VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

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Pastfazoo
Posts: 5
Joined: 8. Jan 2016, 19:54

VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by Pastfazoo »

Virtual Box version - 5.0.12
Mac OS X Mavericks, 10.9.5
Windows 7, Home Premium, 64-bit
Running Windows using Boot Camp

4 GB installed RAM, around 1.9 allocated to Virtual Machine, Windows 7 64-bit.

I read a number of online tutorials on how to use a Mac's Boot Camp Windows partition as a virtual disk with Virtual Box. I thought it sounded like it might be handy if I needed to do something briefly in Windows.

I used Terminal to set it all up, and at first I couldn't get the virtual machine to start. I read the error messages, looked for potential fixes, and found that Settings, Storage, use Host I/O Cache did the trick. My virtual machine launched OK, and everything seemed to be working great. Success!

But then I turned off my virtual machine, and later chose to boot the Mac using Boot Camp. It probably took 5-10 minutes to get past Starting Windows. I was able to finally log in, and decided to look at the System log in Event Viewer. I had dozens of errors saying :

: The embedded controller (EC) did not respond within the specified timeout period. This may indicate that there is an error in the EC hardware or firmware or that the BIOS is accessing the EC incorrectly. You should check with your computer manufacturer for an upgraded BIOS. In some situations, this error may cause the computer to function incorrectly.

Log Name: System

Source: ACPI

Event ID: 13

I tried running Chkdsk, I tried SFC /Scannow, and nothing improved the situation at all.

Because I had had some concerns about something like this happening, I had used Winclone to image my Boot Camp partition. I restored the image to the partition, and Bootcamp is again working very well - Starting Windows takes no more than 10-12 seconds. And no ACPI error 13 messages.

But I am very hesitant to start the virtual machine again, in spite of it seeming to run well. I did install the Guest video driver to give me a full screen display in Virtual Box. I can not attach my VirtualBox log - I tried, but it's 235 kb, and the limit is 128, and I don't know if any part of it is more important than another.

Thanks for looking
loukingjr
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Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by loukingjr »

Compress the vbox.log first.
From the users manual…Chapter 9.9.1
Warning: Raw hard disk access is for expert users only. Incorrect use or use of an outdated configuration can lead to total loss of data on the physical disk. Most importantly, do not attempt to boot the partition with the currently running host operating system in a guest. This will lead to severe data corruption.
OSX, Linux and Windows Hosts & Guests
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Pastfazoo
Posts: 5
Joined: 8. Jan 2016, 19:54

Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by Pastfazoo »

Thanks for your quick reply. I'm attaching one of my log files - there were 4 to choose from. And thanks for the pointer on zipping it. Doh.

I definitely was not running the host system as a guest itself. I don't think I did anything unusual when I set it up, the main thing I changed from all default settings was the Storage, Use Host I/O cache.

If you see anything seriously wrong in the configuration, I'd be really grateful for input. I did notice very near the top of the log "no raw-mode support in this build".

I don't think my configuration can be outdated, as it's only a day old.

Thanks
Attachments
VirtualBox Log.txt.zip
(33.14 KiB) Downloaded 8 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by mpack »

That's a provocative topic title. What you actually appear to mean is that you damaged your Boot Camp partition. VirtualBox is a tool, it didn't do anything you didn't tell it to do. If you can point to the user manual sections which encouraged you to do any of it, then it might be argued that VirtualBox had some responsibility.

Here's what the user manual actually says about the raw disk feature :-
Warning

Raw hard disk access is for expert users only. Incorrect use or use of an outdated configuration can lead to total loss of data on the physical disk.
Pastfazoo
Posts: 5
Joined: 8. Jan 2016, 19:54

Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by Pastfazoo »

I agree with what you said; saying VirtualBox "damaged the partition" was too strong. I was disappointed because I had very carefully followed a couple of tutorials to the letter, and Windows 7 ran fine under Virtual Box, but then Windows 7 booting properly from Boot Camp was problematic - all the BIOS errors under Windows 7.

I have noticed that the tutorials I followed were written in 2012 and 2013. Therefore I decided to search the Virtual Box forums for newer posts, including ones for running Windows 8 as a guest in my host OS (10.9 Mavericks).

My system is EFI based, and according to the more recent posts (2014-2015) I have found, it is HIGHLY recommended, to put it mildly, to include both the EFI partition and the Boot Camp partition when creating the .vmdk. In my case, that means having -partitions 1,4 at the end of the command that creates the .vmdk. Not just referencing the Boot Camp partition (4). In the same vein, it's highly recommended, once in VirtualBox to let VirtualBox know that the system is an EFI based system.

The other item I found in posts dealing with using VirtualBox to successfully run using a Boot Camp partition that has Windows 8 or 10 installed is to completely uninstall VirtualBox 5.0.X and to instead use 4.3.32.

Any comments on any of these more recent posts/tutorials?

Thanks for your reply.
loukingjr
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Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by loukingjr »

I can't imagine why someone recommended installing VB 4.3.32 instead of 5.0.12. I'm not even sure 4.3.32 was fully Windows 10 compatible. I believe 4.3.34 is but 5.0.12 has USB 3.0 support.
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Pastfazoo
Posts: 5
Joined: 8. Jan 2016, 19:54

Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by Pastfazoo »

Do you have any comment on including the EFI partition when you create the .vmdk? And/or configuring the Virtual Box system so that it's EFI (special OS's)?

