Startvm --type headless on detached guest -> show window

[scottgus1bug]

After one starts a guest in Headless/Detachable mode and hides the window, this command can show the window:

Vboxmanage startvm "vmname" --type separate

At present there is no way to hide the guest's window again with the command line. I propose adding this ability to:

Vboxmanage startvm "vmname" --type headless

At present (version 5.1.6) this command run against a running guest started in Detachable mode throws an error. Under this enhancement the "--type headless" command would show the guest window if it has been hidden, and do nothing if the window is already showing.

[scottgus1bug]

Sorry, that last sentence should have been:

Under this enhancement the "--type headless" command would hide the guest window if it is showing, and do nothing if the window is already hidden.

[milliways]

Would it be possible to resurrect this request? I have a need to attach/detach the GUI from a VM from the command line, and while I can start a VM headless/separate and attach the GUI, I can't detach the GUI from the command line.

[SempaiPrague]

Dear, Is this feature in the pipeline? It would be useful to have a Vboxmanage command to detatch a GUI.

[agodfrin]

I also would find this feature useful: being able to open/close the GUI using the command line.

[Klaus Espenlaub]

There is no plan so far for adding functionality for detaching the VM GUI from the command line. It isn't possible at all to control the GUI through the API. At best it reacts to some API functionality controlling the VM as such but this doesn't offer anything close to selectively terminating the VM GUI.

It is possible already (always has been since the detachable UI support has been added) to attach the VM GUI to a headless VM with:

VBoxManage startvm "vmname" --type separate

Note: in this way of running the VM the VM GUI is always a separate process for a headless VM. It's not the case that the GUI is shown/hidden from the VM process.