MachineTools toolbar buttons disappear after starting VM from Windows Explorer (#18036)

[tse17]

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ModEdit; related ticket: #18036: MachineTools toolbar buttons disappear after starting VM from Windows Explorer

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Normally in the VM VirtualBox Manager (VirtualBox.exe) I have the Machine Tools toolbar showing both Details and Snapshots. However if I run a VM by double-clicking the .vbox file in Windows Explorer when VirtualBox.exe is not running, next time I run VirtualBox.exe those buttons are not showing on the toolbar. In particular, before I have in VirtualBox.xml

<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/Toolbar/MachineTools/Order" value="Details,Snapshots"/>

but after, I have

<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/Toolbar/MachineTools/Order" value="None"/>

Can anybody else reproduce this?
I've raised this as a bug https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/18036, bug in the meantime are there any workarounds?

[socratis]

next time I run VirtualBox.exe

There should be a "VirtualBox.xml-prev" when you do this. Do the entries in question appear in that file?

What I'm trying to figure out is if this happens at the startup of VirtualBox.exe or when you shut it down. And BTW, can you check your Task Manager and see if there's a process named "VBoxSVC.exe" left over when you shutdown VirtualBox.exe?

[Martin]

This was already mentioned somewhere (maybe the 5.2.18 discussion?) for some Linux versions. There the buttons disappear when you close the manager window by clicking the 'x' in the upper right corner. They stay visible when you close the window with keyboard (Ctrl-Q, Alt-F4).

[Edit: ] Maybe similar to https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/17855 ?

[tse17]

LOGS.ZIP

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There should be a "VirtualBox.xml-prev" when you do this. Do the entries in question appear in that file?
What I'm trying to figure out is if this happens at the startup of VirtualBox.exe or when you shut it down.

I'm monitoring the Windows processes with Task Manager and the .xml files with a text editor that reloads when the files change (but I can't guarantee the speed or exact timing of that reloading). The sequence is:

VirtuaBox.exe and VBoxSVC.exe are not running. VirtualBox.xml and .xml-prev both have <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/Toolbar/MachineTools/Order" value="Snapshots,Details"/> (from previous use of the VM Manager GUI, having displayed those buttons)

I double-click the .vbox file in Windows Explorer to start the VM. (The VM Manager GUI is not running) VirtualBox.exe (several instances, as expected) and VBoxSVC.exe processes start.

Within a few seconds of starting the VM, both VirtualBox.xml and .xml-prev show <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/Toolbar/MachineTools/Order" value="None"/>

I shut down the VM and wait for all VirtualBox processes (including VBoxSVC) to finish. VirtualBox.xml and .xml-prev still show <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/Toolbar/MachineTools/Order" value="None"/>

I start the VM Manager GUI and the buttons are not displayed.

[socratis]

[Edit: ] Maybe similar to https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/17855 ?

I think that this issue is related to Qt 5.11 on the host, which is causing some incompatibilities.

@tse17
Since this is the first instance of such a report on the most widely used host for VirtualBox, I have to ask; is there anything special in your setup? External storage, like USB or NAS or anything like that? Some monitoring software? Antivirus? 3rd party protection? Caching? Anything?

PS. If you keep on "xxx"-ing you username, my responses are going to be consisting of a single letter; "x". It could very well be an issue with your actual username/path where the preferences are saved. There were indeed bugs where the username contained a space or a non-ASCII character. That could be the case here, but I can't tell...

[tse17]

Since this is the first instance of such a report on the most widely used host for VirtualBox, ...

It might be helpful if someone with a Windows 7 host could try to reproduce the problem, and post the results.

is there anything special in your setup? External storage, like USB or NAS or anything like that? Some monitoring software? Antivirus? 3rd party protection? Caching? Anything?

