Direct3D Acceleration not working on Guest Windows XP

[agamemnon]

I have a Guest Windows XP on Virtual Box 6.1.4r136177 (Qt5.6.2) running on a Windows 7 system.

The VM has VBoxVGA as graphics controller, 256MB of Display Video Memory and 3D Acceleration is checked in the Display Settings for the VM.

When installing the Guest Additions in the Guest Windows XP it is not possible to check the Direct 3D Support check box as the check box itself is greyed out. The text for the check box is black in colour.

HOW can I get Direct3D to work on my system?? I have tried yo install the guest additions in safe mode on the Guest Windows XP system but that did nothing new. The check box was still greyed out.

[scottgus1]

Virtualbox had the 'VboxVGA' video card that they have used for years. The 3D acceleration for this card had a security hole wide enough to march a parade through.

So starting in 6.0.x the devs released two new 'video cards', VboxSVGA for Windows, and VMSVGA for Linux, etc. In 6.1.x the 3D acceleration system was changed to only work on the VboxSVGA and VMSVGA, not the old VboxVGA anymore. And the 6.1.x 3D acceleration drivers in Guest Additions will only work on Windows 7 or greater.

So to have 3D acceleration in XP you must run 6.0.x or earlier, using the VboxVGA card (note no S). And run the same version of Guest Additions for maximum 3D compatibility. (You might have to go back to 5.2.x)

[agamemnon]

Thanks for the answer. That both explained the problem and gave me a way to fix it

It works as intended now with VirtualBox 5.2.40.

[scottgus1]

Very good, glad you're up and running!

[TekLord]

I also need 3D Graphics for the maintenance of a VB6 application.
I followed the instructions above and was able to get the guest OS (XP) to work on 6.0.24.

The 3D graphics appear to work within the VB6 editor. However, when I exit VB6 I receive the error shown in the image below. This only happens if I actually access the 3D libraries in the VB6 development environment. The error doesn't seem to cause any problems. I am hopeful that Virtualbox will reinstate 3D support for XP in future updates.

2021-03-10_9-04-58.jpg (18.81 KiB) Viewed 1372 times

[BillG]

I would not hold my breath waiting for any changes to the way XP works in VirtualBox.