Powering down Linux guest taking a long time

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
Mats62
Posts: 70
Joined: 23. Apr 2018, 08:06
Primary OS: MS Windows other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: CentOS 7.6,7.2, 6.2,AlmaLinux 9.1

Re: Powering down Linux guest taking a long time

Post by Mats62 »

Thx fth0. Yes, I meant the VBox manager, sorry.
I've uploaded a picture from a ProcMon DataCollector used back in June of last year, after removing a lot of counters from it that seemed not so interesting. Looking at that, I'd say it agrees with the idea that the entire .vdi file gets read, probably/possibly just sequentially. In the past, the idea that it was the .vdi file that was being read basically came up empirically since the time it took appeared to depend on the size of the .vdi. (and yes, when an image is inserted into the drive the same amount of time is observed as when powering off)

When it happens, the read-indicator in the Performance-section of the task-manager simply goes high and stays high, the second that read-activity goes down, the guest also powers off. (or the inserted image becomes shows up) These things put together, I'd say the entire file is read sequentially but I don't know for sure.
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Mats62
Posts: 70
Joined: 23. Apr 2018, 08:06
Primary OS: MS Windows other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: CentOS 7.6,7.2, 6.2,AlmaLinux 9.1

Re: Powering down Linux guest taking a long time

Post by Mats62 »

Hm, I'm at a loss..... Talking to IT today, I got the question:
What if you have the VBox manager running but start the guest by double-clicking the .vbox file, is that also OK?

I tried that out and did not see the problem the guest powered down in a few seconds.

Some additional trials:
1. Powered off the guest and started it from the VBox manager:
Still OK, powers off in seconds.
2. Stop the VBox Manager, start it again and start the guest from the VBox Manager:
Still powers down in seconds.
3. Reboot the host, start the guest from the VBox Manager:
Sure enough, it still powers down in seconds, the problem is no longer present with 6.1.32.

Maybe repeated use of the guest without the Manager cleaned some Win 10 registry entry out???

Has something changed on the host since yesterday?
Well, today I happened to turn on OneDrive, that was not running yesterday. Turned OneDrive off again, the guest still happily powers off in a few seconds.

De-installed and re-installed VBox 6.1.32, started guest with the VBox Manager:
The problem is back. (retrospectively regretting that I did not reboot after each step.... even though those reboots had previously not helped in 6.1.26 and in 6.1.32)

Left the Manager running, started the guest with a double-click on the .vbox file:
Problem is still there.

Stopped the Manager, started the guest with double-click on the .vbox file:
Now the problem is gone again, powerdown happens within seconds.

Started the Manager, started the guest with double-click on the .vbox file:
Still OK, powers down quickly.

Started the guest with the Manager:
Still powers down quickly, problem is gone again.

When previously trying 6.1.26 and 6.1.32 before going back to 6.1.22 there were more than one occasion where I (properly) shut down and booted the host both after de-installing and after re-installing.
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