[Resolved] Application starts but cannot even load Win10

[GUIguy]

I have used virtual box before and very successfully, but that was with older versions of the application. Apparently, virtual box has been upgraded significantly and even though I am starting from scratch with completely new virtual machines and even a new build on the host computer I'm having no luck in even getting an operating system loaded.

The host is Windows Pro 10 – 64. The virtual box application starts successfully.

I am attempting to load Windows 10 – x86 from an ISO file. After creating the virtual machine and pointing to the ISO file, all I get is a Windows logo and no activity whatsoever on the screen. If I check off the EFI checkbox, at least I get the "press any key to boot from the CD" but when I do so, I end up in some kind of shell.

I am sure this is some kind of newbie error but if someone can help me out with this I would really appreciate it.

[socratis]

We're going to need a complete VBox.log, from a complete VM run:

• Gather the necessary information:
  1. Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state).
  2. Observe the error, i.e. try to start the VM unsuccessfully.
  3. Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
• With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
• Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response. See the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form.

[GUIguy]

Thanks, Socratis...Here's the log...

Win 10~Test-2018-08-11-20-30-11.zip

(20.36 KiB) Downloaded 10 times

[socratis]

00:00:01.742974 File system of 'S:\Virtual Box VMs\Win 10_Test\Win 10_Test.vdi' is ntfs

What's the "S:\" drive? Network? External? If external, is it USB? If USB, is it USB2 or USB3?

00:00:01.783199   Name              <string>  = "Win 10~Test" (cb=12)

You should really avoid using "weird" characters when naming your VMs. A tilde (~) is not your typical character, since on Linux systems it translates to "home directory". A dash (-) or an underscore (_) is much preferred. In fact, this is what VirtualBox did under the hood and "translated" your tilde to an underscore. Just look at the previous paragraph for the directory and the VDI filename. I've highlighted them for you...

00:00:01.784020 HM: HMR3Init: Falling back to raw-mode: VT-x is disabled in the BIOS for all CPU modes
00:00:02.508512 Full Name: "Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz"

And this is "why" you're getting that error. You will need to address/fix the VT-x availability. Your i7-8700 most certainly supports VT-x, so it's a matter of enabling it in the BIOS. See your PC's manufacturer help on how to do this. Also, make sure that nothing else has an exclusive hold on the VT-x.

[GUIguy]

Thanks! Took a while to find the VT-x setting. They managed to hide it pretty well. That, plus changing the "~" to a "-" did the trick!!!

Thanks again...

Oh, BTW, S: is an external USB 3.0 drive

[socratis]

Oh, BTW, S: is an external USB 3.0 drive

Those can be really slow compared to the native internal SATA ones, so keep that in mind.

Glad you got it going, marking as [Resolved].

[GUIguy]

Thanks again. I've changed over from my external USB drive to an internal SSD. And yes, MUCH faster!