Page 1 of 1

E_FAIL (0x80004005)

Posted: 2. Oct 2020, 09:06
by lowflyingduck
I'm suddenly having issues starting my Win7 guest in VirtualBox, with the error E_FAIL (0x80004005). The Win7 guest is an export from a different laptop, but it has been used many times before without any issues prior to this.

The setup:
- HP Elitebook 850 G2
- Windows 10 version 10.0.18362.1049
- VirtualBox 6.1.14

I've tried:
- Disable windows AV
- Disable firewall
- Install virtualbox with admin rights
- Placed the .vdi a different place on C: (not the root of C:)
- Disable/enable Hyper-V
- Change paravirtualization interface
- Disable/enable hardware virtualization
- Re-installed VirtualBox Extension Pack
- Tried all of the different graphics controllers
- Changed the allocated video and system RAM up/down

All of the above changed nothing. Anyone got a clue to how to fix this issue?
VBoxHardening log file attached here.

Re: E_FAIL (0x80004005)

Posted: 3. Oct 2020, 00:08
by scottgus1
lowflyingduck wrote:Placed the .vdi a different place on C: (not the root of C:)
This will break your guest if you did this in Explorer rather than through the main Virtualbox window.
lowflyingduck wrote:Disable/enable Hyper-V
Disabling Hyper-V is better.
lowflyingduck wrote:Change paravirtualization interface
Change it back to what it was.
lowflyingduck wrote:Tried all of the different graphics controllers
Change this back to what it was, too.

See Diagnosing VirtualBox Hardening Issues. Your hardening log exit code is 1.

Re: E_FAIL (0x80004005)

Posted: 4. Oct 2020, 14:35
by lowflyingduck
Nothing I've tried changed anything. Everything I've changed, is changed back to what it was.

In the link it says that code 1 is "This seems to have several causes, but one of the main ones seems to be that some DLL that VirtualBox requires has failed to load.". I've previously tried running the sfc, with no luck.

Sadly that doesn't bring me closer to a solution. Any suggestions?

Re: E_FAIL (0x80004005)

Posted: 4. Oct 2020, 14:38
by scottgus1
The section on exit code 1 says something else besides missing DLLs and sfc. Don't stop reading at the first paragraph...

I regrettably cannot determine from the log what the offending program is on your computer that blocks Virtualbox. You'll have to take in the continued information and discern what kinds of programs you have installed that might fit the classes of programs the tutorial fingers as suspects.