Execution state gets lost

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
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f.gruber
Posts: 24
Joined: 16. May 2007, 23:00
Primary OS: openSUSE
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Puppy Linux, Ubuntu, Suse, Elementary OS
Location: Bad Schallerbach

Execution state gets lost

Post by f.gruber »

Hi,
after restarting the VirtualBox GUI the Execution state of the Virtual Machine (WindowsXP) gets lost.

I can close the VM session using the option to save the current state of the VM. The VM is in "Save State" status. Double Clicking in the VirtualBox Window reopens the Guest quickly as expected.

But when I close the VirtualBox GUI and restart it some minutes later, I detect that the status of the VM has changed from "Saved State" to "Switched off".

When I close the VirtualBox GUI and restart it at once, then the status does not change.

I suppose that this happens after I have updated VirtualBox to version 3.1.2

Host is Suse 11.2 with KDE 4.3
Guest is WindowsXP
Freundliche Grüße
Ferdinand Gruber
fousoleil
Posts: 1
Joined: 21. Jan 2010, 09:01
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: xp

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by fousoleil »

I am experiencing the same problem, the saved state is not retained and after a while guest VMs shows a "powered off" status and the guest OS has to be restarted.
This also started to happen after i upgraded to 3.1.2
wonder if this can be looked at.
Thank you

PS: not using virtual box on Linux host.
ive replied to this post after a search
f.gruber
Posts: 24
Joined: 16. May 2007, 23:00
Primary OS: openSUSE
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Puppy Linux, Ubuntu, Suse, Elementary OS
Location: Bad Schallerbach

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by f.gruber »

Thank you for your comment.

May be, we have to wait for the next update ...
Freundliche Grüße
Ferdinand Gruber
rjk
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jan 2010, 23:42
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, DSL (guest addidtions don't work), Fedora, Ubuntu

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by rjk »

Same thing here, I was wondering what was going on. I figured it might be a "feature", and would require that a snapshot be saved every time I shut down a guest machine. However that just seems stupid, the changes should be persistent. :evil:

Here is a portion of my logs that seems relevant:

Code: Select all

00:29:25.651 ***
00:29:25.651 ************** End of Guest state at power off ***************
00:29:25.680 Changing the VM state from 'POWERING_OFF' to 'OFF'.
00:29:25.680 Console::powerDown(): A request to power off the VM has been issued (mMachineState=Stopping, InUninit=0)
00:29:25.696 SharedFolders host service: disconnected, u32ClientID = 1
00:29:25.707 Changing the VM state from 'OFF' to 'DESTROYING'.
00:29:25.707 ************************* Statistics *************************
00:29:25.707 /Devices/IDE0/ATA0/Unit0/AtapiDMA        0 times
00:29:25.707 /Devices/IDE0/ATA0/Unit0/AtapiPIO        0 times
00:29:25.707 /Devices/IDE0/ATA0/Unit0/DMA        18631 times
...snip...
00:29:25.708 /TM/VirtualSync/CurrentOffset           0 ns
00:29:25.708 /VUSB/0/cUrbsInPool                     0 count
00:29:25.708 /VUSB/1/cUrbsInPool                     0 count
00:29:25.708 ********************* End of statistics **********************
00:29:25.717 Changing the VM state from 'DESTROYING' to 'TERMINATED'.
But I never asked that it be destroyed :shock: :shock: :shock: :cry: :cry: :cry: :evil: :evil: :evil:

It seems to destroy any time the machine has been powered off, however a snapshot that is saved after poweroff contains all the changes. Somehow, even after destroying may current state, if I then go and save a snapshot, the current state is saved in the snapshot. However, if I power the machine on without saving a snapshot, the destroyed state is eliminated, as you might expect. Very confusing.

EDIT: Forgot to note, Host machine is Windows 7 x64, Clients are XP Pro/Home, but it doesn't seem to matter what the client is, the issue happens on any client with differencing disks/saved states.
hasinasi
Posts: 3
Joined: 23. Jan 2010, 23:57
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 2003, Windows XP

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by hasinasi »

Same problem here. HOST: Kubuntu 9.10 Karmic (32bit), using KDE 4.4 RC2. HOST: Win 2003
hasinasi
Posts: 3
Joined: 23. Jan 2010, 23:57
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 2003, Windows XP

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by hasinasi »

