diff --git a/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.cpp b/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.cpp
index bf53590f2c..92773348e1 100644
--- a/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.cpp
+++ b/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.cpp
@@ -96,10 +96,11 @@ VBOX_VM::VBOX_VM() {
     pf_guest_port = 0;
     pf_host_port = 0;
     headless = true;
-#ifndef _WIN32
-    vm_pid = 0;
-#else
+#ifdef _WIN32
     vm_pid_handle = 0;
+    vboxsvc_handle = 0;
+#else
+    vm_pid = 0;
 #endif
 
     // Initialize default values
@@ -117,6 +118,10 @@ VBOX_VM::~VBOX_VM() {
         CloseHandle(vm_pid_handle);
         vm_pid_handle = NULL;
     }
+    if (vboxsvc_handle) {
+        CloseHandle(vboxsvc_handle);
+        vboxsvc_handle = NULL;
+    }
 #endif
 }
 
@@ -197,34 +202,9 @@ int VBOX_VM::initialize() {
             );
         }
 
-        // Launch VboxSVC.exe before going any further. if we don't, it'll be launched by
-        // svchost.exe with its environment block which will not contain the reference
-        // to VBOX_USER_HOME which is required for running in the BOINC account-based
-        // sandbox.
-        STARTUPINFO si;
-        PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
-        string command;
+        // Launch vboxsvc before any vboxmanage command can be executed.
+        launch_vboxsvc();
 
-        memset(&si, 0, sizeof(si));
-        memset(&pi, 0, sizeof(pi));
-
-        si.cb = sizeof(STARTUPINFO);
-        si.dwFlags |= STARTF_FORCEOFFFEEDBACK | STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
-        si.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE;
-
-        command = "\"" + virtualbox_install_directory + "\\VBoxSVC.exe\" --logrotate 1 --logsize 1024000";
-
-        if (!CreateProcess(NULL, (LPTSTR)command.c_str(), NULL, NULL, TRUE, CREATE_NO_WINDOW, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi)) {
-            fprintf(
-                stderr,
-                "%s Creating VBoxSVC.exe failed! (%d).\n",
-                vboxwrapper_msg_prefix(buf, sizeof(buf)),
-                GetLastError()
-            );
-        }
-
-        if (pi.hThread) CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
-        if (pi.hProcess) CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
 #else
         // putenv does not copy its input buffer, so we must use setenv
         if (setenv("VBOX_USER_HOME", const_cast<char*>(virtualbox_home_directory.c_str()), 1)) {
@@ -1833,6 +1813,53 @@ void VBOX_VM::reset_vm_process_priority() {
 #endif
 }
 
+// Launch VboxSVC.exe before going any further. if we don't, it'll be launched by
+// svchost.exe with its environment block which will not contain the reference
+// to VBOX_USER_HOME which is required for running in the BOINC account-based
+// sandbox on Windows.
+int VBOX_VM::launch_vboxsvc() {
+
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    STARTUPINFO si;
+    PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
+    APP_INIT_DATA aid;
+    char buf[256];
+    string command;
+
+    boinc_get_init_data_p(&aid);
+
+    if (aid.using_sandbox) {
+
+        if ((vboxsvc_handle == NULL) || !process_exists(vboxsvc_handle)) {
+
+            memset(&si, 0, sizeof(si));
+            memset(&pi, 0, sizeof(pi));
+
+            si.cb = sizeof(STARTUPINFO);
+            si.dwFlags |= STARTF_FORCEOFFFEEDBACK | STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
+            si.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE;
+
+            command = "\"" + virtualbox_install_directory + "\\VBoxSVC.exe\" --logrotate 1 --logsize 1024000";
+
+            if (!CreateProcess(NULL, (LPTSTR)command.c_str(), NULL, NULL, TRUE, CREATE_NO_WINDOW, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi)) {
+                fprintf(
+                    stderr,
+                    "%s Creating VBoxSVC.exe failed! (%d).\n",
+                    vboxwrapper_msg_prefix(buf, sizeof(buf)),
+                    GetLastError()
+                );
+            }
+
+            vboxsvc_handle = pi.hProcess;
+
+            if (pi.hThread) CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
+        }
+    }
+#endif
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
 // If there are errors we can recover from, process them here.
 //
 int VBOX_VM::vbm_popen(string& arguments, string& output, const char* item, bool log_error, bool retry_failures, unsigned int timeout) {
@@ -1933,6 +1960,9 @@ int VBOX_VM::vbm_popen_raw(string& arguments, string& output, unsigned int timeo
     string errcode;
     int retval = 0;
 
+    // Launch vboxsvc in case it was shutdown for being idle
+    launch_vboxsvc();
+
     // Initialize command line
     command = "VBoxManage -q " + arguments;
 
diff --git a/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.h b/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.h
index 32974eee56..f3554dfd9a 100644
--- a/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.h
+++ b/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox.h
@@ -102,6 +102,9 @@ struct VBOX_VM {
     //   handle to the process, the OS is free to reuse the pid for some other
     //   executable.
     HANDLE vm_pid_handle;
+
+    // the handle to the vboxsvc process created by us in the sandbox'ed environment
+    HANDLE vboxsvc_handle;
 #else
     // the pid to the VM process
     int vm_pid;
@@ -150,6 +153,8 @@ struct VBOX_VM {
     void lower_vm_process_priority();
     void reset_vm_process_priority();
 
+    int launch_vboxsvc();
+
     int vbm_popen(
         std::string& command, std::string& output, const char* item, bool log_error = true, bool retry_failures = true, unsigned int timeout = 45
     );