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[Solved] Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 2. Dec 2017, 17:55
by Sigurd
Hi,
It's been a while since I last used Virtualbox for Linux Distro's, and on my new computer (HP Spectre x360 with a 7th gen i5) I can't get the VM to run properly.
I've enabled Virtualization in the BIOS, reinstalled Guest Addtitions numerous times with the help of different guides, forum-posts and such.
If I try to enable 3D-acceleration in the VMs settings I can boot the machine and sign in, but VBox won't load the desktop.
The VM currently has 128 MBs of vram, 2 GB ram and 2 CPU's.
If more information is needed I will try my best to gather it.
Any suggestions on how to fix this would be much appreciated.
Re: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 2. Dec 2017, 18:38
by Perryg
Use the version 5.1.30 guest additions
Re: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 11. Dec 2017, 20:01
by tazman
Perryg wrote:Use the version 5.1.30 guest additions
Same problem here. I've removed 5.2.2 guest additions using the command line and installed 5.1.30 and still get the software rendering error. Any other ideas?
Re: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 11. Dec 2017, 20:11
by mpack
Please post a VM log file. With the VM fully shut down, right click and "Show Log" in the GUI, save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip, and attach the zip here.
Re: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 11. Dec 2017, 21:32
by tazman
Log file attached.
I'm also seeing a "Device not working" error for VirtualBox-Guest-x11 on the InnoTec graphics adapter.
If it's of any interest I've tried a few other things in the past few minutes:
Deleted the Mint 18.3 VM and all files.
Uninstalled VBox 5.2.2 from Windows
Installed VBox 5.1.30
Reinstalled a fresh copy of Mint 18.3
Installed Guest Additions from the device menu - no change.
Uninstalled Guest Additions from a command line.
Reinstalled Guest Additions 5.1.30 from a command line - no change.
Ran "udo dpkg-reconfigure virtualbox-guest-dkms" (found in another forum entry) and received the following error:
"dpkg-query: package 'virtualbox-guest-dkms' is not installed and no information is available"
This is running under a completely new Windows 7 installation with all updates and only a couple of browsers and Microsoft Security Essentials installed.
Thanks much.
Re: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 12. Dec 2017, 09:58
by mpack
@tazman:
I see no evidence that 3D acceleration has been enabled in this VMs settings.
Second, you were supposed to install the VirtualBox 5.1.30 Guest Additions to match the host software (or at least not exceed it). Instead you somehow have :-
VBox.log wrote:
00:00:28.175905 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 5.1.16 r113841 '5.1.16_Ubuntu'
... the GAs from the 5.1.16 version of the Ubuntu fork (not supported here).
I do see that near the end of the session the official GAs ISO was mounted in the VM, however those GAs were not actually installed. In any case you'd need to purge the fork GAs first.
Re: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 12. Dec 2017, 10:02
by Sigurd
Hi again, sorry for the late reply.
The first suggestion seems to have solved my problem, so thanks for that Perryg
Perryg wrote:Use the version 5.1.30 guest additions
Re: [Solved] Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 12. Dec 2017, 10:07
by mpack
Great, thanks for reporting back.
Re: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 14. Dec 2017, 18:34
by tazman
mpack wrote:@tazman:
I see no evidence that 3D acceleration has been enabled in this VMs settings.
Second, you were supposed to install the VirtualBox 5.1.30 Guest Additions to match the host software (or at least not exceed it). Instead you somehow have :-
VBox.log wrote:
00:00:28.175905 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 5.1.16 r113841 '5.1.16_Ubuntu'
... the GAs from the 5.1.16 version of the Ubuntu fork (not supported here).
I do see that near the end of the session the official GAs ISO was mounted in the VM, however those GAs were not actually installed. In any case you'd need to purge the fork GAs first.
When I turn on 3D acceleration Cinnamon does not load completely. I get no menu button or bar. Without 3D acceleration it I get the software rendering error but a functional GUI. I have tried 3D acceleration every time I've changed VB version with no success.
I'm not sure how I ended up with the wrong version of GA - I probably clicked on the wrong download. I originally installed it from within the Virtualbox GUI menu so the correct version was downloaded and installed by the program. When that didn't work I uninstalled it and reinstalled it manually from the command line, and that's likely when the version error was made.
Thanks much for the help, but after spending easily 4 hours googling this problem and trying various fixes with no success, I'm going to install Mint and run Windows under a VM instead of the other way around.
