Win XP VM Goes Black After Installing GuestAddons

[R V]

Hello,

I have a Windows XP VM that I'm trying to get working. It works fine before the GuestAddons are installed, it seems to install fine, but after I do the required restart it stops working. The VM will start up, get to the XP loading screen, then the screen goes black and never loads to the Desktop.

[scottgus1]

Yes, there's been bugs in the 7.0 graphics that the devs are working on.

Assuming you're running 7.0.8 Virtualbox and Guest Additions, word is that 7.0.6 Guest Additions will get the XP OS running again. Make the uninstall of 7.0.8 GAs in Safe Mode.

https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/

[R V]

Yes, there's been bugs in the 7.0 graphics that the devs are working on.

Assuming you're running 7.0.8 Virtualbox and Guest Additions, word is that 7.0.6 Guest Additions will get the XP OS running again. Make the uninstall of 7.0.8 GAs in Safe Mode.

7.0.6 Virtualbox with 7.0.6 Guest Additions worked. Thank you!

[msys]

I had the same problem and I can confirm that VBox 7.0.8 + 7.0.6 GAs are also working...

... and all of this under a no longer supported host: Windows 7.

[SteveR69]

Thanks for highlighting this. I also had the same problem, downgrading to 7.0.6 has worked a treat and once again I have an acceptable screen resolution displayed this issue was driving me crazy. I searched for ages before logging on and checking the forum, as soon as I re-installed 7.0.6 and then the Guest Additions, reset it opened up in a full screen, no distortion or distorted icons and I was even prompted to let Window choose better resolution and I'm not getting 1920X977. I'm using the default VBoxVGA Graphics Adaptor but 128MB of memory.

[SteveR69]

Also worth mentioning that this affects 6.1.44 (also released Apr23).

[fth0]

This issue should be fixed in the VirtualBox test builds 6.1.45r156947, 7.0.9r156960, 7.0.97r156981 and newer. For details, see 21600.

[Bettatek]

I have also experienced this. Note that reverting to v7.06 guest additions via a snapshot restore fixes the issue without needing to reinstall VirtualBox 7.06.

[scottgus1]

via a snapshot restore

Note that this would only work if the previous state being restored to actually had 7.0.6 GAs installed. It's not the restore of the snapshot that fixes the problem, it's having working GAs installed that fixes the problem.

without needing to reinstall VirtualBox 7.06.

Reinstalling Virtualbox also would not influence the problem. Getting working GAs in the VM does.

[Russw]

I had this same problem with VB 7.08. I downloaded the 7.06 GA and installed it, Vbox asked if I wanted to downgrade the Guest additions from 7.08 to 7.06, I said Yes and it installed. However, the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso file is still 7.08, and in the XP guest, if I install the GA it says version 7.08 will be installed. How do I get the 7.06 GA to install? Or is the only way to download the 7.06 ISO directly and use it?

[scottgus1]

I downloaded the 7.06 GA and installed it, Vbox asked if I wanted to downgrade the Guest additions from 7.08 to 7.06, I said Yes ... in the XP guest, if I install the GA it says version 7.08 will be installed.

This description does not make sense to me, unfortunately. Some other things happened.

the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso file is still 7.08

7.0.8 GAs are bundled with 7.0.8 Virtualbox. It's OK that you have an older GAs ISO somewhere else on the host, but the 7.0.8 Virtualbox will always load the bundled 7.0.8 GAs ISO if you use the VM's Devices menu, Insert Guest Additions CD Image.

You can, however, load the downloaded 7.0.6 GAs ISO in the VM's CD drive manually.

Uninstall the existing Guest Additions, then reboot the VM, then insert the 7.0.6 GAs ISO into the VM's CD drive and install the 7.0.6 Guest Additions.

[NotherNgineer]

Stuck with the same issue here after upgrading the GA from 6.1.42 to 6.1.44.

Q: How do I uninstall or downgrade the GA when I'm unable to boot the XP Guest OS?

[scottgus1]

How do I uninstall or downgrade the GA when I'm unable to boot the XP Guest OS?

The XP OS should boot in Safe Mode, where only the most important drivers are loaded, then the GAs can be uninstalled. Web-search how to boot XP in Safe Mode.

[rich84]

Using the latest (unofficial) build of Guest Additions 7.0.9-155702 worked for me since I couldnt get GA to downgrade to 7.0.6. Running VB Version 7.0.8

[s1L3nCe]

I'm having the same issue on Windows XP 64 bit guest. I'm running virtualbox v 7.0.14 r161095. Is this issue still going? Or is this a different issue with Windows XP 64 bit?