OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
a42887
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Joined: 21. Jun 2018, 17:17

OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by a42887 »

I have a MacOS 10.13.5 host, and have several VMs. One is a Windows 10 VM, another is a Photon OS VM (Linux). Starting randomly about a few weeks ago, every single time I try to click the window of a running VM, the mouse changes to the pinwheel of death, and hangs for 10-25 seconds. It won't let me interact with the VM in any way until it is done hanging. Once focus is gained, everything is smooth as butter until I switch windows and attempt to return; it starts the process over again. I can see that the VM is working fine by watching the mini-window in the main VirtualBox window. For instance, I can try to boot a VM cold, and watch the progress in the mini-window, while also watching the pinwheel waiting for the actual VM window to appear. The Windows 10 VM is old, and used to be fine. I created the Photon OS VM recently, and it has done it since inception. I don't think it is a VM problem due to the varying ages and OSs. I tried deleting the entire VirtualBox installation from my laptop, and reinstalling; no help. I made sure to use AppDelete to get the other random files it created as well; not just the program in the Applications folder.

Does any one have any ideas? It drives me insane trying to multi-task, only to have a long wait every single time I try to give focus back to my VM. Thanks in advance!
socratis
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Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by socratis »

a42887 wrote:and have several VMs.
Does the match check out?
  • Total CPUs for your guests + 1 Host CPUs.
  • Total RAM+vRAM+overhead for your guests Host available RAM + some.
 Edit: Fixed the math of the "simple rule", it was "simply wrong". 
We're going to need a complete VBox.log, from a complete VM run:
  • Gather the necessary information:
    1. Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state).
    2. Observe the error, i.e. let it "serve you the colorful pizza of death".
    3. Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
  • With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
  • Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response. See the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form.
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.
a42887
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jun 2018, 17:17

Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by a42887 »

socratis wrote:Does the match check out?
  • Total CPUs for your guests + 1 Host CPUs.
  • Total RAM+vRAM+overhead for your guests Host available RAM + some.
I'm nowhere near resource limits. I only run one at a time, and the most I have allocated in any machine is 1 CPU and 3 GB of RAM on a 4 CPU, 8GB of RAM host.

Please see attached for the log. Thanks for the help so far!
Attachments
vbox.log.zip
(25.31 KiB) Downloaded 24 times
andyp73
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Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by andyp73 »

a42887 wrote:I'm nowhere near resource limits. I only run one at a time, and the most I have allocated in any machine is 1 CPU and 3 GB of RAM on a 4 CPU, 8GB of RAM host.
Your log file would beg to differ with you.
VBox.log wrote:
00:00:01.653896 Host RAM: 8192MB (8.0GB) total, 1424MB available
00:00:01.781094 RamSize  <integer> = 0x00000000c0000000 (3 221 225 472, 3 072 MB, 3.0 GB)
00:00:01.781884 VRamSize <integer> = 0x0000000008000000 (134 217 728, 128 MB)
You have definitely allocated memory to the guest that you don't have available on the host. Your options are: a) allocate less memory to the guest, b) close some applications on the host, or c) buy some more memory for the host.
VBox.log wrote:
00:00:01.992478 CPUM: Physical host cores: 2
You only have two cores on your host, not 4. VirtualBox deals in physical cores and not anything different that the CPU vendors would have you think about.

-Andy.
My crystal ball is currently broken. If you want assistance you are going to have to give me all of the necessary information.
Please don't ask me to do your homework for you, I have more than enough of my own things to do.
a42887
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jun 2018, 17:17

Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by a42887 »

andyp73 wrote:Your log file would beg to differ with you.
I guess I didn't convey that properly: I'm no more resource constrained than I ever have been with this same setup. I never experienced this issue before, despite the same constraints.
andyp73 wrote:You only have two cores on your host, not 4. VirtualBox deals in physical cores and not anything different that the CPU vendors would have you think about.
I was going off what VirtualBox allows me to allocate; it gives me the choice to allocate 1-4 CPUs.

