VirtualBox completely messed up for user, works for root

[tgpfeiffer]

Hi,

I was happily working with VirtualBox yesterday, creating, running, copying VMs etc., when it suddenly stopped working without apparent cause (description below) and I am unable to get it to work again.

Environment:

• Fedora Linux 20
• Kernel 3.14.3-200.fc20.x86_64
• VirtualBox 4.3.10r93012 (installed via RPM)

System Setup:

Code: Select all

$ groups
 (...) disk wheel vboxusers
$ ll /dev/vbox*
crw-rw----. 1 root vboxusers 10, 57  5月 15 11:59 /dev/vboxdrv
crw-rw-rw-. 1 root vboxusers 10, 56  5月 15 11:59 /dev/vboxdrvu
crw-rw----. 1 root vboxusers 10, 55  5月 15 11:59 /dev/vboxnetctl
$ lsmod | grep vbox
vboxpci                23194  0 
vboxnetadp             25670  0 
vboxnetflt             27613  0 
vboxdrv               322928  3 vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt,vboxpci

Symptoms:
When I start VirtualBox as a normal user (not root, but vboxusers member),

• the list of VMs is empty
• the icon "Current network operations" shows an error and double clicking reveals "Checking for a new VirtualBox version... The network operation failed with the following error: Unknown reason."
• accessing Preferences from the menu does not show my previously set preferences
• creating a new Host-only Network yields the error message

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  Failed to create the host network interface.
  Callee RC: NS_ERROR_CALL_FAILED (0x800706BE)

• when closing the Preferences interface, I receive the error message: "Failed to set global VirtualBox properties.",
• the "About VirtualBox" screen shows "Version r0",
• when I try to create a new VM, the dropdown lists for available OS Type and Version are empty, so I cannot create a VM.
• Trying to start a VM from the console using VBoxManage shows an error message popup:

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  There is no virtual machine with the identifier e9dfbb99-fe5b-4e4a-ae7e-bfd21c37c281.
  Callee RC: NS_ERROR_CALL_FAILED (0x800706BE)

  The console output is

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  Waiting for VM "BaseVM" to power on...
  VBoxManage: error: Code NS_ERROR_ABORT (0x80004004) - Operation aborted (extended info not available)
  VBoxManage: error: Context: "WaitForCompletion(-1)" at line 596 of file VBoxManageMisc.cpp

• running VirtualBox as root works fine, I can create and run VMs fine.

Log files selectorwindow.log and VBoxSVC.log are printed below.

Solution Attempt:
I did the uninstall-reboot-install-reboot cycle various times. Also I moved the ~/.VirtualBox folder out of place. Both actions did not change anything.

Since things work as root, it seems to be some permission issue. Does anyone have the slightest idea what I could try here?

Thank you,
Tobias

------

selectorwindow.log:

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VirtualBox GUI VM Selector Window 4.3.10 r93012 linux.amd64 (Mar 26 2014 23:01:57) release log
00:00:00.421758 Log opened 2014-05-15T03:52:51.242608000Z
00:00:00.421761 Build Type: release
00:00:00.421764 OS Product: Linux
00:00:00.421765 OS Release: 3.14.3-200.fc20.x86_64
00:00:00.421767 OS Version: #1 SMP Tue May 6 19:00:18 UTC 2014
00:00:00.421800 DMI Product Name: ***
00:00:00.421812 DMI Product Version: ***
00:00:00.421935 Host RAM: 7910MB total, 6523MB available
00:00:00.421941 Executable: /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBox
00:00:00.421942 Process ID: 4157
00:00:00.421943 Package type: LINUX_64BITS_FEDORA_18
00:00:00.499692 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium-enumeration started...
00:00:00.844179 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={00445644-0000-0000-2f64-65762f737230} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.844343 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={12a3c5d0-50f1-4ea8-9d1b-a89213932376} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.844462 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={1b678e0f-2c9a-4b4a-892a-7c289819b783} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.844577 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={255e9520-5ab5-48a2-abbb-898dc2e0b035} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.844689 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={29fdf1e3-aa1d-4699-a6de-78938420fde4} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.844802 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={19558075-cdb4-4dc6-b7a4-1826be816e3d} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.844882 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={307d4b36-5cbc-49ce-b6f7-7e56270010c7} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.844950 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={3b805c4d-5e67-4a05-ba31-440bb8998a59} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845015 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={43bdc6ac-45f4-4400-bdfe-44edea22b969} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845054 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={480d1556-3631-4916-9cfe-fead539e3744} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845097 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={4f6ac34d-df8a-4101-84a7-c1ab8eb716dd} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845139 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={50a4b229-6a00-458a-baa3-7191b4b55137} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845178 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={71ff363c-6a5e-4d5c-b8b9-d313f59ffc11} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845217 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={8ad2ea63-2cfe-473d-bc31-b7b552b4b6b2} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845256 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={82a8d891-83b3-4706-817b-ca74b511ab18} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845301 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={8b7f6939-d3a2-44b8-8622-18b27130c44e} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845360 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={9c7e2ea9-2d6b-414f-95e2-9e4eb44c151a} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845417 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={d7b20181-5c11-4a28-ad2f-6aa1c55b4bd0} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845462 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={f71500a3-262b-4676-bcd4-fd30c710ecf3} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845502 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={f7af0065-5831-43fb-ab51-34d0dfaa6a45} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845542 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium with key={fc572bc8-7ece-4b3d-89bc-142372a9c6a5} closed and deleted (after enumeration).
00:00:00.845554 UIMediumEnumerator: Medium-enumeration finished!
00:00:00.902144 Failed to open "/dev/vboxdrv", errno=1, rc=VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_ACCESSIBLE

