virtualbox 7.0.8 file dragging doesn't work

[fth0]

fth0, I wonder if you'd mind explaining this again, please.

It will be my pleasure! I'll try and sort it out:

---

VirtualBox Guest Additions (GA) for Linux guests

1. The VirtualBox Guest Additions (GA) for Linux guests consist of

• kernel modules (e.g. vboxguest, vboxsf),
• services (e.g. VBoxService),
• applications (e.g. VBoxClient, VBoxControl) and
• scripts (e.g. vboxadd).

2. The GA installer ...

a) ... contains the services and applications as already built executables and copies the files to their destination folders (e.g. /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-6.1.44/...).

b) ... copies the (also ready-made) scripts to their respective destination folders (presumably dependent on the Linux distribution).

c) ... contains the kernel modules as source code. In order to build the kernel modules, some pre-requisites are needed, which depend on the Linux distribution and the Linux kernel (e.g. compiler and tools, Linux kernel headers). The basic reason is that the kernel modules have to match the current Linux kernel; whenever the Linux kernel is updated (typically every few weeks), the kernel modules are also built anew.

3. The potentially problematic combination (visualized by the underlines and strike-throughs):

a) If the GA installer is unable to build the kernel modules, it only installs the services, applications and scripts.

b) Some Linux distributions pre-install an older version of the VirtualBox kernel modules, as part of a large collection of kernel modules, but not the VirtualBox services, applications and scripts. Technically speaking, this is not a pre-installation of the GA, BTW.

c) The implementation of many of the GA' functionalities (e.g. Shared Clipboard, Shared Folders) is distributed on the GA' services, the GA' kernel modules and VirtualBox host-side parts. In consequence, those functionalities work best when the necessary components have the same version number.

---

If "Guest Additions information report" and "VBoxService" versions don't match, is this an indication of mismatched kernel headers requiring a purge and reinstall of prerequisites and Guest Additions? I seem to remember you may have mentioned that mismatched version numbers wasn't necessarily a problem, but I may not remember correctly?

The "Guest Additions information report" log message shows the version of the vboxguest kernel module, and the "VBoxService" ... is an easy guess. There is no need to uninstall the pre-installed kernel modules (and it's usually difficult anyway): They work better than having no kernel module, and when the prerequisites (especially the Linux kernel headers) are available, the next rebuild of the VirtualBox kernel modules should succeed.

O maybe we were discussing Virtualbox on the host last time?

On a Linux host, the situation is quite similar to the situation on a Linux guest: VirtualBox consists of ... and kernel modules (e.g. vboxdrv). The main difference is that Linux distributions do not pre-install the VirtualBox host-side kernel modules, and if the VirtualBox installer cannot build its kernel modules, you cannot successfully run a VM afterwards.

Please let me know if you have further questions or if I can improve my explanations above.

[nuv4]

now the same kernel version is installed and as a service, see attached file but it doesn't work, we installed 7.0.6 because 7.0.8 slowed down the os.

[scottgus1]

Thanks for that explanation, fth0! Let me see if I get it:

• "Guest Additions information report" shows the existing GA kernel modules version.
  "VBoxService" shows the possibly-installed Guest Additions services, apps & scripts.
• The prerequisites put things in place for the GAs installer to update the GA kernel modules to the GAs version.
• It is not necessarily bad for the GA kernel modules and VboxService versions to not match, but it would be better, and might be required based on what services are failing(?).
• A complete good install of GAs will involve successfully running the prerequisites first, then the information report and VBoxService versions should match.
• The "Guest Additions information report" line in a Linux VM only shows the existing kernel modules, so we must look for the "VBoxService" line to tell if or what GAs have been installed.

And for a Linux host, the prerequisites must be run, or Virtualbox on the host will not work.

If we see a log line:

Guest Log: vboxguest: Successfully loaded version Z.Y.X

and Z.Y.X matches the VBoxService version, would this show complete successful start of all GAs services?

[nuv4]

00:00:22.350553 VMMDev: Guest Log: vboxguest: Successfully loaded version 7.0.6 r155176

ok the version is correct but don't go

00:05:49.396210 DnD: Error: Requesting pending data from guest failed (VERR_TIMEOUT)
00:05:49.396232 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_DND_ERROR (0x80bb0011) aIID={dedfb5d9-4c1b-edf7-fdf3-c1be6827dc28} aComponent={GuestDnDSourceWrap} aText={DnD: Error: Requesting pending data from guest failed (VERR_TIMEOUT)}, preserve=false aResultDetail=-40

[nuv4]

i can use file manager for move file

[scottgus1]

nuv4, if I understand fth0's explanation correctly, it appears that your logged Guest Additions are set up correctly now, and the slight version difference between 7.0.6 GAs and 7.0.8 host Virtualbox shouldn't be a problem.

However, DnD has some basis in graphics, and 7.0 has some graphics bugs being worked on. Additionally, there could still be an unknown issue in one of the OS's that prevents DnD from working guest to host. VERR_TIMEOUT implies to me that the source OS attempted the DnD and the destination would not respond. What to do about it, though, I don't know.

Only thing I could suggest is to sync up host Virtualbox to 7.0.6 as well (no need to reinstall GAs in the VM, they're all set) and see if DND guest to host works then.

