Win7 guest worked under Win10 1809 host, hangs under Win10 1909 host

[WMcA]

Hello,

My Win7 x64 guest machine worked fine with VirtualBox 6.x running under Windows 10 x64 rel 1809.

Then I upgraded my Windows 10 to rel 1909, fired up VirtualBox, started my old Win7 guest and it sits forever on the Windows boot-up animated graphics screen.

The guest VBox.log shows it's stuck with:

Code: Select all

00:00:52.196620 VMMDev: vmmDevHeartbeatFlatlinedTimer: Guest seems to be unresponsive. Last heartbeat received 4 seconds ago
00:00:53.002454 VMMDev: GuestHeartBeat: Guest is alive (gone 4 815 019 717 ns)
00:00:57.002526 VMMDev: vmmDevHeartbeatFlatlinedTimer: Guest seems to be unresponsive. Last heartbeat received 4 seconds ago
00:00:57.371283 VMMDev: GuestHeartBeat: Guest is alive (gone 4 368 829 047 ns)
00:01:01.372853 VMMDev: vmmDevHeartbeatFlatlinedTimer: Guest seems to be unresponsive. Last heartbeat received 4 seconds ago
00:01:02.502002 VMMDev: GuestHeartBeat: Guest is alive (gone 5 130 718 471 ns)
00:01:06.511169 VMMDev: vmmDevHeartbeatFlatlinedTimer: Guest seems to be unresponsive. Last heartbeat received 4 seconds ago
00:01:07.161271 VMMDev: GuestHeartBeat: Guest is alive (gone 4 659 269 620 ns)
00:01:11.164197 VMMDev: vmmDevHeartbeatFlatlinedTimer: Guest seems to be unresponsive. Last heartbeat received 4 seconds ago

I've tried changing many (hopefully relevant) guest machine settings to no avail.

Same anomaly with my previously-working Win10 x64 guest. Note that my Linux guests still work as they did.

Can anyone cast any light on this issue? I'm using the latest VirtualBox 6.1.16 r140961.

I'm going to try building a new Win7 x64 Guest and will post the result. My hope is that a fresh vm built under this <grrr> 1909 release will work properly.

Regards,
Wayne

[multiOS]

Please post a zipped copy of the VBox.log if you continue to experience the problem, using the Upload Attachment Tab on the message screen.

My only guess without that log information would be that, if you have previously installed and then deactivated Hyper-V to run VirtualBox, then the Windows Feature Updates usually reactivate any dormant Hyper-V feature. But that, could, of course, be completely off the mark.

[WMcA]

Thank you for your quick reply, multiOS.

I finally got it working again, by reading a combination of posts about the stickiness of Win10's Hyper-V service(s) with respect to rel 1903 onwards.
I needed to do the double-reboot on the host to ensure that all traces of Win10's Hyper-V were gone. I already had things like Sandbox/Containers/*hyper* unchecked in optionalfeatures, but had only restarted the PC once. Diabolical

I also noticed [hint for other users who may get stuck with this] a tell-tale change in the VB status bar, to which I wish I'd have paid closer attention:

Screenshot 2020-12-09 090540.jpg (4.93 KiB) Viewed 625 times

That "V" icon was something else entirely; something resembling a turtle!

Also, hovering on that now shows that the execution engine is as it should be, i.e. VBox's:

Capture9898 (2).png (57.16 KiB) Viewed 625 times

(previously it said Native)

Cheers

#1903 #1909 #Hyper-V #Windows10

[BillG]

Yes, it is a green turtle. The vm is working, but very slowly!