[SOLVED] Windows 10 PhysicalDrive VERR_ACCESS_DENIED

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ww9rivers
Posts: 32
Joined: 9. May 2008, 16:39

[SOLVED] Windows 10 PhysicalDrive VERR_ACCESS_DENIED

Post by ww9rivers »

 Edit:  :oops: I'm embarrassed to report that this was actually a problem I have had before: To use a physical drive, VirtualBox must be run as "Administrator". I have previously configured that in the VirtualBox properties. Overtime, I have forgot about that little checkbox.
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I've been running VirtualBox on Windows 7 Enterprise for some time. Recently I upgraded to Windows 10 Enterprise, and VirtualBox started to fail.

The VBox.log file is not saying much:

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VirtualBox VM 5.1.30 r118389 win.amd64 (Oct 16 2017 10:47:00) release log
00:00:02.453450 Log opened 2017-11-11T23:30:01.747131200Z
00:00:02.453451 Build Type: release
00:00:02.453454 OS Product: Windows 10
00:00:02.453456 OS Release: 10.0.15063
00:00:02.453457 OS Service Pack:
00:00:02.521139 DMI Product Name: HP EliteBook 8470p
00:00:02.524571 DMI Product Version: A1029D110C
00:00:02.524581 Host RAM: 16247MB (15.8GB) total, 8399MB (8.2GB) available
00:00:02.524584 Executable: C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VirtualBox.exe
00:00:02.524584 Process ID: 14380
00:00:02.524585 Package type: WINDOWS_64BITS_GENERIC
00:00:02.525324 Installed Extension Packs:
00:00:02.525348   None installed!
00:00:02.525809 Console: Machine state changed to 'Starting'
00:00:02.526109 Qt version: 5.6.2
00:00:02.527822 Console: Machine state changed to 'PoweredOff'
00:00:02.529468 GUI: UIMediumEnumerator: Medium-enumeration finished!
00:00:02.529532 GUI: Show mini-toolbar for window #0
00:00:02.531300 GUI: Adjust mini-toolbar for window #0
00:00:02.531335 GUI:  Map mini-toolbar for window #0 to screen 1 of 2
00:00:02.531358 GUI:  Resize mini-toolbar for window #0 to 2048x1152
00:00:02.547559 Power up failed (vrc=VINF_SUCCESS, rc=E_FAIL (0X80004005))
00:00:02.885675 GUI: Aborting startup due to power up progress issue detected...
I tried to list partitions on the second SSD:

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C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>.\VBoxManage.exe internalcommands listpartitions -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive1
VBoxManage.exe: error: Cannot open the raw disk: VERR_ACCESS_DENIED
The VMDK configuration file for the drive:

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# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=b7ba4d56
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="fullDevice"

# Extent description
RW 468862128 FLAT "\\.\PhysicalDrive1" 0

# The disk Data Base
#DDB

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "4"
ddb.adapterType="ide"
ddb.geometry.cylinders="16383"
ddb.geometry.heads="16"
ddb.geometry.sectors="63"
ddb.uuid.image="442650bc-ffe4-4dca-a4fe-0d544b851101"
ddb.uuid.parent="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
ddb.uuid.modification="c4a1ec06-f252-4a86-b3e8-777d25b69078"
ddb.uuid.parentmodification="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
ddb.geometry.biosCylinders="1024"
ddb.geometry.biosHeads="255"
ddb.geometry.biosSectors="63"
Not sure if this may be due to some enterprise OS management policy change, or something simple that I have missed?

Thank you very much for helping. 
Last edited by ww9rivers on 7. Dec 2017, 17:28, edited 2 times in total.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows 10 PhysicalDrive VERR_ACCESS_DENIED

Post by mpack »

It would have failed this way on 7 as well. Sector level access to physical drives is restricted, even for admins. There are system and registry tweaks which can override.

Why do you need raw drive access anyway? Why not simply locate a VDI on the drive?
ww9rivers
Posts: 32
Joined: 9. May 2008, 16:39

Re: Windows 10 PhysicalDrive VERR_ACCESS_DENIED

Post by ww9rivers »

It had been running under Windows 7 fine till the upgrade.

I need physical drive access because my Linux system is installed on a physical drive. Plus, I want to be able to boot into Linux on that drive some times.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows 10 PhysicalDrive VERR_ACCESS_DENIED

Post by mpack »

Past discussion, enabling raw access to Win7 and later disks. AFAIK this is still the solution (though raw access is not something I use myself) :-
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=38914#p175089
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