PS/2 Mouse click not working in OL 7.6 installation dialogs

[waldorfm]

OSX 10.9.5 running on a Mac Book Pro 2009 (8 GB RAM) and Mac Mini 2012 (16 GB RAM)
VBox 5.2.18 and 5.2.26.

The Guest VM using the usual OL 7.6 iso starts fine, but the installation windows/dialogs are not working properly. For example: When configuring Networking, I cannot select IP 4 settings or anything else, and even the Save and Cancel buttons of the front-most window are not working - however, I can click the "Done" button of the background window to dismiss the dialog. My understanding is that the network configuration window should be a modal window, which it is not. I can switch on the Network and the VM receives a valid DHCP address, but then again, in the Installation Destination dialog, after choosing "add iSCSI", I can add an IP address, but none of the dialog buttons are working, requiring to use VBox to shutdown the machine.

It is strange that it worked a few hours earlier, before I tried to start over and rebuilt the VM from scratch again, removing the VM including all devices. There are no GUI problems when installing OL 7.5 and it also works fine in VMware Fusion, but I prefer to use VBox.

Here's is what I've tried so far to troubleshoot the issue:

- Removing and reinstalling VBox. Previous 5.2.18, now 5.2.26.
- Removing the ~/Library/Virtualbox folder.
- Verifying the OL 7.6 ISO image checksum (fine).
- Checking host OS with Disk Utility, including permissions. (no problems).
- Restarting the system with the shift key to remove caches, etc.
- Trying a different computer (same result).
- Using a different user account. (same result)

I don't see any clues what's happening or what triggered the strange issue, but as I recall from previous similar issues perhaps it the problem is Qt.

I see the following in the log - no idea if it is related.

VirtualBox.xml" with version "1.12-macosx"
00:06:55.557945 main VirtualBox: object deletion starts
00:06:55.560070 Watcher ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={9570b9d5-f1a1-448a-10c5-e12f5285adad} aComponent={VirtualBoxWrap} aText={The object is not ready}, preserve=false aResultDetail=0
00:06:55.560405 main VirtualBox: object deleted

[socratis]

OSX 10.9.5 ...VBox 5.2.18 and 5.2.26.

Just to be clear, your combination is not officially supported:

• 6.0.x: OSX 10.12 and higher.
• 5.2.x: OSX 10.10 and higher.
• 5.1.x: OSX 10.9 and higher. <<<<< This is you.
• 5.0.x: OSX 10.8 and higher.

Having said that, I can run 6.0.x on my 10.9.5 host. It seems to run fine, but if I get into a glitch, I don't expect everyone to drop what they're doing and fix it...

Just to make sure that I understand the problem: all that you're describing is taking place inside the guest, right? The weird behavior that you're seeing is purely inside the VM, and nothing to do with the host aspect, right?

It is strange that it worked a few hours earlier

The same VM was working? And it started acting funny? You don't remember what you changed, do you?

I'm downloading OL7.6, but it's going to take a while...

[waldorfm]

Hello!

yes, my bad, I was initially on 5.1 which supported OSX 10.9 Mavericks, but then did a few updates and somehow ended with 5.2 .

Anyway, the problem is with the Anaconda installer GUI under OL 6.7. I ran into the same issue a few month ago when I tried to install OL 6.7 on my MacBook. When I installed OL 6.7 on my MacMini yesterday, it worked fine. What happened was that that I had a performance issue with my NAS and ISCSI, pausing the guest VM and causing in I/O errors. I had to reset the VM, but it would not startup because btrfs was not able to recover. Since this was an initial install I decided to start over again, at which point I'm running into the problem as described.

How do I include a screenshot in my post. I did it before, but can't figure it out anymore. I've uploaded Screen1.jpg and typed Screen1.jpg between the "img", but it does not display.

[img]Screen1.jpg[/img]

[socratis]

I'm not sure that VirtualBox has anything to do with what's going on within the guest. That's totally a guest problem and I don't see how VirtualBox gets involved...

Just because an OS/program that runs in the context of VirtualBox has a problem, it doesn't make it a VirtualBox problem necessarily. You're having an issue that has most probably nothing to do with VirtualBox, so my suggestion would be to treat it as such, as a native problem with the OS or the application of the guest.

[waldorfm]

Thanks for your time and response. I don't know where the problem is, but I would not rule out VirtualBox so quickly. I would say that VirtualBox must play a significant part here, because the problem does not manifest using the same installation on bare metal or using another VM product (WMware Fusion) on the same computer - or could such installation contribute to the problem?

[socratis]

OK, I finally downloaded the whole OL7.6 (14 GB, talk about a big download!). I'm going to try and install it. How do you perform the installation, with which one do you start?

• V980449-01.iso
• V980466-01.iso
• V980467-01.iso
• V980468-01.iso
• V980469-01.iso
• V980739-01.iso

[waldorfm]

Hi! You really just need to download the binary distribution which contains the installation packages and is bootable.
The other disk images are for troubleshooting, special installs or to comply with open source licensing requirements.

