hostmemorylow - host memory low

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
davidhamond
Posts: 1
Joined: 28. Sep 2010, 00:58
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows Server 2008 - 64 bit

hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by davidhamond »

Base system:
Windows 7 (64 bit) box with 12 Gig of RAM, 6 core 980X processor.
Virtual Box 3.2.8 installed. Under the "System" - "Base Memory" section of the VB instance (Win Server 2008 - 64 bit) I can put 5009 MB and it works fine ... when I go to 5010 or beyond I get:

Error ID: HostMemoryLow
Severity: Non-Fatal Error (but really, it is fatal since it won't go beyond that point)

My Win 7 OS and programs are using about 2 to 3 GIG (in general) which leaves about 9 gig available.

Ugh, any suggestions? - Thanks!
squall leonhart
Posts: 312
Joined: 21. Apr 2010, 10:39
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, 8, 10, Android x86

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by squall leonhart »

usually means a driver or dll has locked memory at or beyond this point.
johnnyabc
Posts: 4
Joined: 27. Nov 2010, 01:15
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 2003

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by johnnyabc »

My host system is Windows 7 64-bit with 6GB physical memory.

I'm encountering the same message when I attempt to install Windows 2003 x32 in a Virtualbox environment at 2GB Ram or 3GB ram. The system pauses before the virtual instance is formatted and I can't proceed. If I use 512mb however, I can do a full Windows 2003 install and access the new desktop. If I turn off the instance, change the settings to 2GB ram, the virtual instance pauses during the boot.

Alternatively, when I used Windows Virtual PC, I can do a full install of Windows 2003 using 3GB ram. Then, if I attach the VPC instance to Virtual Box, it continues to work 3GB memory assigned.

My current process is to create the instance in VPC, and switch it over VBox (because VBox performance otherwise is so much better). Is there something I can do to install Windows 2003 in VirtualBox?
Sasquatch
Volunteer
Posts: 17798
Joined: 17. Mar 2008, 13:41
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Windows 7, Linux
Location: /dev/random

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by Sasquatch »

You all have plenty of physical RAM left to do what you want to do? The error would only come up if you are actually running out of RAM. But it's odd that on a system that didn't change, VPC can use 3 GB, but VB can't. Maybe it allocates memory differently too, I don't know. But keep task manager running on the performance tab to monitor memory consumption.
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johnnyabc
Posts: 4
Joined: 27. Nov 2010, 01:15
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 2003

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by johnnyabc »

An update. After a fresh reboot of the system, when I use Virtualbox to start the VPC-built instance I once again get the hostmemorylow error and the system pauses. If I try Virtual PC at this point, the VPC-built instance fails with an error indicating too many host system processes are being used.

If I reboot my host system, then use VirtualPC to start up the VPC-built instance. It loads fine. If I then shut VirtualPC down and restart the same VPC-Built instance using VirtualBox, the VPC file loads with no issues.

I have plenty of RAM (6GB) in my host system and while the virtual instances do run, I can run several other concurrent applications with no issues. Task manager doesn't show any problems.

It seems that the issue is with Virtualbox's initial allocation of the memory if it runs after a reboot. Pre-running VPC before Virtualbox seems to allow Virtualbox to run a an instance with 3GB RAM fine.
johnnyabc
Posts: 4
Joined: 27. Nov 2010, 01:15
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 2003

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by johnnyabc »

Well. I'm pretty much stuck now trying to get a 3GB 64-bit Windows OS guest running in a Virtual environment on Windows 7 with 6GB RAM.

Virtualbox gives me this hostmemorylow error and pauses on any instance I create that is more an about a GB of RAM.
Virtual PC won't support 64-bit guests.
VMWare gives a message that there's an inconsistancy reading the vdmk file for virtual machines over about a GB of RAM.

The issues with Virtualbox and VMWare seem to be common for others, so I've ruled out hardware. I also tried cachset (mentioned in another post) to no benefit.

