[Solved] Cannot start VM. E_FAIL, Machine, IMachine

[BillA]

I have a failure starting my VM. Attached is the VBoxStartup.log file. I am running VirtualBox 4.3.26 r98988. Host machine is running Windows Server 2012 R2 with 32 GB of memory. The VM is allocated 4 GB of memory.

Below is the message I receive.

VirtualBox - Error
Failed to open a session for the virtual machine FSCMDB-853-08 Clean

The virtual machine 'FSCMDB-853-08 Clean' has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1). More details may be available in 'C:\Users\AdminEq\VirtualBox VMs\FSCMDB-853-08 Clean\Logs\VBoxStartup.log'.

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: Machine
Interface: IMachine {480cf695-2d8d-4256-9c7c-cce4184fa048}


This VM has been running without errors for over a year. A few months ago a co-worker (x employee now) gracefully brought the VM down and then applied some windows updates to the host server. We believe since then this VM fails to start.

I have been researching this error and found that I may need to reinstall VirtualBox. Before doing that I'd like to hear from anyone that may have experienced this issue.

I have since attempted to get the latest VirtualBox (version 5.2.4 r119785) running on a new Hyper-V VM. I am also using Windows Server 2012 R2 but with 8 GB of memory. I have then allocated 4 GB to the VirtualBox VM. I am having a different error starting the VM from there [VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX)]. To get this VM to this new server I used [File > Export Appliance], moved the OVA file to the new server, and used [File > Import Appliance].

I would be happy having this VM run in either location. Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks,
BillA

[Martin]

I would try to update from the very old 4.3.26 to the current version 5.2.4 on your server.
Running Virtualbox inside a VM ('nested virtualization') is not supported.

[BillA]

First I tried to run the 4.3.26 install again using the Repair option. That did not fix the issue.

SOLVED: I then ran the 5.2.4 installation. I did NOT first uninstall 4.3.26. I installed 5.2.4 over 4.3.26. I found posts stating uninstall is not needed since the install will first uninstall the older version. This fixed my issue and now my VM is up and running.

Thank you Martin.

[socratis]

I found posts stating uninstall is not needed since the install will first uninstall the older version.

Not entirely true for all software. I find that it's best if you do a complete uninstall/reboot/install. Just to clear the air. Glad you got it going. Marking as [Solved].