I'm currently testing Ubuntu 10.04, and have install the VirtualBox software. I have also installed Ubuntu 10.04 as a VirtualBox guest running on the host system.

I've installed the VirtualBox Utils into the guest OS, as follows:

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose-guest-utils

What I want to be able to do is to initiate a controlled shutdown of the guest, from the host system using the VBoxManage command.

I first tried this command:

VBoxManage controlvm guest poweroff

which worked, but didn't initiate a controlled shutdown, it effectively pulls the plug on the guest.

I've since found that this command should do the trick:

VBoxManage controlvm guest acpipowerbutton

but this doesn't appear to do anything.

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

p.s. I don't want to use SSH & Certificates to do this, as I'm also going to be running Windows guests, and I want the solution to work for all guests.