MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
fsbox6
Posts: 10
Joined: 31. Mar 2020, 21:00

MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by fsbox6 »

Virtual Box forum note:

Hello, non anglophone Linux and VM beginner non-IT- specialist writing here :-( ... I have been in the manual, searched the forum with several search strings and will attempt to follow the Posting Guide to the best of my abilities. I hope it's not just something stupid I don't get. This being said :

Using VirtualBox 6.0 (6.0.18 r136238)

Host iMac (21.5 inch, Late 2013, with a replaced 500 GB SSD and 16 GB RAM) running Mojave 10.14.6.
Guest : Linux PopOS latest version, memory 3.8GiB, Gnome 3.34.2, 64 bit. Disk 136.6 GB.

I have installed open-vm-tools-desktop and virtualbox-guest-dkms, but virtualbox-guest-dkms-hwe does not install and returns the following error: "There Was An Error Installing virtualbox-guest-dkms-hwe. Error while installing package: installed linux-image-5.3.0-7625-generic package pre-removal script subprocess returned error exit status 1".

Concrete problem : I am trying to use teleconference through Linux (LifeSize that has been chosen by my institution, through Chromium browser). I cannot get the microphone or speakers, nor the camera, to work in the VM environment.

What I have tried :
I checked the Security Settings in the MacOS preferences and VirtualBox has access to the microphone but does not appear for the camera.
In the VM settings, "Enable Audio" is ticked and greyed out with the Host Audio Driver set to CoreAudio and Audio Controller to ICH AC97. I ticked Extended Features both Enable Audio Output and Enable Audio Input (but had tried before with the initial setup of only Audio Output being ticked).
In the USB ports I tried adding the built in Apple FaceTime Camera.

In the VM/Linux environment: Chromium/LifeSize tells me no camera or microphone detected. YouTube videos do not produce sound.
In the MacOS environment : no problem with sound input, sound output or camera.

Question : what am I doing wrong to get access to microphone, speakers and camera through the VM environment?

I hope my description is adequate. Thanks already in advance for your time and effort! :)
Attachments
Linux PopOS-2020-03-31-18-04-26.log
(90.3 KiB) Downloaded 10 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by mpack »

Why were you installing DKMS in the guest? I don't see any mention of that in the user manual.

I'm afraid the log you provided is not very useful. It has been copied VirtualBox was still writing to it, and so isn't whole. We need complete logs, copied after VirtualBox is shut down, and then zipped to bring them below the forum's attachment size limit.

p.s. I do suggest that you give VMs 2 cores, since your 4 core host can afford it. Also, more than 16MB graphics RAM is probably a good idea too. You have plenty of host RAM, so max out the graphics RAM.
fsbox6
Posts: 10
Joined: 31. Mar 2020, 21:00

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by fsbox6 »

Hello mpack, thanks for helping already! I have adapted the video memory to 64 and CPUs to 4 (is that what you meant?). (I also increased RAM to 8 out of 16 GB). The difference in performance is noticeable, thanks a lot!!

Please find a (hopefully) complete log attached, according to your instructions.

(Regarding DKMS in the guest : at initial installation, the PopOS software installer (Pop!-Shop) hung/crashed during update and PopOS a Kernel issue at shutdown. Since the DKMS drivers appeared in the Pop!-Shop I had, probably hastily, thought they might be required...).
Attachments
Linux PopOS-2020-04-01-22-57-59.log.zip
(30.58 KiB) Downloaded 11 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by mpack »

Please set the vCPU count back to 2. You have a 4 core host (8 threads, but threads are not relevant here), and no fair sharing of hardware resources gives all 4 cores to either the host or the VM. That's why the figure I suggested was 2. The VM will run run well if the PC running the simulation (i.e. the host) is starved of CPU.

I also didn't ask you to increase the RAM allocation, only the VRAM was low. RAM was previously 4GB, which IMHO is about right.

I am not seeing any indication that Guest Additions have been installed. Please follow the instructions in the user manual. You need the GAs for better graphics performance and features, plus things like shared folders.

Also the extension pack is not installed on the host, so nothing USB related will work (e.g. no video camera).

You have selected AC'97 audio, and VirtualBox seems to be setting up the simulation quite happily. So provided the guest has AC'97 drivers and is directed to the right output device, I think audio ought to be working.
fsbox6
Posts: 10
Joined: 31. Mar 2020, 21:00

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by fsbox6 »

OK, thanks for your prompt and patient responses. It's very impressive to see such responsive help as yours, for a free product. THANKS.

