VMWare Script to Toggle VMWare Workstation start/suspend

May 14, 2013 linux scripting

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Normally I have multiple vm’s running for various different projects - all of these are in VMWare Workstation instances I toggle between suspend and started. I decided to create a script and an Ubuntu launcher icon for toggling the vms back and forth.

First, check out the launcher I used:

/home/aaron/.local/share/applications/vmware-myproject.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name=VMWare MyProject Toggle
GenericName=VMWare MyProject Toggle
Comment=Run VMWare
Exec=/home/aaron/vmware-toggle-myproject.sh
Icon=vmware-workstation
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Programming;IDE;

The bash toggle script checks to see if the current VM is running, and then does the appropriate action depending on if it was found or not.

#!/bin/bash

VM="/home/aaron/vmware/myproject/myproject.vmx"
RUNNING=`vmrun list`

if [[ "$RUNNING" == *"$VM"* ]]
then 
  vmrun suspend "$VM" soft
else
  vmrun start "$VM"
fi

So, when I start my day, all I have to do is type the name of my project and hit enter on the launcher. When the day is done, no need to find the VM’s small X on the tab - I just run the toggle again and its suspended.