[Invalid] VM Server 2016 automatic restart without timing

[hayden_wang]

[Host Ubuntu 16.04 ] [ VirtualBox VM 6.0.8 ] [ VM: Server 2016 DataCenter] [ VM Server 2016 automatic restart without timing ]

05:54:19.794526 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'RESETTING'
05:54:20.081255 Changing the VM state from 'RESETTING' to 'RUNNING'
08:54:33.482544 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'RESETTING'
08:54:33.779199 Changing the VM state from 'RESETTING' to 'RUNNING'
32:56:41.681702 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'RESETTING'
32:56:41.979826 Changing the VM state from 'RESETTING' to 'RUNNING'
35:12:08.941082 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'RESETTING'
35:12:09.219791 Changing the VM state from 'RESETTING' to 'RUNNING'
35:13:37.070415 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'RESETTING'
35:13:37.094018 Changing the VM state from 'RESETTING' to 'RUNNING'
38:57:35.608913 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'RESETTING'

Can anyone help me?

[socratis]

First of all, you seriously need to get out of Twitter-Mode. That's not a proper way to describe your situation, with headlines...

It looks like the VM is rebooting at large intervals, chances are because of Windows updates. We need to see a complete VBox.log, from a complete VM run, where the problem occurs:

• Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state) / Observe or recreate the problem / Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
• With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
• Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response. See the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form.

[hayden_wang]

Thank you very much for your reply

1. Shut down the virtual machine from the system
2. Use the command to power on the virtual machine:"VBoxManage startvm w2k16ad --type headless"

[scottgus1]

This log dies off at 10.9-ish seconds, looks like the guest was still running. Try again, this time waiting until the issue shows itself, then shutting down the guest again from within the guest OS, then zipping and posting the log per Socratis' very clear instructions above.

Please remember that when you ask for help and folks try to help, it will be very important for you to read and follow instructions carefully, so the conversation can be productive.

[hayden_wang]

I am very sorry, I have been replying to you for so long, I have been waiting for the failure to reappear. English is not my native language. I communicate with you mainly by means of Google Translate.

Here's what I did:

1. power on VM: VBoxManage startvm w2k16ad --type headless
2. Perform a Windows update
3. Wait for the VM to restart abnormally (there is no exception in this restart VM log)
4. Shut down the VM from the system
5. Collect logs
   1. Virtualbox VM log: tar -czvf VBox_w2k16.tar.gz ./VBox.log
   2. Windows System log: tar -czvf system_eventlog.tar.gz ./system_eventlog.evtx

[scottgus1]

I see lots of unexpected restarts in the event viewer log. However, coordinating the event viewer with the Virtualbox log, starting 11/15/2019, 3:22:

00:00:00.037044 Log opened 2019-11-15T03:22:22.224768000Z

The event viewer shows no unexpected reboots during this time.

The Virtualbox log runs 94 hours, almost 4 days. At 78 hours 35 minutes the log shows one reset cycle:

78:35:21.002600 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'RESETTING'
......
78:35:21.060052 Changing the VM state from 'RESETTING' to 'RUNNING'

Then at 94 hours 51 minutes the guest OS requests a shut down:

94:51:05.771428 VMMDev: Guest requests the VM to be turned off

You mention a restart after updates:

2. Perform a Windows update
3. Wait for the VM to restart abnormally (there is no exception in this restart VM log)

Is this "abnormal" restart a simple restart for updates, or did the guest lock up and require you to manually reset the guest?

In this log I don't see the repeated cycle of automatic resets you showed in the first post.

I have had guests fail to restart automatically after I selected Reboot in the guest OS. I was never able to figure out why that happened. But it was rare.

Your guest has one CPU and 2GB memory:

00:00:00.160722   NumCPUs           <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:00.160735   RamSize           <integer> = 0x0000000080000000 (2 147 483 648, 2 048 MB)

Your host has 4 CPU cores available and 8GB RAM free:

00:00:00.037188 Host RAM: 16004MB (15.6GB) total, 8491MB (8.2GB) available
00:00:00.325140 CPUM: Physical host cores: 4

You can give two cores to this guest and 4GB memory easily. Windows Server 2016 will run better with more resources.

[hayden_wang]

Thank you very much for your help. It seems that windows updates have a big impact, so watch for a while.
This virtual machine usually consumes a lot of resources, and the hardware configuration is changed later. Thank you again for your help!

[socratis]

It seems that windows updates have a big impact, so watch for a while.

Please let us know, so that I can mark the thread appropriately...

[hayden_wang]

The virtual machine has been running normally for 21 days, and no abnormal restart has occurred.
Thank you socratis and scottgus1 for your help!

[socratis]

Great 'hayden_wang', thanks for letting us know!
I think I'm going to mark this as [Invalid] though, because it has nothing to do with VirtualBox, and everything with normal Windows Updates...