This is the tutorial that works: https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=51799
This configuration starts a headless Windows 7 VirtualBox instance on system-start:
# headless-windows7 - start a headless Windows 7
description "Starts a headless Windows 7 VirtualBox instance on system-start"
author "Andreas Koch <andyk[email protected]>"
# Configuration
env user=andreas
export user
env vmname="Windows 7 (64bit)"
export vmname
# When to start the service
start on runlevel [2345]
# When to stop the service
stop on runlevel [016]
# Automatically restart process if crashed
respawn
# Essentially lets upstart know the process will detach itself to the background
expect fork
# Start
pre-start script
echo "Starting headless VM: $vmname"
sudo -H -b -u $user /usr/bin/vboxheadless --startvm "$vmname"
end script
# Stop
pre-stop script
echo "Saving state of headless VM: $vmname"
sudo -H -u $user /usr/bin/vboxmanage controlvm "$vmname" savestate
end script
