virtualbox.org

I am on Ubuntu using the oracle package.

If VirtualBox is not running, then vboxmanage startvm, nor virtualbox --startvm
But vboxmanage list vms works.

I tried launcing VBoxSVC, but this had no effect.

Just curious, is this designed behaviour?

I kinda thought using virtualbox command, which alone start the gui, would have started a vm successfully.

Desktop shortcuts/scripted startups work on windows.

Your post is not very informative. Give details of VirtualBox versions. Don't say something "doesn't work": give precise details or error messages and/or symptoms.