Can't Open VDI After System Restoration New Computer

[yupthatguy]

Perhaps an easy question. I have Ubuntu 18.04 host machine. I have VBox 6.1 installed. My previous computer's hard drive failed. From my backup, I restored my OS to a new machine. However, now I am unable to my previous VDI files..
NOTE: My previous machine had a single hard drive, but my new machine is a hybrid SSD/HDD and I moved my home partition to a storage partition, I guess this is confusing Vbox. I mention because when I try to open my Ubuntu18.04(guest).vdi file I get the following message:

Failed to open virtual machine located in /home/dragonpharaoh/VirtualBox VMs/Machine Clone 18.04/Machine Clone 18.04.vbox.

Could not find an open hard disk with UUID {473f212c-d550-468b-b7db-a15f49232d65}.

Result Code: VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)
Component: VirtualBoxWrap
Interface: IVirtualBox {d0a0163f-e254-4e5b-a1f2-011cf991c38d}

Result Code:
VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)
Component:
VirtualBoxWrap
Interface:
IVirtualBox {d0a0163f-e254-4e5b-a1f2-011cf991c38d}

[mpack]

Yes, the question is pretty easy, the solution may not be.

Your restored backup did not include the hard disk. This could be for a number of reasons: e.g. because it was not kept in the VM folder and therefore was never included the backup, or perhaps your backup procedure skips large files. Either way, if the VDI is gone (maybe you had a better backup somewhere) then so is the VM.

Continuing the theme of common errors, another possibility is that this VM is a linked clone, relying on the presence of another VM to provide the base disk. That VM has to be restored as well.

I always ensure that my VDI files are inside the VM folder, and I never use snapshots or linked clones. This makes backup and restore very easy and therefore reliable.

[yupthatguy]

Hey hey,

Thanks for the reply, .. actually... I confirmed that the original .vdi file was in the correct (default) location. I never move it. But it is a null point now. Since my first post, my frustration got the best of me, so I completely purged VBox and the vdi, then re-installed using [mod edit: offsite blog link removed]. I installed win10 from an ISO file. And the first time, I also installed the extension pack. After everything was setup and windows update.. the graphic display was really buggy and slow. couldn't use webcam and other devices and it kept aborting...

Soooo.. I completely purged everything (keeping the new win10 vdi that I created), and re-installed vb6.1 again, -without- the extension pack. (keeping it simple)... I add the win10 machine that I created and it just aborts aborts, and aborts.

I have run:
sudo /sbin/vboxconfig
sudo apt install dkms build-essential module-assistant
sudo m-a prepare
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-vmware-hwe-18.04


Nothing helps keeps aborting. Any tips? thx

[mpack]

Leaving VirtualBox lacking features that your VM may be relying on is not necessarily "keeping it simple". Not changing more than one variable at a time is what I would consider to be best practice.

Maybe try reducing the RAM allocation to the guest, as you are over-committing host RAM. The exact numbers seem to vary, but your original log shows the problem most clearly. You have also over-committed CPU cores (100% of cores allocated to the VM, leaving none for the host).

00:00:01.268135 Host RAM: 7737MB (7.5GB) total, 2223MB (2.1GB) available
...
00:00:01.425947 RamSize <integer> = 0x0000000131500000 (5 122 293 760, 4 885 MB, 4.7 GB)

Though I don't see how this relates to the original reported error about a missing VDI.

I also don't know why you are highlighting an unofficial site when talking about installing Ubuntu from an ISO. Is this yours? Are you advertising a personal blog? I have removed it anyway.

[yupthatguy]

My bad about the personal blog link. Not intentional advertising, just bad habit from using other support sites that wish to know "which instructions you used to do what".... in any case, I eventually got everything working, including the extension pack, which enable me to get my webcam to work inside the Win10 guest. The core trick for me, which could have saved me many steps, was realizing that I could "destroy a machine", but keep the vdi and attach it to a "new machine". Also, I have 8 cores do the 100% cpu comittment wasn't a factor. When I actually tried to decrease the cpu committent vbox warned me not to. After trial and error, I finally realized that the base memory was too high as I regularly leave other apps open while using vbox, using a lower base memory now has everything running smoothing.

Thanks for the help... sorry for the "stream of consciousness support posts"

yupthatguy

[mpack]

Also, I have 8 cores

No, you have 4 cores, 2 threads per core = 8 threads. The number of cores is what VirtualBox cares about.

Intel description of your CPU: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en ... 0-ghz.html