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VM won't start: medium is already in use by this snapshot

Posted: 18. Jun 2019, 03:48
by uruguayiandude
Hello guys,

I restarted my mac, and much to my surprise the linux VM became inaccessible and the following error appeared:

Code: Select all

Cannot attach medium '/Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso' {6fc4e532-cc81-4e7f-9780-0d78f25abdff} from snapshot 'f4a28b32-ffe5-48a9-b665-f7e650bc9f43': medium is already in use by this snapshot!.

Result Code: VBOX_E_OBJECT_IN_USE (0x80BB000C)
Component: MediumWrap
Interface: IMedium {4afe423b-43e0-e9d0-82e8-ceb307940dda}
I spent a lot of hours configuring that VM, so any help that can prevent me from doing that again, and to actually getting that VM up and running again would be super appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Re: VM won't start: medium is already in use by this snapshot

Posted: 18. Jun 2019, 11:16
by socratis
Delete any snapshots, leaving your VM at the "Current State".
In the VM Settings remove the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso.

Moving to "OSX Hosts" from "OSX Guests".

Re: VM won't start: medium is already in use by this snapshot

Posted: 18. Jun 2019, 17:45
by uruguayiandude
Thanks for the quick reply.

However, I can't access the snapshot GUI. How can I delete those? Sorry for my ignorance, but I'm new to Mac.

Thanks in advance.

Re: VM won't start: medium is already in use by this snapshot

Posted: 18. Jun 2019, 18:06
by socratis
uruguayiandude wrote:However, I can't access the snapshot GUI
Why's that? If you've got a snapshot, then you've used this before...

If you hover over a VM, you'll see the tools option (Image). Click on that, select "Snapshots". Start deleting the previous/oldest snapshots until you're left with the "Current State".

Re: VM won't start: medium is already in use by this snapshot

Posted: 18. Jun 2019, 19:45
by uruguayiandude
I just tried, and the snapshots option is greyed out, can't delete any of those (or access it for that matter) from the Virtual Box tool itself.

Re: VM won't start: medium is already in use by this snapshot

Posted: 18. Jun 2019, 21:55
by socratis
I would like to see the "recipe" of the VM, the ".vbox" file:
  1. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager. Select "Show in Finder".
  2. ZIP the selected ".vbox" file and attach it to your response.