VRDP and VRDE Error - Cannot Bind to Port

[somethingneweveryday]

Hello,
I am getting the following errors when starting a VM -

00:00:07.467549 VRDP: TCP server failed to bind to a port: default 3389, range [3389]
00:00:07.467808 VRDP: Failed to start VRDP-IN thread, rc = VERR_NET_ADDRESS_IN_USE
00:00:07.468570 VRDP: TCP server closed.
00:00:07.469262 VRDE: Warning: failed to launch VRDE server (VERR_NET_ADDRESS_IN_USE): VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension server can't bind to the port(s): 3389

This is my first foray into VirtualBox - The person who set this machine up is no longer with the company and when trouble arose I was tasked with resolving it. I have tried numerous things and can't seem to get it sorted. The machine starts, but I can't ping it which then means I can't RDP to it or access shared resources on it. I have attached the log file and the results of vboxmanage showvminfo DEV-EVANS-SQL02 > showvminfo.txt. I have also included the showvminfo results below.

VBox.log

(77.19 KiB) Downloaded 14 times

showvminfo.txt

(5.83 KiB) Downloaded 12 times

VirtualBox version - 5.2.8 r 121009
Host OS - Windows Server 2016 Standard
Guest OS - Windows Server 2008
Host IP - 10.107.1.221
Guest IP - 10.107.1.222


Name: DEV-EVANS-SQL02
Groups: /
Guest OS: Windows 2008 (64-bit)
UUID: 760ed0c2-2d38-4885-8041-aea2ea5166e0
Config file: C:\Users\jpavlick\VirtualBox VMs\DEV-EVANS-SQL02\DEV-EVANS-SQL02.vbox
Snapshot folder: C:\Users\jpavlick\VirtualBox VMs\DEV-EVANS-SQL02\Snapshots
Log folder: C:\Users\jpavlick\VirtualBox VMs\DEV-EVANS-SQL02\Logs
Hardware UUID: 760ed0c2-2d38-4885-8041-aea2ea5166e0
Memory size: 32768MB
Page Fusion: off
VRAM size: 32MB
CPU exec cap: 100%
HPET: off
Chipset: piix3
Firmware: BIOS
Number of CPUs: 4
PAE: on
Long Mode: on
Triple Fault Reset: off
APIC: on
X2APIC: off
CPUID Portability Level: 0
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: on
BIOS APIC mode: APIC
Time offset: 0ms
RTC: local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Nested Paging: on
Large Pages: on
VT-x VPID: on
VT-x unr. exec.: on
Paravirt. Provider: Default
Effective Paravirt. Provider: HyperV
State: running (since 2020-10-19T20:34:17.540000000)
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration:
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
Default Frontend:
Storage Controller Name (0): IDE
Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Bootable (0): on
Storage Controller Name (1): SAS
Storage Controller Type (1): LsiLogicSas
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1): 255
Storage Controller Port Count (1): 8
Storage Controller Bootable (1): on
IDE (0, 0): E:\Applications\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso (UUID: 5f33ffa8-d651-4567-b9b5-da8fd9aba779)
SAS (0, 0): E:\VirtualMachines\DEV-EVANS-SQL02\DEV-EVANS-SQL02-disk1.vmdk (UUID: f2fb6130-bc42-4449-a26c-7deca1d0037e)
SAS (1, 0): E:\VirtualMachines\DEV-EVANS-SQL02\DEV-EVANS-SQL02-disk2.vmdk (UUID: ad8a2216-3815-4a59-9b18-97b132f6258d)
SAS (2, 0): E:\VirtualMachines\DEV-EVANS-SQL02\DEV-EVANS-SQL02-disk3.vmdk (UUID: feb46443-f0e9-46df-a6a9-85d30287864c)
SAS (3, 0): E:\VirtualMachines\DEV-EVANS-SQL02\DEV-EVANS-SQL02-disk4.vmdk (UUID: 9fe9b244-fcd9-4f22-8ed2-c56940f8ebd3)
SAS (4, 0): E:\VirtualMachines\DEV-EVANS-SQL02\DEV-EVANS-SQL02-disk5.vmdk (UUID: 3ba225a3-e69a-456d-8f14-7954fd325289)
NIC 1: MAC: 08002723F5EF, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'QLogic BCM5709C Gigabit Ethernet (NDIS VBD Client) #39', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
NIC 5: disabled
NIC 6: disabled
NIC 7: disabled
NIC 8: disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
UART 3: disabled
UART 4: disabled
LPT 1: disabled
LPT 2: disabled
Audio: enabled (Driver: DSOUND, Controller: AC97, Codec: STAC9700)
Audio playback: disabled
Audio capture: disabled
Clipboard Mode: disabled
Drag and drop Mode: disabled
Session name: headless
Video mode: 640x480x0 at 0,0 enabled
VRDE: enabled (Address 10.107.1.222, Ports 3389, MultiConn: off, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
Video redirection: disabled
VRDE property: TCP/Ports = "3389"
VRDE property: TCP/Address = "10.107.1.222"
VRDE property: VideoChannel/Enabled = <not set>
VRDE property: VideoChannel/Quality = <not set>
VRDE property: VideoChannel/DownscaleProtection = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableDisplay = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableInput = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableAudio = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableUSB = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableClipboard = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableUpstreamAudio = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableRDPDR = <not set>
VRDE property: H3DRedirect/Enabled = <not set>
VRDE property: Security/Method = <not set>
VRDE property: Security/ServerCertificate = <not set>
VRDE property: Security/ServerPrivateKey = <not set>
VRDE property: Security/CACertificate = <not set>
VRDE property: Audio/RateCorrectionMode = <not set>
VRDE property: Audio/LogPath = <not set>
USB: disabled
EHCI: disabled
XHCI: disabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Bandwidth groups: <none>

