VLC cannot play video on Win 7 x64 guest

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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tgp1994
Posts: 25
Joined: 7. May 2010, 23:39
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Several

VLC cannot play video on Win 7 x64 guest

Post by tgp1994 »

I used to have a Windows 7 32-bit guest, and for some reason VLC would play videos without any issue. Now I have a Windows 7 64-bit guest, freshly installed, and VLC will not play videos normally. Depending on the video output mode I use, sometimes a black screen will show and the image will update if I drag the window, and other times the VLC logo will flicker while it tries to display the video. The audio always seems to work ok. (Windows Media Player also seems to not be able to display video).

I've tried changing the output modes, but only GDI video output seems to do anything (the quality is horrible). Hardware-accelerated decoding is disabled in the codec settings. I've tried both VboxVGA and SVGA adapter modes, as well as toggling 3D acceleration in the guest settings - no luck. The OS is current with updates. Depending on the output mode, I'll see these error messages repeated in VLC's console:

Direct3D 9

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direct3d9 error: Could not read adapter capabilities. (hr=0x8876086a)
direct3d9 error: Direct3D9 could not be opened
direct3d9 error: SetThumbNailClip failed: 0x800706f4
main error: video output creation failed
main error: failed to create video output
OpenGL video output (for Windows)

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glwin32 error: glCreateShader symbol not found, bailing out 
glwin32 error: SetThumbNailClip failed: 0x800706f4 <-- this line isn't present in the non-Windows output mode
main error: video output creation failed
main error: failed to create video output
DirectX/DirectDraw

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freetype warning: DirectWrite initialization failed. Falling back to GDI/Uniscribe
directdraw error: SetThumbNailClip failed: 0x800706f4
Maybe note-worthy: GDI output mode still shows the SetThumbnailClip error line, even though the video appears to work.

Some information:
  • Host OS: Windows 10 Pro x64
  • Virtualbox versions tested: 6.1.14 and 6.1.16
  • Guest additions were installed with D3D support, both matching the virtualbox version
  • VLC version 3.0.11
  • PAE/NX and VT-x/AMD-V are enabled
  • Paravirt. interface is Default, Nested Paging enabled
  • Video memory set to 128MB, tried VBoxVGA and SVGA modes, 3D acceleration disabled and enabled.
Thanks in advance for any help!
tgp1994
Posts: 25
Joined: 7. May 2010, 23:39
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Several

Re: VLC cannot play video on Win 7 x64 guest

Post by tgp1994 »

Just want to update my post: It looks like I've gotten this working.

What I did is I uninstalled the Guest Additions, then restarted into Safe Mode. I then went into Device Manager and removed the video driver, and a VirtualBox GA system driver. I had to reboot and do this several times before the devices were finally gone or replaced with generics. I then restarted back in normal mode, and installed the latest Guest Additions. I also made sure 3D Acceleration is enabled in the guest settings.

It seems like uninstalling the GA does not remove nearly as many files as it should be, perhaps this could be corrected in the installer.
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