Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

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SteveC1
Posts: 30
Joined: 7. Nov 2019, 07:33

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by SteveC1 »

Yet more frustration.

I went back to an old snapshot where the two monitors had just been enabled and were working fine ("Two monitors working" is the name of the snapshot). I opened up a couple of applications (including Brave browser), and took another snapshot. I did a bunch of things, then saved state.

The virtual machine would not load again.

I went back to that old snapshot. It loaded. I simply opened Brave, then took a snapshot.

That snapshot won't load.

Now, neither will the other snapshot with two monitors (that was just working!!!)

I get, in all of these cases, a complaint that makes it sound like some file is corrupted.

I've captured both that error message and the video log from my most recent attempt to load "Two monitors working", I'll try to enclose it, but see note below.

I've put a ton of time into trying to get virtualbox to work, and yeah I could understand if two monitors is buggy right now and needs fixing, but when previously-working snapshots won't even load, I begin to wonder if I haven't wasted two weeks of my life! (Am I going to, at some point, discover that the snapshot I'm using now won't load either?)

(Edit: removed comment about share not working again, as I was able to resolve that Sunday evening.)

Attachment is too large (391KB), so I didn't upload it (and yes, it's zipped.) Will try to startup again, and capture the log and error message again in the hopes of a smaller file.

EDIT: My second attempt to generate a file still left me with a zip too large to upload.

However, the error message I get on trying to restore the "broken" snapshots is (and I'm having to type it in):

Code: Select all

Failed to load unit 'pgm' (VERR _SSM_INTEGRITY_DECOMPRESSION).


Result Code:
NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component:
ConsoleWrap
Interface:
ICOnsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed]
DeinAbi
Posts: 20
Joined: 17. Jul 2019, 18:41

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by DeinAbi »

So in the recent 6.1 RC this seems to not have been fixed.

Honestly, since it is known to be a regression since the 6.0.10 release, I would have expected it to get fixed quicker. Especially since just using the guest additions from 6.0.8 release even with more recent versions of VirtualBox seems to work just fine regarding this issue at least.
scottgus1
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Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by scottgus1 »

@SteceC1:
To help you get underway getting a solution quick you can try searching for the error text (the CAPITALIZED_UNDERSCORE_SPACED_WORDS) in a web browser with the text "site:forums.virtualbox.org" added to restrict searching to this forum, like this:

VERR_SSM_INTEGRITY_DECOMPRESSION site:forums.virtualbox.org

(in your posted error message there is a space after VERR that appears shouldn't be there.)

Most of the results say that the guest was save-stated, and that to get the guest running again you should discard the saved state. Save-state seems to be having some problems lately. Try using the complete shutdown from within the guest OS.

@DeinAbi:
DeinAbi wrote:So in the recent 6.1 RC this seems to not have been fixed.
If the problem is in the guests not in Virtualbox, then upgrading to 12.1 RC won't fix it. We all need to be patient. It is quite obvious that the developers programmed the multiple monitors capability. I used to use it. They did so because paying customers wanted it. And we freeloaders get to benefit. ( I say 'we', because if you paid the $6100 needed to get a license you would have direct channels to the developers and wouldn't be posting here.)

When the developers can reproduce the cause they will fix it. Has anyone found a cause yet?
DeinAbi
Posts: 20
Joined: 17. Jul 2019, 18:41

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by DeinAbi »

Since there is a workaround I do not mind waiting at all.

But, I am a developer myself I assume assume that the fix should be rather simple because this bug is known to have been introduced in the 6.0.10 patch.
socratis
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Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by socratis »

DeinAbi wrote:But, I am a developer myself I assume assume that the fix should be rather simple
Patches are most welcome! :)
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
SteveC1
Posts: 30
Joined: 7. Nov 2019, 07:33

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by SteveC1 »

scottgus1 wrote:@SteceC1:
To help you get underway getting a solution quick you can try searching for the error text (the CAPITALIZED_UNDERSCORE_SPACED_WORDS) in a web browser with the text "site:forums.virtualbox.org" added to restrict searching to this forum, like this:

VERR_SSM_INTEGRITY_DECOMPRESSION site:forums.virtualbox.org

(in your posted error message there is a space after VERR that appears shouldn't be there.)

