5.2.12 error

[mpack]

As I said, consider what kinds of invasive applications you have on your PC, because the culprit is likely to be one of those. "Invasive" means any application, not part of off the shelf Windows, which is designed to spy on other applications for whatever reason. Examples obviously include antivirus, but also screen readers/translators, screen contrast controls for poor sighted users, remote teleworking, internet "safe browsing" filters etc. Think about it.

[kencooper]

So I have to decide on what is unnecessary and disable, or remove, it from my machine, to cope with something that has worked fine for 4 years and has now decided to not work because of technology. Surely there must be a simple way to disable the Hardening in VirtualBox to get my system running as before.

[mpack]

There is not, unless you want to go back to version 4.3.12, which is the last version which didn't include hardening. If hardening could be turned off by a setting then how secure could it possibly be?

And don't blame the VirtualBox developers for doing what the market demanded that they do.

[socratis]

So I have to decide on what is unnecessary and disable, or remove, it from my machine

Or update it. Sometimes developers try to fix their previous issues, or they find ways to work around them.

[Mark_12345]

I've experienced the same issue this morning. I don't understand why this has suddenly become an issue, I've not installed anything on my machine between VirtualBox working yesterday and the machines failing to start this morning, the only thing I can think that has been updated would be A/V signature files.

I tried a number of different solutions on different forum posts for the problem with no success, so I wandered if it was an issue with the vboxdrv driver starting before something it relies on has started so changed the start type of the driver to be delayed, which stopped the error.

The following commands have to be run at an elevated Administrator command prompt. Before making any changes check the original start up type so that you can revert to the original configuration if you have any problems, mine was set to 'system' which has a value of '1' in the 'start' registry value, located at:

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Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VBoxDrv

The solution I found was to change the vboxdrv driver start-up configuration from 'system' to 'delayed-auto' using the sc command, the command above changes the start registry value to '2'

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sc config start=delayed-auto

Once the configuration has been made the VirtualBox host OS needs to be rebooted so the changes are applied.

After the configuration was changed virtual guest machines started successfully. As the system starts the status of the driver needs to be checked to ensure that it has started before running virtualbox otherwise the machines will fail to started with a different error.

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sc query vboxdrv

There may be issues I'm not aware of that are associated with using this solution so before implemented it should be thoroughly tested.

[kencooper]

Hi Mark

Would this be applicable to my situation, where the VitualBox is only started a couple of times a week, when I need to update my finances. Surely everything that VirtualBox needs to have running should already be there?

[Mark_12345]

I couldn't comment as I don't have any of the details of your system, I'm not an employee of virtualbox/oracle so don't have access to their support databases and in any case I don't provide specific support advice. As I said test it, follow standard procedures of backup your data etc before doing so. If you only have one guest machine maybe create new one and test with that to help avoid any issues with your current guest machine, if you create a new machine and when it starts it goes the virtuabox bios screen without the error then you could know virtualbox get past the problem causing the error, the new guest doesn't need an OS installed it just needs enough configuration so that it can be started. If you have support for virtualbox from oracle you could ask them if it is a supported configuration. Hopefully it will be fixed in the next software update.

In another discussion about this that I found on a different site they talked about re-registering the vboxdrv driver, which I tried and bit it didn't resolve the issue I was experiencing. What did I find was that when the vboxdrv is re-register/installed the settings changes which are made by the fix I've identified are overwritten to their original configuration, therefore when a newer version of the driver is installed (Virtuabox software is updated/reinstall/repair) the setting changes made by the fix will probably be overwritten, assuming the driver behavior isn't changed. So if the problem persists in the next version of VirtualBox the fix would have to be configured again. It also means that making the change is unlikely to affect future versions of virtualbox, again i can't possibly know for sure, but it seems likely to be the case based on current behavior of the software.

The changes I suggested delay when the vboxdrv device driver is started by OS as it starts up. What I don't know is if there are any other implications from a windows, virtualbox or other perspective of changing a driver to a delayed start. I don't know of any but of course that doesn't mean that there aren't any if that makes sense.

I can confirm that I tested to see if VirtualBox guest machines still start OK today and they do, so the fix appears to continue to work.

I've also edited the previous post to include that the host OS needs to be rebooted after the changes have been made to allow the driver to startup with a delayed started.

Regards

Mark

[kencooper]

Thanks Mark,

I'll try the suggestion over the next few days.

I run Win 10 on my PC. I've got around the problem of losing my finance information by going back to an XP running laptop, I know it's old, but it still works. It's not ideal but since it has no internet connection it can't be hacked or get a virus etc. I copy the files across to ensure that they are backed up.

I used VirtualBox to enable me to run Quicken 2000, which won't wok on systems later than XP, and having set up the VirtualBox I loaded XP, updated it and then closed access to the internet for the virtual computer. Loaded Quicken and SyncToy to enable me to transfer the files over to my hard drives for backup, and happily ran the system until last week. I had the same symptoms as you, the update ran perfectly when loaded, and then failed the next day.

The VirtualBox loads OK, but when I try to access the XP it fails everytime.

Thanks for the help.

[socratis]

The VirtualBox loads OK, but when I try to access the XP it fails everytime.

It will not work for every VM, not just your XP one, it's not selective.

[Mark_12345]

Ken, If you try it and it works please could you reply and provide details as it will help other people who may have a similar know whether the fix may work for them.

[Odseybod]

Ken,

Good to 'meet' a kindred spirit on here, especially one also still using Quicken 2000 - where would we be without it?

Like you and others, I'd suddenly run into the XP VM not working, for no apparent reason. As per suggestions I religiously uninstalled Malwarebytes (which I'd thought was doing a reasonable job) and the last vestiges of Avast, which hadn't been on the system for a year or so, though with no discernible impact.

No joy and like you was bracing myself to rummage under the bonnet over the weekend, when I had another look at the Log and spotted many mentions of Trusteer and/or Rapport - a security freeby supplied by my bank some years ago for online reassurance. Maybe it's had a recent sneaky update but anyway, removing that and all traces in the Registry then rebooting has brought XP back from the dead.

Just wonder if it might also be the cause of your problems, if you have it? Hope you're soon reunited with Quicken.

Tony Turner

[socratis]

spotted many mentions of Trusteer and/or Rapport - a security freeby supplied by my bank some years ago for online reassurance

The 1/Jun/2018 update of the Trusteer software is what caused the issue. Either uninstall it or wait for an update. The Trusteer developers have been notified about this.

[TAG]

Same problem - Removing Trusteer worked for me! Thank you socratis & Odseybod and all the others helping to figure this out!

[Odseybod]

Hurrah!

[kencooper]

Thank you for all the assistance. I uninstalled Trusteer Rapport and VirtualBox is working correctly now.

It seems strange that two big organisations like IBM and Oracle can get things, which they should know about, that will not work together.

Hopefully IBM will get a new version of Trusteer Rapport released soon.