ERROR_SUCCESS when importing OVA applicance

[WarpinWolf]

Hi,

I'm trying to import this image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ns3n47gewrbnh ... 00.9.3.ova

Slightly over 2GB. When importing I get above mentioned ERROR_SUCCESS (0x00000000).

I rename the ova to ZIP and open ZIP file. I see: a VDMK file with a size of -1,949,782,528 (NEGATIVE!).

Q: how to fix this?

(Export from 4.2.16, import to 4.3.6)

I did search for ERROR_SUCCESS, OVA ERROR, NEGATIVE SIZE etc but didn't find anything yet....

Thanks
Wolf

[mpack]

Looks like a red herring. What tool did you use to examine the ZIP? Chances are that it doesn't like seeing files with sizes >2GB, as that requires unsigned 32bit fields.

p.s. Are you sure it was even a zip file? Last I heard, an OVA isn't zip, it's a tar archive, possibly compressed.

Have you checked whether the VM exists after this "error"? I ask because a result code of 0 usually indicates success, and of course it says - "success".

[WarpinWolf]

I have seen somewhere on the web that OVA is ZIP... I don't know. Renamed the file and opened (tool: filzip).

VM has NOT been created.

I like the notion of an ERROR_SUCCESS though

I will double check whether the image maybe has an export corruption or something similar this evening...

[WarpinWolf]

BTW - when I open the OVA (as ZIP) there are two files inside - the VMDK and an OVF file - contains some XML describing the machine. I can extract and read the OVF without any problems - which supports the assumption that OVA is a ZIP...

[mpack]

which supports the assumption that OVA is a ZIP...

...or that the tool you used ignored the file extension and determined the actual format by other means.

[WarpinWolf]

Yup - you were right. Seems to be TAR. At least I did use the gnu-tar.

So: rename ...ova .....tar
tar -xvf ....tar
--> ...vmdk

Manually create a machine with this image --> works!!!

So I'd say: the export virtual machine function produces a tar. If the disk image is over 2 GB (in my case: 2.345.184.768) the export uses 32-bit number. When it comes to import I get an ERROR_SUCCESS - maybe because the import takes the 32-bits as signed int?....

Should be reproducible with the image at the beginning of the thread...

Thanks
Wolf

[mpack]

Manually create a machine with this image --> works!!!

Beware - VMDKs bundled inside a OVF/OVA appliance usually use the compressed variant of VMDK. This will be read-only if used in a VM, with a difference image used to catch writes. I'm sure that would come as a surprise sooner or later.

I suggest you clone the vmdk to VDI format, using "VBoxManage clonehd <srcfile.vmdk> <dstfile.vdi> --format VDI --variant Standard", then build a new VM using the VDI. Don't use the VDI in the VM you created, because that VM is now expecting the difference image.

[WarpinWolf]

Thanks for the suggestions! I won't be using this "in production" - I just posted it here to show that the import process seems to have a bug! a) ERROR_SUCCESS (isn't really great thing) b) manually extracted image works. So it is no data issue, it's in import issue.... Where how can I address this?

Regards
Wolf

[Martin]

Does the import really fail?
ERROR_SUCCESS is usually just the return code 0 which means "The operation completed successfully".

[socratis]

Yes, it does. That's the weird thing. Error code 0; Success. I tried it on my Mac as well just to verify it. I believe it has to do with the XML parser and with ticket #12345 which was just fixed in the SVN 2 days ago.

[mpack]

I suspect a bug in error reporting. I suspect that the OVA is being unpacked successfully (hence ERROR_SUCCESS), but the target VM isn't being created for reasons I can't determine based on what the OP has revealed so far.

[WarpinWolf]

Sorry - no - file is NOT unpacked successfully. I'll open a ticket.

[WarpinWolf]

Opened ticket : https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/12657