I can reproduce the problem on two different machines, one in the office (set up by IT) one at home (Windows installed by me). Neither is using external storage or NAS. Neither is running any monitoring software (that I know of), neither has anti-virus installed. Both have a degree of tweaking of the UI, to suit my personal preferences. This includes things like "classic theme" in Explorer, assorted optional features and unused services switched off or disabled. It's possible that one of those is somehow causing the problem, but all of the physical machines I currently have access to have similar customisations. If all else fails, I could do a clean Windows installation on physical machine, but I'd rather not do that unless absolutely necessary. However the VirtualBox GUI will run in a VM (with constraints, but I don't think that's a problem), so I can also reproduce the problem on a "clean" Windows virtual machine thus:

On my physical host, create a new virtual machine ("VM1") with a clean installation of Windows 7 Pro SP1 64-bit. (No updates are applied to this installation.) On VM1, install Guest Additions and share the physical host drive (which has the installer packages) so VM1 can see it via the network (\\VBOXSVR). Install VirtualBox (VirtualBox-5.2.18-124319-Win.exe) on VM1. Run VirtualBox on VM1 and use it to create a virtual machine ("VM2") running on VM1. VM2 has type=Microsoft Windows, Version=Window 7 (32-bit). Run VM2 to check that it "works" - optical drive can either be the host's (VM1's) drive, which can be empty, or nothing. VM2 doesn't have anything installed, so it won't boot; it merely powers up and reports "no bootable medium ... halted". Close and power-off VM2, enable/display both Machine Tools buttons in VirtualBox.exe GUI running in VM1, exit VirtualBox.exe in VM1 and wait for VBoxSVC.exe in VM1 to terminate. (VBoxTray.exe in VM1 continues running.)

Now you can demonstrate the problem in VM1, which is a clean, standard out-of-the-box (except for Guest Additions) Windows 7 machine. Run VM2 by double-clicking the .vbox file in VM1's Windows Explorer. After it powers up and halts, close/power-off VM2 and wait for VBoxSVC in VM1 to terminate. Run VirtualBox.exe in VM1, and the Machine Tool buttons have disappeared.

I can also replicate the problem when VM1 is 64-bit Windows 10, mostly a default installation with minimal changes, and/or when VM2 boots from Hiren's BootCD.

It could very well be an issue with your actual username/path where the preferences are saved

The username for those logs is three ASCII letters, all lower case, no spaces, no punctuation or special characters. I can reproduce the same problem on another host with a five-letter (all ASCII) sentence-case username, as well as the username Test (on a physical host) and John (on VM1 above).

[tse17]

Note that starting the VM with "vboxmanage startvm" does not make the toolbar buttons disappear. (This doesn't surprise me - presumably it doesn't use/touch the GUI at all, whereas normally double-clicking from Explorer uses the GUI program VirtualBox.exe to invoke the VM.) So one possible workaround is to change the registry thus:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\progId_VirtualBox.Shell.vbox\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Oracle\\VirtualBox\\vboxmanage\" startvm \"%1\""

however this leaves the VM behind the Explorer window, if invoked from Explorer. (It seems to be OK if invoked from a shortcut on the start menu though.)

[tse17]

Has anyone tried to reproduce this problem?

[tse17]

I've had this problem with v5.2.18 and 5.2.20, but I've just tried 5.2.0 and it appears there as well. (I haven't checked intermediate versions.)

[sej7278]

I'm seeing the disappearing toolbar on 5.2.20 for Debian Sid

in ~/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml (and VirtualBox.xml-prev) the following gets set back to false every time I load VirtualBox:

<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/Toolbar" value="true"/>

So its certainly not a Windows Explorer issue. I am running Qt 5.11

[socratis]

Has anyone tried to reproduce this problem?

• Confirmed fail with 5.2.20 r125813.
• Confirmed fail with 5.2.21 r126213.

Although this in not for this thread, I tried with 6.0.0b1 r126216. You get a:

Unknown option C:\Users\Socratis\VirtualBox VMs\DOS\DOS.vbox

followed by a:

Failed to open virtual machine located in C:\Users\Socratis\VirtualBox VMs\DOS\DOS.vbox

and a VirtualBox Manager crash.

@sej7278
The issue you're referring to is about Qt 5.11 on Linux hosts. Windows hosts do not have Qt 5.11, not sure if it's the same issue.

[sej7278]

@sej7278
The issue you're referring to is about Qt 5.11 on Linux hosts. Windows hosts do not have Qt 5.11, not sure if it's the same issue.

seems awful similar. its still present in 5.2.22, is there a bug link for qt 5.11 ?

if you quit using file->exit its fine, it just happens if you close the window.

edit, oh this bug (as noted above): https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/17855