Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

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KHayes
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Joined: 11. Apr 2021, 06:45

Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by KHayes »

Hello,

I am experiencing issues installing Windows 7 (32-bit) OS as a guest within Virtual Box on my Linux host.

I can install Windows 7 64 bit OS as a guest with no issues. But with the 32 bit version when booting to the installation ISO, I get a BSOD as seen below.
guestBSOD
guestBSOD
BSOD_on_Install.png (24.83 KiB) Viewed 3087 times
Is someone able to tell me how to fix the issue please? As I really need to use the "32 bit" version of Windows 7.

I am running VirtualBox version 6.1.18_Pop r142142 with extension pack 6.1.18 on a Linux (Pop!_OS 20.04 LTS x64) host.

I can confirm that my ISO of the Windows 7 32bit installation is working and not corrupt. As I was able to use the same ISO to install Windows 7 32bit on Gnome Boxes.

I would really appreciate any assistance to get the installation to work on VirtualBox though, as Gnome Boxes is incredibly limited features wise.

Attached to this post is the logs of my attempted installation within Virtual Box.

Please let me know if you require any additional information from me.

Kind Regards,
K
Attachments
win7test-2021-04-10-02-52-31.zip
W7-32bit-Guest-Log
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mpack
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by mpack »

Lots of people install 32bit OS, I don't know why you are picking on that as the likely issue.

Where did you get this Win7 ISO download?

Incidentally, you are using a third party VirtualBox build, and not one I've ever come across before. Third party builds are not officially supported here.
scottgus1
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by scottgus1 »

The log does not show any BSOD messages before the VM window is closed:
00:00:40.572349 Display::i_handleDisplayResize: uScreenId=0 pvVRAM=00007f959e500000 w=640 h=480 bpp=0 cbLine=0x140 flags=0x0 origin=0,0
00:02:08.752017 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'SUSPENDING'
Did the pictured or similar BSOD happen during this logged run of the VM?

Per Mpack's comment on the 3rd-party build of Virtualbox, try uninstalling that fork, and install from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads, probably the Ubuntu version, since Pop seems to be based on Ubuntu. Also note that prerequisites are needed: https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch02. ... nux-prereq
KHayes wrote:I was able to use the same ISO to install Windows 7 32bit on Gnome Boxes.
As best I understand, being a Windows guy, Gnome is a desktop environment, not a Linux distro, correct? Does this mean you can install this ISO if you change your host OS's desktop environment? If so what environment are you using during the BSOD? Or what does Gnome mean to you?
mpack
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by mpack »

scottgus1 wrote:The log does not show any BSOD messages before the VM window is closed:
?? AFAIK a VirtualBox log never shows BSODs. A BSOD is a Windows error message, not a VirtualBox error. All the log will show is the user closing or restarting the VM.
fth0
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by fth0 »

mpack wrote:?? AFAIK a VirtualBox log never shows BSODs.
Do you remember the two of us discussing a BugCheck like the one below? :)
VBox.log file wrote:
00:04:04.476177 GIM: HyperV: Guest indicates a fatal condition! P0=0x1e P1=0xffffffff80000002 P2=0xfffff80426ae4793 P3=0xffffbd0cd2c0237a P4=0x7010008004002001
00:04:04.476246 GIMHv: BugCheck 1e {ffffffff80000002, fffff80426ae4793, ffffbd0cd2c0237a, 7010008004002001}
[...]
00:04:09.277149 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxGuest: BugCheck! P0=0x1e P1=0xffffffff80000002 P2=0xfffff80426ae4793 P3=0xffffbd0cd2c0237a P4=0x7010008004002001
The first pair of log messages are created when the Hyper-V paravirtualization provider is active, and the third log message is created when the VirtualBox Guest Additions are installed.
scottgus1
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by scottgus1 »

Yup, them be the critters I was huntin'... :D
mpack
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by mpack »

Ok, fair enough. Though is the GA bugcheck really for any BSOD in the system, or only when the GA's own exception handler trips?

And of course, AFAIK no Hyper-v awareness in Win7 guests.
KHayes
Posts: 3
Joined: 11. Apr 2021, 06:45

Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by KHayes »

Hello,

@scottgus1, you are correct Gnome is the enviornment and not the distro. What I referred to before as Gnome Boxes, is an application (like VirtualBox or VMWare) for creating virtual machines. It works the same as VirtualBox but with very limited features (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Boxes). I only used this application to ensure my ISO for Windows was working and had not become corrupt. As I was thinking the ISO was the problem, but turns out it works fine.

@mpack, I uninstalled the third-party virtualbox which was initially installed through Ubuntu's repository (since Pop! OS is a fork of Ubuntu) and installed the offcial virtualbox version from https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.1.18/

However, now seems like any VM i attempt to install no matter the architecture or OS doesnt work while attempting to load the ISO. Either I get a BSOD or it just gives me an error within the OS.

I think the problem may be the Linux kernel I am using (5.11.0-7612). I have been reading several posts about problems with this kernel version being used with virtualbox 6.1.18. Example of a post I found here: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/20198

So looks like the kernel could be the culprit. Will look in to this more trying different solutions, hopefully I find something. If not, I guess I will just have to wait for virtualbox to release a fix for this in their next stable release.

Kind Regards,
K
Martin
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by Martin »

VirtualBox 6.1.18 doesn't work with the much newer Linux kernel 5.11.x
We have to wait for 6.1.20 or install a current test build instead.
fth0
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by fth0 »

mpack wrote:Though is the GA bugcheck really for any BSOD in the system, or only when the GA's own exception handler trips?
For a test, I just triggered the famous IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL with NotMyFault, and the log messages were created.
mpack wrote:AFAIK no Hyper-v awareness in Win7 guests.
I don't have a Windows 7 guest readily available to test it myself, but 10.5. Paravirtualization Providers indicates otherwise.
scottgus1
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by scottgus1 »

I got this from a Windows 7 32-bit VM that I BSODed with NotMyFault:
00:03:38.858311 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxGuest: BugCheck! P0=0xd1 P1=0xfffff8a00177f010 P2=0x2 P3=0x0 P4=0xfffff88002b33981
00:03:38.860977 GIM: HyperV: Reset initiated through MSR
It appears that the last line of fth0's quote above comes through on Windows 7. However, when Guest Additions are not installed, the BugCheck line does not appear, only the "GIM: HyperV: Reset initiated through MSR".

So, in Windows 7, Guest Additions are required, then a VM OS BSOD will appear in the log.
fth0
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Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by fth0 »

Thanks for testing, scottgus1, good teamwork! :)

Do you perhaps also have a Windows 7 (64-bit) VM? Just in case that the VirtualBox User Manual is only a bit inaccurate (pun intended).

For the Windows 10 (64-bit) case, I additionally tested that solely disabling the paravirtualization provider and solely uninstalling the GA eliminates the corresponding log messages, so they both are really independent of each other.
KHayes
Posts: 3
Joined: 11. Apr 2021, 06:45

Re: Cannot install w7 32 bit as a guest on Linux Host

Post by KHayes »

Martin wrote:VirtualBox 6.1.18 doesn't work with the much newer Linux kernel 5.11.x
We have to wait for 6.1.20 or install a current test build instead.
@Martin, thank you for your feedback on the kernel issue.

Kind Regards,
K
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