Windows 11 guest freezes quite soon after start

[Andreas17]

Hello

Since Virtualbox 7 I experience the situation that VirtualBox guest freezes after few minutes. And I could not find any way to wake it up. The only way to escape is either switch off or hard reset.
I've found two settings to avoid it:
1. Enable check box for 3D acceleration - which makes screen experience more bad and some windows transparent and unreadable.
2. Set graphic controller to VBoxVGA but not VBoxSVGA. It claims as an invalid setting but it works better and doesn't freeze anymore.

I've found a lot of entries claiming the same issue. So I guess the developers know it.

My setup:
- Host PC with Core i7-1065G7, 16 GB RAM and Windows 11
- Guest PC with Windows 11, Guest Addition installed
- VirtualBox 7.0.8

I'd highly appreciate if this ugly misbehavior get fixed.
Thank you.

Kind regards,
Andreas

[scottgus1]

Enable check box for 3D acceleration - which makes screen experience more bad and some windows transparent and unreadable.

The solution/workaround for the graphics glitches is to turn off Transparency in the VM OS:
Settings > Personalization > Colors > Transparency Effects
Ease of Access > Display > Simplify and personalize Windows > Show transparency in Windows

Set graphic controller to VBoxVGA but not VBoxSVGA.

This causes a pullout from 7.0's new graphics programming, which is still in bug-hunt phase. Installing old 6.1 Guest Additions does the same thing.

Try going back to VboxSVGA with 3D enabled. To help out the devs, then Please create a ticket in the Bugtracker with the problem description, the manufacturer and model of the host PC's graphics card, the graphics driver version (on the host OS), and a (zipped) VBox.log file.

Then disable Transparency.

If that doesn't help, installing 6.1's latest GAs can be a workaround.

[marmel]

This appears to be a 7.0.8 version continuation of the 7.0.6 Win11 guest freeze thread:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=108440

... which itself was a continuation of the 7.0.2 Win11 guest freeze thread:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=107363

I can confirm the same freeze with VB 7.0.8, using GA 7.0.8, as previously detailed.

Per @scottgus1 suggestions, I ensured transparency was disabled in both settings and accessibility as described prior to testing.

I can reproduce the freeze with a 100% success rate simply by launching Windows explorer.

Once again I've installed GA 6.1.44 in VB 7.0.8 Win11 guest as a temporary workaround until a proper fix is eventually released.

The following upstream tickets already exist, and are essentially all duplicates:

https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21291
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21431
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21448
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21492

I've updated each report to reflect the fact that Windows 11 guests freeze with GA 7.0.8 and attached a new 7.0.8 guest log after reproducing the issue.

I had also previously cross-referenced each dupe to the others in an effort to help individual reporters/commenters.

[Xandy]

Hello at all,

I have the same error. I have installed the VB 7.0.8 on a Win11 (22H2) OS. My guest OS is also a Win11 (22H2).

If i don´t have install the Guest Addition (Extension Pack), the Guest OS runs without problems but only with 1024x768 graphic.

If i install the Guest Addition (Extension Pack) Version 7.0.8, the Guest OS freezes after few minutes.

My question is, how can i install the Guest Addition (Extension Pack) Version 6.1.44 on the VB 7.0.8?

Best Regards
Alex

[mpack]

If i install the Guest Addition (Extension Pack) Version 7.0.8, the Guest OS freezes after few minutes.

The Guest Additions (which you install in each guest OS, hence the name) is a completely separate feature from the Extension Pack, which you install once on the host. Furthermore the Extension Pack has nothing to do with Graphics performance.

Please read chapter 5 of the user manual (Guest Additions).

[marmel]

My question is, how can i install the Guest Additions... Version 6.1.44 on the VB 7.0.8?

Hi Alex @Xandy,

The same way you install any version of GA.

Mount the ISO in the guest, run the setup.
https://download.virtualbox.org/virtual ... 6.1.44.iso

[Andreas17]

I'd extracted the guest addition 6.1.44 from the installation package using 7-zip and installed it in the Windows 11 guest. And since then the guest OS didn't freeze with switched off 3D acceleration. That's a good workaround for a piece of software free of charge.

[Alfredo]

For me, VBoxSVGA does not work with either GA Version 6.1.44 or GA 7.0.8. If I switch to VBoxVGA it works. I have uploaded log files to https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21607 if someone is interested.

[Allen_S]

Confirmed same behavior on Windows Surface Pro laptop running Windows 10 on host with Windows 11 guest. (Guest was upgraded from Windows 10)
VBox version Version 7.0.8 r156879 (Qt5.15.2)
GA version 7.0.8r156879

Running VBOXSVGA with Hardware Acceleration turned off = freeze shortly after bootup. Windows in guest will not respond to any mouse or keyboard input, but guest cursor appears to be in the "wait/hourglass" state and moves with mouse movements.

Turning on 3D acceleration and disabling windows transparency still results in transparent start menu and some other menus. System has graphic bleed throughs or sections that do not clean up after menu or hovers disappear, and guest reboots spontaneuously at times.

Switching to VBOXVGA without 3D: transparency issue, graphic bleeds, etc all resolve. Had to manually adjust resolution and windows scaling to make use of full screen dimensions and have fonts be readable, but that is acceptible.

Too soon to tell if system is more stable.

EDIT: System is definitely more stable, and Host CPU usage also went down ... just by changing from svga to vga?

[scottgus1]

VboxVGA is old school with no 3D capability. 7.0 had new changes to 3D. When 3D is working the VM runs better, but 7.0 is still being searched for bugs.

[marmel]

Turning on 3D acceleration and disabling windows transparency still results in transparent start menu and some other menus. System has graphic bleed throughs or sections that do not clean up after menu or hovers disappear, and guest reboots spontaneuously at times.

Switching to VBOXVGA without 3D: transparency issue, graphic bleeds, etc all resolve....

Hi @Allen_S,

As this thread is specific to Win11 guest freezes, I didn't include the existing graphical/transparency glitch bug reports, but FYI:

Artifacts / 3D Accel:
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21136
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21233
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21433
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21515


Tracking the following bug reports for Win11 guest freeze:

Freezes:
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21291
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21431
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21448
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21492
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21283

...7.0 is still being searched for bugs.

Found 'em!!

[Tronmch2]

Any way we can "sticky" any one of the Windows 11 Guest additions issues threads? Because the forum search STINKS. Like filtering the "11" out of "windows 11"...

[scottgus1]

the forum search STINKS.

Regular web-searching with the site restrictor site:forums.virtualbox.org added to the search terms works heaps better than the forum search box.

Will consider the sticky idea.

[marmel]

Well, some possibly good news for those of us who've been affected by these Win11 guest freezes...

See the dev response on the following tickets, and perform the requested steps to provide feedback if you can reproduce your crash/freeze.

https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21291
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21431
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21448

Using GA dev snapshot r157444 I can no longer reproduce my freeze after a couple quick boots and short testing.

Formerly, I had a 100% reproducer by simply launching Windows Explorer.

I'll keep testing with this new GA version until next release, but all good so far!

[reine667]

I can not confirm the error-free function with Windows 11 as a guest

VirtualBox 7.0.9 revision 157502 (Windows)
Guest Additions 7.0.9 revision 157499
Extension Pack 7.0.9 revision 157502

3D acceleration activated→Start menu no longer appears transparent→the error is gone
3D acceleration disabled→The environment crashes on the Windows desktop when opening the start menu
→ does not work