Is there a way to run a VirtualBox VM via hotkey or icon?

Question

I am running VirtualBox on Windows and I wonder if there was a way to start a VM by clicking on an icon on my taskbar or something? I would like to make the VM screen to appear, showing the VM booting up at the click of button. Is there a way to do that?

Answer 1

Yes it's easy, just right click on the VM in VirtualBox VM Manager and press Create Shortcut on Desktop.It will create a shortcut for the VM so whenever you just opened this shortcut it will boot up its correspondent VM without opening the manager. Then you can place it in the taskbar if you want.

Answer 2

Create a shortcut that uses the included VBoxManage.exe to start the chosen VM.

Something like:

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe startvm "<name of your VM>"

More info here

Answer 3

If you really want a keyboard shortcut, you can create a shortcut on the desktop by rightcliking the VM in VirtualBox. The rightclick the sortcut and focus the Shortcut key option, then press the key and click OK.