VirtualBoxService

A Windows-Service to control Startup and Shutdown of Virtualbox VMs.

Download latest release (beta, expect bugs or crashes)

Features

• Starts and stops virtual machines of Oracle VirtualBox
• Supports three different shutdown-methods
• Runs as Windows-Service
• Uses the Virtualbox-Configuration of the user account under which the Service runs
• Delays shutdown of Windows until all machines have properly shutdown (only on Vista SP1 and higher)
• Configurable from within Virtualbox GUI or phpvirtualbox
• Starts and Stops Virtualbox-Webservice (vboxwebsrv)

Usage Instructions

1. Download and extract to a folder of your choice
2. Run virtualboxservice.exe and install using the GUI
3. Open Virtualbox and add the following template to the description of the machines you wish to be controlled by VirtualBoxService:<!VirtualboxService--{"Autostart":"true", "ShutdownType":"ACPIShutdown", "ACPIShutdownTimeout": "300000"}--/VirtualboxService>
4. Customize the parameters:
• Autostart: "true" or "false", defines, if the machine should be controlled
• ShutdownType: "ACPIShutdown", "SaveState" or "HardOff"
• ACPIShutdownTimeout: Milliseconds to wait for machine to shutdown once the ACPI-Command has been sent
5. If you want the Service to start at Windows startup, go to services control panel and change the startup type

Current Limitations

• Only tested with Windows 7 x64 (but should work on Vista SP1 (or higher) and various server editions, too. Unsure about Windows XP.)
• Service has to run as local admin-account
• Due to unstable virtualbox-api only compatible to VirtualBox v4.0.x and v4.1.x
• Not tested in productive environment or over long term

Note: VirtualBox, Oracle, Windows, Vista and all other trademarks are the property of their respective owners