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E5 ... media.html

V980739-01.iso Oracle Linux Release 7 Update 6 for x86 (64 bit), 4.3 GB

[waldorfm]

Update: I compared the checksum of the image I have with V980739-01 and it doesn't match. I'm very positive that I verified the checksum when I downloaded the image. Anyway, I downloaded the image again - it verifies - yet the very same issue remains.

[waldorfm]

I made some progress in finding the possible cause.

I noticed that I can use the keyboard, but somehow didn't realize until now that I can use the left arrow key to switch between the General.... IP4 Settings tabs in the installation dialog. Then use Alt-key to press the buttons.

Anyway, after changing the the mouse interface in the VM settings from PS/2 to USB Tablet, the installer dialog was finally working. After changing it back to PS/2 it was still working, but then again, after another virtual machine reset it stopped working again, and I had to change it back to USB Tablet.

As mentioned, the problem does not occur in VMware Fusion, except for the focus of the modal dialog, which should not allow me to dismiss the dialog by clicking a button in the background window. Someone else might want to test this on a bare metal machine, but it's probably something with the Anaconda OS installer. Btw, Fusion, unlike VirtualBox, also does not turn off the green color of the OK's during the boot screen.

I use a Kensington Slimblade Trackball, but I also tried a standard Apple USB mouse, showing the same issue. I also tried a clean install of 5.1.38, with the same result - it asked me update to 5.2.26 which it shouldn't if it's not supported. I also tried CentOS 7.6 with the same result. So we can definitely rule out a problem with Oracle Linux 7.6 in particular.

Something in the Red Hat 7.6 distribution seems to trigger the issue in VirtualBox. Perhaps a damaged library?

[socratis]

The Guest VM using the usual OL 7.6 iso starts fine, but the installation windows/dialogs are not working properly.

I was not able to replicate the problem running VirtualBox 6.0.5 r128870 (Qt5.6.3) on OSX 10.11.6. I do have another OSX installation with 10.9.5. I will try and see if I can get it to fail there...

PS. Thanks with your help for identifying the proper ISO, I wasn't actually paying attention when I was downloading them, which ISO does what. I think I downloaded a couple of extra ISOs...

[socratis]

OK, I managed to get everything in sync in my setup, and I tried to replicate your problem. Couldn't reproduce it.

• Host: OSX 10.9.5, on a 2011 17" MBP (MacBookPro8,3).
• Guest: Oracle Linux 7.6 (V980739-01.iso).
• VirtualBox: 5.2.26 and 6.0.4 (I know, highly unsupported ).
• Changes from the default template: Pointing device -> USB Tablet, RAM -> 2048.

[waldorfm]

Did you try with the default PS/2 pointing device? That's where the problem seems to be. If you use USB Tablet it will work.

Then boot the installation ISO and try to configure networking.

I tried on 3 different computers meanwhile, Mac Pro, Mac Mini and Macbook Pro, all running 10.9.5, any VirtualBox 5.1 or 5.2 version. Same issue.

[socratis]

Did you try with the default PS/2 pointing device? That's where the problem seems to be. If you use USB Tablet it will work.

Why, oh why in the seven kingdoms, would I try with a problematic setup? I honestly don't see the point in this "exercise". What, am I trying to make it fail? On purpose? What next? Give it 20 MB of RAM and watch it fail? No, thank you very much...

If you know that it works with USB Tablet, you use the USB Tablet, it's not that difficult of a concept...

Moving to "Linux Guests" from "OSX Hosts". The problem is in the guest configuration, not on the host side...

[waldorfm]

Why, oh why in the seven kingdoms, would I try with a problematic setup? I honestly don't see the point in this "exercise". What, am I trying to make it fail?

Sorry I don't quite understand your response. It's certainly not that I'm choosing PS/2 mouse to experience a problem - why the sarcasm? If PS/2 is known to be problematic it shouldn't be the default. Why would I choose USB Tablet, unless I know it won't work?

The default has always been PS/2 and it has worked fine up until EL 7.6. Like I explained, I figured that the problem was apparently with the mouse and choosing USB Tablet appears to solve the issue. And btw, using USB Tablet seem to fix one but introduced other issues.

Moving to "Linux Guests" from "OSX Hosts". The problem is in the guest configuration, not on the host side...

Apparently something in EL 7.6 triggers an issue with PS/2 and VirtualBox. However, how do you figure it's a problem with the guest OS when the problem only happens with VirtualBox, but not with other VM products?

[socratis]

If PS/2 is known to be problematic it shouldn't be the default.

Because the defaults don't have a version of the guest attached next to them. There's only one Ubuntu option, one that covers Ubuntu 4 to Ubuntu 19. Can't differentiate between them, so you go with the conservative option. If you know that your guest supports something better, you should choose the better option...

However, how do you figure it's a problem with the guest OS

Because it's not a problem with your VirtualBox host software, it's a problem with that specific guest. And I think that if I try the same guest in a different host, with the same settings, you're going to have the same problem, i.e. a guest problem.