I'd like to be able to use Virtualbox for this. Any suggestions?
00:00:18.976 PGM: Failed to procure handy pages; rc=VERR_NO_MEMORY rcAlloc=VINF_SUCCESS rcSeed=VINF_SUCCESS cHandyPages=0x8
00:00:18.976 cAllPages=0x81444 cPrivatePages=0x56fc0 cSharedPages=0x0 cZeroPages=0x2a460
00:00:18.976 GMM: Statistics:
00:00:18.976 Allocated pages: 55bc4
00:00:18.976 Maximum pages: 8009c
00:00:18.976 Ballooned pages: 0
00:00:18.979 PGM: Failed to procure handy pages; rc=VERR_NO_MEMORY rcAlloc=VINF_SUCCESS rcSeed=VINF_SUCCESS cHandyPages=0x8
00:00:18.979 cAllPages=0x81444 cPrivatePages=0x56fc0 cSharedPages=0x0 cZeroPages=0x2a460
00:00:18.979 GMM: Statistics:
00:00:18.979 Allocated pages: 55bc4
00:00:18.979 Maximum pages: 8009c
00:00:18.979 Ballooned pages: 0
00:00:18.979 VM: Raising runtime error 'HostMemoryLow' (fFlags=0x2)
00:00:18.979 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'SUSPENDING'.
00:00:19.024 Changing the VM state from 'SUSPENDING' to 'SUSPENDED'.
00:00:19.033 Console: VM runtime error: fatal=false, errorID=HostMemoryLow message="Unable to allocate and lock memory. The virtual machine will be paused. Please close applications to free up memory or close the VM"
00:03:04.130 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_INVALID_VM_STATE (0x80bb0002) aIID={6375231a-c17c-464b-92cb-ae9e128d71c3} aComponent={Console} aText={Invalid machine state Paused when checking if the guest entered the ACPI mode)} aWarning=false, preserve=false
gwaddell-ADPBusiness
Posts: 7
Joined: 26. Jan 2012, 18:56
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: windows 7

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by gwaddell-ADPBusiness »

I'm having the same issue on a Toshiba laptop running Windows 7 64 bit with 6GB Ram. If I try to run a VM with over 1024MB RAM, I get the error. If I try to Run two machines of 1 GB concurrently I get the same error on the second machine to boot up.

Running the VMBox on it's own with no VM running and the normal outlook etc running in the background, task Manager puts Memory usuage at 1.62 GB So I would have thought that the other 4.3 GB or so I had would be able to run a VM with over 1 GB RAM!!! I have a Quad Core processor that is sitting at about 1% usuage :(

I have version of VMbox 4.1.8 r75467
gwaddell-ADPBusiness
Posts: 7
Joined: 26. Jan 2012, 18:56
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: windows 7

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by gwaddell-ADPBusiness »

Hi, I have a solution, well it worked for me....

I had read other forum posts about ensuring hardware virtualisation was enabled and I checked on my machine and it was. BUT I went back into the BIOS and double checked and although it was enabled, it was only enabled for something called VT-A I changed this setting to one that said VT-A & VT-D supported and now not only can I run over a 1 GB Ram guest, I can run a 2GB ram guest and a 1GB ram guest concurrently too.
marcanddonna
Posts: 1
Joined: 1. Feb 2012, 02:29
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by marcanddonna »

I am also running into this problem. Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on a Toshiba laptop with 6 GB physical memory.
VirtualBox 4.1.8 installed. Tried to create a VM with 2 GB memory and install Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on the VM.
The Windows installer gets part-way through, then the VM hangs with an "out of host memory" error.
The log shows:
00:01:07.191 PGM: Failed to procure handy pages; rc=VERR_NO_MEMORY rcAlloc=VINF_SUCCESS rcSeed=VINF_SUCCESS cHandyPages=0x8
00:01:07.191 cAllPages=0x67e4b cPrivatePages=0x58f91 cSharedPages=0x0 cZeroPages=0xee91
I am attaching the log file to this message.

I saw the message about checking to ensure that hardware virtualization support is enabled in the BIOS--it is (VT-x for Intel processors).

It does seem to work with 1 GB of memory, although I want to use more so I can effectively run Oracle and OBIEE in the VM.

I did not see this in the BugTracker as a known defect.

(Additional information: I tried it on my desktop machine--AMD Athlon II X2 processor, 4 GB physical memory--and was able to create a 2 GB virtual machine with no trouble. The laptop had close to 4 GB physical memory free when I tried to create the 2 GB VM.)

