Script to start a VirtualBox VM in CLI.

startvm.sh

#!/bin/bash

#First Argument
START=$1

#Checking if exist argument.
if [ -z $START ]; then
    echo "Please supply one argument with VM Name"
    echo "Example: $0 docker"
    exit 1
fi

#Getting VM Name and VM Hash
VMNAME=$(vboxmanage list vms | grep -i ${START} | cut -d'{' -f1 | cut -d'"' -f2)
VMHASH=$(vboxmanage list vms | grep -i "${VMNAME}" | cut -d'{' -f2 | cut -d'}' -f1)

# Checking if process already exists
CHECKSTART=$(ps -ef | grep -i "${VMHASH}" | grep -v [g]rep | awk '{print $2}')
if [ $CHECKSTART != "" ]; then
    echo "VM ${VMNAME} already started with PID ${CHECKSTART}."
    exit 0
fi

#Starting process.
/usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxHeadless --comment "${VMNAME}" --startvm "${VMHASH}" --vrde "config" >/dev/null &
disown

#Checking process.
VBOXPID=$(ps -ef | grep -i "${VMHASH}" | grep -v [g]rep | awk '{print $2}')
if [ $VBOXPID != "" ]; then 
    echo "VM ${VMNAME} started with PID ${VBOXPID}"
    exit 0
else
    echo "Failed to start VM ${VMNAME}"
    exit 2
fi