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Mutahir
Asked: 2010-10-07 04:16:03 +0800 CST

Virtualbox Start VM Headless on Windows

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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

windows virtualbox headless

5 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    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
    • 4

  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.

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  3. AFAIK when you import the applicance it will hold the settings you had on the machine you exported it from.

    See if this post on the VirtualBox forum can help you.

    • 0

  4. I am using a small opensource application named VBoxVmService, which is very helpful in this type of scenario. It enables you to run your VirtualBox VMs in headless mode as windows services (one service for each VM). It is hosted on Sourceforge at:

    http://vboxvmservice.sourceforge.net/

    You can configure the VMs to start as service in a simple ini file. Documentation is provided with the download.

    Be aware of the fact that the started VMs do not show up in the VirtualBox GUI application as started (differing from Linux, where those can be seen). If you should need to reconfigure your VMs, you will need to shutdown the service first (the supplied tray miniapp of VBoxVmService is very helpful there), then make the change in the VirtualBox GUI and then lauch the VM service again.

    I added this proposal, because it may be more convenient to some users...

    • 0

  5. This works well for me

    VBoxManage startvm --type headless "Name of guest to start"
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