So:
- RAM back down to 4 GB (thanks for the tip, now I know)
- Put VM CPUs down to 2 ( out of 8 )
- Extension pack installed on MacOS host (sorry, I had not seen/understood that)

I am have a bit more trouble with the Guest Additions, being new to Linux :-( ... despite the manual. If you had a quick fix to help me out with this on PopOS (which corresponds to Ubuntu 19.10), I would be eternally grateful ;-) ... otherwise I will keep searching/trying (best way to learn and to get familiar with command line, I suppose...).

Thanks again!!
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by mpack »

I'm a very infrequent Linux user, so I don't have GAs tips at my fingertips. Look at the instructions in the user manual, section 4.2.2, and come back if you have specific questions about it.
fsbox6 wrote: - Put VM CPUs down to 2 ( out of 8 )
Your host does not have 8 CPUs. Your host has 1 CPU with 4 cores and 8 threads. That's according to Intel. The only number we care about in the VirtualBox context is cores, and how they are most fairly distributed between one host and one VM.
fsbox6
Posts: 10
Joined: 31. Mar 2020, 21:00

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by fsbox6 »

OK, thanks. (I have already investigated quite a bit (including the User Manual, various sections, but also instructions on various Linux websites) and I am stuck in my Linux system when I try to even mount the Guest Editions .iso/CD image or when I try to install virtualbox-guest-utils, virtualbox-guest-dkms and virtualbox-guest-x11 through terminal. I do understand Linux is not your main domain of expertise, and I shall try to get some help elsewhere if this description doesn't inspire you specifically.)

Only question regarding your explanations (I possibly didn't understand your previous message): would you think the guest editions are what's necessary to establish sufficient host-guest communication so the Linux guest can exploit the Mac hardware through MacOS (I don't know if I express myself correctly)?
Or should the audio/camera be working simply with the extension pack installed in MacOS/host?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by mpack »

The Guest Additions have no direct involvement with audio, but if we eliminate the CPU overhead of software graphics rendering then we may be able to pinpoint other reasons why audio-out might not be working.
fsbox6
Posts: 10
Joined: 31. Mar 2020, 21:00

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by fsbox6 »

Oh, OK, I understand. Last question then: this is the error I get when trying to mount the Guest Additions CD image:

--
Unable to insert the virtual optical disk /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso into the machine Linux PopOS.

Could not mount the media/drive '/Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso' (VERR_PDM_MEDIA_LOCKED).

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: ConsoleWrap
Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}
Callee: IMachine {85632c68-b5bb-4316-a900-5eb28d3413df}
--

Do you think this might have to do with the absence of "Kernel preparation" that's suggested in the User Manual (and which I have not been able to manage)? Sorry if the question seems absurd, remember I am starting out ;-) ...
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by mpack »

If you search the forums or Google for an error code such as VERR_PDM_MEDIA_LOCKED then you will usually find a description very quickly. In this case it's a Linux special: you can't insert a new CD because there's a disk in there already, mounted and locked (hence the error) probably the very same one you asked it to load. Most Linux distros will have "force eject" as an option on the error dialog. Or you can just browse to the CD inside Linux to confirm that the GAs CD is already mounted. Then follow the instructions to run the Linux GAs installer.
fsbox6
Posts: 10
Joined: 31. Mar 2020, 21:00

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by fsbox6 »

OK, great, thanks for this answer. I had seen the force eject option but didn‘t dare... I‘ll get back to you as soon as I have managed. Thanks again.
fsbox6
Posts: 10
Joined: 31. Mar 2020, 21:00

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by fsbox6 »

So I went into terminal as a root user (https://superuser.com/questions/760327/ ... dia-locked) and was told the guest additions were installed, then got feedback from the PopOS chat people who confirmed that it should be installed from what they could see. I am attaching my latest log... Is this helpful for the diagnosis? Speakers/microphone/camera still do not seem to work. Any further idea?
Attachments
Linux PopOS-2020-04-02-20-00-56.log.zip
(33.36 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: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by mpack »

00:00:21.090017 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 6.0.14 r132055 '6.0.14_Ubuntu'
00:00:21.090075 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Interface = 0x00010004 osType = 0x00053100 (Linux >= 2.6, 64-bit)
00:00:21.090191 VMMDev: Guest Additions capability report: (0x0 -> 0x0) seamless: no, hostWindowMapping: no, graphics: no
Those Guest Additions are from the Ubuntu fork of VirtualBox version 6.0.14. We don't support forks here, only the official version.

