[SOLVED] Unable to install VB 6 of any flavour

[adelphia]

OK. I cannot install Virtualbox 6 of any flavour. I have downloaded the latest as of today (VirtualBox-6.1.2-135663-Win) and try to install it but it hangs when it gets to around 65%.

The icon for the main application shows on the desktop but the installation never completes and it "freezes" access to my PRIMARY network card. By freezes I mean, although it's still shown as connected and enabled, I can't do anything with it: Windows diagnostic simply states it's trying to reset the NIC but never does, I can't disable it: the NIC properties window just freezes with a spinning hour glass, not even the "Wait" cursor I have set on my system and the only way I can reset my machine is to long press the POWER button or press the reset switch; doing a Windows shut down just continually sits and says "Restarting".

Then, after a restart, in order to be able to use my PRIMARY NIC again I have to do a System Restore (I learned my lesson) as a reboot completely disconnects my system from the internet (even using my SECONDARY NIC).

This has nothing to do with extensions (unless the main installer now installs them as a matter of course) and is also on a virgin system install.

It's doing my head in as I've now tried this numerous times and have even had to reformat and reinstall windows (hence the System Restore now) on at least 3 occasions, and that's no mean feat with the amount of email accounts and software I have to setup.

Please. If anyone has any idea or has had this happen to them or if anyone knows what to do to fix this, please let me know what to do to fix it so I can get my VMs back up again.

Thanks.

[scottgus1]

This kind of behavior is very unusual, based on my reading the forum. In some fashion there's something strange about your physical PC.

Virtualbox installs a Bridged networking driver which ties into your network cards as another binding. It may be at this point that your installation of Virtualbox falls apart.

The Virtualbox installer is really a Microsoft program that works with the Windows MSI installer database. Google for how to enable MSI logging, then try the installation again. If it fails, please post the log as a zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

FWIW Virtualbox does not install the Extension Pack as part of the main installation. The two parts have two different licenses. Virtualbox can be used by anyone, but the Extension Pack has a EULA that has to be agreed to.

have even had to reformat and reinstall windows (hence the System Restore now) on at least 3 occasions

This sounds rather disturbing, since if you have a fresh install of the OS and Virtualbox still has issues with the network, your PC or drivers might have something intrinsically wrong that will prevent Virtualbox. You have the option of not installing Bridged drivers during the install. That may help getting the main Virtualbox program running, but without Bridged and Host-Only networking modes. When you have run the fresh reinstall of the OS, have you used the motherboard or network card's driver CD? Or have you tried a fresh download of newer network drivers?

[adelphia]

OK. I did a lot of quoting but I seemed to have forgotten to submit it, rather I must have just previewed it.

Anyway, as it was just answers to @scottgus1, which I found very helpful thank you, I won't bother to enter it all again. The main reason being, using some of the suggestions from @scottgus1, I managed (for now at least) to get it installed and it's running OK.

In the end, what I did was two things, and I'm not sure which one "fixed" the issue.

Firstly and I suspect this MAY have had something to do with it and that was to disable Bluetooth. This removed another virtual network connection (Bluetooth Personal Network) which may well have been causing an issue. I recall that when I installed VB on previous incarnations of my system, I never had a Bluetooth dongle so I'm not sure if this was the "Eureka" moment or just pure coincidence.

Secondly, during install I told the installer not to install the local network; I forget it's actual name, but it's NOT the bridged one, that one I did install as I needed access to the outside world.

Anyway, whatever the consequence of disabling Bluetooth, everything seems to be working OK now thanks in part, if not mainly to @scottgus1's reply and suggestions.

[scottgus1]

Good, glad you're running!
That Bluetooth dongle may very well have been the issue. Sometimes the "offending" device can be reinstalled after Virtualbox, and they coexist thereafter.