Suddenly none of my VMs start anymore

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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nvtc
Posts: 25
Joined: 3. Mar 2021, 11:41

Suddenly none of my VMs start anymore

Post by nvtc »

I have two Windows 10 guests and one Linux guest on my Windows 10 host which have been running just fine on 6.1.32 for a while. But suddenly, no matter what I start, I get a fatal error upon boot and none won't run anymore. Any suggestions?
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scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Suddenly none of my VMs start anymore

Post by scottgus1 »

Your 3rd-party antivirus has enabled its internal setting to use hardware virtualization for its scanning. This setting interferes with Virtualbox. Disable the antivirus setting for hardware virtualization and Virtualbox will probably work fine again.
nvtc
Posts: 25
Joined: 3. Mar 2021, 11:41

Re: Suddenly none of my VMs start anymore

Post by nvtc »

The issue hasn't popped up till today where I shut down the machine and started it again after having disabled Avast (our IT guy did, I don't know the password). When I started the VM (and the Linux VM), I got this message instead:

Code: Select all

Für die virtuelle Maschine RSPC1 konnte keine neue Sitzung eröffnet werden.

VT-x setup failed: VERR_VMX_INVALID_VMXON_PTR (VERR_VMX_INVALID_VMXON_PTR).

Fehlercode: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Komponente: ConsoleWrap
Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}
When I started the other Windows 10 guest, I saw the initial error message (with Avast still being deactivated). Gonna do a reboot now to see if it works then.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Suddenly none of my VMs start anymore

Post by scottgus1 »

Just keep in mind that:
nvtc wrote:disabled Avast
!=
scottgus1 wrote:Disable the antivirus setting for hardware virtualization
Be sure the IT dept is clicking in the correct place.
nvtc
Posts: 25
Joined: 3. Mar 2021, 11:41

Re: Suddenly none of my VMs start anymore

Post by nvtc »

Well, so far I could make it work by simpling starting the VM right after the host has finished bootin and saw now further issues.

However, since yesterday my main VM (windows 10 guest) is laggy as hell. And on top of that it also reboots frequently for no apparent reason right after I have logged in. If I keep the machine running on the login screen, it does not suddenly reboot. This behaviour started - coincidentally, I'm sure - since I've installed and started the Microsoft sandbox on my Windows 10 host.

EDIT: I'll be damned. Now that I've uninstalled the sandbox, virtualbox is running just fine. Duly noted.
multiOS
Volunteer
Posts: 800
Joined: 14. Sep 2019, 16:51
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: WIN11,10, 7, Linux (various)
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Suddenly none of my VMs start anymore

Post by multiOS »

I don't use Windows Sandbox myself, but I understand that it makes direct use of the PC's Hardware Virtualisation capabilities, which would force any third-party virtualisation applications to try to use emulation, as their normal access to the Hardware Virtualisation features would be blocked. This will often slow down VMs to the point where they may appear to have crashed.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Suddenly none of my VMs start anymore

Post by scottgus1 »

It sounds like the previous suggestion to disable hardware virtualization in the AV was implemented and worked.

As MultiOS says, Microsoft's Sandbox uses Hyper-V, which does interfere with Virtualbox in some situations. Per One issue per thread, please start a new topic if other issues besides AV hardware virtualization are run into.
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