Minimum information needed for assistance.

[Perryg]

These are the minimal requirements needed to be able to help you find your problem/issue.

• The version of VirtualBox you are using, what version of the Extension Pack in Virtualbox on the host you have installed (if any), and Guest Additions (in the guest).
• Host & Guest make and version including 32 or 64 bit, and the amount of memory available to both.
• VM log file (as an attachment) See your VirtualBox users guide for how to locate this if using command line or right click the guest in the VirtualBox main manager and select show log. Then choose save.
  *Note: Windows as host users with version newer than 4.3.12 need to post the VBoxStartup.log or VBoxHardening.log

Some simple commands to show the information needed if asked to provide them.

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VBoxManage list [--long|-l] vms|runningvms|ostypes|hostdvds|hostfloppies|
                            bridgedifs|hostonlyifs|dhcpservers|hostinfo|
                            hostcpuids|hddbackends|hdds|dvds|floppies|
                            usbhost|usbfilters|systemproperties|extpacks

Example: VBoxManage list extpacks


This will generate the guests settings if you are asked to provide them. If the guests name contains spaces wrap them with " " (quotes) See Example2

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VBoxManage showvminfo       <uuid>|<name> [--details]
                            [--machinereadable]

Example1: VBoxManage showvminfo Win-XP --details
Example2: VBoxManage showvminfo "Win XP" --details


Note: On Windows hosts you need to be in the folder that has VBoxManage.exe for it to work.

(edit: slight tweaks to add Extension Pack info, by scottgus1)

[mpack]

When posting a guest log file, please make sure to post it as an attachment, don't just paste text. Ideally the attachment should be .ZIPped, that way you will never encounter the attachment size limit.

[Perryg]

More useful information for Linux users (Host or Guest)

Most of the time you can see what went wrong by reading the VirtualBox install logs.

For the host side look at /var/log/vbox-install.log and /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Same concept for the Linux guest except the logs are called vboxadd-install.log and vboxadd-install-x11.log

[mpack]

Yes, we know that the error dialog tells you to submit a screenshot, but you should only do it if the image contains useful information (e.g. if the screen was blank, just say so and skip the image). Also, not everyone can read all image formats, so if you do post an image please use JPEG or PNG.