How do I auto-start a Linux app on another window (from panel switcher)?

Question

I want to start a virtual machine on another window panel, but I'm not sure what the command for this would be.

I have:

virtualbox --startvm myvin &

in my autostart.sh.

Answer 1

If you have a "EWMH/NetWM compatible X Window Manager", and you probably do (here is a list), then you can use wmctrl to move the program to another desktop/workspace after it is already started. VirtualBox appears to put the VM name in the Window title, so something like this will probably work for you:

virtualbox --startvm myvin &
sleep 2 # adjust accordingly
wmctrl -r myvin -t 1 # move window containing title 'myvin' to the 2nd desktop

wmctrl may not be installed by default. Install it using your distribution's package-manager if necessary (i.e. apt-get install wmctrl on debian based systems).

Helpful for troubleshooting:

wmctrl -d lists the available desktops.

wmctrl -l lists the available windows (includes window title value).