Massive CPU Utilization and Crash on Specific Windows Host

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keithrust
Posts: 3
Joined: 24. Aug 2016, 16:16

Massive CPU Utilization and Crash on Specific Windows Host

Post by keithrust »

I have a bunch of Linux and Windows 10 guests running on a Windows 10 Pro host. Recently, and may have been after a BIOS update and/or a Windows update, the Windows clients do not want to run properly where the CPU is pegged, I can't reasonably do anything within the guests after I wait over 10 minutes to get to a login screen as the guest CPU is stuck at 100% forever. Eventually I get an error: "The instruction at <X> reference memory at <Y>. The memory could not be read." The guest is then aborted. I have run machine diagnostics on the host and cannot find any issues. I am able to copy the VMs to another Windows 10 host and they run just fine, so I strongly suspect my host is the issue. Attached is the log. Any thoughts on what to fix?
VBox.log
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scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Massive CPU Utilization and Crash on Specific Windows Host

Post by scottgus1 »

Your log contains these lines:
{timestamp} HM: HMR3Init: Attempting fall back to NEM: VT-x is not available
{timestamp} NEM: WHvCapabilityCodeHypervisorPresent is TRUE, so this might work...

You might notice in the guest window's Status Bar the green turtle: Image The choice of animal is appropriate: Your guest is running, just really slow. Or it might guru-meditate or crash. This is because a service that uses Microsoft Hyper-V is running on your host PC. Normally Hyper-V blocks Virtualbox. But your PC is of the type and OS where Virtualbox can attempt to run the guest using the Hyper-V engine. This arrangement is still being developed and isn't 100% yet.

If VirtualBox is running without Hyper-V enabled, and nothing else is interfering with hardware virtualization (VT-x / AMD-V), then the usual virtualization icon (Image) will be seen in the Status Bar.

To turn Hyper-V off completely, do this:

1. Shut down all programs. You will have to reboot your host.

2. Look into I have a 64bit host, but can't install 64bit guests, 2nd post, points 2 & 3 and ensure that none of these things are running.

3. Find the Command Prompt icon, right click it and choose Run As Administrator.

4. Enter this command:
bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
5. Enter this command:
shutdown -s -t 2
6. When the computer turns off, unplug it for 20 seconds. Then plug it in again and boot up Windows 10.

Your Virtualbox should be running now. If the green turtle still appears and the tell-tale lines are in the log, try all the steps again. If you don't get the standard virtualization icon, post back exactly what you did and we'll try to help some more.

For further info, see https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/139 ... puter.html
keithrust
Posts: 3
Joined: 24. Aug 2016, 16:16

Re: Massive CPU Utilization and Crash on Specific Windows Host

Post by keithrust »

Aw, what a cute little baby turtle in my status bar. I installed Docker, which uses Hyper-V, but it appears that uninstalling Docker is not enough. <sigh>

Thanks a bunch for pointing this out as it was driving me mad.

For posterity, unchecking Hyper-V from OptionalFeatures.exe and rebooting wasn't enough. I had to also run "bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off" and reboot. I like turtles, but this one, not so much.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Massive CPU Utilization and Crash on Specific Windows Host

Post by scottgus1 »

Great! Glad you're up and running.
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