Virtualbox v5.0.2 Not booting from Linux-64 ISO

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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aplatypus
Posts: 5
Joined: 7. Feb 2010, 03:20
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux Android

Virtualbox v5.0.2 Not booting from Linux-64 ISO

Post by aplatypus »

Hello all.

I have had no success booting 64-bit Linux from .ISO files. The machine is running Windows/7 and VirtualBox v5.02/ This is a show stopper because the VirtualBox doesn't allow me to point to a boot USB and this PC does not have a CD or DVD drive.

My mission is to install
  • Linux Mint-17.2-cinnamon-64bit.iso onto a VirtualBox hard drive (.VDI).
I've successfully done this from CD-drive with this ISO (so I am sure it is a 'good copy') with VirtualBox v4. Anyway the procedure I followed is the same as shown here:
Hopefully you have some wisdom to put me back on track. Many thanks in advance.

Regards,

Will

I created a fixed size, 20GB (empty) virtual disk and allocated 1 GB of RAM of 4GB installed. Which ought to be adequate just to boot up a LiveCD ISO, imho. I get a memory error and a 'Guru Meditation' popup.

After experimenting with some different configuration options, I followed the same process for:
  • Debian 8.1 64-bit -- debian-live-8.1.0-amd64-cinnamon-desktop.iso
  • Lite 2.4 64-bit
To boot from the ISO, I Open the VM settings, STORAGE panel and select the 'empty' CD ... I later select "Choose Disk Image". It makes no difference when I choose a disk image. I had the Debian VM work successfully a couple of times from the Debian ISO.

I also tried to mount the same machine with Mint Cinnamon. It worked once, the second time it again gave me the memory error. After stopping VirtualBox and 'ejecting' the ISO from the debian machine, it again started with Debian Cinnamon. I 'ejected' the debian ISO and rebooted with the Mint ISO mounted (logically).

Mint did boot and start-up only to show me the Meditation Guru after I'd clicked on a few things.

Bottom line is the Mint ISO didn't work on Virtualbox in isolation; and when there was some progress, it still crashed. So at the very least it is not stable for Debian, Lite or Mint at this point.

I have attached log files for essentially the Same VM configuration with different reboots:

debian-live-8.1.0-amd64-cinnamon-desktop.iso
  • worked:
    VBoxDebian-success.log
    Debian Cinnamon - Worked
    (107.5 KiB) Downloaded 7 times
  • failed:
    VBox-Debian-fail.log
    Debian 64-bit
    VM runtime error: fatal=false, errorID=HostMemoryLow message="Unable to allocate and lock memory.
    (122.22 KiB) Downloaded 5 times
linuxmint-17.2-cinnamon-64bit.iso
  • VBox-Mint.log
    Linux Mint - VM: Raising runtime error 'HostMemoryLow
    (113.04 KiB) Downloaded 3 times
One of my colleagues is running Ubuntu 14 with VirtualBox 5 and I'm wondering if it is the LiveCD form on the ISO that is the issue? I also saw this thread under Linux hosts:
As far as I can tell, I've ticked the boxes identified in that thread.
loukingjr
Volunteer
Posts: 8851
Joined: 30. Apr 2009, 09:45
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: just about all that run

Re: Virtualbox v5.0.2 Not booting from Linux-64 ISO

Post by loukingjr »

VBoxDebian-success.log
00:00:02.155914 Host RAM: 3993MB total, 625MB available
VBox-Debian-fail.log
00:00:02.290247 Host RAM: 3993MB total, 924MB available
VBox-Mint.log
00:00:02.084415 Host RAM: 3993MB total, 786MB available
In all three cases, with the guest set at 1024MB you are over-commiting the memory.
Sheer luck the first guest ran at all.
OSX, Linux and Windows Hosts & Guests
There are three groups of people. Those that can count and those that can't.
aplatypus
Posts: 5
Joined: 7. Feb 2010, 03:20
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux Android

Re: Virtualbox v5.0.2 Not booting from Linux-64 ISO

Post by aplatypus »

Thanks for that observation.
In all three cases, with the guest set at 1024MB you are over-commiting the memory.
Sheer luck the first guest ran at all.
There is 4GB physical memory on the machine. Are we learning that VirtualBox requires only physical memory on a virtual memory machine? It is something that makes sense.

That being so, is there a method to reserve enough memory for VirtualBox instances? Alternatively is there a guide to say how much memory I need to see "free" on Windows Task Manager to run a 1024 MiG sized VM, anybody?

Thanks for the tip.

w.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Virtualbox v5.0.2 Not booting from Linux-64 ISO

Post by mpack »

aplatypus wrote:Are we learning that VirtualBox requires only physical memory on a virtual memory machine?
I don't know about "we". It's a well known fact, presumably applicable to all VM platforms. User level (paged) RAM can't be used in kernel mode, so how does the kernel of a guest OS run? This is the part of the difference between a hypervisor and a simulator.

The rule of thumb is that you don't allocate more than 50% of available RAM to a VM. Also don't starve the host of CPU by overallocating cores to the VM (you haven't). The idea of VM is to allocate otherwise unused resources, not resources that the host needs.
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