Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
George55
Posts: 15
Joined: 24. Sep 2022, 16:04

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by George55 »

I just did the shutdown of the VM. And I saved the log file. I then downloaded Winzip, and had it posted here. But I got this messare in red letters. "The extension zipx is not allowed."

I tried posting it, without zipping, but it was too long. Is there something else I need to do to a zip file? I could divide the message in two sections, and put each one in a notepad. But that is if nothing else can be done to a zip file.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by mpack »

Obviously you need to create a zip file as requested, not zipx.
George55
Posts: 15
Joined: 24. Sep 2022, 16:04

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by George55 »

Ok, it worked this time. I did a search for zip file.
Attachments
About-VM2.zip
VM log from 9/25.
(28.54 KiB) Downloaded 7 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by mpack »

The log shows you starting from a saved state. We need to see a full boot from scratch, not from a saved state. Right click the VM and choose "Discard saved state".
George55
Posts: 15
Joined: 24. Sep 2022, 16:04

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by George55 »

I tried clicking on discard saved state. But there was nothing there. I ran the VM again, and closed it with out saving. But still no discard for save state. It looks gray to me, and I can't click on it. But I did a search in the old, and new log. I found saved state in the old log, but not the new. I hope this works.
Attachments
About-2022-09-26-10-36-58.zip
(29.73 KiB) Downloaded 8 times
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by scottgus1 »

Thanks for the log. I don't see anything wrong in the operation of the VM's 'hardware'.

Try reducing VM processors to 2, and increase VM RAM to 4GB, then try the install again.
George55 wrote:I then downloaded Winzip
FWIW Windows comes with a built-in method for making zip files:
right-click, Send To, Compressed Zipped folder
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5668
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by fth0 »

The only peculiar thing that I noticed in the About-2022-09-26-10-36-58.log file is that the VM execution is slow, veeeeeeeeeery slow. The initial log message comes after nearly 30 seconds (instead of the usual 2 - 4 seconds).

I know that the host CPU is a quite slow one, but could it be that slow? Either that, or something else is taking time in the host OS. I'd suggest to investigate on the host OS what is taking the time.
scottgus1 wrote:Try reducing increasing VM processors to 2, and increase VM RAM to 4GB, then try the install again.
FTFY! ;) I don't think that it's necessary to repeat the installation. Just provide 2 vCPUs and 4 GB RAM and run the VM again.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by scottgus1 »

fth0 wrote:FTFY!
Thanks! I must have been looking at somebody else's log, I thought it was 4 processors.

Yes, only one processor has caused those OOBE errors before. 2 is the way to go,
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5668
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by fth0 »

scottgus1 wrote:I must have been looking at somebody else's log, I thought it was 4 processors.
You probably misread
George55 wrote:Port count 4
Reminds me off:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe. Ceehiro.
George55
Posts: 15
Joined: 24. Sep 2022, 16:04

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by George55 »

I set the processors to 2. I set the RAM to 5338 MB. I then closed out Opera browser, and Chrome browser. It ran better this time. It asked what country I'm at, the keyboard layout. I had to signup to Microsoft. It then showed me lots of offers .I declined all of them. And then it started all over. Asking me what country I'm in, and so on. Below is the notepad. I might increase the RAM some more later. But while my computer has 16GB of RAM, it only shows 7.2 GB in use.
Attachments
About-2022-09-26-20-17-53New.zip
(30.17 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by mpack »

Yep, every time you boot from CD it will do whatever the CD tells it to do. I.e. you have to eject the CD/DVD/USB when you are finished installing the OS.
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5668
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by fth0 »

First of all, the About-2022-09-26-20-17-53New file shows a somewhat faster VM run, albeit still very slow. I think your host CPU isn't really capable of running VMs with a decent performance, but if you have enough time ...

The DVD boot probably ran into the usual 4 seconds idle timeout and switched to booting from the virtual hard disk. But no further reboot has been logged during the 15 minutes of runtime, so it looks like the repetition took place within the running guest OS installation procedure.
George55
Posts: 15
Joined: 24. Sep 2022, 16:04

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by George55 »

I have some great news. I got the VM to work. The only thing I had up was the task manager, Thunder Bird email, and VirtualBox. I set the RAM at 6254 MB, and 4 processors. It worked that time. The only problem was that it only had Microsoft Edge. But I downloaded Firefox, and used it. I saved the VM when I got off.

Thanks everybody for helping out. Does anybody have the link for the extension? I want to drag some files, and pictures over onto the VM.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by mpack »

"the extension"? If you are looking for drag and drop then you are talking about the Guest Additions, not the Extension Pack. You don't need to download the GAs, they are bundled with the software. See chapter 4 for how to install them.
George55
Posts: 15
Joined: 24. Sep 2022, 16:04

Re: Message says "Could not get the storage format of the medium"

Post by George55 »

I tried doing the Guest Additions, but this message keeps coming up.

Could not mount the media/drive 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso' (VERR_INVALID_POINTER).


Result Code:
E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component:
ConsoleWrap
Interface:
IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}
Callee:
IMachine {85632c68-b5bb-4316-a900-5eb28d3413df}

But I'm not worried about it. I got TeamViewer on there. So I have TeamViewer on my computer, and my VM. I got TeamViewer back in 2017. On my old computer, and my new computer. I used them to transfer files from my old computer, to my new one. Today I transferred files from my computer, to my VM.

Thanks everybody for helping me out. I'm all set now.
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