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[WorksForMe] Missing 3D accel in Ubuntu 18 and 19

Posted: 27. Jun 2019, 05:07
by Don Reba
Running VirtualBox 6.0.8 on a Windows 10 host with an Ubuntu 19 client, both 64-bit. The host has 64 GB RAM, the client gets half of it. I have guest additions installed and working. Except that it is using software rendering. 3d acceleration is enabled in settings, with VBoxSVGA as the graphics controller.

I have looked at a number of other posts, and nothing seems to match. I don't have nux-tools installed or the /etc/X11/Xsession.d/50_check_unity_support file present. LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE is set to 1 at startup; simply unsetting it does not help.

Code: Select all

$ glxinfo | grep OpenGL
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 8.0, 128 bits)

$ echo $LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE
1

Re: Missing 3D accel in Ubuntu 18 and 19

Posted: 27. Jun 2019, 10:16
by socratis
Don Reba wrote:with VBoxSVGA as the graphics controller
That's the wrong vGPU for a Linux guest. You should be using the VMSVGA one. The VBoxSVGA is for Windows guests, not Linux guests.
00:00:02.882590 [/Devices/lsilogicscsi/0/LUN#0/AttachedDriver/Config/Parent/Parent/] (level 8)
00:00:02.882592   Format <string>  = "VDI" (cb=4)
00:00:02.882592   Path   <string>  = "C:\VirtualBox VMs\Aeolus Docker\aeolus_03_15_17_u1606_64bit.vdi" (cb=64)
This is an imported VM, isn't it? You didn't create it from scratch...

Re: Missing 3D accel in Ubuntu 18 and 19

Posted: 27. Jun 2019, 12:52
by Don Reba
Thanks for taking a look. Yes, it is a 2-year-old VM imported with Ubuntu 16 under VirtualBox 5, if not 4.3. Started having performance problems after upgrading to Ubuntu 18 and VirtualBox 6.

Ah, I misread the documentation and did not realize VBoxSVGA was for Windows guests. But changing to VMSVGA does not help — the renderer is still llvmpipe and LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE is 1. Reinstalled Guest Additions, just in case, even.

Re: Missing 3D accel in Ubuntu 18 and 19

Posted: 27. Jun 2019, 13:12
by Don Reba
Mystery solved.

I added LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE to .bashrc ages ago because 3d was glitchy and software rendering was fast enough. But it stopped being fast enough after upgrading.

Re: Missing 3D accel in Ubuntu 18 and 19

Posted: 27. Jun 2019, 16:35
by socratis
Great, thanks for letting us know. Marking as [WorksForMe].