Virtualbox Start VM Headless on Windows
Oracle VirtualBox on Windows
Hi All,
Is there a way to start a vm headless (vboxheadless -s ) but one can close that command window or if I add that as a startup item will that make it run silent ?
I have successfully exported a appliance (linux vm), when I will do the batch import will it retain the settings I had configured originally or will one would have to assign bridged adapter, amount of ram, etc ?
will be grateful for your suggestions ! Kind Regards
EDIT : Iain, if one wants to script the GuestAdditions install on first boot in a CentOS VM, shall I just put the commands ./VBOXLinux-x86-additions.run to the bash script and it will run at startup, any thoughts on this would be really helpful.
Kind Regards
Solution 1:
If you use
vboxmanage import ovffile.ovf --dry-run
you will get a report telling you what configuration is going to be applied when the import is actually done. You'll also get advice on how to make changes if required.
As to running vboxheadless detached from a command line and a window it's not as straightforward as you may think. A simple
start /b vboxheadless -s vmname
appears to work in that it detaches from the command line but if you close the window the child process dies too and the 'power cord' is pulled from your vm.
To solve this use a small vbs script test.vbs
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
obj = WshShell.Run("c:\temp\test.bat", 0)
set WshShell = Nothing
My test.bat
@echo off
vboxheadless -s vmname
Solution 2:
This is pretty old post but I spent a lot of time looking for this
Here's what I use
VBoxManage.exe startvm "myvm" --type "headless"
And to stop it
VBoxManage.exe controlvm "myvm" savestate
or poweroff
I have put these in the Widows 7 task scheduler so it starts and stops with Windows.
Start:
Trigger at start up
Shut down:
Trigger on an Event
System event:
Source User32
Event ID 1074
The one issue I have found with this is if the IP changes it becomes difficult to figure out the right IP address.