[Solved] Failed to open VM at all

[Pancakes2323]

Hello community. I am having a big problem opening up the VM. Everytime I try and open it up, I get this message:

Failed to acquire the VirtualBox COM object.

The application will now terminate.

Error in C:\Users\Adawgydawg30\.VirtualBox\VirtualBox.xml (line 24) -- UUID "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}" has zero format.

F:\tinderbox\win-6.0\src\VBox\Main\src-server\VirtualBoxImpl.cpp[624] (long __cdecl VirtualBox::init(void)).

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: VirtualBoxWrap
Interface: IVirtualBox {d0a0163f-e254-4e5b-a1f2-011cf991c38d}
Callee: IVirtualBoxClient {d2937a8e-cb8d-4382-90ba-b7da78a74573}

I have already downloaded this before, and I have never had this problem. I have tried:
-Updating my computer and OS
-Tried downloading a previous version, I still get the error
-Redownloading multiple times

I do not know what else to do and it is really frustrating. I have made an account simply to post this question in response for an answer. Please let me know what I have done wrong or missed a step in the download process.

[mpack]

I have already downloaded this before, and I have never had this problem. I have tried:

I'm not sure what that means. Are you saying that you have downloaded and installed VirtualBox before? And then what, you uninstalled it?

Anyway the error has nothing to do with launching a VM, it is saying that the contents of VirtualBox.xml is invalid, which is where the manager's settings are stored, including a list of registered VMs. If you don't mind losing that list of registered VMs then the quickest solution would be to delete the "C:\users\Adawgydawg30\.VirtualBox" folder entirely. VirtualBox will create a new one automatically when you next run the manager. You can register VMs again by double clicking their .vbox files, or by using the Machine|Add... function in the manager.

In common with all other software on your PC, user data files are not deleted when you uninstall the software. Hence you can install and update and down-rev and reinstall etc until you are blue in the face, but a bad data file (VirtualBox.xml in this case) is going to remain bad.

[scottgus1]

the quickest solution would be to delete the "C:\users\Adawgydawg30\.VirtualBox" folder entirely.

Just one slight suggestion on Mpack's advice, if I could: Move the old .Virtualbox folder to your desktop don't delete it. Might be good to compare, especially if you have heavily customized the main Virtualbox window or have unattached but encrypted guest disks.

[Pancakes2323]

I have already downloaded this before, and I have never had this problem. I have tried:

I'm not sure what that means. Are you saying that you have downloaded and installed VirtualBox before? And then what, you uninstalled it?

What I mean by this is that I have downloaded and used the VirtualBox before, and have had it updated and used it frequently without any errors before. But this time, I update it and it gave me this error.

However, I will do as you guys said, I will keep a copy of my .VirtualBox folder and delete it and then retry it. I will let you know how it goes.

[Pancakes2323]

Hey! It worked. I do not know how or why, but that did fix it. I was not aware that the xml file could not download correctly. When I tried to compare the original download to the new one, they look the same, as in they both contain the same files, but if the original xml was not downloaded properly, that makes sense now. Thanks so much!

[scottgus1]

The xml file gets generated by Virtualbox, not downloaded. That's why moving the folder worked, because it forced Virtualbox to make a new one. If you're up and running, then that's the goal. Great!