I may have butchered my VM

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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flu13
Posts: 11
Joined: 12. Dec 2018, 18:24

I may have butchered my VM

Post by flu13 »

Last week, I took a snapshot of my VM. This left me with about 75 gigs of free space on my Windows host, which has about 475 GB of total disk space.

I tried to delete my older snapshot, but it told me that there wasn't enough disk space to do so.

Looking around online, I found a guide about how to move the contents of the Snapshots folder to another drive and set up the Windows equivalent of a symlink.

I copied the files over to a network drive and deleted the local copies. When I tried to set up the symlink, it told me that it required physical drives, not network drives.

A bit bummed, I placed an order for an external drive on Amazon and decided to see what would happen if I tried to start my VM without the Snapshots folder. As I expected, it errored out.

So I copied everything back over and recreated the Snapshots folder. However, it will not start up correctly, even if I go back to the snapshot from last week. It takes me to the GRUB menu, and seemingly no matter what I try, I can't get it to boot up properly. Trying to go directly into Ubuntu gets me some squashfs errors. I can go into recovery, but I'm not sure what, if anything I can do in there to help.

Any ideas or suggestions? Great appreciation in advance.
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mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by mpack »

I'm afraid that details are needed, such as what files you have left, what was deleted, and precise error messages.
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flu13
Posts: 11
Joined: 12. Dec 2018, 18:24

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by flu13 »

I have all of the same files I had before. I deleted everything from my Snapshots folder, which was two .vdi files (I don't imagine that the exact file names are important) and 7 .sav files.

When it wouldn't start back up, I copied all of those back to the same location. So the net change in files is nil.

As for errors, something flashes by too quick for me to read, then I get:

squashfs: SQUASHFS error: Can't find a SQUASHFS superblock on loop0

This repeats for loop2, loop3, loop5, then: unable to read inode lookup table

Then the original message repeats for loop8, loop10, loop1

I hope that helps.
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flu13
Posts: 11
Joined: 12. Dec 2018, 18:24

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by flu13 »

I went ahead and reverted again to my snapshot from before all of these shenanigans. It comes up to a login prompt. I put in my user and password, and I get a lot of output.

Unfortunately, it won't allow me to select it for copy/paste, and I'm too new to the forum to post a screenshot of it (it says I must be a member for 1 day).
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socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27329
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by socratis »

flu13 wrote:I'm too new to the forum to post a screenshot of it (it says I must be a member for 1 day).
There's no such restriction for attaching a picture here, there is such a restriction for posting a URL. We prefer pictures here, locally. Just keep it cropped and focused on the issue, I don't want to see your whole 4K desktop... ;)

Image
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
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mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by mpack »

flu13 wrote:I have all of the same files I had before. I deleted everything from my Snapshots folder
Unless you have a backup, then that means you deleted all data created since the very first snapshot was taken. That's gone.

I don't see how that squares with your statements about reverting to a snapshot. You have nothing to revert to except the base state, unfortunately to use the GUI to revert I expect VirtualBox will expect to see the later snapshot VDIs, though I'm not certain about since I avoid snapshots myself.

The most you can do now is (1) clone the base VDI from the old VM, then create a new VM around the clone VDI (don't try to use the same VM or VM folder, it must be a new VM). Move the clone VDI into the new folder as you are creating the VM (before you select the existing VDI), to avoid the VM being split across multiple folders. Whether or not the new VM is bootable depends on what was in the base VDI before you created your first snapshot, but at least it will have cleaned up the snapshot mess.

Most of us don't use snapshots because we consider them fragile, unreliable. Unfortunately novices seem to make a beeline for their imagined benefits, and in the hands of novices the feature can be lethal for a VM.
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flu13
Posts: 11
Joined: 12. Dec 2018, 18:24

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by flu13 »

Socratis - Thanks. I tried to post my image using the img tags, which of course requires a URL. Please excuse my unfamiliarity with the forum.

mpack - Sorry if my explanation wasn't very clear. Let me try again. I made a copy of everything in the snapshots folder, THEN deleted it. Later, I copied it all back. So, yes, I have a backup of everything that was in the snapshots folder. I'd definitely consider myself a novice at all of this, so it makes sense that I would fall into a novice trap. Given that I have those files, is there anything I can do to recover? If not, perhaps I'll try to follow the steps you outlined around the clone process.

