Cannot use VBox on old PC without VT-X

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Cubata
Posts: 2
Joined: 24. May 2021, 17:17

Cannot use VBox on old PC without VT-X

Post by Cubata »

Hello,

I have been using VirtualBox for years, mainly to run Windows XP 32 bits in Linux 32 bit or 64 bit (my PC does not support virtualizing a 64-bit system), with great success (e.g. connecting EmBitz, a firmware IDE, to a programming cable), but this time I am stuck: it has become impossible.

Problem #1: my PC does not have VT-X and this is required since VirtualBox 6.1
My PC is an ASUS X51L (a model released in 2008), working fine, with an Intel CPU without VT-X feature:
$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
(selection)
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2370 @ 1.73GHz
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht tm pbe syscall nx lm

Problem #2: so far, I had been using VirtualBox 6.0.24, which supports the "raw mode" (without VT-X), but now I have Ubuntu 21.04, which requires at least kernel 5.8, and VirtualBox kernel modules will not compile against kernels 5.8 and above

1) fatal error: linux/smp_lock.h"
OK, I can create an empty file since this header is not needed anymore
2) /tmp/vbox.0/linux/SUPDrv-linux.c:182:5: error: ‘struct file_operations’ has no member named ‘ioctl’
Here I have no solution


Does anyone have a solution?

Of course, my hope would be to have either:
- a new version supporting hardware without VT-X
- or an upgraded 6.0 version supporting recent hardwares

Regards
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Cannot use VBox on old PC without VT-X

Post by mpack »

If your question is: is there a solution to the problem "my CPU is so ancient that support for it has been dropped in 6.1.x"? [*]
Then the solution is to get a less ancient CPU, or stick to 6.0.x.


[*]The T2370 was released Q1 2008, making it Vista era.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Cannot use VBox on old PC without VT-X

Post by scottgus1 »

Per https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Download_Old_Builds, 6.0.x is no longer supported, so regrettably there won't be any more no-VT-x builds.

So like Mpack says, your only available options are to downgrade your PC to a Linux version that runs 6.0.x, or get a new PC that will run your desired Linux version and 6.1.x.
Cubata
Posts: 2
Joined: 24. May 2021, 17:17

Re: Cannot use VBox on old PC without VT-X

Post by Cubata »

Yes, I mentionned that my CPU was old. But Linux is still supporting it, so all recent softwares run on it, why would I trash my PC?

Sticking to an old distribution of Linux is not a real solution.

Assuming that it is OK for VirtualBox 6.1 to drop old CPUs, it is a pity that VirtualBox 6.0 cannot compile on current kernels. There can be some small changes in Linux kernel headers, but I tend to believe that it would be quite feasible to make a 6.0.25 that would compile on current kernels.

Does anybody understand that there are so many requirements between the versions of various softwares that we get blocked more and more often, with one software requiring some upgrade that another software just doesn't support? Sometimes, in that case, VirtualBox can be a solution. But here, VirtualBox is the problem!
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Cannot use VBox on old PC without VT-X

Post by scottgus1 »

I hear your pain, but can offer no solution short of getting the source code and compiling/fixing it yourself.

Regrettably, 'tis money makes the world go round, and ultimately the development of Virtualbox too, which is chiefly if not solely driven by Oracle's paying customers, who are the only ones entitled to support. These appear to not need non-VT-x anymore. (We free Virtualbox users are entitled to zero (0) support.)

However, everyone's free to make a fork, so one day, along with 6.1.16_Ubuntu and 6.1.22_Debian, we might start seeing 6.0.26_Cubata :lol:
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Cannot use VBox on old PC without VT-X

Post by mpack »

Cubata wrote: Sticking to an old distribution of Linux is not a real solution.
Neither is suggesting that devs continue supporting >10 year old CPUs because of a handful of users of the free version. Development costs money.
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