virtualbox.org

Hi,
I have a VM in Windows 10 with Linux Mint installed in it. For a couple of days it worked fine, then today when I tried to turn it on after the login screen everything was black. I confirmed that the OS actually booted by opening the console with Ctrl+Alt+T and shutting it down with a command. I rebooted my PC and tried again but the same thing happened. The only thing that worked was chaning the graphics controller from VMSVGA to VBoxVGA, which is slower and doesn't support 3D acceleration.

Guest additions are installed and both OS are up to date, as well as VirtualBox.

Any help will be appreciated.

I am reliably advised that FreeBSD and Linux guests with guest additions:

• should not be set to VMSVGA

– users should ignore the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager (application) recommendation to use VMSVGA; should ignore the yellow alert for VBoxSVGA.

Please see, for example https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_ ... =254266#c3 (there are various discussions elsewhere; this comment is pertinent and concise).

HTH

From today's https://forums.FreeBSD.org/threads/79451/post-508113 (ignoring the misleading title of the topic):

… 13.0-RELEASE. … xorg, lxde and virtualbox-ose-additions 6.1.18. … lxde … black screen … 6.1.18 is bugged. … VboxVGA

Proof of LXDE working with VBoxSVGA with emulators/virtualbox-ose-additions 6.1.18: https://i.imgur.com/l5OKsPH.png (original screenshot) and attached (greyscale, cropped).

Thanks for the help, VBoxSVGA seems to work well enough for what I need. I can also confirm that VMSMGA still does not work properly.

This discussion does not concern the Windows host and therefore does not belong in the "Windows Hosts" forum. Please think about your forum choice before posting.

Topic moved to "Linux Guests".

Please note, display/graphics problems with VMSVGA are not limited to Linux guests.

With VMSVGA, SDDM runs but fails to appear:
With VBoxSVGA, SDDM appears:

grahamperrin wrote:Please note, display/graphics problems with VMSVGA are not limited to Linux guests.

Of course they are. The VMSVGA controller is explicitly for Linux guests only. If you choose to try the Linux GAs on anything other than Linux then that's on you.

And also note that FreeBSD is not a supported guest OS - no GAs are offered for it.

mpack wrote:The VMSVGA controller is explicitly for Linux guests only.

Where is this explicit?

The user manual describes VMSVGA as "the default graphics controller for Linux guests", without stating that it's solely for Linux.

Fedora 34 guest, with GA, on Vbox 6.1.22 with GA on Windows 10. VMSVGA used.

Cinnamon gui white screen with boxes for icons when 3D acceleration is checked, Cinnamon okay when 3D acceleration unchecked but gui is too slow with software rendering.

Other vbox graphics controllers work but none have 3D acceleration available. Perhaps a problem with VMSVGA when 3D acceleration checked.

grahamperrin wrote: The user manual describes VMSVGA as "the default graphics controller for Linux guests", without stating that it's solely for Linux.

True, but VirtualBox basically only provides GAs for Windows (NT family) and Linux, so the math is easy.

When it says "VMSVGA is the default" it doesn't mean you can use VMSVGA elsewhere, it means you can use something else on Linux. First because that section was written when VBoxVGA was a useful fallback. Second because the template is a template, not a rulebook: you are free to try other things, just don't complain when it doesn't work...

leop wrote:… VMSVGA … Other vbox graphics controllers work but none have 3D acceleration available. …

Re: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/964/13260 does direct rendering: Yes indicate 3D acceleration?
Postscript

glxgears -info

I have no idea whether these frame rates are good, but the rates in this VirtualBox guest are much better than those on the host:

leop wrote:Fedora 34 guest, with GA, on Vbox 6.1.22 with GA on Windows 10. VMSVGA used.

Cinnamon gui white screen with boxes for icons when 3D acceleration is checked, Cinnamon okay when 3D acceleration unchecked but gui is too slow with software rendering.

Other vbox graphics controllers work but none have 3D acceleration available. Perhaps a problem with VMSVGA when 3D acceleration checked.

Correct, same here. it appears this reality is not being accepted

Exactly how fast are things without 3D acceleration at the guest level?

Exactly how fast are things with 3D acceleration at the host level on the same computer?

I'd like to see some measured comparisons. Thanks.

I do not know how to measure the difference between 3D on off for cinnamon on a Fedora guest (F33 for me). One cannot use glxgears as that now seg faults for me with 3D enabled. However, moving a window around on the desktop makes the difference obvious. With 3D, the window moves with just small jumps, Without #D the window moves around with large jumps and is quite delayed in motion.

LP

leop wrote:… moving a window around on the desktop makes the difference obvious. With 3D, the window moves with just small jumps, Without 3D the window moves around with large jumps and is quite delayed in motion.

No jumps or delays, to my eye. Screen recording: https://photos.app.goo.gl/XKBDpHMuGmn1EADQA – FreeBSD 14.0-CURRENT host, 13.0-RELEASE-p2 guest.