Also worth mentioning: I've been unable to reply for the past several hours, because no matter what I try to post, I'm getting the message about how I must be a member for 1 day and have 1 post to include a URL. Luckily, it's been 1 day now, so hopefully, I'm good. I even tried sending a PM and was given a similar message about a URL.
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socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27329
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by socratis »

flu13 wrote: Given that I have those files, is there anything I can do to recover?
Post the .vbox file (right-click on the VM, Show in Explorer, that's the .vbox file), as well as the output of the directory listing, along with its subdirectories. We need to see what files you have and what's referenced in the VM recipe.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
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flu13
Posts: 11
Joined: 12. Dec 2018, 18:24

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by flu13 »

Contents of my vbox file:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
** If you make changes to this file while any VirtualBox related application
** is running, your changes will be overwritten later, without taking effect.
** Use VBoxManage or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes.
-->
<VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.virtualbox.org/" version="1.15-windows">
  <Machine uuid="{482e9582-efa5-416b-894d-e4ad514c48ea}" name="Ubuntu64" OSType="Ubuntu_64" currentSnapshot="{1c298f59-6722-4f03-8d0f-f863944e07ec}" snapshotFolder="Snapshots" currentStateModified="false" lastStateChange="2018-12-06T13:00:54Z">
    <MediaRegistry>
      <HardDisks>
        <HardDisk uuid="{2bd7aa61-9948-4d0a-b189-b08c54fb33b0}" location="Ubuntu64.vdi" format="VDI" type="Normal">
          <HardDisk uuid="{d04c6dfc-10c6-47b6-b250-11f88f615804}" location="Snapshots/{d04c6dfc-10c6-47b6-b250-11f88f615804}.vdi" format="VDI">
            <HardDisk uuid="{ca2d1a2f-bfe8-4ebc-be97-8a14618043bc}" location="Snapshots/{ca2d1a2f-bfe8-4ebc-be97-8a14618043bc}.vdi" format="VDI"/>
          </HardDisk>
        </HardDisk>
      </HardDisks>
      <DVDImages>
        <Image uuid="{d49486aa-87cf-42dc-9a44-ec3d88f8a83c}" location="C:/Program Files/Oracle/VirtualBox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso"/>
        <Image uuid="{a6e33d97-0fda-4059-a456-9a8ab8256706}" location="C:/Users/fredf/Downloads/ubuntu-14.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso"/>
      </DVDImages>
    </MediaRegistry>
    <ExtraData>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/InformationWindowGeometry" value="900,465,600,450"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastCloseAction" value="PowerOff"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastGuestSizeHint" value="1920,1015"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastGuestSizeHint1" value="1920,1015"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastNormalWindowPosition" value="0,23,640,480,max"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastNormalWindowPosition1" value="-1920,23,640,480,max"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastScaleWindowPosition" value="640,300,640,480"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastVisibilityStatusForGuestScreen1" value="true"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RestrictedRuntimeDevicesMenuActions" value="HardDrives"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RestrictedRuntimeMachineMenuActions" value="SaveState,PowerOff"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/ScaleFactor" value="1"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/StatusBar/IndicatorOrder" value="HardDisks,OpticalDisks,FloppyDisks,Network,USB,SharedFolders,Display,VideoCapture,Features,Mouse,Keyboard"/>
    </ExtraData>
    <Snapshot uuid="{38f20dfc-e771-48a0-9b15-efb22e963b0b}" name="8-20-18" timeStamp="2018-08-20T12:01:31Z">
      <Hardware>
        <CPU count="4">
          <PAE enabled="false"/>
          <LongMode enabled="true"/>
          <HardwareVirtExLargePages enabled="true"/>
        </CPU>
        <Memory RAMSize="16384"/>
        <HID Pointing="USBTablet"/>
        <Paravirt provider="Default"/>
        <Display VRAMSize="64" monitorCount="2"/>
        <VideoCapture screens="18446744073709551613" fps="25"/>
        <RemoteDisplay enabled="false">
          <VRDEProperties>
            <Property name="TCP/Ports" value="3389"/>
          </VRDEProperties>
        </RemoteDisplay>
        <BIOS>
          <IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
        </BIOS>
        <USB>
          <Controllers>
            <Controller name="OHCI" type="OHCI"/>
          </Controllers>
        </USB>
        <Network>
          <Adapter slot="0" enabled="true" MACAddress="08002759DF3D" cable="true" type="82540EM">
            <DisabledModes>
              <InternalNetwork name="intnet"/>
              <NATNetwork name="NatNetwork"/>
            </DisabledModes>
            <NAT/>
          </Adapter>
          <Adapter slot="1" MACAddress="080027E23480" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
          <Adapter slot="2" MACAddress="0800275A0038" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
          <Adapter slot="3" MACAddress="080027C1AAA4" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
          <Adapter slot="4" MACAddress="080027D8DAB6" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
          <Adapter slot="5" MACAddress="08002733B4F3" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
          <Adapter slot="6" MACAddress="080027E06C02" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
          <Adapter slot="7" MACAddress="080027E39A03" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
        </Network>
        <LPT>
          <Port slot="1" enabled="false" IOBase="0x378" IRQ="7"/>
        </LPT>
        <AudioAdapter codec="AD1980" driver="DirectSound" enabled="true"/>
        <RTC localOrUTC="UTC"/>
        <Clipboard mode="Bidirectional"/>
