guestcontrol examples in manual not compatible with Vbox 5+

[Zando]

'execute' and '--wait-exit' are no longer sub-commands of guestcontrol but they are still shown in the manual examples. VBoxManage guestcontrol 8.31. section of the manual has the following examples both of which use 'execute' and '--wait-exit'.

VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "/bin/ls" --username foo --passwordfile bar.txt --wait-exit --wait-stdout -- -l /usr
VBoxManage --nologo guestcontrol "My VM" execute --image "c:\\windows\\system32\\ipconfig.exe" --username foo --passwordfile bar.txt --wait-exit --wait-stdout

I am trying to migrate my scripts to VirtualBox 5 but having trouble launching a shell script in a linux guest, and these examples are of little help.

Zando

[gluser]

Same here:

Scripts are not working with execute and --wait exit.

Execute may be substituted with run or start but VM session no longer closes when programme within VM finishes.

Is there an alternative to --wait exit?

[SamuraiJack]

I've tried to upgrade our setup from VBox4 to VBox 5 today and failed because of this issue. Now have to downgrade everything back..

Any update on this ticket?

[Klaus Espenlaub]

Please refer to the output of VBoxManage guestcontrol for help on its command line options. It shows what it currently understands.

VBoxManage guestcontrol ... run is waiting for the command to terminate, while VBoxManage guestcontrol ... start is not waiting for termination.

The manual will be fixed, but documentation bugs like this one are not high priority, as there is help available.

[Socratis]

#16831 is a duplicate of this one.

Cc-ing myself so to remember to file a patch. Part of the series "Patches that won't kill you" :)

[Klaus Espenlaub]

This will be fixed in VirtualBox 6.1.24.