Backup Running VirtualBox VMs

vbox-backup.sh

#!/bin/sh
BASEFOLDER=/home/vbox/backups

for VMNAME in $(VBoxManage list runningvms | cut -d ' ' -f1 | sed 's/"//g;')
do
    echo ""
    VBoxManage controlvm "$VMNAME" acpipowerbutton

    echo "Waiting for VM "$VMNAME" to poweroff..."
    until $(VBoxManage showvminfo --machinereadable "$VMNAME" | grep -q ^VMState=.poweroff.)
    do
        sleep 1
    done

    echo "Exporting VM to $BASEFOLDER/$VMNAME-temp.ova..."
    VBoxManage export "$VMNAME" -o "$BASEFOLDER/$VMNAME-temp.ova" --ovf20;
    rm -rf "$BASEFOLDER/$VMNAME.ova"
    mv "$BASEFOLDER/$VMNAME-temp.ova" "$BASEFOLDER/$VMNAME.ova"

    echo "Restarting VirtualBox VM..."
    VBoxManage startvm "$VMNAME" --type headless
    echo ""
done
exit 0

Hi there,

The command $(VBoxManage list runningvms | cut -d ' ' -f1 | sed 's/"//g;') will show incorrect output if virtual machine name with space character(s), e.g. "Ubuntu Server 20.04". However, if it is changed to $(VBoxManage list runningvms | cut -d '{' -f1 | sed 's/"//g;'), the issue will be fixed.