Unable to headless start and detachable start

[davidm77]

I had exactly the same error. The problem was that Windows forced an overnight update the Insider Preview from Canary Build 23619 to Canary Build 26058. In the morning, I got this error when I tried to start my VM either using Vagrant or on the command line directly using the vboxmanage command (which vagrant also uses). There are a number of topics in this forum that describe this, or similar problems, along with suggested fixes.

I tried a number of fixes and nothing worked. I don't believe there is a fix for this environment. The only solution for me was to revert my Windows 11 version back to 23619 (it is remarkably simple to do in Settings). After that, everything worked as before.

I don't believe there is any way to stop automatic updates in the Insider Preview program. At least, I haven't found one - I tried the registry hack and the group policy hack, and so far no luck. After all, the Insider Preview is where MS gets you to beta-test their buggy OS for free, and that only works for them if users are running continuously updated versions of the OS. So why would they let you opt-out of the automatic updates? As such, I will probably log on one morning and find an even newer version of the Preview running on my machine, and will have to revert again, if possible.

[davidm77]

UPDATE APR 25. 2024 - Additional information to davidm77 post on Mar 4

Indeed, I did log on this morning and found a new release of the Preview installed on my machine (Windows 11 Insider Preview 26100.1 (ge_release)). And the problem persists. Running the VirtualBox command:

Code: Select all

VBoxManage startvm ec2fa5a0-74ef-4959-b0c0-b30d750f4fe0 --type headless

results in the same error as the OP, where the last few lines of the VBoxHardening.log read:

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4b1c.170c: Error (rc=-5607):
4b1c.170c: ntdll.dll: SizeOfImage (0x255000) isn't close enough to the mapping size (0x258000)
4b1c.170c: Error (rc=-5607):
4b1c.170c: supHardenedWinVerifyProcess failed with Unknown Status -5607 (0xffffea19): ntdll.dll: SizeOfImage (0x255000) isn't close enough to the mapping size (0x258000)
4b1c.170c: Error -5607 in supR3HardNtChildPurify! (enmWhat=5)
4b1c.170c: supHardenedWinVerifyProcess failed with Unknown Status -5607 (0xffffea19): ntdll.dll: SizeOfImage (0x255000) isn't close enough to the mapping size (0x258000)

The same error occurs when I launch the VirtualBox GUI and then select Start->Headless Start.

NOTE: Interestingly, if I select Start->Normal Start then the VM starts up normally with no problems. OFC, if I follow up with 'vagrant up' command in a bash window, the VM opens properly. However, this is a clunky and unacceptable workaround.

There is no acceptable way to opt out of the Windows Insider Preview programme. You can either wait for the next major public release or Windows 11 (next fall?), or reformat and reinstall Windows from scratch (losing all data and installed programs). That's it. TYVM MS.

There have been many releases of Windows Preview since v23619 (which worked with VirtualBox) and all fail with VirtualBox. It is likely that this issue will remain until the next major release of Windows, in which case Oracle VirtualBox will likely be broken for everyone, the world. We need a fix from Oracle VirtualBox before that.