VBoxSVC.log:

Code: Select all

VirtualBox XPCOM Server 4.3.10 r93012 linux.amd64 (Mar 26 2014 23:01:57) release log
00:00:00.001217 main     Log opened 2014-05-15T03:52:50.990486000Z
00:00:00.001222 main     Build Type: release
00:00:00.001232 main     OS Product: Linux
00:00:00.001234 main     OS Release: 3.14.3-200.fc20.x86_64
00:00:00.001237 main     OS Version: #1 SMP Tue May 6 19:00:18 UTC 2014
00:00:00.001293 main     DMI Product Name: ***
00:00:00.001311 main     DMI Product Version: ***
00:00:00.001513 main     Host RAM: 7910MB total, 6526MB available
00:00:00.001524 main     Executable: /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxSVC
00:00:00.001526 main     Process ID: 4180
00:00:00.001528 main     Package type: LINUX_64BITS_FEDORA_18
00:00:00.112175 nspr-2   Loading settings file "***/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml" with version "1.12-linux"
00:00:00.120289 nspr-2   Successfully initialised host USB using sysfs
00:00:00.126350 nspr-2   NetIfAdpCtlOut: VBoxNetAdpCtl: Error while retrieving link speed for wlp4s0: VBoxNetAdpCtl: ioctl failed: Operation not supported
00:00:00.131293 nspr-2   NetIfAdpCtlOut: VBoxNetAdpCtl: Error while retrieving link status for vboxnet0: VBoxNetAdpCtl: ioctl failed: Operation not supported
00:00:00.132511 nspr-2   HostDnsMonitorProxy: Host's DNS information updated:
00:00:00.132573 nspr-2   DNS server 1: 192.168.100.1
00:00:00.138619 nspr-2   failed to create vboxnet0, error (0x80004005)
00:00:00.139125 nspr-2   VDInit finished
00:00:00.164549 nspr-2   Loading settings file "***/VirtualBox VMs/Windows/Windows.vbox" with version "1.14-linux"
00:00:00.170212 nspr-2   Loading settings file "***/VirtualBox VMs/Mesos/Mesos.vbox" with version "1.14-linux"
00:00:00.171576 nspr-2   Loading settings file "***/VirtualBox VMs/BaseVM/BaseVM.vbox" with version "1.14-linux"
00:00:00.172919 nspr-2   Loading settings file "***/VirtualBox VMs/VagrantBase/VagrantBase.vbox" with version "1.14-linux"

[Perryg]

By running as admin you have changed the "VBOX_USER_HOME" environment. See Chapter 10.1.2 in your VirtualBox users manual.

[tgpfeiffer]

Hello,

thanks for your answer!

By running as admin you have changed the "VBOX_USER_HOME" environment. See Chapter 10.1.2 in your VirtualBox users manual.

This change should not persist across reboots, though, should it? Echoing VBOX_USER_HOME shows it is empty, actually.

Thanks
Tobias

[tgpfeiffer]

Hello again,

so, if I remove ~/.VirtualBox and ~/.config/VirtualBox, my user can actually create a new machine and install an OS there.

However, when I add one of my existing machines via the vbox file (which works fine!) and want to start it, I get again "There is no virtual machine with the identifier [...]". Also, after I do that, the installation is broken again and shows exactly the same symptoms as described in my first post...

Thanks
Tobias

[tgpfeiffer]

Hi,

apparently the reason was that one of my VMs had a disk attached that referred to a non-existing image file. Once I manually edited this machine's XML configuration and removed the reference to that disk, I was able to perfectly restore my whole VirtualBox setup. It's very unfortunate that the reason for misbehavior could not be deduced in any way from any of the error messages I saw...

Thanks
Tobias