Suggestions for dealing with this problem would be very welcome.
Attachments
VBox.log
(48.75 KiB) Downloaded 392 times
AtlantaRene
Posts: 3
Joined: 3. Feb 2012, 00:34
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Fedora 10

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by AtlantaRene »

I too had the problem outlined above. I am running Windows 7 64 bit host OS (with all the latest patches and the latest nVidia drivers), my guest OS is a build of Fedora. I am getting the errors as outlined in the first post on this thread. My system had 5GB of RAM. I finally decided to pull out my extra memory to reduce my memory to 4GB of RAM. It resolved my problem. I was wondering if others on this thread could confirm the behavior.

I suspect it is a mathematical problem (e.g. int32 vs. int64 or signed vs. unsigned) related to the amount of free RAM in the host OS at the time the guest OS is launched. (Just a theory)

I have attached a zip file containing my before and after vbox.log if the developer need to research the issue.

Regards,

Rene
Attachments
before-after.zip
before-after-vbox.log.zip
(27.16 KiB) Downloaded 246 times
HelgeK
Posts: 1
Joined: 12. Mar 2012, 14:07

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by HelgeK »

I also have the problem that VirtualBox somehow cannot use memory that is available. My OS is Windows 7 x64 with 8 GB RAM. I cannot start a second virtual machine although Task Manager reports 4273 MB as "available" and 2592 as "free". The VM I am trying to start is configured with 1792 MB RAM.

I have attached the files vbox.log and vbox.png, copied at the time the error message was displayed.
Attachments
VBox.png
VBox.png (2.01 KiB) Viewed 35116 times
VBox.log
(49.47 KiB) Downloaded 171 times
Bikky
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. May 2012, 11:21

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by Bikky »

Any solutions on this yet?
VBOX 4.1.8 r75467
Recognises all 6GB RAM

Host Win7 pro x64
6GB RAM
Intel Core 2 Duo (4core)

For months I've ran 2 guests on this simultaneously with no issues.
g1
win7 pro x86
1gb RAM

g2
winxp pro x86
768 RAM

Now suddenly when I try to start the xp guest i get host out of memory. There have been no system updates or oracle updates for at least 2 weeks. Last week when used all was well. My system is currently only using 3.2GB RAM with 1 guest running, when the 2nd guest loads it goes no higher than 4.3GB in use. I stupidly deleted the xp image as I thought it was an image problem and can't re-intsall for the exact same reason.

Current attempt when g1 running, g2 with DSL on 256ram loads, g2 to install an os with 678ram, total host ram in use reaches 3.7gb still fails.
Bikky
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. May 2012, 11:21

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by Bikky »

update, when i try guest 2 at 512 ram it fails.

*edit* upgraded to 4.1.14 and still have the issue.... but with DSL pre-installed and ram upped to 512 and 1gig its fine.
Bikky
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. May 2012, 11:21

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by Bikky »

I've since discovered I can use any combination of 1 or more guests as long as the total assigned memory is less than 1325mb.

1 guest on 1330mb crashes,
1 guest on 1320mb works
2 guests or more on 1330mb or more 2nd one to load crashes
2 guests or more on 1320mb or less and all work fine.
silvest
Posts: 1
Joined: 9. May 2012, 12:58

Re: hostmemorylow - host memory low

Post by silvest »

AtlantaRene wrote:I too had the problem outlined above. I am running Windows 7 64 bit host OS (with all the latest patches and the latest nVidia drivers), my guest OS is a build of Fedora. I am getting the errors as outlined in the first post on this thread. My system had 5GB of RAM. I finally decided to pull out my extra memory to reduce my memory to 4GB of RAM. It resolved my problem. I was wondering if others on this thread could confirm the behavior.

I suspect it is a mathematical problem (e.g. int32 vs. int64 or signed vs. unsigned) related to the amount of free RAM in the host OS at the time the guest OS is launched. (Just a theory)

I have attached a zip file containing my before and after vbox.log if the developer need to research the issue.

Regards,

Rene
I can confirm this behavior. I have been running smoothly with the default 4GB ram, then added an extra 4GB and started incurring in the problem.
I also attach the log hoping that a solution can be found by the developers.

Regards,
Luca
Attachments
VBoxSVC.log
(6.39 KiB) Downloaded 194 times
Locked