Autostart VM when host Pi boots. New Feature Request

[g7ruh]

I have been testing BVM with PlanePlotter (Windows based software http://www.coaa.co.uk/planeplotter.htm#download It works very well inside the VM. Better than using wine. Faster too.

Many users may not have the Linux skills to be able to create and run scripts to start BVM at boot time.

Would it be possible to add an option to the config file to autostart BVM at host boot time?

This would simplify the install process for users so they can just download the install file for their application in the VM and install without the issues of creating those start up files. Then the application can autostart inside the Windows VM. Useful for something which runs 24x7 to recover from updates and power failures.

Thanks for considering.

[Botspot]

The FAQ and README already suggest using Autostar. It's very simple to use. I'll go ahead and add these screenshots to the FAQ, to hopefully make the process more straightforward.

[Botspot]

Okay, I've expanded and clarified the autostart section in #35.

Since you were struggling with this, could you please review it and give feedback on whether everything makes sense and was easy to follow?

[g7ruh]

Thanks for responding and adding stuff.

I tried that before, having read #35

Observation on your example above. On my install the bvm script is located in /home/pi/.local/bvm not in /home/pi/bvm

I could not get it to work after some effort, so I emulated what the BVM does when you select Option 6 to start the BVM.

2 .desktop files which call a bash script

Name=second part of WoA startup
Exec=lxterminal -e /home/pi/.local/auto-woa-2.sh

and the same for the first script

and then the script it calls:
First one:

#Make sure that the network has started. otherwise apt update fails

echo "sleep for 5 seconds"
sleep 5

echo "starting WoA VM"
~/.local/bin/bvm boot-nodisplay ~/win11

#Keep the terminal open while the VM session is live

read -rsp $'Press any key to continue...\n' -n 1 key < /dev/tty

Second one:

# Make sure that the VM has started

echo "sleep for 20"

sleep 20

echo "starting connect"

~/.local/bin/bvm connect ~/win11

#Keep the terminal open while the connect session is live

read -rsp $'Press any key to continue...\n' -n 1 key < /dev/tty

And it all works perfectly.

The reason for asking for help / new feature was to try to simplify the process for less experienced folks.

I would be happy with Autostar if we can make it work. Where would the error logs be for the .desktop process?