VirtualBox not opening

[nobody123]

Hi,
I am on Debian Stretch. Today I tried opening the VirtualBox VM Manager and it doesn't start at all. If I try to run it from a terminal, it gives me lots of XCB errors but nothing else that can help me find the problem.

Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2485, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2486, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2487, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2489, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2490, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2491, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2492, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2496, resource id: 65011964, major code: 2 (ChangeWindowAttributes), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2497, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2500, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2501, resource id: 65011964, major code: 20 (GetProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2505, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2506, resource id: 65011964, major code: 18 (ChangeProperty), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/UIGDetailsView) Negative sizes (-119304646,0) are not possible
Qt WARNING: QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/UISelectorWindow) The largest allowed size is (16777215,16777215)
Qt WARNING: QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/UISelectorWindow) The largest allowed size is (16777215,16777215)
Qt WARNING: QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/UISelectorWindow) The largest allowed size is (16777215,16777215)
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2517, resource id: 65011717, major code: 10 (UnmapWindow), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2520, resource id: 65011717, major code: 4 (DestroyWindow), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2521, resource id: 65011725, major code: 10 (UnmapWindow), minor code: 0
Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 2524, resource id: 65011725, major code: 4 (DestroyWindow), minor code: 0

I've had this problem before, and it required a reinstall of the entire system. I really would not like to reinstall my system. I've tried reinstalling VirtualBox from the Debian 9 package on the website, and I've tried reinstalling it from the stretch-backports repository. Neither of these have worked. I cannot even use

Code: Select all

VBoxManage startvm "myvm"

because no window shows for it! My DE is Gnome.

[nobody123]

Setting

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QT_DEVICE_PIXEL_RATIO=1

before launching

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virtualbox

launches the GUI, but it is terribly slow navigating and I can't see any VMs that I start.

[socratis]

1. It definitely looks like a Qt incompatibility problem.
2. I don't remember anyone posting like that for Debian Stretch.
3. How exactly did you know what the solution would be? And Qt related? That's ... suspicious.

[nobody123]

I looked at this thread: https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTCREATORBUG-14427
VBox opens as root, but not as non-root. My user is in the vboxusers group. I'm running on Qt 5.7.1.

[nel23FX]

Hie,

Have the same problem since a fresh installation of Debian 9 and Virtualbox-6.0. Virtualbox seems to open but quit immediatly. Regarding the /var/log/messages log : Qt WARNING: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow).

Any solution ?

[n27051538]

You need to set some ENV before launching VirtualBox. Create start script with the following contents:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
export QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS=1
export QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1
export QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=0
exec virtualbox

[Emiel]

Hi,

debian buster, virtualbox 6.1 (upgraded from stretch with virtualbox 6.0)

when starting virtualbox I get a lot of Qt Warnings.
QPainter::setpen/setbrush etc etc : Painter not active
Qt WARNING: QPainter: Painter not active, aborted.

Setting these environment variables also did the trick for me.

[JLDBA]

Super great advice.

I would add my grain of salt: If this solves the problem, then you can edit add these variables to your “.bash_profile”
Please make a backup just in case.
Then they will be there permanently.
( dont include the last line with “exec virtualbox” , of course)

You dont have to logout, just run the command
$ source ~/.bash_profile

ps. Never run VB as root, not recommended.