virtualbox.org

Guest starts but only shows a black screen.

Error from the attached log in line 1286: This error is repeated until the guest is killed.

Booting the exact same configuration with "EFI mode: false" works perfectly.

Tested
- both host-modules described in arch wiki virtualbox entry:
-- virtualbox-host-modules-arch
-- virtualbox-host-dkms
- using different graphics controller
-- VMSVGA
-- VBoxVGA
- enabling/disabling 3D Acceleration
- changing video memory to 64/128 MB

Guest settings
CPU: 2
RAM: 4096 MB
Type: Linux
Version: Arch Linux (64-bit)
Enable EFI: true

Additional settings see "tested" section above
Everything else is set to default from fresh install of virtualbox on arch host

Host
Arch Linux
Kernel: 5.9.8-arch1-1
WM: sway
Compositor: Wayland

The error quoted is not relevant. Every log has that. Yours is simply repeated more than most, presumably because the guest OS remained longer in a text mode, i.e. a mode that doesn't support preview screenshots.

Was this guest OS installed with EFI present?

The error quoted is not relevant. Every log has that.

Thanks, that one drove me crazy.

There was actually no guest installed yet. It failed when trying to boot from an up-to-date arch linux ISO.

(I recon I'd want to have EFI enabled if I want to simulate installation on an EFI machine. I guess you could install the guest in BIOS and change it after but that would defeat the purpose to of playing through en EFI installation.)

ced0ps wrote: (I recon I'd want to have EFI enabled if I want to simulate installation on an EFI machine.

Exactly so, which was the implication of my question. You seem to have assumed I meant something else. Your original post said nothing about booting from CD or that the OS was not installed yet.

I would never assume that an OS installed with EFI present would continue to work if the BIOS type suddenly flipped to MBR. On the contrary, MBR doesn't recognize GPT so it wouldn't boot at all.

You were trying to boot from an ISO? I see no evidence in the log that the VM attempted to boot at all. Does the ISO for certain contain a bootable image? Are you sure the hard disk was blank? (boot order can't be controlled in an EFI VM - if there's an OS on the primary hard drive, that's what boots).

Your original post said nothing about booting from CD or that the OS was not installed yet.

You're right, I failed to mention that.

I

Does the ISO for certain contain a bootable image? Are you sure the hard disk was blank?

I'm positive on both. I've reproduced this error multiple times, with reinstalling virtualbox with different host-modules and deleting guest completely between tries.
If I disable EFI mode, the ISO boots without a glitch.

Found something in arch forum that mentiones the arch-iso not being compatible with vbox efi.
I'll try to boot with ubuntu iso next.

Sadly it was not the iso. Same behavior with ubuntu live iso.

I've never tried to install Ubuntu when EFI is enabled. I have installed Debian, and that worked fine.

The VBox.log file shows that only approximately half of the EFI modules have been loaded, when compared to a working setup. The EFI modules for the disk controllers would be loaded later, so trying different ISO images probably won't help. The last loaded EFI module handles ACPI, but the ACPI settings are the same in my working setup. The next loaded EFI module would handle some EFI Shell TFTP command, and I cannot assess that.

I don't know if the following can work, but I'd suggest trying to enter the EFI boot loader, by pressing the Esc key as soon as the VM window appears, and selecting the boot device and boot image if possible.

Other than that, I'd suggest to create a ticket in the Bugtracker.

I am having the same issue with a OpenSuSE 15.2 host. Booting a VM with EFI results in a black screen and nothing more. Cannot even bring the EFI shell to come up.

Ticket in bug tracker: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/20090