonlyif create # leaving default IP 192.168.56.1/24 
 $ vboxmanage list dhcpservers # checks dhcp servers 
 $ vboxmanage list vms # checks virtual machines 
 $ vboxmanage showvminfo "WindowsXPVM1" # checks NICs information 
 $ vboxmanage controlvm "WindowsXPVM1" poweroff 
 $ vboxmanage modifyvm "WindowsXPVM1" --nic1 hostonly 
 $ vboxmanage modifyvm "WindowsXPVM1" --hostonlyadapter1 vboxnet0 
 $ vboxheadless --startvm WindowsXPVM1 

The gateway (192.168.56.1) and DNS Server (in this case I will use Googles 8.8.8.8) need to be configured manually at the Guest using Windows settings.

5.- Configuring the Host IP forwarding and firewall filters

 $ iptables -A FORWARD -o eth0 -i vboxnet0 -s 192.168.56.0/24 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -j ACCEPT 
 $ iptables -A FORWARD -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT 
 $ iptables -A POSTROUTING -t nat -j MASQUERADE 
 $ sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 

We can add these commands to our /etc/rc.local file if we want those to be executed every time the server wakes up or restarts.

6.- Starting and stopping the virtual machine

To start VirtualBox web service and the virtual machine we need to run the following commands:

 $ vboxwebsrv -b 
 $ vboxmanage list vms # Optional to list virtual machines 
 $ vboxheadless --startvm "WindowsXPVM1" 

And this is how we can stop it:

 $ vboxmanage controlvm "WindowsXPVM1" poweroff 

And we are done. We should now be able to use our fresh installation of our virtual Windows XP.

References

http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/
http://blog.michaelboman.org/