VirtualBox 6.0 & Multiple Monitors Causes Crash within 24 hours

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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Chris66
Posts: 3
Joined: 15. Jan 2019, 16:47

VirtualBox 6.0 & Multiple Monitors Causes Crash within 24 hours

Post by Chris66 »

I've found that when using multiple monitors (3) in full-screen mode, VirtualBox guests will crash within 24 hours. It's almost always more than 8-12 hours, but the guest will have crashed by the following morning. This has occurred with both VirtualBox 6.0.0 RC1 and 6.0.0 (both using the extension pack that is downloadable with the version).

Usually, I'll see an error on the lock screen of my host the next morning when I log in (see attached).

I have a Windows 10 (2016 LTSB) 64-bit host with 32GB of ram.
The guests having the issues are a Windows 10 LTSC 1809 64-bit and a Windows Server 2019 64-bit.

With the server 2019 guest, I've left it on for days with a single monitor without any incident (maybe even a week or so). I changed it to 3 monitors yesterday and it crashed sometime last night. I have not tried using the Windows 10 guest with a single monitor, so it crashes nightly.

I've attached the log files for the Windows 10 guests.

Is there anything I can try on my end? I've seen similar topics on the forum from the past, but they all appear to have been solved with an upgrade.

ETA: And of course I checked the downloads right after posting this... There is a newer version with the comment "Windows guests: multiple monitor fixes with VBoxSVGA graphics" in the changelog. Can anyone confirm if that change fixes the issue I've described?
Attachments
2019-01-15 07_03_30-IMG_6017.JPG - Windows Photo Viewer.png.zip
Photo of error on lock screen of host.
(189.54 KiB) Downloaded 14 times
VBoxHardening.zip
(154.07 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
VBox.zip
(74.65 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
socratis
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Re: VirtualBox 6.0 & Multiple Monitors Causes Crash within 24 hours

Post by socratis »

Chris66 wrote:There is a newer version with the comment "Windows guests: multiple monitor fixes with VBoxSVGA graphics" in the changelog. Can anyone confirm if that change fixes the issue I've described?
You could/should try it as well, and add another data point in the Fixed/Not-fixed poll... ;)
But, you won't find that many fellow users with 3 monitors. Does it happen with 3 only, or you can see the issue with just 2 monitors, for example?
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
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Chris66
Posts: 3
Joined: 15. Jan 2019, 16:47

Re: VirtualBox 6.0 & Multiple Monitors Causes Crash within 24 hours

Post by Chris66 »

Thanks for the reply!

I did go ahead and update the host to 6.0.2 and the guest additions in both guests after posting this. I'll report back if I think it's fixed, but it'll take a minimum of a day to suggest that!

I haven't actually tried with 2 monitors, as I use 3 daily. I suppose I could make the adjustment at the end of the day, but that may not be a valid test, as it could reset the amount of time that it takes for the error to occur. Perhaps this will be a good test if I continue to see the issue on 6.0.2. I'll also try not using full-screen mode too if I continue to see the error.
Chris66
Posts: 3
Joined: 15. Jan 2019, 16:47

Re: VirtualBox 6.0 & Multiple Monitors Causes Crash within 24 hours

Post by Chris66 »

So I just received the crash again (on 6.0.2), but this time in less than 4 hours, which is the fastest it has ever occurred. There was no error shown on the UI, but the following was logged to the event viewer in windows:
"The driver detected an internal driver error on \Device\VBoxNetLwf."

What was a bit odd, is that all the screens flashed when this occurred, and not just the 3 with the guest. For more background, I have 5 screens total, 3 across the bottom for the VirtualBox guest(s), which lets me limit RDP sessions to just those 3 monitors, and then 2 more on top, which gives me direct access to my local environment. The bottom 3 are connected to the internal onboard Intel graphics and a PCIe graphics card, while the top 2 are connected to a USB display dock. Just for fun, I restarted the guest and then pulled the USB plug on the display dock and the guest crashed, just as it had a few minutes prior (nothing was logged to the event viewer, but I did get the same memory error that I originally uploaded).

For clarity, I don't go around unplugging the USB cord from the dock and have never done that prior when it crashed, but I have noticed on occasion that the dock appears to disconnect briefly on its own and then reconnect. I get the exact same screen behavior, where all 5 monitors flash briefly. I have noticed this happening prior, without the guest crashing. The dock is running via Display Link drivers, version 8.6.1294.0.

Since it seemed I had a reliable way to duplicate the issue, I fired up the other guest (Win 10) and tried the same thing.
  • In full-screen mode, it didn't crash the first time I unplugged the display dock but did the second time I unplugged it. That confirms what I've seen prior - sometimes the dock can disconnect without crashing the guest (logs below).
    VBox.zip
    log from first test of intentionally unplugging dock.
    (87.38 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
    VBoxHardening.zip
    log from first test of intentionally unplugging dock.
    (36.05 KiB) Downloaded 5 times
    Win10LTSC_01.zip
    guest config
    (2.31 KiB) Downloaded 5 times
  • In the regular (windowed?) mode where the windows automatically resize and windows were positioned and maximized on the same screens, I was able to consecutively unplug the dock 8 times without a single issue.
  • I switched back to full-screen mode and the guest crashed the very first time I unplugged the dock.

I know that my exact use case is probably very unique and the answer may be to not use the dock or to use only graphics cards, but neither of those is a solution for me. Further, I assume the same thing can happen anytime a dock is used and the connectivity is lost while the guest is in full-screen mode. I'll have to confirm that behavior later (and I'll report back), but that would mean that using a dock with a laptop or an external USB monitor may also crash the guests anytime they are in full-screen mode, which would be a normal use case for many people.

I'm assuming is something that should be on the roadmap to fix, if it isn't already. Is this the best place to submit the bug to the developers or is there an official channel that I should be using?

ETA: logs
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