Guidance needed in running multiple versions of VirtualBox for testing

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
Post Reply
VidJa
Posts: 2
Joined: 11. Jan 2012, 20:26
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Ubuntu

Guidance needed in running multiple versions of VirtualBox for testing

Post by VidJa »

I need some guidance getting a stable VM running again I'm having issues with newer versions of virtualbox and want to test next to my old installation

host: 2014 MBP 16GB core i7@3Ghz Mojave 10.14.6

Some background:
I'm running VB with Ubuntu 14.04-->16.04--18.04 since jan. 2015 on my 2014 MBP (16GB/Core i7) for development purposes.
I started with an early version of 5 and upgraded faithfully until 5.2.24
In Jan. 2019, ny SSD died suddenly, but I had recent TimeMachine backups.

Only this week I got around fitting an new (OWC) SSD and battery in my MBP, considering it would be a waste to ditch the great little machine.
I booted from my TM backup and hurray I was alive again. My Ubuntu VM started right away and was behaving a usual

This is where the trouble starts:
VirtualBox gave me an upgrade message suggesting 6.0.18. So I did.
My Ubuntu VM started, but was utterly slow, unresponsive on key presses, I could hardy type a text in nano

I upgraded to 6.1.4-136177, but now the VM was crashing all the time.
I thought: lets start fresh, tried to install the current Ubuntu 18.04 ISO only to find failing installer issues. (did the same on a windows host without issues at all, same ISO)

I decided to downgrade again, but now to 5.2.38. the VM was not accessible anymore, probably because I started it with version 6 before
I restored the VM files from my TM backup and tried to start --> the VM was constantly resetting after starting
I restored VirtualBox 5.2.24 from the TM backup --> back to normal, no VM crashes anymore.

Unfortunately the logs got lost by restoring all from the TM backup.

Is it possible to run two virtual box versions next to each other to start testing what is going on here, and get some logs
The installer has a button: installation location, but you cannot set anything custom there.
any guidance is appreciated
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Guidance needed in running multiple versions of VirtualBox for testing

Post by scottgus1 »

VidJa wrote:Is it possible to run two virtual box versions next to each other
Unfortunately, no. Virtualbox was not designed to be multi-version.

If you can swap host drives, then you could clone your whole host drive to a second drive, boot that second drive and then switch Virtualbox versions to test. Leave the first drive unchanged.
VidJa
Posts: 2
Joined: 11. Jan 2012, 20:26
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Ubuntu

Re: Guidance needed in running multiple versions of VirtualBox for testing

Post by VidJa »

thats a bummer
Post Reply