        <DragAndDrop mode="Bidirectional"/>
        <GuestProperties>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/HostVerLastChecked" value="5.2.12" timestamp="1533669508435272400" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Revision" value="122591" timestamp="1533669477091132601" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Version" value="5.2.12" timestamp="1533669477089126200" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VersionExt" value="5.2.12" timestamp="1533669477091132600" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/MAC" value="08002759DF3D" timestamp="1533669482095947902" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/Name" value="eth0" timestamp="1533669482096448201" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/Status" value="Up" timestamp="1533669482096448200" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/Broadcast" value="10.0.2.255" timestamp="1533669482095947900" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/IP" value="10.0.2.15" timestamp="1533669482095446501" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/Netmask" value="255.255.255.0" timestamp="1533669482095947901" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/Count" value="1" timestamp="1533669537109197300" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Product" value="Linux" timestamp="1533669477084112300" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Release" value="4.4.0-130-generic" timestamp="1533669477085617700" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Version" value="#156-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 14 08:53:28 UTC 2018" timestamp="1533669477087623000" flags=""/>
          <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/GUI/LanguageID" value="en_US" timestamp="1533669539235490700" flags="RDONLYGUEST"/>
        </GuestProperties>
      </Hardware>
      <StorageControllers>
        <StorageController name="IDE" type="PIIX4" PortCount="2" useHostIOCache="true" Bootable="true">
          <AttachedDevice passthrough="false" type="DVD" hotpluggable="false" port="1" device="0"/>
        </StorageController>
        <StorageController name="SATA" type="AHCI" PortCount="1" useHostIOCache="false" Bootable="true" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3">
          <AttachedDevice type="HardDisk" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
            <Image uuid="{2bd7aa61-9948-4d0a-b189-b08c54fb33b0}"/>
          </AttachedDevice>
        </StorageController>
      </StorageControllers>
      <Snapshots>
        <Snapshot uuid="{1c298f59-6722-4f03-8d0f-f863944e07ec}" name="12-6-18" timeStamp="2018-12-06T13:00:54Z">
          <Hardware>
            <CPU count="4">
              <PAE enabled="false"/>
              <LongMode enabled="true"/>
              <HardwareVirtExLargePages enabled="true"/>
            </CPU>
            <Memory RAMSize="16384"/>
            <HID Pointing="USBTablet"/>
            <Paravirt provider="Default"/>
            <Display VRAMSize="64" monitorCount="2"/>
            <VideoCapture screens="18446744073709551613" fps="25" options="ac_enabled=false"/>
            <RemoteDisplay enabled="false">
              <VRDEProperties>
                <Property name="TCP/Ports" value="3389"/>
              </VRDEProperties>
            </RemoteDisplay>
            <BIOS>
              <IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
            </BIOS>
            <USB>
              <Controllers>
                <Controller name="OHCI" type="OHCI"/>
              </Controllers>
            </USB>
            <Network>
              <Adapter slot="0" enabled="true" MACAddress="08002759DF3D" cable="true" type="82540EM">
                <DisabledModes>
                  <InternalNetwork name="intnet"/>
                  <NATNetwork name="NatNetwork"/>
                </DisabledModes>
                <NAT/>
              </Adapter>
              <Adapter slot="1" MACAddress="080027E23480" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
              <Adapter slot="2" MACAddress="0800275A0038" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
              <Adapter slot="3" MACAddress="080027C1AAA4" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
              <Adapter slot="4" MACAddress="080027D8DAB6" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
              <Adapter slot="5" MACAddress="08002733B4F3" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
              <Adapter slot="6" MACAddress="080027E06C02" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
              <Adapter slot="7" MACAddress="080027E39A03" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
            </Network>
            <LPT>
              <Port slot="1" enabled="false" IOBase="0x378" IRQ="7"/>
            </LPT>
            <AudioAdapter codec="AD1980" driver="DirectSound" enabled="true"/>
            <RTC localOrUTC="UTC"/>
            <Clipboard mode="Bidirectional"/>
            <DragAndDrop mode="Bidirectional"/>
            <GuestProperties>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/HostVerLastChecked" value="5.2.12" timestamp="1543238159946977700" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Revision" value="122591" timestamp="1534789449328622504" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Version" value="5.2.12" timestamp="1534789449328622502" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VersionExt" value="5.2.12" timestamp="1534789449328622503" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/MAC" value="08002759DF3D" timestamp="1534789449332527002" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/Name" value="eth0" timestamp="1534789449334480600" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/Status" value="Up" timestamp="1534789449333503800" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/Broadcast" value="10.0.2.255" timestamp="1534789449332527000" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/IP" value="10.0.2.15" timestamp="1534789449331551703" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/Netmask" value="255.255.255.0" timestamp="1534789449332527001" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/Count" value="1" timestamp="1534789454337627000" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Product" value="Linux" timestamp="1534789449327647200" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Release" value="4.15.0-33-generic" timestamp="1534789449327647201" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Version" value="#36-Ubuntu SMP Wed Aug 15 16:00:05 UTC 2018" timestamp="1534789449328622500" flags=""/>
