[VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
AllenL
Posts: 39
Joined: 9. Sep 2010, 11:29
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: WinXP

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by AllenL »

Hi FB2000,
AllenL wrote:Hi,

I am running two WinXP guest on XP host for 1-2 weeks already. I use the VBoxVmService to start the machine every morning when the physical PC is started. I noticed that one of the VMs is not starting up properly every once in awhile. There was a time when it did not startup and I issued the stop command from VBoxVmService and opened it with VBox GUI (I guess in saved state or whatever state is was in). In the GUI, this guest did not boot so I forced the shutoff of the machine and restarted it and which it did.

I used the "savestate" function with the VBoxVmService instead of "poweroff". Does issuing the savestate function cause the non-startup of this guest VM?
Since I'm running multiple VMs, I think I had my delays a bit short (ie. 5s) which might have caused this particular VM to crash. Will have to extend the delay.
FB2000 wrote:Hi AllenL,

I think you misunderstood the parameter PauseShutdown. It's not the pause before initiate shutdown, but the pause after shutdown is initiated.

For version 2.0 (Red Dragon) and earlier, VM1 will start to shutdown, then waits for 10 secs, then VM0 starts to shutdown, then waits for 5 secs, then service shutdown. But we have a problem for this solution, there is a hard limit on how long a windows service can wait before system reboots. That means if there are multiple VMs all configured to wait for several seconds, some of them might not even get a chance to initiate shutdown before service was forced to shutdown.

This has already been corrected. Please see my reply to andrea at http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 10#p154773. This change is not released yet but you could checkout from svn to use it.
Yes I did misunderstand :lol: Reading between the lines, you mentioned that the PauseShutdown is now global. However, in the VmServiceControl configuration file, there are still PauseShutdown for every VM. Does this mean that we have to place the same value on this parameter for all VMs? Is there a maximum delay time that we can only put here (ex. 60000 possible)?

I'm a bit confused with your statement above. You mentioned that this problem was already corrected but at the end of yor message, you mentioned that: "This change is not released yet but you could checkout from svn to use it." Does this mean that the Red Dragon version I downloaded has not been corrected for global PauseShutdown yet?

Sorry for the ignorance but can you tell me what you mean by "svn"? :( Thanks!
FB2000
Posts: 92
Joined: 10. Sep 2009, 13:27
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: CentOS

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by FB2000 »

AllenL wrote:I'm a bit confused with your statement above. You mentioned that this problem was already corrected but at the end of yor message, you mentioned that: "This change is not released yet but you could checkout from svn to use it." Does this mean that the Red Dragon version I downloaded has not been corrected for global PauseShutdown yet?

Sorry for the ignorance but can you tell me what you mean by "svn"? :( Thanks!
That's exactly what I mean. The change is not in Red Dragon version and will be part of next official release. If you want to use it now, you'll have to download the latest codes (binary also included). And svn is where the codes were kept. You can find a link to svn at http://sourceforge.net/projects/vboxvmservice/develop.
FB2000
Posts: 92
Joined: 10. Sep 2009, 13:27
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: CentOS

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by FB2000 »

bjorn.stenborg wrote:I'm having trouble getting my machine started. I'm running Win7 x64.
...
Any ideas?
I am running Win7 x64, too and I don't have problem like that. Is that possible VBOX_USER_HOME variable is set to wrong path, or the folder pointed by VBOX_USER_HOME is not accessible by local system user (that the VBoxVmService runs as)?

Best regard, FB2000
zuikway
Posts: 3
Joined: 18. Aug 2010, 14:21
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by zuikway »

AllenL wrote:Hi FB2000,
...Sorry for the ignorance but can you tell me what you mean by "svn"? :( Thanks!
SVN is subversion, a software source control. ...
EDIT: see https://sourceforge.net/scm/?type=svn&group_id=219058
larsen
Posts: 32
Joined: 14. Oct 2010, 13:56
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Win, Debian

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by larsen »

Hi,

I am able to start my VM with vboxmanage startvm atl-estos, but it does not work from VBoxVmService as I get "ERROR: Could not find a registered machine named 'atl-estos'".

My ini:

Code: Select all

[Settings]
ServiceName=VBoxVmService
VBOX_USER_HOME=C:\Users\administrator\.VirtualBox

[Vm0]
VmName=atl-estos
WorkingDir=C:\Program Files\VBoxVmService\vms
ShutdownMethod=poweroff
VrdpPort=3390
PauseShutdown=5000
What could be the problem?

Edit:
VirtualBox 3.2.10
VBoxVmService 2.0
zuikway
Posts: 3
Joined: 18. Aug 2010, 14:21
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by zuikway »

I am able to start my VM with vboxmanage startvm atl-estos, but it does not work from VBoxVmService as I get "ERROR: Could not find a registered machine named 'atl-estos'".
did you type "VBoxVmService.exe -i" or "VmServiceControl -i" to install the service? The first one will give you this error, the latter is the correct way to install. (Don't ask me how I know.) Once installed, I have found that starting the service from the management console does not always work. Rebooting the computer is sometimes necessary. The VM service seems fragile at times, and seems to be a VirtualBox issue, not this software. Also, if the VM machine crashes, there is no way to know. Some linux file systems will do a file system check, or check every so many boots. I have seen this cause problems, or if the VM does not shutdown properly.
mattz
Posts: 95
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Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by mattz »

FB2000 wrote: ...
For version 2.0 (Red Dragon) and earlier, VM1 will start to shutdown, then waits for 10 secs, then VM0 starts to shutdown, then waits for 5 secs, then service shutdown. But we have a problem for this solution, there is a hard limit on how long a windows service can wait before system reboots. That means if there are multiple VMs all configured to wait for several seconds, some of them might not even get a chance to initiate shutdown before service was forced to shutdown.

