VMs won't start

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
vbnovice2
Posts: 12
Joined: 18. Apr 2018, 21:22
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Debian 7, Windows2003

Re: VMs won't start

Post by vbnovice2 »

This is a user-2-user forum. And I'm not sure that without an Oracle support contract you can be asking for something like that. So, peer users are your best bet at the moment. Not that it can't happen, just don't bet on it...
Ah! So "We" refers to forum monitors, who are NOT associated with Oracle?

Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Good business is good relationships.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: VMs won't start

Post by socratis »

vbnovice2 wrote:Why do these vms start using the command line, but not via the VirtualBox Manager?
That would indicate most probably a problem with the Qt libraries, some sort of incompatibility between your setup and what's expected/compiled/linked.

From the Downloads » Linux distributions » download the "All distributions (built on EL5 and therefore do not require recent system libraries)", the last one of the list. This build contains the Qt libraries within the distribution, so there shouldn't be any issues, *if* the issues are Qt based.
vbnovice2 wrote:What would cause these vms to run for a week or so and then shut down?
A gazillion of things, mainly your host running out of resources and the VM just dying. Too difficult (way too difficult) to replicate, identify and troubleshoot, mainly because of the time it takes the issue to manifest.

And BTW, is this something reproducible? If not, forget it. One-offs are not even considered close to a bug, more like ... increased entropy in the universe.
vbnovice2 wrote:Ah! So "We" refers to forum monitors, who are NOT associated with Oracle?
On the right-side, under anyone's username, it shows its primary identification. For you it says nothing, and your color is dark-blue, therefore you're a user. For me it says "Moderator" and my color is green.

*If* anyone is associated with the VirtualBox team, it's going to say "Oracle Corporation", regardless of whether they are an Admin, Moderator, Volunteer or User.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
vbnovice2
Posts: 12
Joined: 18. Apr 2018, 21:22
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Debian 7, Windows2003

Re: VMs won't start

Post by vbnovice2 »

Was hoping for some new insights here. A line of thinking that occurs to me:
  • Not sure what caused the initial failure, but the remedy was to completely remove VirtualBox and reinstall using the latest package.
  • I believe I've successfully installed, but the vms abort when I start them using the GUI.
  • The vms start successfully when I start them on the command line:

    Code: Select all

    vboxmanage startvm <myvmname> --type headless
  • This is true for vms with different guest operating systems.
  • Clearly, there is something about the GUI that is upsetting the vms.
  • I'm running Debian 7 and VirtualBox 5.2.10 w/ the matching guest extensions on the host.
I'm wondering if there is an incompatibility with a video driver or something similar. How would I go about finding that out? I've already executed apt-get update several times.
Good business is good relationships.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: VMs won't start

Post by socratis »

Did you download the "All distributions" version as I suggested? Does it crash with that one?
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
vbnovice2
Posts: 12
Joined: 18. Apr 2018, 21:22
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Debian 7, Windows2003

Re: VMs won't start

Post by vbnovice2 »

Ah! I missed your previous post. Will give it a try and report on the result.
Good business is good relationships.
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