Most of the results say that the guest was save-stated, and that to get the guest running again you should discard the saved state. Save-state seems to be having some problems lately. Try using the complete shutdown from within the guest OS.
Well, I actually did try googling, and my google-fu must be defective; I found quite literally nothing.

I confess to being confused by your explanation. I went back to previous snapshots that used to work--i.e., they were working when I took the snapshot...and they were corrupted somehow. Not sure what you mean by saved states. Isn't the snapshot a saved state?

Edit to add: Never mind, I figured out what you meant by that. I went to one of my "dorked up" snapshots, restored it, and the "discard" arrow became active. I figured "with this one what have I got to lose, did the "discard" and started it up and it did indeed start up OK. I ended up with two monitors, one of a "standard" size, the other with some oddball size. (I've noticed the mouse doesn't work well--like its horribly miscalibrated--on non-standard sizes sometimes--I forgot to check if that was the case here.) My attempt to resize the oddball monitor of course made the second monitor disappear. So...well, at least I know how to get around the corruption error (thank you!!!), but at this point, dual monitors is utterly unusable.

Another edit: I'm going to have to open up a totally unrelated issue. I went back to that old snapshot again, and started the e-mail client that lives on it. It ONLY contains e-mails up to the date I took that snapshot. (I was unsure whether snapshots were of the virtual disk as well as the state of the "cpu", now I know it is.) I find this frightening because should I lose the snapshot I'm running off of right now, I could lose a lot of e-mails. I need a means to back up the e-mails or better yet--have them be in a shared folder to begin with. Unfortunately I've not been able to find a way to do anything with a share other than copy a file into it or from it (can't modify once there) so I can't use it for that. Anyhow, I'll go write another issue.
scottgus1
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Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by scottgus1 »

Glad you can get your guests running again. Saved-state is useful at times. I'm sure the devs will find out what's broken Save-State soon. See section 1.9.6 in version 6.0.14's manual.
SteveC1 wrote:I need a means to back up the e-mails
If you are using a hosted email service, like Gmail or Yahoo or Outlook, and you're connecting to the email service with IMAP, then your emails should remain on the hosting service ready for access from any client. Try accessing these emails via a web browser.

If you are hosting your own email server (like MS Exchange) or using POP3, then all bets are off. I would not use snapshots on important data that I'd weep and wail over if it got lost. Use in-the-guest software for backups, and get the email server into a non-snapshotted guest.

My "copy pasta" on the subject of snapshots:
Snapshots make a guest more delicate and do not work as backups. They are similar to Windows' System Restore points: they are point-in-past-time markers, not extractable, useless without the base system in place, but easier to corrupt because the files are accessible on the host drive. They do not store "files", like a backup folder would. Virtualbox snapshots store changed disk sectors, which may or may not contain the entire file. They should only be used on guests you're experimenting with and with data you wouldn't mind losing. (The forums are replete with users destroying their important data because they did something wrong with a snapshot.)

Additionally, each snapshot, if used long enough, has the potential to grow to the final size of the original drive, and will not shrink once another snapshot is taken. The guest's total data size on the host could be many times what it would have been without the snapshots, and with tremendous amounts of dead data that will never be used or changed.
SteveC1
Posts: 30
Joined: 7. Nov 2019, 07:33

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by SteveC1 »

I'm gathering that what I should do immediately is clone off the current state of the virtual machine (or as close to it as possible), creating a new machine, and a) use that and b) never take snapshots on that machine?
Last edited by socratis on 12. Dec 2019, 06:47, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Removed unnecessary verbatim quote of the whole previous message.
scottgus1
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Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by scottgus1 »