This has already been corrected. Please see my reply to andrea at http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 10#p154773. This change is not released yet but you could checkout from svn to use it.
Just FYI:

- The VBoxVmService SVN is hosted at sourceforge.net.
- Read-Only access to the latest development versions is granted via: https://vboxvmservice.svn.sourceforge.n ... vmservice/
- You are welcome to try the latest development builds.
- Please note: Since these are work-in-progress files, we will not be providing any support for those builds!

Cheers, mattz
AllenL
Posts: 39
Joined: 9. Sep 2010, 11:29
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: WinXP

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by AllenL »

Hello All,

I have been encountering this message from the VmServiceControl log:

ERROR: The machine is not mutable (state is Saved)
Details: code VBOX_E_INVALID_VM_STATE (0x80bb0002), component Machine, interface IMachine, callee IUnknown
Context: "COMSETTER(Ports)(Bstr(ValueUnion.psz))" at line 1862 of file VBoxManageModifyVM.cpp
Oracle VM VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.2.8
(C) 2005-2010 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

Waiting for the VM to power on...
ERROR: The VM session was closed before any attempt to power it on
Details: code E_FAIL (0x80004005), component Machine, interface ISession, callee


Would appreciate what these errors mean and what I did to get this error. The machine did not startup using the -su command of VmServiceControl from a powered off state (powered off from VBox GUI). Thanks.

BTW, thanks for the earlier replies. I would rather wait for the next official release :mrgreen:
larsen
Posts: 32
Joined: 14. Oct 2010, 13:56
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Win, Debian

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by larsen »

zuikway wrote:did you type "VBoxVmService.exe -i" or "VmServiceControl -i" to install the service?
I used "VmServiceControl -i" as stated in the howto.txt. The service is installed and started.

Also, the variable is set correctly:
VBOX_USER_HOME=C:\Users\administrator\.VirtualBox

Any ideas?
larsen
Posts: 32
Joined: 14. Oct 2010, 13:56
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Win, Debian

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by larsen »

Hmm... the default Windows solution worked: reboot.
I noticed a VBoxSVC.exe process that was running though neither the VBoxVmService nor the VirtualBox GUI was running.

After rebooting, I started the VBoxVmService and the VM was started. Though, the vboxheadless process caused 100% cpu load at the beginning and around 50% after some minutes. The machine is an Intel Xeon 3GHz, 8gb RAM, Windows 2008 Server, 64bit. Same problem with VirtualBox Control Service (http://vu1tur.eu.org/vboxctrl).
larsen
Posts: 32
Joined: 14. Oct 2010, 13:56
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Win, Debian

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by larsen »

AllenL wrote:ERROR: The machine is not mutable (state is Saved)


I guess you have used "savestate" to end the VM, but you have to use "poweroff".

You can try it manually with these commands:
"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" controlvm <VMname> savestate
"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" controlvm <VMname> poweroff

"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" startvm <VMname>
larsen
Posts: 32
Joined: 14. Oct 2010, 13:56
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Win, Debian

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by larsen »

larsen wrote:Though, the vboxheadless process caused 100% cpu load at the beginning and around 50% after some minutes.
Seems to be normal. CPU load was down again after some minutes. VBoxVmService now seems to work without problems. Thx a lot for that program!
AllenL
Posts: 39
Joined: 9. Sep 2010, 11:29
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: WinXP

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by AllenL »

Hello larsen,
larsen wrote:
AllenL wrote:ERROR: The machine is not mutable (state is Saved)


I guess you have used "savestate" to end the VM, but you have to use "poweroff".

You can try it manually with these commands:
"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" controlvm <VMname> savestate
"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" controlvm <VMname> poweroff

"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" startvm <VMname>


I did use the savestate function based on earlier thread's recommendation over "poweroff" on an XP OS (unable to post it here; see Sep 17, 2010 reply by FB2000). I understand from those threads that a poweroff instruction is like pulling the plug of a PC and not the elegant way of shutting down a PC via software which makes the VM more vunerable to getting corrupted?

I wish I am able to read the source codes and understand how the service works but as it is today, I am no longer literate in software programming :lol: . I have conflicting feedbacks from yourself and FB2000 so any explanation would be appreciated. Thanks!
zuikway
Posts: 3
Joined: 18. Aug 2010, 14:21
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora

Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by zuikway »

I too have been experiencing problems with 'poweroff' on XP. I was attempting to run a very small linux, (ttylinux) which uses ext2 file system and is not very robust with respect to pulling the plug. This reminds me of similar problems with embedded linux boards that must tolerate pulling the power plug. Following embedded system or LiveCD techniques, such as readonly file system, run from ram disk, use jffs2 or other tolerant file systems, etc. will improve the VM as service.
larsen
Posts: 32
Joined: 14. Oct 2010, 13:56
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
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Re: [VBoxVmService] -> Discussion & Support

Post by larsen »

AllenL wrote:I have conflicting feedbacks from yourself and FB2000 so any explanation would be appreciated. Thanks!
Then take FB2000 one´s. I just started using VirtualBox and thought that would be the "normal" way =)
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