Thanks
loukingjr
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Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by loukingjr »

I don't because I don't do anything with Raw Disk Access. I prefer my hosts working and undamaged. Plus I have something like 4 Windows 10 guests, a Windows 10 PC, and I was dual-booting my MacBook but I erased Windows 10 from it even though it ran fine.

Someone else may know.
OSX, Linux and Windows Hosts & Guests
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socratis
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Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by socratis »

From the logs:
00:00:00.932234 Host RAM: 4096MB total, 1619MB available
00:00:00.978987   RamSize           <integer> = 0x0000000080000000 (2 147 483 648, 2 048 MB)
00:00:00.979287   VRamSize         <integer> = 0x0000000006400000 (104 857 600, 100 MB)
You are assigning way more memory than you have available. Drop the guest down to 1024-1536(max) MB and close all other applications on your host.
00:00:00.933831 Installed Extension Packs:
00:00:00.933843   None installed!
Not a show stopper, it would be beneficial to your experience.
00:00:00.979009 [/Devices/GIMDev/] (level 2)
00:00:00.979010 
00:00:00.979010 [/Devices/GIMDev/0/] (level 3)
00:00:00.979011   Trusted <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
I only have this entry on my OSX guests. Don't know what it it, I just thought it was strange. Hope someone else can shed some light on this.

But most importantly of all, the error message that you get from Windows (ACPI 13) has nothing to do with the disk access. All references online point to BIOS that needs to be updated. Couple that with the fact that I don't remember anyone else mentioning it over here and I suspect that it has something to do with something completely different than the raw access of your partition.

Since you have a backup, you could try it again a second time and see if the problem persists?
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Pastfazoo
Posts: 5
Joined: 8. Jan 2016, 19:54

Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by Pastfazoo »

OK, I did the following:

1) I used the VirtualBox uninstaller script to completely remove Virtual Box.

2) I reinstalled VirtualBox 5.0.12 and then the matching extension pack. Unlike yesterday, I did not continue on and install the guest additions from the virtual CD-ROM. And I set RAM for VirtualBox to about 1.2 GB.

Then I created a brand new .vmdk file, following the instructions in the user manual precisely. This time I had it reference both my Boot Camp and my EFI partition, whereas yesterday it had only referenced partition 4 (Boot Camp).

Once again, VirtualBox could not start my new machine unless I checked the box in Storage, use Host I/O Cache.

3) Everything went OK, except the Windows 7 guest failed to install an item called Base System Device. I could get no further information on what that was, but did note that the guest could not see any external USB devices I plugged in.

4) Most importantly, when I shut down Virtual Box and rebooted into Windows 7 Boot Camp, the system logon was fast and there were no red messages of any sort in the Windows System Log.

I decided to not install guest additions for a while. For about 5 or 6 hours, I was able to use VirtualBox in its small window, and then easily log in to Boot Camp, with no ACPI Error 13 messages or anything else of note.

I then decided to install guest additions while in Virtual Box, from the Devices menu. I let it install everything, and there were no error messages. I then spent about 3-4 minutes in Full Screen mode, toggled back to windowed view with Command-F, and then shut down Windows 7 from the guest Start Menu. Then I shut down VirtualBox.

Then I tried to boot Windows 7 from Boot Camp. It took about 5 minutes to reach my password screen, and when I was logged in, I checked the Windows System Log in Event Viewer. Big surprise - dozens of red stop signs referencing ACPI Error 13, the embedded controller did not respond within the timeout period; possible BIOS problem.

I once again used Winclone to restore my image from 1/7 to my Boot Camp partition. Everything was then OK - Windows 7 Boot Camp was 100% OK again, no errors in System Log. No mentions of ACPI Error 13, and no other red stop signs.

I haven't attempted to launch VirtualBox since the restore. In a way, I don't feel like going there; pretty confident it will lead to yet another reimaging. And I did notice when I was using the guest that Windows 7 was advising me that I had 3 days to activate it before there would be issues. I have a tutorial on how to address that by using VBoxManage commands, but the few times I attempted to use VBoxManage, I got a whole screen full of error messages about an unregistered virtual machine. When I tried to issue the command to register my .vmdk, I received yet another Terminal screen containing paragraphs of CPP errors.

Thanks to everyone for their comments.
Salade01
Posts: 1
Joined: 14. Oct 2016, 21:39

Re: VirtualBox damaged Boot Camp

Post by Salade01 »

Hi,

I have read the interesting discussion and the various suggestions and responses ...

Unfortunately, I am unable to be of any help for now (hopefully in a near future) ... because I face the exactly same problem !

I also have(had ...) a BootCamp Window7 instance on my MacBook Pro working for years until I tried to boot it using virtual Box. Booting it Under Virtual Box works wonderfully ... but BootCamp now takes about 5 minutes to start with tons of ACPI 13 errors.

I have not yet tried to restore my BootCamp backup but I am pretty sure it will work again. Clearly, the problem is due to changes in the Windows 7 configuration probably done by the installation of the Vbox guest Tools.

Did you got an answer in the meantime or did you found any solution ?

Any news, advice or help very welcome (I will work on it but it may be quite tricky to solve)

Best Thanks
Gilles
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