I then tried to create a raw disk vmdk and run a linux installation from an external disk.
Using 'VBoxManage createmedium disk' I am successfully creating a raw .vmdk image (see User Manual 9.7.1.2) and from what I see in the log, this .vmdk is being accepted as valid by VirtualBox.
When I attempt to run the VM, the uefi loader is unable to access the disk partitions and I am stuck in a uefi shell with no visible disks. This snippet (from the attached log) shows the disk errors and then falling back to loading the uefi shell.
Code: Select all
00:00:04.746193 ATA: LUN#0: EXECUTE DEVICE DIAGNOSTIC, status 50
00:00:04.747587 ATA: LUN#0: INITIALIZE DEVICE PARAMETERS: 63 sectors per track, 16 heads
00:00:04.753889 ATA: LUN#1: EXECUTE DEVICE DIAGNOSTIC, status 00
00:00:04.766235 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x2 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.767160 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.767574 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.767968 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x40 cSectors=0x4)
00:00:04.768362 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x40 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.768819 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.769232 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.769639 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x2 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.798272 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x2 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.798736 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.799162 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.799587 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x40 cSectors=0x4)
00:00:04.800008 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x40 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.800425 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.800873 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.801306 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x2 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.830747 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x2 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.831212 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.831653 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x2 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.832153 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x2 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.832583 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.833001 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.833995 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x40 cSectors=0x4)
00:00:04.834567 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x40 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.845040 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.845497 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.845935 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x2 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.846375 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#0: disk read error (rc=VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER iSector=0x0 cSectors=0x1)
00:00:04.852648 EFI: VBoxDbg> loadimage64 'Shell.efi' 0xddc10000 LB 0xdda60
This same external disk (using the earlier command to create the .vmdk) works very well under VirtualBox 6.1 on macOS Monterey.