virtualbox.org

Hi,

I did an update of 4.1.6 to 4.1.8 on a Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.
After the update I wasn't able to start any guests.
I got the error message
Cannot access the kernel driver
I did the traditional repair (Control Panel -> Uninstall software -> Orace VirtualBox 4.1.8 -> Repair) and did a reboot afterwards but this didn't solve the problem.
I think I have now found the cause of the problem.
It seems at least on my system two device drivers are not installed by the installation program.
After a manual installation of these drivers everything works again.
Go to
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\USB\filter
Select VBoxUSBMon.inf and click the right mouse button. Then pick Install.
Go to
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\vboxdrv
Select VBoxDrv.inf and click the right mouse button. Then pick install.
VirtualBox should now work again as expected.

Best regards,

John Bijnens

I just had to login to say nice find john. Worked like a charm.

I stumbled onto this today after upgrading to 4.1.8 r75467. And the suggestions from:

jbijnens wrote: Go to
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\USB\filter
Select VBoxUSBMon.inf and click the right mouse button. Then pick Install.
Go to
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\vboxdrv
Select VBoxDrv.inf and click the right mouse button. Then pick install.

did not work.

I'm a bit stumped, it was working fine prior to the upgrade.

** EDIT **
A repair by the installer fixed the problem.

Hi jbijnens

A very BIG THANK YOU!! Installed VirtualBox-4.1.8-75467-Win.exe and afterwards got the "Cannot access the kernel driver" error.

After trying your fix - all is working like a charm and VM starts.

I just upgraded from 4.1.4 to 4.1.16 on my XP host. I did all the recommended and blessed steps, including the two dozen reboots, and was still getting this inexplicable kernel driver error.

After following the steps above, my (unchanged) Linux guest continues to boot.

Thank you very much!

i followed your guideline.. i am very glad ... thank you very much... my problem has been resolved.. thank you once again...

Virtualbox 4.1.18 r78361 runs on my windows 7 SP1 64bit machine, but when I try to start third party machine I get this error below;

"Cannot access the kernal driver!" error message. It also says "Make sure the kernel module has been loaded successfully." It only gives me the option to abort.

When I abort it I get message below;

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine sage.

The virtual machine 'sage' has terminated unexpectedly during startup.

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: Machine
Interface: IMachine {5eaa9319-62fc-4b0a-843c-0cb1940f8a91}

I tried to install the drivers manually as mentioned above but then I get "Installation failed." message. Anyone have ideas? Thanks.

I tried shutting down mcaffee on-access scanning and it looks like things are working now.

Lesson learned - Shut down anti-virus software before installing and running.

i did try everything that was posted in the forum but my solution ,was not mentionned by anyone! so i simply execute it in compatibility mode for win xp service pack 2 since i was running on win 7 x64. works like a charm

p.s i saw in the kernell inf file that came with the 4.0.2 setup.exe its still for 4.0.16 NT

Code: Select all

[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
Class=System
ClassGuid={ce4a90b5-1d8c-435d-b349-232ce55cb17f}
Provider=%ORACLE%
DriverVer = 12/21/2011,4.0.16
DriverPackageType=KernelService
CatalogFile=VBoxDrv.cat

[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir = 12

[DefaultInstall]
CopyFiles=VBoxDrv.CopyFiles

[DefaultInstall.Services]
AddService=VBoxDrv,0x00000002,VBoxDrv_Service

[Manufacturer]
%ORACLE%=ORACLE, NTamd64

[SourceDisksFiles]
VBoxDrv.sys=1

[SourceDisksNames]
1=%DISK_NAME%,

[VBoxDrv.CopyFiles]
VBoxDrv.sys

[VBoxDrv_Service]
DisplayName    = %VBoxDrv.SVCDESC%
ServiceType    = 1                  ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
;StartType      = 3                  ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
StartType      = 1                  ; autostart to fix Vista problem
ErrorControl   = 1                  ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary  = %12%\VBoxDrv.sys

[Strings]
ORACLE = "Oracle Corporation"
VBoxDrv.SVCDESC = "VirtualBox Service"
VBoxDrv.DRVDESC = "VirtualBox Driver"
DISK_NAME = "VirtualBox Driver Installation Disk"

i dont know if its relevant?

This didn't work for me either (on Win7 x64). I still get "cannot access the kernel driver" whenever I try to run an existing VM. Also tried disabling AV and that didn't work either. Presumably the best thing is to go back to 4.2.18?

I know this is an old post. But I just did an upgrade to 4.3.6 and had the same issue. Thank you john as this fix worked great

Why is that with EVERY update, I experience this PROBLEM.

I highly suggest that the QA of this product is INCREASED.

On the other hand, since it is free, should it just add zero value?

I just had the same problem on Windows 7 64-bit. Repairing the installation seems to have solved the problem. It looks like one of the drivers didn't get installed properly during the upgrade and it had to be installed during the repair.

jbijnens wrote:Hi,

I did an update of 4.1.6 to 4.1.8 on a Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.
After the update I wasn't able to start any guests.
I got the error message
Cannot access the kernel driver
I did the traditional repair (Control Panel -> Uninstall software -> Orace VirtualBox 4.1.8 -> Repair) and did a reboot afterwards but this didn't solve the problem.
I think I have now found the cause of the problem.
It seems at least on my system two device drivers are not installed by the installation program.
After a manual installation of these drivers everything works again.
Go to
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\USB\filter
Select VBoxUSBMon.inf and click the right mouse button. Then pick Install.
Go to
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\vboxdrv
Select VBoxDrv.inf and click the right mouse button. Then pick install.
VirtualBox should now work again as expected.

Best regards,

John Bijnens

Huge thanks for posting this! I use vbox for work and it's sadly far more critical than it should be. I'm a one-man team on Saturdays and this post just saved my gludius-maximus. /hats off and a beer of choice if you ever happen to be around the Phoenix area

Thank you very much jbijnens.
It's working for me.

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\USB\filter
Select VBoxUSBMon.inf and click the right mouse button. Then pick Install.
Go to
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\vboxdrv
Select VBoxDrv.inf and click the right mouse button. Then pick install.

Have a nice day