Anyway, I closed every application on the MacBook except VirtualBox to ensure resources weren't the issue. It still does the exact same freezing behavior even when it is the only thing running. New log attached showing it when it is the only application open.
Attachments
vbox new.log.zip
(25.07 KiB) Downloaded 15 times
socratis
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Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by socratis »

a42887 wrote:I'm no more resource constrained than I ever have been with this same setup.
You cannot make such a statement, because you don't know how much available RAM you have every time you start the VM. You don't check every time, do you?
00:00:32.283197 GUI: 2D video acceleration is disabled
And so is the 3D acceleration. Shutdown the VM and enable them in the VM settings » Display. You'll also notice that the max VRAM will jump from 128 to 256 MB after that; max the VRAM as well. Then re-install the Guest Additions (GAs) in the guest.
00:00:01.847900 [/Devices/ahci/0/LUN#0/Config/] (level 5)
00:00:01.847903   BlockCache <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
Go in the VM Settings » Storage. Select the SATA controller on the left side, and check the "Use Host I/O Cache". See if that helps as well

Finally, you did well to allocate one CPU to your guest(s), since your i5-5257U CPU has two cores. But (and this goes again virtualization logic), try to allocate 2 CPUs for your guest, after you've tried the settings as suggested above.
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.
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a42887
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jun 2018, 17:17

Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by a42887 »

socratis wrote:Shutdown the VM and enable them in the VM settings » Display. You'll also notice that the max VRAM will jump from 128 to 256 MB after that; max the VRAM as well. Then re-install the Guest Additions (GAs) in the guest.
socratis wrote:Go in the VM Settings » Storage. Select the SATA controller on the left side, and check the "Use Host I/O Cache". See if that helps as well
Done and done.
socratis wrote:Finally, you did well to allocate one CPU to your guest(s), since your i5-5257U CPU has two cores. But (and this goes again virtualization logic), try to allocate 2 CPUs for your guest, after you've tried the settings as suggested above.
Done.

No change. I have uploaded the log from this Windows session below.

- - - - - - - - - -

I really don't think it is so much a VM problem, as it is a VirtualBox problem interacting with the host OS. For instance, I screen captured the process with my Photon OS VM, which is just a Linux shell; no graphics to interfere here. Here is the link:

https://streamable.com/s8wui

Unfortunately, screen capture doesn't capture the spinning wheel of death, but let me walk you through it. You can see from the time I start the VM to the time the VM window will even popup there is a delay (I would have expected it to appear at 0:06, but it doesn't until 0:21). This is the first spinning wheel of death. Watching the mini-window, you can see the VM is progressing as it should be for boot. You see the VirtualBox BIOS screen, you see the OS splash screen, and you see it start loading in Linux. At 0:25, you can see me click to try to give the VM focus. You can again see the loading progressing as it should in the mini-window, but not in the main VM window. More spinning wheel of death on my end. It takes until 0:40 for the dialog to popup about capture. I click capture at 0:42, and it takes 0:58 for the machine to actually respond. You can tell when it does when the cursor marker starts blinking next to the login prompt. You can't see it well, but it is blinking in the mini-window the whole time - the VM itself is working fine. Now, until it loses focus, the VM works as expected from this point forward. If I were to click any other Mac window and come back, we'd start the process over again until it finally starts responding to my interactions (although the VM is running fine, I just can't interact with it). I start shutdown at 1:09, and the VM completes shutting down at 1:10, as the state changes to Powered Off in the title of the window. However, the spinning wheel of death makes one more appearance, and instead of the window closing at 1:10, it hangs until 1:25 before disappearing on its own.

I've attached the log for this exact session in the screen capture as well.
Attachments
photonos.log.zip
(22.23 KiB) Downloaded 11 times
Win10 Newer.log.zip
(29.64 KiB) Downloaded 15 times
socratis
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Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by socratis »

a42887 wrote:I really don't think it is so much a VM problem, as it is a VirtualBox problem interacting with the host OS.
I don't think so, because everybody and their uncle would be yelling murder! I tend to think that there's something with your host that forces this behavior. The question is what...

