Это нормально работает с сервером Ubuntu 12.04 и VirtualBox 4.2.20.
#! /bin/sh
# /etc/init.d/StartVM
#
#Edit these variables!
VMUSER=username
case "$1" in
start)
echo "Starting VirtualBox VM SMARTHOST ..."
sudo -u $VMUSER VBoxManage startvm SMARTHOST --type headless
echo "Starting VirtualBox VM wxp-acceso ..."
sudo -u $VMUSER VBoxManage startvm wxp-acceso --type headless
echo "Starting VirtualBox VM wmmaq_edi ..."
sudo -u $VMUSER VBoxManage startvm vmmaq_edi --type headless
;;
stop)
echo "Saving state of Virtualbox VM SMARTHOST ..."
sudo -u $VMUSER VBoxManage controlvm SMARTHOST savestate
echo "Saving state of Virtualbox VM wxp-acceso ..."
sudo -u $VMUSER VBoxManage controlvm wxp-acceso savestate
echo "Saving state of Virtualbox VM vmmaq_edi ..."
sudo -u $VMUSER VBoxManage controlvm vmmaq_edi savestate
;;
*)
echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/StartVM {start|stop}"
exit 1
;;
esac
exit 0
И
sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/StartVM
и
sudo update-rc.d StartVM defaults 99 01
as указанном в предыдущем ответе.