Windows 10 Guest fails to start on Ventura [7.0.6] [ RESOLVED with 7.0.8]

[ChristopherSchultz]

I'm getting a fast fatal error when launching a previously-working Windows10 VM from MacOS ventura. When using the "Start" button from the VM launcher, I get a pop-up saying "Starting virtual machine..." and then after a few seconds I get a message saying "A critical error has occurred..." and a bunch of information about where to look for the log file. I read the log file but it doesn't include anything that immediately points to an issue.

Please let me know how much of the log file would be helpful to post and I can do it.

I checked the configuration and I don't see any "invalid configuration" notations.

Something odd that I noticed in the log was this:

00:00:01.830663 NEM: NEMR3Init: Turtle execution mode is active!
00:00:01.830664 NEM: Note! VirtualBox is not able to run at its full potential in this execution mode.
00:00:01.830664 NEM:
00:00:01.830703 CPUM: No hardware-virtualization capability detected

Umm... this CPU definitely supports hardware virtualization. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the message. For example:

00:00:13.136409 *********************** VT-x features ***********************
00:00:13.136413 Nested hardware virtualization - VMX features
00:00:13.136414 Mnemonic - Description = guest (host)
00:00:13.136414 VMX - Virtual-Machine Extensions = 0 (1)
00:00:13.136415 InsOutInfo - INS/OUTS instruction info. = 0 (0)
00:00:13.136416 ExtIntExit - External interrupt exiting = 0 (0)
00:00:13.136417 NmiExit - NMI exiting = 0 (0)

... plus, this CPU wasn't made in the last century so it should be good-to-go.

Anyway, this is a VM I've been using for years and I think it's been disturbed by either a recent MacOS update or a VB update.

I have another Windows VM (win7) and Linux VMs all of which launch as expected, so it's not a problem with signed driver trust or anything like that (that I can tell at least).

My win7 machine seems to be drawing the screen painfully slowly, like I can see the screen being re-painted from the top-down taking 5-10 seconds, the integrated mouse moves like molasses, and the VM is taking 100% of a CPU.

It's pretty important that I get this VM booting again soon. Would creating a new VM and using the same virtual disk be a good next-step?

[scottgus1]

Please let me know how much of the log file would be helpful to post and I can do it.

The whole thing, please. Zipped, through the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

FWIW Ventura 13.3 is supposed to be causing problems for Virtualbox 7.0.6 when EFI is being used, if I remember correctly. If that describes your setup, then you'll have to wait for 7.0.8 hopefully, or go back to Ventura 13.2.

[ChristopherSchultz]

Thanks for the reply; I'll get a fresh execution log.

I have lost the preference for BIOS-vs-UEFI. Can I just change that back to BIOS and see if it works?

BTW I updated the Guest Additions in that Win7 VM that had awful graphics performance and it seems much happier, now. It's still pegging the CPU but that seems to be caused by a TrustedInstaller.exe process inside the Win7 VM. I think it's doing its auto-update thing.

[scottgus1]

Can I just change that back to BIOS and see if it works?

I'd make a copy of the whole VM folder & files first as a backup, but after that it couldn't hurt to try. If the boot disk was formatted as GPT, then the boot will fail. Legacy BIOS requires MBR formatting.

[ChristopherSchultz]

Switching to BIOS didn't work, as you suspected. I got the "VirtualBox" splash screen at least before it failed

And I am indeed using both Ventura 13.3 and EFI on this particular VM. So I think posting the log file will only confirm that "yeah it really doesn't work in this configuration" so I won't waste anybody's time unless you really REALLY want to see it.

I have a Monterey 12.6.5 host I can try this on, as well.

[scottgus1]

No, thanks, the 13.3 & EFI is a clincher. Unless a forum guru wants to see the log, I think we pinned this one down. 7.0.8 or a revert of Ventura are needed.

[ChristopherSchultz]

(I forgot to mention this is all x86-84, but that should probably be assumed without "Apple Silicon" or M[12] being uttered

Copying the VM to a Monterey 12.6.5 also running VB 7.0.6 system got it working, so the VM and VB are indeed both okay, it's just the OS giving me heartburn.

Thanks for your help, Scott. Now I can actually build the next Apache Tomcat release candidates

[ChristopherSchultz]

Following up on this, as 7.0.8 has just been released: I can boot the EFI-based VM on Ventura after installing 7.0.8.

Thanks for your guidance, Scott.