Guest Additions fails during installation, "Adding driver to the driver store failed" error

[JIJD]

Hi again!
I've returned with a different flavor of issue, now one related to Guest Additions!

Problem: Guest Additions fails to install drivers, installer crashes mid course.
Host details: VirtualBox 6.1.35 r152011 Qt5.6.1(I'm running a test build as suggested here) on Debian 11, kernel 5.10.0-15-amd64, Intel i6-6200U CPU.
Guest OS: Windows 10 Home, recently installed, obtained from Microsoft Media Creator.
Procedure: (Please note that the wording might be slightly different, I'm running a non-English VBox and W10)

1. Open VBox dropdown menu Devices > Insert "Guest Additions" CD image.
2. In the ISO, open VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe, agree for the executable to do changes on the system.
3. Follow the installation process using the default settings for install location.
4. During the installation process, the following message appears:

   Code: Select all

   Installing guest driver ...
   Executing: "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox Guest Additions\VBoxDrvInst.exe" dri...
   Installing driver ...
   INF-File: C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox Guest Additions\VBoxGuest.inf
   (1) ENTER:  DriverPackageInstallW
   (1) RETURN: DriverPackageInstallW  (0xE0000247)
   ERROR: Adding driver to the driver store failed!!
   Execution returned exit code:  2
   Error excuting ""C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox Guest Additions\VBoxDrvInst.exe...

5. As the program seems to be stuck, pressing cancel throws a message requesting the user to go to the VirtualBox folder and check for install_ui.log, but there is no such log in that location. There's only an install_drivers.log file there that repeatedly shows the text

   Code: Select all

   (1) ENTER:  DriverPackageInstallW
   (1) RETURN: DriverPackageInstallW  (0xE0000247)

It seems to me that the issue is the same very similar than the one in ticket #20628, but my guest system is connected to the Internet. Nevertheless, the proposed solution (messing with certificates) is beyond my technical skill level (where do you get updated certifcates? how do I know which ones I need?), and the ticket seems a bit old (~8 months), and also it applies to VirtualBox version 6.1.28 (and I'm running 6.1.35 here), so I'm not sure if this is the best strategy.

I'd appreciate any help you could provide.

[fth0]

Yes, it's a very similar issue. Last week, I tried the solution proposed by klaus in 20628 myself, using VirtualBox 6.1.35.151866, but it didn't work. I didn't check the current test build 6.1.35r152011, though.

The only workaround currently known to me is as follows: Install VirtualBox 6.1.34 on your host, start the VM, install the VirtualBox Guest Additions 6.1.34 in the guest, shut down the VM, then install the VirtualBox 6.1.35 on the host. This strategy usually works because the RNG-related bug often crashes the VM only after several minutes runtime.

[JIJD]

I don't think I can solve this issue that way, as I couldn't even finish the W10 install process in 6.1.34. I think it took less then 15 minutes for it to break the Windows install process.

[fth0]

It's true that you can expect a crash within 10 or 15 minutes. But you shouldn't really need more than 5 minutes to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions ...

Note that you can keep the VM you already created during this whole process, there should be no need to reinstall the guest OS.

[JIJD]

I just realized this issue is the same as in ticket #20992. How do you turn off signing, as matthewls suggests there? I guess that means turning off something regarding certificate signing.

I'll try your suggestion later, fth0. Hopefully, that will work.

[fth0]

How do you turn off signing, as matthewls suggests there?

It's not clear to me what they mean with their statement, since it mixes three different things in a short sentence. For example, "signing" and "signature verification" are two complementary things. FWIW, you can find a lot of information by searching docs.microsoft.com.

[JIJD]

So, following fth0's advice again, I've managed to have a working Windows 10 VM in VBox 6.1.35 (test build) after:

• Creating the Windows 10 VM on VirtualBox 6.1.35 to circumvent issues present in version 6.1.34 related to random crashes.
• Uninstalling VirtualBox 6.1.35 and installing VirtualBox 6.1.34 on a VM that was ready to have the Guest Additions installed (to minimize the chances of crashes during the install). I actually didn't get to see a full reboot after the GA install due to these random crashes.
• Reinstalling VirtualBox 6.1.35 to actually work with the VM. It's just running a slightly outdated GA version now (the one provided for 6.1.34).

Screen resizing, guest RAM readings are picking up, so it seems that GA was correctly installed. But it seems that I'm still struggling with what I hoped would come easily now, setting a Shared Folder.

[scottgus1]

Though you're all set up now, others going through the process might be able to skip the downgrade to 6.1.34 then back up. If I understand that the reason for the version toggle is to get access to 6.1.34 Guest Additions, then the Guest Additions ISO is available as a separate download at https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.1.34/.

[fth0]

VBox 6.15.35

If you wrote the summary to help other users, you should correct all the wrong version numbers.

[JIJD]

You're right. It's done.