              <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/GUI/LanguageID" value="en_US" timestamp="1543956840142482200" flags=""/>
            </GuestProperties>
          </Hardware>
          <StorageControllers>
            <StorageController name="IDE" type="PIIX4" PortCount="2" useHostIOCache="true" Bootable="true">
              <AttachedDevice passthrough="false" type="DVD" hotpluggable="false" port="1" device="0"/>
            </StorageController>
            <StorageController name="SATA" type="AHCI" PortCount="1" useHostIOCache="false" Bootable="true" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3">
              <AttachedDevice type="HardDisk" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
                <Image uuid="{d04c6dfc-10c6-47b6-b250-11f88f615804}"/>
              </AttachedDevice>
            </StorageController>
          </StorageControllers>
        </Snapshot>
      </Snapshots>
    </Snapshot>
    <Hardware>
      <CPU count="4">
        <PAE enabled="false"/>
        <LongMode enabled="true"/>
        <HardwareVirtExLargePages enabled="true"/>
      </CPU>
      <Memory RAMSize="16384"/>
      <HID Pointing="USBTablet"/>
      <Paravirt provider="Default"/>
      <Display VRAMSize="64" monitorCount="2"/>
      <VideoCapture screens="18446744073709551613" fps="25" options="ac_enabled=false"/>
      <RemoteDisplay enabled="false">
        <VRDEProperties>
          <Property name="TCP/Ports" value="3389"/>
        </VRDEProperties>
      </RemoteDisplay>
      <BIOS>
        <IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
      </BIOS>
      <USB>
        <Controllers>
          <Controller name="OHCI" type="OHCI"/>
        </Controllers>
      </USB>
      <Network>
        <Adapter slot="0" enabled="true" MACAddress="08002759DF3D" cable="true" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <InternalNetwork name="intnet"/>
            <NATNetwork name="NatNetwork"/>
          </DisabledModes>
          <NAT/>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="1" MACAddress="080027E23480" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
        <Adapter slot="2" MACAddress="0800275A0038" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
        <Adapter slot="3" MACAddress="080027C1AAA4" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
        <Adapter slot="4" MACAddress="080027D8DAB6" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
        <Adapter slot="5" MACAddress="08002733B4F3" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
        <Adapter slot="6" MACAddress="080027E06C02" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
        <Adapter slot="7" MACAddress="080027E39A03" cable="true" type="82540EM"/>
      </Network>
      <LPT>
        <Port slot="1" enabled="false" IOBase="0x378" IRQ="7"/>
      </LPT>
      <AudioAdapter codec="AD1980" driver="DirectSound" enabled="true"/>
      <RTC localOrUTC="UTC"/>
      <Clipboard mode="Bidirectional"/>
      <DragAndDrop mode="Bidirectional"/>
      <GuestProperties>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/HostVerLastChecked" value="5.2.12" timestamp="1543238159946977700" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Revision" value="122591" timestamp="1534789449328622504" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Version" value="5.2.12" timestamp="1534789449328622502" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VersionExt" value="5.2.12" timestamp="1534789449328622503" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/MAC" value="08002759DF3D" timestamp="1534789449332527002" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/Name" value="eth0" timestamp="1534789449334480600" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/Status" value="Up" timestamp="1534789449333503800" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/Broadcast" value="10.0.2.255" timestamp="1534789449332527000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/IP" value="10.0.2.15" timestamp="1534789449331551703" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/Netmask" value="255.255.255.0" timestamp="1534789449332527001" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/Count" value="1" timestamp="1534789454337627000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Product" value="Linux" timestamp="1534789449327647200" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Release" value="4.15.0-33-generic" timestamp="1534789449327647201" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Version" value="#36-Ubuntu SMP Wed Aug 15 16:00:05 UTC 2018" timestamp="1534789449328622500" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/GUI/LanguageID" value="en_US" timestamp="1543956840142482200" flags=""/>
      </GuestProperties>
    </Hardware>
    <StorageControllers>
      <StorageController name="IDE" type="PIIX4" PortCount="2" useHostIOCache="true" Bootable="true">
        <AttachedDevice passthrough="false" type="DVD" hotpluggable="false" port="1" device="0"/>
      </StorageController>
      <StorageController name="SATA" type="AHCI" PortCount="1" useHostIOCache="false" Bootable="true" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3">
        <AttachedDevice type="HardDisk" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
          <Image uuid="{ca2d1a2f-bfe8-4ebc-be97-8a14618043bc}"/>
        </AttachedDevice>
      </StorageController>
    </StorageControllers>
  </Machine>
</VirtualBox>
Last edited by flu13 on 13. Dec 2018, 22:08, edited 1 time in total.
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flu13
Posts: 11
Joined: 12. Dec 2018, 18:24