Re: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 14. Dec 2017, 19:37
by mpack
tazman wrote:
I'm not sure how I ended up with the wrong version of GA - I probably clicked on the wrong download. I originally installed it from within the Virtualbox GUI menu so the correct version was downloaded and installed by the program.
Test builds aside, you don't need to download the GAs separately, as they are bundled with the main download.
I don't believe you have ever installed the GAs successfully. In hindsight the "Ubuntu fork" ones were installed by the Ubuntu OS installer. If you choose the "Devices|Inserts Guest Additions CD..." menu item then all that does is insert the CD. You have to run the installer yourself, and that would involve other dependencies which you may have to install first - basically, RTFM for the details.
Re: [Solved] Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 28. Feb 2018, 08:27
by HeathRaftery
Did the tango with that crappy Oracle registration page just to post this:
It worked!
Use the version 5.1.30 guest additions
I'd installed Linux Mint 18.3 from an image on osboxes dot org (I can't post urls so you'll have to decipher that one) and then ran the update manager which installed a heap of things including new versions of Cinnamon and the Linux kernal (4.13). I circled endlessly with various installs and re-installs of Guest Additions and always ended with the same result:
- * Running the OS with 3D acceleration disabled -> runs but shows "Software Rendering Mode" message.
* Running the OS with 3D acceleration enabled -> gets past the Linux Mint white/green dot loading screen and then just hangs on a black screen.
After reading this thread (before the wild goose chases of the thousands of other similar threads) I took one last wild stab in the dark, and downloaded 5.1.30 Guest Additions from here: download dot virtualbox dot org slash virtualbox slash 5.1.30 (I can't post urls so you'll have to decipher that one) and installed it from the OS. It uninstalled 5.2.6, installed 5.1.30, and suddenly the 3D acceleration setting sticks, the OS loads and the "Software Rendering" message is gone!
Two outstanding questions:
- 1. Why is it still so slow? Drawing is laggy, so mouse scroll and drag operations are clunky.
2. Why on earth did this work? I have the latest VirtualBox, so why did an older Guest Additions, in particular 5.1.30, work??
Re: [Solved] Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 28. Feb 2018, 10:24
by socratis
- Downgrading is not a panacea for all problems.
- You might want to try the newly released 5.2.8/5.1.34 VirtualBox versions.
- You are replying to an old thread. Things have moved along, for example you are using VirtualBox 5.2.6, not what the OP was using. Please pay attention to these details, especially if a thread is already marked as [Solved].
- Sometimes things break in new releases; it's called a regression. Like with 5.2.6. That's why updated 5.2.7/5.1.33 GAs were released the very next day that 5.2.6/5.1.32 were out. From the Downloads page, that's about to change any-time-now™:
(I didn't include the links for the GAs, they're already obsolete)
Re: [Solved] Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 8. Mar 2018, 05:53
by HeathRaftery
Thought I'd wait for another release before getting carried away again. Didn't have to wait long - I was prompted to upgrade to 5.2.8 today.
Zero dramas - I upgraded to VBox 5.2.8, booted Mint, ran the new Guest Additions installer. It uninstalled 5.1.30 and installed 5.2.8. I restarted (with 3D acceleration still on) and there's no software rendering warning and no blank screen. Still a bit laggy, but that's a side issue.
Thanks for your advice socratis - in fact my questions were asked precisely because this is an old thread. It seemed an odd chain of regressions. Anyway, all good now - seems there was a significant period of VBox/Guest Additions history mismatch where 3D acceleration was iffy. Coincidentally, that time has now passed (until the next regression
).
Re: [Solved] Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 8. Mar 2018, 11:35
by socratis
HeathRaftery wrote:there's no software rendering warning and no blank screen. Still a bit laggy, but that's a side issue.
Yesterday I tried ElementaryOS, which is supposedly based on Ubuntu 16.04. If you install the GAs with 3D acceleration enabled, it's slower than molasses and CPU intensive. Practically unusable. Even the Terminal is slow. So? I disabled 3D acceleration, it flies...
And no, there were no error messages, everything was working as expected, albeit slow. It's simply that the virtual GPU in VirtualBox is not "3D enough" for fancy menu and window animations...
Re: [Solved] Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia (Cinnamon) only running in Software Rendering Mode
Posted: 7. Oct 2018, 01:22
by Picklejar05
I found that if you just turn up the number of CPU's and turn on 3-D acceleration, it works just fine.