Shared Clipboard not working

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
Post Reply
murthyn
Posts: 10
Joined: 23. Jul 2021, 15:22
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 5.8.0-63
Location: Bangalore

Shared Clipboard not working

Post by murthyn »

SETUP:
1) I have installed Virtualbox 6.1.22 on Windows 10 host machine. I have created a Ubuntu 5.8.0 guest VM.
2) I have run "Virtualbox 6.1.22 Guest Additions" in my guest VM.
3) I have set SharedClipboard=Bidirectional in VM-->Device-->SharedClipboard

ISSUE:
Shared Clipboard not working.
Shared Folder is working.

How to resolve this issue? Appreciate any leads.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by mpack »

Please provide a VM log file. Make sure the VM is fully shut down, then right click it in the manager UI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.
murthyn
Posts: 10
Joined: 23. Jul 2021, 15:22
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 5.8.0-63
Location: Bangalore

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by murthyn »

Hi @mpack,

Thanks for responding. PFA the logs.

Thanks
Attachments
VBox.zip
(32.64 KiB) Downloaded 12 times
Thanks, Murthy
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by mpack »

I see that a Guest Additions CD is mounted in the VM. However no GAs have been installed in the VM.

I'm also curious as to why VirtualBox appears to be running from drive E? I hope you understand that the drive on which you install the software has no bearing on where VMs will be created: though in fact the VM seems to be located on drive E as well.

You should reduce VM cores to 2.

You should increase VM graphics RAM to 128MB.
murthyn
Posts: 10
Joined: 23. Jul 2021, 15:22
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 5.8.0-63
Location: Bangalore

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by murthyn »

Thank you @mpack.

The issue interestingly got resolved along with the keyboard issue viewtopic.php?f=3&t=103473&p=503399#p503399. Not sure hw it got resolved it.

I have increased the Video memory to 128MB as you recommanded.

I have kept VM cores to 4, as my host machine has 12 cores.

I have installed VBox in C drive which has the host OS and most of the software being installed. And, I have kept VDIs in E drive, which is my project drive. Hope that should not create any issue.

Coming to the installation of GA; In fact, I have installed VBox_GAs_6.1.22. I have attached the screenshot of the installation steps. Please let me know a Linux command to check the status of GA installation.

I have
Thanks, Murthy
murthyn
Posts: 10
Joined: 23. Jul 2021, 15:22
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Ubuntu 5.8.0-63
Location: Bangalore

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by murthyn »

I opened the VBox_GAs_6.1.22.iso, clicked on RunSoftware, and rebooted the VM.

Following are the installation logs. I see the GAs is successfully installed as per logs.

Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing VirtualBox 6.1.22 Guest Additions for Linux........
VirtualBox Guest Additions installer
Removing installed version 6.1.22 of VirtualBox Guest Additions...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.8.0-63-generic
Copying additional installer modules ...
Installing additional modules ...
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Starting.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel
modules. This may take a while.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: To build modules for other installed kernels, run
VirtualBox Guest Additions: /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup <version>
VirtualBox Guest Additions: or
VirtualBox Guest Additions: /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup all
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Building the modules for kernel 5.8.0-63-generic.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.8.0-63-generic
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Running kernel modules will not be replaced until
the system is restarted
Press Return to close this window...
Thanks, Murthy
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by mpack »

Sorry, bad habit of mine, but I don't take peoples word for it that things got done (a lesson painfully learned over the years). If you are interested in having me agree that the GAs are correctly installed, then show me a zipped log that proves it. The only log provided so far proves the opposite.
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5661
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by fth0 »

murthyn wrote:Please let me know a Linux command to check the status of GA installation.
You can use modinfo vboxguest to check if the version of the VirtualBox vboxguest kernel module matches the VirtualBox Guest Additions (GA) version. Many Linux distributions pre-install their own version of the VirtualBox vboxguest kernel module, and if the VirtualBox GA installation cannot supersede it, you may be in trouble. ;)
Last edited by fth0 on 29. Jul 2021, 13:12, edited 1 time in total.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by mpack »

fth0 wrote:Many Linux distributions pre-install their own version
ISTR that I couldn't find any mention of the word "additions" except in the entry saying that "VBoxGuestAdditions.iso" was mounted, and that the GAs host service was running: no indication of any client process.
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5661
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by fth0 »

@mpack:
Thanks for your comment, which made me realize that my previous post could be misunderstood. I've amended my previous post to make clear that "Linux distributions pre-install their own version of the VirtualBox vboxguest kernel module". This pre-installation is usually not part of a VirtualBox-related package, but part of a general kernel module package.

Please let me know if I misunderstood your comment.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by mpack »

murthyn wrote: I have kept VM cores to 4, as my host machine has 12 cores.
Actually, it does not: "00:00:05.472691 CPUM: Physical host cores: 6". If you don't believe the log then there is also Intel's own documentation: Intel® Core™ i7-9750H Processor.

Even if it was true, the VM will still run better on two cores, otherwise I would not have recommended that step. Idle cores are no problem for physical hardware, but they create additional context switching load in a VM. If the cores are not actually needed then this load is pure overhead and makes the VM run slower.
fth0 wrote:This pre-installation is usually not part of a VirtualBox-related package, but part of a general kernel module package.
I'm aware that some Linux distros include GA modules in the kernel, but AFAIK those are still announced as client processes in the VBox log. As I said, I didn't find any such mention in the OPs log. Did you?
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5661
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Shared Clipboard not working

Post by fth0 »

mpack wrote:I'm aware that some Linux distros include GA modules in the kernel, but AFAIK those are still announced as client processes in the VBox log.
fth0's VBox.log file wrote:
00:00:10.946589 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 6.1.22 r144080 '6.1.22'
00:00:10.956042 VMMDev: Guest Log: vboxguest: Successfully loaded version 6.1.22 r144080
00:00:20.468019 VMMDev: Guest Log: 15:58:07.536537 main     VBoxService 6.1.22 r144080 (verbosity: 0) linux.amd64 (Apr 28 2021 18:43:39) release log
From one of my own VBox.log files: For Linux guests, the 2nd line above explicitly shows the version of the VirtualBox vboxguest kernel module. The 3rd line above shows the version of the successfully installed parts of the GA. Unfortunately, the 1st line above shows the same version as the 2nd line above, which is misleading in the case of the recurring partial GA installation. Note that there are different messages for other guest OSs, especially for Windows guests.
mpack wrote:As I said, I didn't find any such mention in the OPs log. Did you?
How could I? In the OP's log, the VM was started from a saved state, so the GA were "already started" and didn't log their versions again. I just told the OP (and other interested readers) how to check for a successful GA installation without needing the VBox.log file at all, since that was what the OP asked for.
Post Reply