Huy Zing

I like to run Windows XP at all times in my OS X machine for access to essential software not available on the Mac, e.g.  the Roboform password manager and the Babylon dictionary and translation utility.  For that, I use Sun’s free VirtualBox virtualization product.

To quickly launch XP when I need it, I wanted a launch icon in my Dock.

To do that:

1. First, know the name of the virtual machine you want to launch by invoking in Terminal:

   VBoxManage list vms

2. Run Automator, choose the “Run Shell Script” action, and type in the script:

   VBoxManage startvm "THE_NAME_OF_VIRTUAL_MACHINE"

   

   Creating a shell script in Automator

3. Save the script into your /Applications folder (or create a /Applications/scripts folder for these kinds of scripts), e.g. as “Win XP VM”, making sure to save it as an “Application” instead of a “Workflow”.
4. Now find the script you just created in Finder and drag and drop it to the Dock.

Optionally, you can change the icon of the application to be the same as VirtualBox (a downloaded XP icon would be even better):

1. In Finder, select the VirtualBox application and press Command-I
2. Click the icon at the top-left and press Command-C to copy the icon
3. Now select the script that you created in Automator earlier and press Command-I
4. Click the icon at the top-left and press Command-V to replace the icon

Sources:

• StackOverflow: Executing Shell Scripts from the OS X Dock?
• Sun VirtualBox User Manual
• Mac 101: Change Your Icons