Possible fix to a hardening issue: error in supR3HardenedWinReSpawn what: 5 VERR_INVALID_NAME (-104)

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David_6x7
Posts: 2
Joined: 4. Jan 2022, 21:10

Possible fix to a hardening issue: error in supR3HardenedWinReSpawn what: 5 VERR_INVALID_NAME (-104)

Post by David_6x7 »

Note: urls were removed since the forum software would not allow the post with them included.

I am putting this information out there in case it helps someone fix this issue. The Diagnosing Hardening Issues thread did not mention this option though it was available on the internet after some searching.

I was running Virtual Box successfully for some time with an Ubuntu guest OS then when I upgraded to 6.1.30 virtual box would refuse to start giving the following error message and cryptic information in the logs that didn't seem to provide anything useful (to me) to identify the problem.

virtual box 6.1.30 error in supR3HardenedWinReSpawn what: 5 VERR_INVALID_NAME (-104) - Invalid (malformed) file/path name

Googling found any number of solutions, I tried most of those in the diagnosing hardening issues thread, none of which worked.

I found I could completely uninstall, reboot, reinstall Virtual Box and it would run the Ubuntu guest fine until the machine was rebooted at which point it would fail again when trying to run the Ubuntu guest with the same error message as above.

One thread on these forums suggested changing the start option for vboxdrv in the registry from 1 to 3. This did not work, giving a different error message. However, when I checked the service using sc query vboxdrv, I found it was stopped which was consistent with the error message from virtual box when trying to start the Ubuntu guest.

Further searching though found a suggestion to use the value 2 for the start variable in the registry rather than 3. 3 apparently corresponds to a manual start in windows 10 while 2 corresponds to an on demand start for the service.

This change to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VBoxDrv\start ... setting the value to 2 instead of 1 appears to have fixed the issue for me. Virtual Box now runs the Ubuntu guest fine after reboots.

Note: I use Windows Defender and did not disable AV. I also have trusteer installed for some browser applications and did not uninstall or turn it off. The only change I made to the system was setting the start quantity in the registry to 2 and this seems to have fixed the issue.

It may or may not work for you but when this issue pops up it can be frustrating and information on how to fix it seems to be hard to find.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Possible fix to a hardening issue: error in supR3HardenedWinReSpawn what: 5 VERR_INVALID_NAME (-

Post by scottgus1 »

David_6x7 wrote:I also have trusteer installed
Here is our info on Trusteer Rapport. You've settled in on "IBM's Solution":
Virtualbox problem with Trusteer Rapport
IBM's workaround
IBM's solution
a script to implement IBM's solution
Or run Trusteer Rapport in a VM, not on the host.
David_6x7
Posts: 2
Joined: 4. Jan 2022, 21:10

Re: Possible fix to a hardening issue: error in supR3HardenedWinReSpawn what: 5 VERR_INVALID_NAME (-

Post by David_6x7 »

scottgus1 wrote:
David_6x7 wrote:I also have trusteer installed
Here is our info on Trusteer Rapport. You've settled in on "IBM's Solution":
Virtualbox problem with Trusteer Rapport
IBM's workaround
IBM's solution
a script to implement IBM's solution
Or run Trusteer Rapport in a VM, not on the host.
I just wanted to mention that IBMs version of the fix changed the start variable to 3 and the type to 2 and requires a manual start of the vboxdrv service using sc start vboxdrv.

The possible solution I posted above (which I found elsewhere on the internet) sets the start variable to 2 NOT 3 and doesn't change the type at all. This seems to work fine without a manual start of the vboxdrv service.
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