Shared folders: <none>

VRDE Connection: not active
Clients so far: 0

Capturing: not active
Capture audio: not active
Capture screens: 0
Capture file: C:\Users\jpavlick\VirtualBox VMs\DEV-EVANS-SQL02\DEV-EVANS-SQL02.webm
Capture dimensions: 1024x768
Capture rate: 512 kbps
Capture FPS: 25
Capture options: ac_enabled=false

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size: 0 MB
OS type: Windows7_64
Additions run level: 1
Additions version: 5.2.8 r121009


Guest Facilities:

Facility "VirtualBox Base Driver": active/running (last update: 2020/10/19 20:38:50 UTC)
Facility "Seamless Mode": not active (last update: 2020/10/19 20:38:50 UTC)
Facility "Graphics Mode": not active (last update: 2020/10/19 20:38:50 UTC)

[fth0]

On Windows hosts, the standard RDP port 3389 is already in use. In the VM configuration, configure the VRDP server to use another port (e.g. 3390).

[somethingneweveryday]

I get the same error with the new port number.

00:00:07.467549 VRDP: TCP server failed to bind to a port: default 3389, range [3389]

is now

00:00:07.467549 VRDP: TCP server failed to bind to a port: default 3389, range [3390]

[fth0]

Did you check that the combination of IP address and port that you're trying to bind to is free on your host?

[somethingneweveryday]

Could you provide a quick lesson in how the address/port actually works between the host and guest?

This machine was working without issue (connected to it with the same RDP connection I use to connect to all my other servers) until one day it didn't. The original error was about a missing extension pack. It seems that a few files were missing from the extension pack directory. I remedied that by installing the identical version of VirtualBox Manager on my laptop and moving the missing files over to the actual host. The original error disappeared and this new error is now happening.

Is the vdreaddress supposed to be the IP address of the guest (therefore, obviously can't be an in use IP address on the network)?

Is the vdreport supposed to be unique from any ports used on the host?

And if I was using a standard RDP connection in the past to connect to the guest, wouldn't it have been using port 3389?

Another question, being the VirtualBox user that I am, is there any risk to uninstalling and reinstalling VirtualBox Manager on the host server? The GUI console has never worked on the host - all changes have to be made by command line and I would love to have the GUI functioning as well.

[fth0]

Could you provide a quick lesson in how the address/port actually works between the host and guest?

The VirtualBox VRDP implementation (part of the VirtualBox Extension Pack) starts its own RDP server on the host H, not on the guest G. The display content from G isn't transferred to H via any network connection in this case. You simply connect from your RDP client running on C to the host H. If C == H, you can also use 127.0.0.1 (localhost) as destination IPv4 address. Because the Windows OS on the host usually starts its own RDP server on port 3389, the VirtualBox RDP server has to use another port.

More details are documented in the VirtualBox User Manual: 7.1. Remote Display (VRDP Support).

Other parts of your description sound to me like you should completely uninstall and reinstall VirtualBox on your host. This usually doesn't delete your existing VMs, so you can re-add them afterwards.

[somethingneweveryday]

Thanks. I will give that a go. I will backup the vmdk files before I begin - gotta love a safety net.

[somethingneweveryday]

Thanks for your help. In the end I did completely uninstall and reinstall VirtualBox. The VM was preserved and in fact, it was already visible when I started the console. Once I got the IP address on the NIC set properly and the vdreport set to an unused port I was able to ping, RDP, and see shared resources once again.

[somethingneweveryday]

How do I mark a post 'Solved'?

[fth0]

Edit the title of your initial post by prepending "[Solved] " (without the quotes, of course ).