virtualbox.org

First time I've ever tried to use VirtualBox; got a critical error in first stage of trying to load my Linux ISO.

– VirtualBox-4.3.40-110317-OSX — Last version for my Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, I gather.
– linuxmint-19.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso
– MacBook Pro 17" (5,2) "Mid-2009" 64-bit (Core 2 Duo)
– Checked positively for VT-x status:

• => “VMX”

Oh drat, for some reason, clicking the Browse button to upload attachment doesn't do anything, so here are my VBox.log & VBox.png by other means:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/njs8x4fb05rb5rs/VBox.log?dl=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kk9hbp7hj13rrh1/VBox.png?dl=1

Hope this is enough info you need, and it's something simple and obvious.
Thanks in advance for any help.

--
Edit: I got clicking the Browse button to upload attachment to work in another web browser; see "VBox log & png.zip" below.

Schmye Bubbula wrote:for some reason, clicking the Browse button to upload attachment doesn't do anything, so here are my VBox.log & VBox.png by other means:

The upload attachment feature works without any problems. Very few people will take the time to go and look at third-party sites. If you want help then please upload the files locally. The VBox.log file should be zipped first.

-Andy.

Is there anyone who could look over my log and point me in the right direction as to what's wrong? Usually, mistakes that cause this blatant a critical error with installations are something simple, and stick out like a sore thumb. I was really hoping I could get Linux Mint up and running this weekend.

I'll try to have a look at the log file later and see if there is anything obvious in it.

Please remember, this is a user to user forum and getting replies relies on the good will of others.

-Andy.

VBox.log wrote:

00:00:01.280592   VRamSize         <integer> = 0x0000000000c00000 (12 582 912, 12 MB)

You might want to increase this. Any modern OS with a GUI that you want to run at a sensible resolution is going to need at least 64MB.

VBox.log wrote:

00:00:37.515973 !!                 Guru Meditation -1668 (VERR_PGM_INVALID_CR3_ADDR)

We saw a number of these last year and they seemed to to relate to the mitigations put into the Linux kernel for Spectre and Meltdown that didn't sit well with VirtualBox. One of the potential solutions is to add pti=off to the Linux command line.

Do you have the option to break into the installer and add this? If that doesn't work, you could always download the pre-existing .vdi file from OS Boxes - Linux Mint and try attaching that to your VM as a starting point.

-Andy.

^ Many thanks for analyzing my log. I guess it wasn't something obvious that sticks out like a sore thumb, after all — I wouldn't have found that, much less the proposed solutions, in a million years!

I guess I should try downloading the pre-existing .vdi file, because when I googled around on the pti=off thing, I was met with dire security warnings (e.g., this). Do I assume that using the .vdi file bypasses the security vulnerability, because the vulnerability is during its installation? (As I said in the first post, this is the very first time I've ever tried to use VirtualBox.)

Schmye Bubbula wrote:VirtualBox-4.3.40-110317-OSX — Last version for my Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, I gather.

Excuse me, but worrying about security issues with your guest, while you're running on such a host, is moot to say the least.

^ Yes, I'm well-aware, and I know Snow Leopard is vulnerable, but I'm in Snow Leopard for a reason. I'm just asking the question because I'm new to virtualization: is the vulnerability in the installation step, or in Linux Mint proper, or in VirtualBox, or what?

Now meanwhile, I know I'm straying a little off-topic, and I've posed this question over on osboxes.org, but I figure there will be more Mac-savvy people here:
– I can't seem to get a good SHA-256 checksum with the .vdi.
– I've downloaded three times: Linux Mint 19 Tara, VirtualBox (VDI) 64bit
– I've extracted twice each with The Unarchiver 3.11.1, BetterZip 2.3.4, and Keka 1.0.4 without any error messages.
– Every time I get the same SHA-256 checksum, but it's different than osboxes.org's.
– I'm doing this in Terminal under Mac OS X 10.6.8:– I don't recall the last time I've had file corruption downloading (the .7z *is* an awfully large file, but so is the .iso, and it checksummed perfectly on first try).
– I downloaded with Firefox 45.9.0esr.
– I'd think that if random errors were occurring, I wouldn't keep getting the same, albeit wrong, SHA-256 checksum.

So my question is, is there some preferred utility on the Mac to extract .7z archives?

Or any other ideas?... Whew, I'm having the toughest time getting even to first base with Linux!

Schmye Bubbula wrote:is the vulnerability in the installation step, or in Linux Mint proper, or in VirtualBox, or what?

The "what" part. Which includes everyone and their mother was affected by this.

Schmye Bubbula wrote:– Every time I get the same SHA-256 checksum, but it's different than osboxes.org's.

That sounds like a show-stopper...

It's been way too many years since I was on 10.6.8 and I an't remember what I was using. But the basic problem is that you're trying to run a today's guest OS in an ancient host OS. Virtualization actually goes the other way; new host OS, ancient guest OS.


PS. I deleted your duplicate copy/paste post in an apparent attempt to bump the thread.

Viewing the OS Boxes page on my browser it has a fixed width and you have to scroll to see the full SHA256 value which for the file 19c64 is:

SHA256: b6bce049c815d519f9b4bafbe4798f76e9969880b60fafce264d88fb84aa43d4

In the default view, the fb84aa43d4 isn't visible. I have downloaded the file and my output from shasum -a 256 ... matches the full value above.

-Andy.