Start a VMware workstation when Linux boots:
Enter the command:
$ crontab -e
This will open the crontab in your favorite editor, vim on my machine. When open, add the following line:
@reboot sleep 20; /usr/bin/vmrun start "/path/to/vm.vmx" nogui
Safely shut down a VMware workstation when Linux shuts down or reboots: Create a script in /etc/init.d named vmware-stop or something with the contents:
#!/bin/bash /usr/bin/vmrun stop "/path/to/vm.vmx" nogui
And finally, create some symlinks for the appropriate run levels:
$ sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/vmware-stop $ sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/vmware-stop /etc/rc0.d/K00vmware-stop $ sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/vmware-stop /etc/rc6.d/K06vmware-stop