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by flu13 »

Directory listings:

Code: Select all

12/13/2018  12:33 PM    <DIR>          .
12/13/2018  12:33 PM    <DIR>          ..
12/13/2018  12:33 PM    <DIR>          Logs
12/13/2018  01:59 PM    <DIR>          Snapshots
12/13/2018  12:33 PM            17,018 Ubuntu64.vbox
12/13/2018  12:33 PM            17,018 Ubuntu64.vbox-prev
08/20/2018  07:11 AM   126,775,984,128 Ubuntu64.vdi

Code: Select all

12/13/2018  03:07 PM    <DIR>          .
12/13/2018  03:07 PM    <DIR>          ..
12/06/2018  04:05 PM    68,401,758,208 {7ce4f975-8538-4c55-ad14-f0b0336b0454}.vdi
12/13/2018  03:07 PM         2,097,152 {ca2d1a2f-bfe8-4ebc-be97-8a14618043bc}.vdi
12/06/2018  08:00 PM   103,815,315,456 {d04c6dfc-10c6-47b6-b250-11f88f615804}.vdi
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flu13
Posts: 11
Joined: 12. Dec 2018, 18:24

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by flu13 »

It really seems as though something is just corrupt in that newer snapshot. I can get into a terminal and login, but many files are full of non-printable garbage and some directories give me "EXT4-fs error (device sda6) blah blah bad entry in directory: rec_len is smaller than minimal blah blah" when I try to ls.
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mpack
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Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by mpack »

Ok, if you still have all the snapshot files then things may be recoverable.

Variation on advice previously given.
  1. Place a copy of all VDI files in a single folder (that is base VDI plus all snapshot VDI files).
  2. Identify the newest snapshot and clone it with CloneVDI. Enable "Keep UUID" and "Compact" options.
  3. Build a new VM around the clone VDI.
The clone VDI will be a merge of the snapshot chain up to the selected snapshot, create a new VM around the clone as described previously. There is no guarantee that it's bootable as that depends on disk contents. If it isn't bootable then you can use Ubuntu tools to recover, or if all else fails you can identify the next newest snapshot and repeat the procedure on that.

Please make sure to clone using CloneVDI, since VBoxManage has no idea what to do with a broken snapshot chain.
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flu13
Posts: 11
Joined: 12. Dec 2018, 18:24

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by flu13 »

Thanks, mpack. I'm going to give that a try. I appreciate all of the help here.
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flu13
Posts: 11
Joined: 12. Dec 2018, 18:24

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by flu13 »

Ok. It's telling me that it can't select the new VDI because an existing VDI has that same UUID. Do I need to somehow remove the old one? I tried simply renaming the file, but that didn't work. I don't want to completely trash it just in case I need to go back to it.
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mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: I may have butchered my VM

Post by mpack »

Yes, you need to unregister existing VMs which use conflicting UUIDs.
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