OK, in my case this was cause by a non-standard position of the snapshot files. See here for more details:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... ed#p121027.
I posted there how I fixed it. Seems to apply for all kinds of hosts.
rjk
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jan 2010, 23:42
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, DSL (guest addidtions don't work), Fedora, Ubuntu

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by rjk »

hasinasi wrote:OK, in my case this was cause by a non-standard position of the snapshot files. See here for more details:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... ed#p121027.
I posted there how I fixed it. Seems to apply for all kinds of hosts.
I have never changed the location of my snapshot files, they are in the default directory. What is so unusual to me, is that if it shut down the guest(s), and then start them back up, the execution state is lost. However, rebooting the machine does not cause this to happen! Furthermore, saving the state of the machine works fine (not using a new snapshot everytime, but specifically saving the execution state), but not just plain old shutting the guest down. :evil: :? :? :?
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GU d s+:++ a-- C++ !U P L+ E? W+(++) N o? !K? w O?
!M !V PS? PE? Y PGP !t !5 !X !R !tv b+ DI(+) !D G
e h! !r !y+
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
MarkCranness
Volunteer
Posts: 875
Joined: 10. Oct 2009, 06:27
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows Server 2008 R2; Ubuntu 11.04; Windows 2000 Server; Windows XP

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by MarkCranness »

You haven't left your virtual hard disk as immutable by any chance?
Use Virtual Media Manager (menu File>Virtual Media Manager) to examine each virtual hard disk (expand the tree).
Do any say: 'Immutable' in the info area at the bottom?
rjk
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jan 2010, 23:42
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, DSL (guest addidtions don't work), Fedora, Ubuntu

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by rjk »

That is exactly the case, because apparently I understood the concept of immutable incorrectly. See http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/6069#comment:2 for details.
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GU d s+:++ a-- C++ !U P L+ E? W+(++) N o? !K? w O?
!M !V PS? PE? Y PGP !t !5 !X !R !tv b+ DI(+) !D G
e h! !r !y+
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
MarkCranness
Volunteer
Posts: 875
Joined: 10. Oct 2009, 06:27
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows Server 2008 R2; Ubuntu 11.04; Windows 2000 Server; Windows XP

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by MarkCranness »

You can prevent the differencing hard disk being removed/refreshed deleted at each VM startup with a command line tweak.

Find the {hexUUID}.vdi file associated with the 'Current State', using instructions here: Cloning a VM with multiple snapshots, then:

Code: Select all

"%VBOX_INSTALL_PATH%VirtualBox.exe" modifyhd <UUID> --autoreset off
(Replace <UUID> with the VDI UUID, no {}, no <> characters). See sections 5.4.3 and 8.18 and 8.2 of the user manual (it is a lot of bouncing around the manual to find the correct syntax!)

Also see here: VMs sharing a base hard disk
Also see here: Updating a shared base hard disk
 
rjk
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jan 2010, 23:42
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, DSL (guest addidtions don't work), Fedora, Ubuntu

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by rjk »

Thank you very much, I will try that immediately and post the results. I wonder if the manual could be better if it wasn't in .chm format...? Even a PDF would be nice because of the more powerful search tools in acrobat.

If all goes well and I can find the time for it, where is the best place to post a complete tutorial (or is there one already? I couldn't find it :oops: )?
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GU d s+:++ a-- C++ !U P L+ E? W+(++) N o? !K? w O?
!M !V PS? PE? Y PGP !t !5 !X !R !tv b+ DI(+) !D G
e h! !r !y+
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
MarkCranness
Volunteer
Posts: 875
Joined: 10. Oct 2009, 06:27
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows Server 2008 R2; Ubuntu 11.04; Windows 2000 Server; Windows XP

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by MarkCranness »

rjk wrote:Even a PDF would be nice...
Windows' Start menu > Sun VirtualBox > User manual (English) ...
rjk
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jan 2010, 23:42
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, DSL (guest addidtions don't work), Fedora, Ubuntu

Re: Execution state gets lost

Post by rjk »

MarkCranness wrote:
rjk wrote:Even a PDF would be nice...
Windows' Start menu > Sun VirtualBox > User manual (English) ...
Weird... not on my start menu... but since you mention that it should be there, I went hunting in the program directory, and whaddya know, there it is.
Thanks again for the help.
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GU d s+:++ a-- C++ !U P L+ E? W+(++) N o? !K? w O?
!M !V PS? PE? Y PGP !t !5 !X !R !tv b+ DI(+) !D G
e h! !r !y+
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
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