Your previous log definitely showed no GAs installed, so I don't understand how you followed the instructions in the user manual and yet managed to install the wrong software.
fsbox6
Posts: 10
Joined: 31. Mar 2020, 21:00

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by fsbox6 »

Could it be that the installed guest additions are from the fork since they are the ones offered through the (Guest-)Ubuntu (PopOS) app shop? (See my very first post)

I understand that ideally I follow the user manual, but I get stuck because of the above mentioned difficulties in the Linux environment and my (regrettable, I can understand) lack of experience I suppose...

I have tried to find a solution and found these instructions https://superuser.com/questions/760327/ ... dia-locked and try to mount a CD-ROM, as root, I get this feedback from terminal when I try to install guest additions:

This system appears to have a version of the VirtualBox Guest Additions
already installed. If it is part of the operating system and kept up-to-date,
there is most likely no need to replace it. If it is not up-to-date, you
should get a notification when you start the system. If you wish to replace
it with this version, please do not continue with this installation now, but
instead remove the current version first, following the instructions for the
operating system.

If your system simply has the remains of a version of the Additions you could
not remove you should probably continue now, and these will be removed during
installation.


I did not continue, but maybe I should. Do you think you could give me an opinion about the strategy proposed here https://superuser.com/questions/760327/ ... dia-locked before I do anything silly?
(I would have to find out how to properly remove the GAs, too...)

I understand that this link is not the User Manual, but see above. If you think it's not a good approach, how do you think I could best get help regarding the Linux aspects of VirtualBox?

Thanks again!!
fsbox6
Posts: 10
Joined: 31. Mar 2020, 21:00

Re: MacOS Mojave Host (Linux "Ubuntu" (PopOS) Guest) - cannot activate audio input/output or camera

Post by fsbox6 »

Hello mpack, I took some time to get back to you because I am doing this in my spare time in the evenings and work got a bit busy, sorry.

(I am keeping this in the same thread since I am not sure how the different problems are related, but: in response to your recent attempts to help me get through my issues, I have struggled my way through not being able to mount the guest additions iso file, then not being able to access it... I finally managed, so I uninstalled the "guest additions" that I had found as "drivers" in the Ubuntu/PopOS app "shop". Everything seemed fine. I then used the following procedure I found on askubuntu https://askubuntu.com/questions/80341/u ... -win7-host:
In Virtualbox, I clicked on Devices -> Install Guest Additions
In my PopOS terminal, I did the following:
sudo mkdir --p /media/cdrom
sudo mount -t auto /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom/
cd /media/cdrom/
sudo sh VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
This appears to have done it, since for the first time I have been able to add the internal camera of the iMac to the devices of the Machine.)

However... I am now completely stuck: the virtual machine starts up, I decrypt the virtual disk (PopOS encrypts by default at installation), get to the login page. I can select my user name and put my password in. All that is perfectly visible on the guest screen. Alternatively, I can power off the system on that login screen (which is what I did to generate the log that I attached).

As soon as login is done, however, the guest screen does not respond anymore...
- I can get keyboard commands in (e.g. enter the password for my University's Owncloud system that automatically starts up) although I do not see what/when I type ; I can press "cmd"-S to make the open windows and workspaces, but I can only see the changes/reactions of the guest screen when I click on the host VirtualBox window (and then return to the guest window).
- In the host VirtualBox window, the preview screen remains black at all times.
- I don't know if mouse clicks are received, but clicked at various spots (I don't see the cursor) to attempt to close a window or select something but without any effect.

I am not sure this explanation is perfectly clear, but in summary: keyboard commands are received by the guest, and no changes can be seen on the screen of the guest system until I click on the Machine in the host-VirtualBox window (which allows the guest screen to update to its current state). This makes the system totally inaccessible to me.

(In between, I updated VirtualBox to the latest version, including updating the extension packs).

Do you see anything in the log that could help me get out of this?
Attachments
Linux PopOS-2020-04-16-23-40-22.log.zip
(32.7 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
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