SteveC1 wrote:clone off the current state of the virtual machine...never take snapshots on that machine
'Twould be a wise idea, yes. Though, keep in mind that any computer, virtual or physical, snapshotted or not, can go bad, so take offline backups by copying the whole guest folder while the guest is shut-down, and in-the-guest backups with suitable backup software.
SteveC1
Posts: 30
Joined: 7. Nov 2019, 07:33

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by SteveC1 »

While waiting for your reply here, I copied my entire Email profile off to a thumb drive. I did so again tonight. Then, just a couple of hours ago, I made the clone of the machine as mentioned here, and deleted the original machine (as I never want to go back to it once I've so much as downloaded a single email on the new one). That will do for now until I get real connectivity going--then I'll probably have four separate backups, two offsite (I am a devout believer in backups).

Thanks for the assist!
Last edited by socratis on 13. Dec 2019, 11:32, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Removed unnecessary verbatim quote of the whole previous message.
xinelo
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Black screens using fullscreen with dual monitor

Post by xinelo »

Dear all,

I hope someone can help me with this.

I have an Ubuntu guest installed in a Windows 10 host. Everything works fine with one screen, but if I try to have two screens, I get a number of issues.
  1. The main issue is that I get at least one (perhaps two) black screens. When I press Host+F to quite the fullscreen mode, then the two windows show the guest desktop.
  2. If only one screen is black, the other one is not responsible. It seems as if the active window was the one that is black, and my mouse is active there, not in the one that I can see, where nothing happens.
  3. The two windows (out of fullscreen mode) are not very responsive (they get very slow).
My log is attached. In case you can't see it there, my Display configuration is:
  • Video memory: 128 MB
  • Monitor count: 2
  • Graphics controller: VBoxVGA (but I have tried them all)
  • Acceleration (nothing is checked)
More details:

Host: Windows 10 Pro. OS build: 18362.535
Guest: Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS
VirtualBox Version 6.0.12 r133076 (Qt5.6.2)

Thanks in advance.

Cheers, Manuel
Last edited by xinelo on 19. Dec 2019, 22:07, edited 1 time in total.
NevP
Posts: 1
Joined: 18. Dec 2019, 11:21

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by NevP »

I experienced the same -- my second screen no longer working -- after upgrading to Version 6.1.0 r135406 (Qt5.6.2).
VirtualBox Manager also gave me an active warning icon saying I should upgrade my Graphics Controller setting to VBoxSVGA at this time. I don't know how long that dropdown option had been available before, but I hadn't been using it.

Within the machine screen itself, the View menu's 'Virtual Screen 2' had not inherited the previous Enable setting.
After much searching and investigating, finding this and turning it on solved all my problems once I had shut the machine down and relaunched it from the Manager.

(I launch from the Manager because restarting from within the machine has always brought it up single-screen over the years.)

--Nev.
socratis
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Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by socratis »

Please read the following: Minimum information needed for assistance. At a minimum please provide complete information about your Host/Guest/VirtualBox version. Use the complete version numbers (including the build numbers) to identify your software:
  • "OSX" isn't enough, "OSX 10.9.5 build 13f1911" is much better.
  • "Win10" isn't enough, "Win10 1607, build 14393.969" is much better.
  • "Ubuntu" isn't enough, "Ubuntu 16.04, 4.4.0-59-generic #80-Ubuntu SMP" is much better.
  • "The latest VirtualBox" isn't enough, "VirtualBox 5.1.22 r115126" is much better.
If using a Linux Host/Guest and you're describing Graphics Issues, include specific details about your setup.

"Me too" posts are not that helpful usually without the proper details to categorize them...
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
socratis
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Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by socratis »

@xinelo
I merged your thread with the most prominent thread on this...
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
xinelo
Posts: 13
Joined: 15. Feb 2011, 22:46
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
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Guest OSses: Windows XP Home

Re: Dual monitor set-up not working anymore since upgrading to VBox 6.0.10 (#18872)

Post by xinelo »

socratis wrote:Use the complete version numbers
Thanks, I have updated my post.
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