[Solved] VBoxManage script runs manually but not from cron

[NginUS]

I'm on Linux Mint 18.3 with VirtualBox version 5.1.38_Ubuntu r122592.

I have the following in my user's crontab:

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0 12 * * 1 sh /home/user/Scripts/Show_Headless_VMName_UI_Now.sh

And this is the script it calls:

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#!/bin/bash
VBoxManage startvm /home/user/VM/VMName/ VMName --type=separate 
VBoxManage controlvm VMName setvideomodehint 1440 900 32

I'm able to run that script successfully from a KDE menu launcher, & manually in a console, each with this command:

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sh /home/user/Scripts/Show_Headless_VMName_UI_Now.sh

But from cron it fails somehow. Could use a hand.

Thanks in advance.

[socratis]

VirtualBox version 5.1.38_Ubuntu r122592.

1) That's an old VirtualBox version, but most importantly 2) This is a fork of the official VirtualBox.

You can either ask in their forums for help, or completely remove/uninstall/delete/purge their version and install the official version from the Linux Downloads section of VirtualBox.

But from cron it fails somehow.

Because it's not running under your account. VirtualBox VMs are registered and run on a per-user basis, not on a per-computer basis. A lot of people think that 'root' has more powers but when it comes to VirtualBox it can't even see the user's VMs.

[NginUS]

For future reference this change solved the issue:

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#!/bin/bash
VBoxManage startvm VMName --type=separate
sleep 15
VBoxManage controlvm VMName setvideomodehint 1440 900 32

[socratis]

So, the delay was the solution? You were trying to adjust the screen resolution before the VM was even running in a sense?

But from cron it fails somehow.

i should have asked you how it failed exactly, it might have revealed the error source...

[NginUS]

No, that became apparent it was needed after I got it working. What fixed it was removing the path to the VM & just using its name after VBoxManage during that command.

[socratis]

D'oh!
I should have seen that. You just start it by using the VM's registered name, not the actual path...