Windows 11 guest unbootable after updating guest additions

[ricecrispies]

I updated VirtualBox on my Mac (Ventura) from version 6.something to 7.0.4. I then tried to update the guest additions on my guest Windows 11. The VM froze and the top half of the guest screen went black.

I then forced a restart and tried again to install the guest additions. The whole screen went black apart from a couple of icons from the Windows taskbar, and one or two text popups happened as I clicked the guest screen many times, suggesting that Windows was still running, but eventually I had to force a restart again.

And now Windows freezes within a few seconds of starting to boot. First the spinning wheel freezes. Then the display gets completely garbled (a few white streaks on an otherwise black guest screen). Even when I press F4 as Windows is starting up in order to boot into safe mode, the guest Windows freezes all the same.

One possibly related issue is the one I was trying to fix when I tried to upgrade everything: The guest sees a 4:3 ratio screen, but the host displays it in it a 16:9 ratio screen, meaning that everything is stretched.

So really I have two questions:
1. Can the guest Windows 11 be fixed, or do I need to do a clean install?
2. Can the aspect ratio problem be fixed (ideally getting the guest Windows to display in 16:9 ratio)? The reason I ask that is because if that can't be fixed, I might as well abandon this VM and consider its OEM Windows license a sunk cost, and start afresh with VMWare.

EDIT:
I managed to boot into guest Windows again by disabling 3D acceleration. I was then able to successfully install the guest additions. However, when I re-enabled 3D, Windows froze again on booting, and without 3D, there's no point having this virtual machine at all.

I'm starting to get the impression that VirtualBox is desperately buggy and unreliable, and that I should just give up on it altogether. Are there any good reasons to stick with it?

[granada29]

I just ran into the same problem on VirtualBox 7.0.4. The Win 11 install went fine (no adjustment to the default VirtualBox settings for a new Windows 11 guest) and then, when I was happy it was running ok, I made a backup and installed the Guest Additions.

After the VM reboot I resized the VM window. The VM froze completely, with very high utilization of the host CPUs as shown by Activity Monitor on the host.

I restored the backup and changed the VM Display setting to VBoxVGA. Although marked as an invalid setting, the VM booted and I was this time able to successfully install the Guest Additions.

Enabling 3D acceleration does not work. That restores the VBoxSVGA display driver and once again there are black screens and high CPU usage on the host.

I suspect the VBoxSVGA display driver is still very buggy and hopefully there will be some improvement in the next release of VirtualBox.

[ricecrispies]

Last night I discovered the export function in VirtualBox. So, I imported the Windows virtual machine into VMware, but it wouldn’t boot there either. I’ll have a quick go at trying the steps you took, and seeing if I can export a fully working machine to VMware. If it doesn’t work first time, I’ll just abandon it and get a new grey market Windows license and start afresh in VMware. I see absolutely no reason why anyone should choose VirtualBox over VMware unless they are trying to avoid paying the commercial license fee.

[scottgus1]

7.0 is just out of beta and still has bugs to find. VMs that must run successfully should stay in a 6.1 host. Reserve 7.0 for experimentation for now.

7.0.4 Windows Guest Additions still have bugs. If you want 7.0 on the host, use 6.1.40 GAs in Windows VMs.

Anyone that uses 7.0 now is really acting as a bug finder for the time being. 7.0 will probably stabilize for regular use in a few more versions.

[ricecrispies]

I tried with the VBoxVGA driver, and I was able to boot, but then I had already successfully installed the latest guest addons in a moment of stability, so I realised that it wouldn't change anything. The image would still be unbootable in VMWare Player, and VirtualBox would remain more or less unusable on a 5K monitor without proper scaling. So I should probably just chalk this one up to experience and start from scratch in VMWare.

That Oracle encouraged me to upgrade to a Beta without telling me it was only (barely) Beta quality is another reason to have absolutely no confidence in VirtualBox.

[fth0]

To give you an alternative perspective:

On one hand, the number of problem reports for VirtualBox 7.0.4 is significantly higher than for VirtualBox 6.1.40, which is expected for a new major version with new functionality (especially the completely new DX11 implementation).

On the other hand, the number of problem reports for VirtualBox 7.0.4 is not that high that one can say with confidence that a majority of VirtualBox users would be affected. Unfortunately, users without problems rarely visit forums.

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated to Oracle or the VirtualBox development.

PS: When migrating from one hypervisor to another, it's usually recommended to uninstall the hypervisor-specific guest software beforehand. That applies to both VirtualBox and VMware.

[mpack]

I would also point out that these are discussion forums run by and for VirtualBox enthusiasts. None of us has any stake in your choice of hypervisor. Telling us you want to use VMWare instead results in... a shrug, and wondering why we needed to know that.

As to your expectations: they puzzle me. They don't call it "bleeding edge" for nothing! If you expect stability you need to stick to "latest stable", not latest release. And probably best stick purely to paid software.

[kado897]

I updated VirtualBox on my Mac (Ventura) from version 6.something to 7.0.4. I then tried to update the guest additions on my guest Windows 11. The VM froze and the top half of the guest screen went black.

I then forced a restart and tried again to install the guest additions. The whole screen went black apart from a couple of icons from the Windows taskbar, and one or two text popups happened as I clicked the guest screen many times, suggesting that Windows was still running, but eventually I had to force a restart again.

And now Windows freezes within a few seconds of starting to boot. First the spinning wheel freezes. Then the display gets completely garbled (a few white streaks on an otherwise black guest screen). Even when I press F4 as Windows is starting up in order to boot into safe mode, the guest Windows freezes all the same.

One possibly related issue is the one I was trying to fix when I tried to upgrade everything: The guest sees a 4:3 ratio screen, but the host displays it in it a 16:9 ratio screen, meaning that everything is stretched.

So really I have two questions:
1. Can the guest Windows 11 be fixed, or do I need to do a clean install?
2. Can the aspect ratio problem be fixed (ideally getting the guest Windows to display in 16:9 ratio)? The reason I ask that is because if that can't be fixed, I might as well abandon this VM and consider its OEM Windows license a sunk cost, and start afresh with VMWare.

EDIT:
I managed to boot into guest Windows again by disabling 3D acceleration. I was then able to successfully install the guest additions. However, when I re-enabled 3D, Windows froze again on booting, and without 3D, there's no point having this virtual machine at all.

I'm starting to get the impression that VirtualBox is desperately buggy and unreliable, and that I should just give up on it altogether. Are there any good reasons to stick with it?

I have found that for Windows guests both w10 & W11 you can use the VMSVGA driver but you must uncheck 3D acceleration. About all you lose is transparency and some visual effects. It still scales properly for 16:9 Display ratio.

[kwsutter]

EDIT:
I managed to boot into guest Windows again by disabling 3D acceleration. I was then able to successfully install the guest additions. However, when I re-enabled 3D, Windows froze again on booting, and without 3D, there's no point having this virtual machine at all.

Thank you for this suggestion. I know it didn't help your situation, but disabling 3D Acceleration allowed my Windows 10 VirtualBox to once again boot after "upgrading" to version 7.0.3. I thought I was going to have to start over and I definitely wasn't looking forward to that... Thanks again!

[drxj]

"you can use the VMSVGA ... must uncheck 3D acceleration"
Thank you kado897! Worked for me. (host: Mac 12.6; guest: Win 11)