The continuing challenges of getting a workable server continue. The latest spins of VirtualBox seem to have solved the issues of DKMS auto compiles of the driver being aborted. The yum updates work as expected, provided one stops the running vms manually first. However, trying to get systemd to start the vms is proving to be a PITA. I have extensively googled and found that there are no specific instructions for Fedora/Redhat/CentOS and VirtualBox setups for systemd. After many trials and errors I have this systemd service file: filename - /etc/systemd/system/vboxstarter at .service [Unit] Description=VBox Virtual Machine %i Service Requires=systemd-modules-load.service vboxballoonctrl-service.service After=systemd-modules-load.service vboxballoonctrl-service.service Conflicts=shutdown.target [Service] User=<username> Group=vboxusers Restart=on-failure TimeoutSec=5min Environment="VBOX_USER_HOME=/home/rkampen/VirtualBox VMs/%i" ExecStart=/usr/bin/VBoxHeadless -s %i ExecStop=/usr/bin/VBoxManage controlvm %i savestate [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target and on occasions the invocation systemctl start vboxvmstarter at Windoze10_2.service will work, although recently it is failing always with >$ systemctl status vboxvmstarter at Windoze10_2.service ● vboxvmstarter at Windoze10_2.service - VBox Virtual Machine Windoze10_2 Service Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vboxvmstarter at .service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled) Active: deactivating (stop-sigterm) (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2016-05-17 03:25:02 EDT; 4s ago Process: 1987 ExecStop=/usr/bin/VBoxManage controlvm %i savestate (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Process: 1906 ExecStart=/usr/bin/VBoxHeadless -s %i (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Main PID: 1906 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) CGroup: /system.slice/system-vboxvmstarter.slice/vboxvmstarter at Windoze10_2.service └─1940 /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxSVC --auto-shutdown May 17 03:25:02 media.pcol.org systemd[1]: Started VBox Virtual Machine Windoze10_2 Service. May 17 03:25:02 media.pcol.org systemd[1]: Starting VBox Virtual Machine Windoze10_2 Service... May 17 03:25:02 media.pcol.org systemd[1]: vboxvmstarter at Windoze10_2.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE May 17 03:25:02 media.pcol.org VBoxManage[1987]: VBoxManage: error: Could not find a registered machine named 'Windoze10_2' May 17 03:25:02 media.pcol.org VBoxManage[1987]: VBoxManage: error: Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), com...pports May 17 03:25:02 media.pcol.org VBoxManage[1987]: VBoxManage: error: Context: "FindMachine(Bstr(a->argv[0]).raw(), machine.a...VM.cpp May 17 03:25:02 media.pcol.org systemd[1]: vboxvmstarter at Windoze10_2.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1 Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full. as <username> a vboxmanage list vms "Windoze10_2" {51c8f956-9aba-4d2a-942c-8f46889d5bc0} shows the required vm. as root or using sudo it returns nothing. thus my only conclusion is that systemd actually runs this as root and ignores the User= line of the [Service] stanza. No idea where to from here, so if there is anyone that has a working systemd autostart VirtualBox setup on a headless CentOS 7 server - please advise what you have done to get it working. Or any systemd gurus that can point me at the specific foo required to beat this deamon into submission. TIA Rob P.S. I deliberately set up the VirtualBox vms under a non privileged user account. I have tried setting up a symbolic link from /root to the ~/username/VirtualBox\ VMs folder and made root a member of the virtualboxusers group - no difference, as expected, but getting desperate.