Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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NA!
Posts: 63
Joined: 29. Jun 2012, 10:02
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows (XP, 7, 10), Linux

Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by NA! »

Using VBox 6.1.26 under a fully-updated win10 host.

I'm trying to setup a new Win10 VM. I have setup windows and performed several updates. I'm currently in guest version 20H2 when i started noticing a strange behavior (don't know if it happened from the beginning or it started after some Windows update). When the the vm window looses focus (clicking somewhere outside of it with the mouse), when it returns, the UI does not respond (not with clicks or even mouseover something). In order to make it work again, i have to try to close the VM window, and cancel the confirmation window that appears.

In general though, the VM does not seem to work properly. Many times it freezes and i have to reset it or it has a sluggish behavior (which again leads to a shutdown or reset). This usually happens in the Settings / Update window, in which the Download counter either remains at 0% or the window freezes (along with the taskbar).

Does this ring any bells to anyone? Has it happened again (something known perhaps)?

Anyway, i'm attaching the VM's vbox file, just in case someone notices anything strange...

PS: Haven't had the time to install much in the VM. It's pretty much a vanilla windows setup.
PS2: Other VMs (a Linux one and a Win7), seem to work fine...
Attachments
NSDevel01.zip
(1.91 KiB) Downloaded 9 times
NA!
Posts: 63
Joined: 29. Jun 2012, 10:02
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows (XP, 7, 10), Linux

Re: Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by NA! »

An additional thing. When i installed Guest addons, the 3D option was checked and disabled (so you couldn't uncheck it), which means the driver was installed. At that time i had 3D enabled in the VM. Inside it though, i noticed that in the device manager, the driver was not loaded properly (had a yellow exclamation point on it), so i ended up disabling 3D in the VM options because the display was sluggish. I don't know if that has played any role in the current situation.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by scottgus1 »

'Tis an unusual situation you have there, and maybe the bunged-up drivers are the source of the problem.

I'd try this:
Start the VM and uninstall the Guest Additions. Shut down the VM.
Disable 3D acceleration in the VM's Display settings.
Start the VM again, let it sit for a few minutes to load up its non-3D-enabled graphics. Shut the VM down again.
Enable 3D acceleration.
Start the VM and install the bundled GAs using the VM's Devices menu command "Insert Guest Additions CD Image".
With 3D enabled in a Windows 10 VM, disabling Settings > Personalization > Colors > Transparency Effects improves graphics response.

If the problem returns, Start the VM from full normal shutdown, not save-state. Run until you see the problem happen, then shut down the VM from within the VM's OS if possible. If not possible, close the Virtualbox window for the VM with the Power Off option set. Then Right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log, zip it, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.
NA!
Posts: 63
Joined: 29. Jun 2012, 10:02
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows (XP, 7, 10), Linux

Re: Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by NA! »

OK, i tried what you proposed but the results were rather disastrous. I uninstalled the driver, did all the restarts and at the step where it went to re-install the guest additions, during the installation process and just after the display driver was installed, the vm seemed to become extremely sluggish, to the point where i decided to power it off and reinstall Windows.

So i started Windows installation again (with 3D enabled in the vm), and after it finished, i went straight to the Guest Additions setup, before Windows started updating things. When it finished, it asked for a restart. Just before i pressed the restart button, a message popped up saying that the display driver failed and it reverted to a Basic display driver (i remember this message had come up in the previous setup too). I restarted the vm and i saw again that in the device manager the display driver had a yellow exclamation point on it. As i was trying to decide how to proceed, i got a blue screen in the vm, with stop code CRITICAL STRUCTURE CORRUPTION.

The version of Windows i installed was 1903 x64 (18362.30). I must say this is starting to smell like an incompatibility between the Guest Additions and that version of Windows.

OK, the next thing i'll try is to disable 3D, reinstall Windows, perform updates and when it reaches a more recent version, then i'll install Guest Additions, just to see if it works...
NA!
Posts: 63
Joined: 29. Jun 2012, 10:02
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows (XP, 7, 10), Linux

Re: Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by NA! »

Installation finished from yesterday, but it's still in the process of updating windows, however this phenomenon has repeated itself.

I have no Guest Additions installed but while updating, the windows UI seems frozen. It seems that if the mouse cursor leaves the vbox window for a while, when i try to return to it, the vm is frozen. If i try to close the vm's window a few times and the mouse leaves and enters the window area, at some point the vm unfreezes (for a while).

By "freezing" i mean that the mouse does not move within the vm (or moves and freezes after a couple of seconds) and there is no disk/network activity. clicking outsize of the vm and inside it, the mouse pointer moves momentarily to where i have clicked and then freezes again.

I'm now in the process of restoring an old windows 10 vm from backup, just to see if it's working...
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by scottgus1 »

Bummer, sounds like a tough problem. Does the VM have these seize-ups if Guest Additions is installed but 3D acceleration is not enabled?
NA!
Posts: 63
Joined: 29. Jun 2012, 10:02
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows (XP, 7, 10), Linux

Re: Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by NA! »

Well, from what i saw in the previous setup, yes. It's strange though. I don't remember this happening with older vbox versions. I'll try to go back some versions to see if it continues.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by scottgus1 »

Don't forget about the vbox.log when the problems happen.
NA!
Posts: 63
Joined: 29. Jun 2012, 10:02
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows (XP, 7, 10), Linux

Re: Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by NA! »

Yup. So far with 6.1.22 (and without the Guest Additions installed), things seem to proceed without any problems.

Anyway, i'll test some things out and post what i find.
NA!
Posts: 63
Joined: 29. Jun 2012, 10:02
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows (XP, 7, 10), Linux

Re: Guest UI freezes when focus leaves from VirtualBox

Post by NA! »

OK, no luck. The problem persists not only with the new VM i've created but also with an old one i restored from a backup.

Since then, i've tried updating the display driver on the host machine, just in case, but without any luck.

Anyway, these days i have no time to play with it, so i'll table it for a while and check it again at a later time. I'm attaching the logs, hoping they will be useful.
Attachments
VBox.zip
(55.74 KiB) Downloaded 5 times
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