[fth0]

Let me see if I get it:

I think you got it! I'll elaborate on a few details which could be open to interpretation:

00:00:22.561382 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 7.0.6 r155176 '7.0.6'
[...]
00:00:22.647202 VMMDev: Guest Log: vboxguest: Successfully loaded version 7.0.6 r155176
[...]
00:00:26.118834 VMMDev: Guest Log: 07:10:11.156218 main     VBoxService 7.0.6 r155176 (verbosity: 0) linux.amd64 (Jan 11 2023 15:34:33) release log

The version information of the first and second log messages above are both provided by the VirtualBox kernel module vboxguest: The first is provided by the OS agnostic part of the source code and therefore visible in the case of any guest OS, the second is only provided by the Linux part of the source code and therefore only visible in the case of a Linux guest OS.

Both log messages only indicate the successful start of the VirtualBox kernel module vboxguest. They do not indicate anything about the other VirtualBox kernel modules. Similarly, the third log message regarding "VBoxService" only indicates that this VirtualBox service was started successfully. This is enough to (more or less) identify the situation that the GA installer could not build the VirtualBox kernel modules, but not enough to investigate more complex issues (like DnD not working).

"Guest Additions information report" shows the existing GA kernel modules version.

Correct. Note that "the existing GA kernel module" can be either the one pre-installed by the Linux distribution or the one (built and) installed by the GA installer. Although the latter will be placed at another location in the file system, it will override the pre-installed one.

The prerequisites put things in place for the GAs installer to update the GA kernel modules to the GAs version.

Correct. Note that the prerequisites only need to be installed once. Whenever a new Linux kernel gets installed, the Linux kernel headers get updated, too, and the VirtualBox kernel drivers are rebuilt to match the new Linux kernel.

It is not necessarily bad for the GA kernel modules and VboxService versions to not match, but it would be better, and might be required based on what services are failing(?).

Correct. Some GA functionalities like Shared Clipboard and DnD have been modified quite often in the past, so those GA functionalities might profit more than others from matching versions.

A complete good install of GAs will involve successfully running the prerequisites first, then the information report and VBoxService versions should match.

Correct. Note that installing the prerequisites is only needed once, because they will get automatically updated afterwards like the rest of the Linux guest OS.

The "Guest Additions information report" line in a Linux VM only shows the existing kernel modules, so we must look for the "VBoxService" line to tell if or what GAs have been installed.

Sort of. The "VBoxService" line tells which GA the user has installed. The "Guest Additions information report" line tells if the GA installation has successfully built and installed the kernel modules or not (matching versions mean success, failure otherwise).

And for a Linux host, the prerequisites must be run, or Virtualbox on the host will not work.

Sort of. The VirtualBox Manager will work, but trying to run any VM will abort very early (after ~500 ms).

[scottgus1]

That's a good list of Corrects, looks like I might be getting really close. Thanks, fth0!

So if I were to boil this down to an easy-to-swallow nugget for Linux VM log diagnosis purposes, I'd come up with this:

"Guest Additions information report" (and "Guest Log: vboxguest" if present) show the version of the GAs kernel modules.
"VBoxService", if present, shows the version of installed Guest Additions.

• "Guest Additions information report" shows old version numbers
• "Guest Log: vboxguest" and "VBoxService" not present
  > Guest Additions have not been installed or attempt to install failed miserably.
• "Guest Additions information report" shows old version numbers
• "VBoxService" shows new version numbers
  > New version number's GAs have been installed but could not update the GAs kernel modules.
  > The prerequisites have not been run in the VM.
  > Some GAs features may not work.
• "Guest Additions information report", "Guest Log: vboxguest", "VBoxService" all show the same version numbers
  > Shown version number's GAs have been installed successfully with updated GAs kernel modules complete.
  > GAs should be working. Any failures need other diagnosing.

How does this look?

[fth0]

How does this look?

Really close!

"Guest Additions information report" shows old version numbers
"Guest Log: vboxguest" and "VBoxService" not present
> Guest Additions have not been installed or attempt to install failed miserably.

I'd leave out the "Guest Log: vboxguest" part, because it will be present and show the old version number if it's "new enough": The log message was added in some VirtualBox version in the past, so if the pre-installed version is for example 6.1.28, the two log messages would indicate "6.1.28" and "6.1.28" respectively.

Generally speaking, you can imagine the two log messages like a framing: When the vboxguest kernel module is started, it triggers the first log message, then it initializes itself, and finally it triggers the second log message, to indicate that nothing went wrong during the initialization.

[jax200]

(Not sure if I should start a new thread or just join in.)

I have the same issue. I use a Win 10 host and various versions of guest Ubuntu VMs (ie, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04). VMs are set to bidirectional drag n' drop. I read through the post and 'think' I understand it, but not sure what is referred to as 'prerequisites'. I have gotten this feature to work in earlier VB versions.

Example 1
00:00:05.534668 VirtualBox VM 7.0.8 r156879 win.amd64 (Apr 17 2023 16:42:53) release log

GA Information report: 00:00:24.401021 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 7.0.8 r156879 '7.0.8'

00:00:24.404113 VMMDev: Guest Log: vboxguest: Successfully loaded version 7.0.8 r156879

Ex1.7z

(30.35 KiB) Downloaded 18 times

Example 2
00:00:05.462959 VirtualBox VM 7.0.8 r156879 win.amd64 (Apr 17 2023 16:42:53) release log

00:00:23.144082 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 7.0.8 r156879 '7.0.8'

00:00:23.145923 VMMDev: Guest Log: vboxguest: Successfully loaded version 7.0.8 r156879

Ex2.7z

(59 Bytes) Downloaded 24 times