I have two things in mind. The first one is the fact that (I believe) you use APFS, please confirm:
00:00:01.626533 File system of '/Users/Adam/VirtualBox VMs/AF/Snapshots' (snapshots) is unknown
00:00:01.626574 File system of '/Users/Adam/VirtualBox VMs/AF/Snapshots/{17535a0c-f653-4998-964b-787f3037c257}.vdi' is unknown
The second thing is that I have the following in my log, you don't:
00:00:02.050517 AIOMgr: Endpoints without assigned bandwidth groups:
00:00:02.050523 AIOMgr: /Users/Shared/VirtualBox/Machines/Windows 10 (64)/Snapshots/{89216c65-2b4f-4064-b28b-eeb5cae61f2e}.vdi
00:00:02.050527 AIOMgr: /Users/Shared/VirtualBox/Machines/Windows 10 (64)/Windows 10 (64).vdi
Can you ZIP and post the ".vbox" file for the Win10 VM? Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager, "Show in Finder". That's the file I'm after...
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
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a42887
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jun 2018, 17:17

Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by a42887 »

socratis wrote:I don't think so, because everybody and their uncle would be yelling murder! I tend to think that there's something with your host that forces this behavior. The question is what...
I didn't mean that the entire code of VirtualBox is flawed, more that there is something not playing nice between the host and VirtualBox. Maybe a bug; could be on either side.
socratis wrote:Can you ZIP and post the ".vbox" file for the Win10 VM? Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager, "Show in Finder". That's the file I'm after...
I've attached both separately just in case.
Also, I am formatted as APFS. Just to clarify though, it was APFS even back when it didn't have this behavior. I didn't upgrade MacOS in between or anything.
Thanks for the help so far.
Attachments
AF.vbox.zip
(2.87 KiB) Downloaded 16 times
Photon OS.vbox.zip
(1.76 KiB) Downloaded 19 times
socratis
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Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by socratis »

I can't find anything wrong with your setup, honestly.
a42887 wrote:Starting randomly about a few weeks ago
What happened at that time? Things in computers don't happen "randomly", there's an underlying cause. The problem is locating it.

Example: since the beginning of June, I started seeing my kernel_task going crazy. And you can't figure out easily what's causing the kernel to go bezerk. It was showing up as huge CPU usage, in any/all/random instances. I thought it was VirtualBox at the beginning. Nope. I thought it was Firefox. Nope. I thought it was Mail, Safari, Flash, HTML5, <name_it>. Nope. Long story short, I think I've narrowed it down to the HardwareMonitor application that got an update at around the same time. Results: everything was semi-freezing. Even the mouse was moving in quanta!

After that I thought that it was the updates I was postponing for so long (since Jan-Feb/2018) because they included the Spectre/Meltdown patches, and I didn't want to slow down the computer for no good reason. So, I applied them. And nothing changed. Actually, one thing did; my compilation times for VirtualBox went from 25 min to 65 min! Oops...

So, try to think back what happened. What have you done to your system? When? Are you using FileVault by any chance? And can you please post the output of:
  • 
    kextstat | grep -v com.apple
PS. No, it's not some VirtualBox code. Your model is pretty common, your setup is not extraordinary, your VM is literally a copy of mine, so no, I got to think that it's your host.
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.
a42887
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jun 2018, 17:17

Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by a42887 »

socratis wrote:So, try to think back what happened. What have you done to your system? When? Are you using FileVault by any chance? And can you please post the output of:
  • 
    kextstat | grep -v com.apple
If I knew, I'd be hunting it down. The host updates itself, and I know it has taken at least one incremental update to MacOS High Sierra. i'm on 10.13.5 now. I also don't use the VMs daily, so between the only semi-frequent usage patterns for the VM and the self-updates, I really can't say exactly when it started. I also assumed (incorrectly) the first time or two it happened that it was just resource constrained. No other new software has come or gone though, nor have there been any hardware changes. Nothing else seems to be having an issue. Only the OS would have taken a patch, in addition to me manually updating VirtualBox when it prompts that an update is available.

