Ubuntu and Vagrant guests fail to start while robocopy is running

[wla2000]

Each morning when I turn on my Windows 10 workstation I run a batch script that copies new or changed files from my home directory to an external hard drive. I use robocopy with these options:

Code: Select all

robocopy c:<home directory> d:home /MIR /FFT /Z /NP /NDL /XJD /MT:4 /w:10 /r:0 /e /xd <directory names to skip> /xf <specific files to skip> 

While this backup is running (which takes about 10 minutes or so), I cannot start my Ubuntu guest. I get the following message in a little dialog box:

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Ubuntu2017Version.

Failed to open image 'C:\Users\<my name>\VirtualBox VMs\Ubuntu2017Version\Ubuntu2017Version.vdi' for writing due to wrong permissions (VERR_VD_IMAGE_READ_ONLY).

AHCI: Failed to attach drive to Port0 (VERR_VD_IMAGE_READ_ONLY).

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: ConsoleWrap
Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}

The problem is not limited to Ubuntu. I also have a Centos 6 Vagrant guest that I cannot start while my backup is running. Its log follows:

$ vagrant up
Bringing machine 'default' up with 'virtualbox' provider...
==> default: Checking if box 'bento/centos-6.8' is up to date...
==> default: A newer version of the box 'bento/centos-6.8' is available! You currently
==> default: have version '2.3.1'. The latest is version '2.3.4'. Run
==> default: `vagrant box update` to update.
==> default: Clearing any previously set forwarded ports...
==> default: Clearing any previously set network interfaces...
==> default: Preparing network interfaces based on configuration...
default: Adapter 1: nat
default: Adapter 2: hostonly
==> default: Forwarding ports...
default: 8081 (guest) => 8081 (host) (adapter 1)
default: 8000 (guest) => 8000 (host) (adapter 1)
default: 8001 (guest) => 8001 (host) (adapter 1)
default: 9091 (guest) => 9091 (host) (adapter 1)
default: 3306 (guest) => 1234 (host) (adapter 1)
default: 9090 (guest) => 9090 (host) (adapter 1)
default: 5015 (guest) => 5015 (host) (adapter 1)
default: 22 (guest) => 2223 (host) (adapter 1)
default: 22 (guest) => 2222 (host) (adapter 1)
==> default: Running 'pre-boot' VM customizations...
==> default: Booting VM...
There was an error while executing `VBoxManage`, a CLI used by Vagrant
for controlling VirtualBox. The command and stderr is shown below.

Command: ["startvm", "7262f19d-5dcb-447a-9a3d-17b847eace96", "--type", "headless"]

Stderr: VBoxManage.exe: error: Failed to open image 'C:\Users\<my name>\VirtualBox VMs\toysdk-spacewalk\centos-6.8-x86_64-disk1.
vmdk' for writing due to wrong permissions (VERR_VD_IMAGE_READ_ONLY).
VBoxManage.exe: error: AHCI: Failed to attach drive to Port0 (VERR_VD_IMAGE_READ_ONLY)
VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code E_FAIL (0x80004005), component ConsoleWrap, interface IConsole

Any ideas how I can start these guests while the backup is running? Not that I have tried excluding .vmdk files in the C:\Users\<my name>\VirtualBox VMs directory and this hasn't helped.

Thanks.

[socratis]

To me it sounds like Robocopy is putting a lock on every file that it wants to copy, which is a good thing™, because you don't want files to change in the middle of your copy. I would look at the documentation of robocopy, but if it was me, I'd go for a smoke/coffee and come back in 10 minutes, after a proper backup was done.

[wla2000]

Thank you @socratis for your rapid reply. I hadn't thought to check the robocopy the documentation (and wouldn't have known what to check if you hadn't replied) for information on locked files. I found recommendations to run robocopy in backup mode (with the /B command line option). That worked, so now I can start my virtual box guests right away. Thanks again.

[socratis]

Another happy customer user
Glad you got it working.