Yet another database error

[mounty1]

Here I have two VMs, 'Gentoo 32' and 'Gentoo XFCE'. As I'm trying to install the OS on Gentoo XFCE, I attach its disk to Gentoo 32, then boot Gentoo 32. It seems that attaching a disk to a VM, when the disk is already attached to another VM, is something that messes up VB. This is VBox 4.2.4 on OmniOS (Illumos derivative). Terminal screen dump below, with comments in dark cyan.

. . . Shared folders: <none>

VRDE Connection: not active
Clients so far: 0

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size: 0 MB


That was the last of the output of /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxManage showvminfo 'Gentoo 32'. OK so far
-bash-4.2$ /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxManage storageattach 'Gentoo 32' --storagectl womble --port 0 --medium .VirtualBox-VMs/Gentoo\ XFCE/base.vmdk --type hdd --device 0
This is where it goes wrong I think. That VMDK is already attached to 'Gentoo XFCE' although that VM is not running.
-bash-4.2$ nohup /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxHeadless -s 'Gentoo 32' -v off >/tmp/G1 2>/tmp/G2 &
[1] 5801
Start the VM and try to ssh in. Yes, that is the correct ssh command. I set it up that way.
-bash-4.2$ ssh -p 3889 192.168.0.3
ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.3 port 3889: Connection refused
[1]+ Exit 1 nohup /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxHeadless -s 'Gentoo 32' -v off > /tmp/G1 2> /tmp/G2
-bash-4.2$ cat /tmp/G1
Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 4.2.4
(C) 2008-2012 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

Invalid machine name or UUID!

Qué ? It was there a moment ago !
-bash-4.2$ cat /tmp/G2
-bash-4.2$ ls .VirtualBox-VMs/
Gentoo 32 Gentoo XFCE Win-XP-SP3
-bash-4.2$ nohup /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxHeadless -s 'Gentoo 32' -v off >/tmp/G1 2>/tmp/G2 &
[1] 5841
Can't believe it; try once more.
-bash-4.2$
[1]+ Exit 1 nohup /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxHeadless -s 'Gentoo 32' -v off > /tmp/G1 2> /tmp/G2
-bash-4.2$
-bash-4.2$ cat /tmp/G1
Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 4.2.4
(C) 2008-2012 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

Invalid machine name or UUID!

-bash-4.2$ /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxManage showvminfo 'Gentoo 32'
VBoxManage: error: Could not find a registered machine named 'Gentoo 32'
VBoxManage: error: Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
VBoxManage: error: Context: "FindMachine(Bstr(VMNameOrUuid).raw(), machine.asOutParam())" at line 2484 of file VBoxManageInfo.cpp
Are you for real ?
-bash-4.2$ /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxManage list vms
"<inaccessible>" {b2d02a8c-0c85-4f62-b017-403097a5d6b0}
"Win-XP-SP3" {19da8ff0-75fb-4805-988b-25a13ad5f365}
"<inaccessible>" {baaf7e46-c304-4ef1-88c1-d2427db58ba9}

Can anyone suggest how to retrieve this situation ?

By scrolling back up, I can see that machine 'Gentoo 32' has uuid=b2d02a8c-0c85-4f62-b017-403097a5d6b0 but:

-bash-4.2$ /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxManage showvminfo b2d02a8c-0c85-4f62-b017-403097a5d6b0
Name: <inaccessible!>
UUID: b2d02a8c-0c85-4f62-b017-403097a5d6b0
Config file: /home/mounty/.VirtualBox-VMs/Gentoo 32/Gentoo 32.vbox
Access error details:
VBoxManage: error: Could not find an open hard disk with UUID {064d61ca-c136-4803-81fb-2b61740cd92d}
VBoxManage: error: Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox

[mounty1]

I've sorted of solved this by deleting re-creating the VMs. Thankfully I have a script for doing this.