I am running ubuntu 11.10 in a virtual machine (VirtualBox) to learn more about development in linux. I am using a git repository to save my work and have written a script to bundle my work up and save it to the shared folder for use while the virtual machine is not running. I would like to automatically run this script before shutdown so that my work is always available if the vm is off (currently I have to manually run the script). I don't know if upstart is the best way to accomplish this, but this is the config that I wrote as a test: description "test script to run at shutdown" start on runlevel [056] task script touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/start sleep 15 touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/start-long end script pre-start script touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/pre-start sleep 15 touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/pre-start-long end script post-start script touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/post-start sleep 15 touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/post-start-long end script pre-stop script touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/pre-stop sleep 15 touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/pre-stop-long end script post-stop script touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/post-stop sleep 15 touch /media/sf_LinuxEducation/post-stop-long end script The result is that only one touch is accomplished (the first touch in pre-start). What do I need to change to see one of the touches after the sleep to work? Or Is there an easier way to get this accomplished? Thanks in advance.