FileVault is disabled.

Here is the output of the command:

Code: Select all

MacBook-Pro:~ User$ kextstat | grep -v com.apple
Index Refs Address            Size       Wired      Name (Version) UUID <Linked Against>
  145    0 0xffffff7f82fdc000 0x5000     0x5000     com.bitgapp.eqMac2Driver (2.0) C8E2C7F3-989B-3EF0-AE56-80D339AC2703 <121 5 4 3>
  193    3 0xffffff7f85c70000 0x64000    0x64000    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (5.2.12) 3AABEB96-18B4-378E-B3EE-A0F6EB91DDE7 <7 5 4 3 1>
  194    0 0xffffff7f85cd4000 0x8000     0x8000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.2.12) 9ABE1230-E87E-3B89-8E2A-B0B3BAA5F63D <193 165 52 7 5 4 3 1>
  196    0 0xffffff7f85cde000 0x5000     0x5000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (5.2.12) 3EF145FE-B581-3F71-8F0F-E04C62C5A91D <193 7 5 4 3 1>
  197    0 0xffffff7f85cef000 0x6000     0x6000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (5.2.12) F6F0D614-6816-3226-9263-DA96DB33D890 <193 5 4 1>
MacBook-Pro:~ User$
kristiandg
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Joined: 25. Jun 2018, 15:35

Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by kristiandg »

I'm having a similar issue to this - Win10 will run for a while before completely freezing (not responsive at all). It freezes on my iMac pro, but not on my MacBook pro (odd). Same OS image file used on both, so it's certainly specific to VirtualBox, not the Guest OS.
andyp73
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Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by andyp73 »

kristiandg wrote:It freezes on my iMac pro, but not on my MacBook pro
Assuming you are running the same version of VirtualBox on both, what are the other differences between your iMac pro and MacBook pro in relation to software? Different versions of macOS? Different tools installed?

The log files from the guest on both machines along with the output from running the kextstat command on both machines might give an interesting comparison.

-Andy.
My crystal ball is currently broken. If you want assistance you are going to have to give me all of the necessary information.
Please don't ask me to do your homework for you, I have more than enough of my own things to do.
socratis
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Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by socratis »

kristiandg wrote:so it's certainly specific to VirtualBox
You have the same VM, the same VirtualBox, the same host OS, a different computer, and you came to the conclusion that it's VirtualBox behaving differently on different computers? Interesting...
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.
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a42887
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Joined: 21. Jun 2018, 17:17

Re: OS X Host, Any VM - Freezing every single time when trying to utilize VM

Post by a42887 »

a42887 wrote:Here is the output of the command:

Code: Select all

MacBook-Pro:~ User$ kextstat | grep -v com.apple
Index Refs Address            Size       Wired      Name (Version) UUID <Linked Against>
  145    0 0xffffff7f82fdc000 0x5000     0x5000     com.bitgapp.eqMac2Driver (2.0) C8E2C7F3-989B-3EF0-AE56-80D339AC2703 <121 5 4 3>
  193    3 0xffffff7f85c70000 0x64000    0x64000    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (5.2.12) 3AABEB96-18B4-378E-B3EE-A0F6EB91DDE7 <7 5 4 3 1>
  194    0 0xffffff7f85cd4000 0x8000     0x8000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.2.12) 9ABE1230-E87E-3B89-8E2A-B0B3BAA5F63D <193 165 52 7 5 4 3 1>
  196    0 0xffffff7f85cde000 0x5000     0x5000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (5.2.12) 3EF145FE-B581-3F71-8F0F-E04C62C5A91D <193 7 5 4 3 1>
  197    0 0xffffff7f85cef000 0x6000     0x6000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (5.2.12) F6F0D614-6816-3226-9263-DA96DB33D890 <193 5 4 1>
MacBook-Pro:~ User$
This thread got kind of sidelined; any ideas from the output above?
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