virtualbox.org

scottgus1 wrote:

kiwi_canuck wrote:Windows 10 Pro came pre-installed on my work HP computer, and at home (where VB doesn't have the problem in question) I installed a retail version of Windows 10 Pro.

Depending on how 'work' your work is, the IT dept can put lots of stuff on a computer that can block Virtualbox via the hardening, some of which may not show up in the Hardening log. And work IT depts tend to want to control what employees run on the workstations.

Present to your boss that you need Virtualbox to do your work and the boss may get IT to clear up your PC so Virtualbox can run.

Unfortunately my work is not very 'work'! The company is small and mine, so I am the IT department!

OK, I'd suggest switching in a different disk in the computer and fresh-installing Windows 10 on the work PC, getting rid of anything that might be left over from HP. Let Windows update, check that Hyper-V et al is not running (I have a 64bit host, but can't install 64bit guests) then try Virtualbox. Then migrate the other work programs you use.

Sometimes you just have to nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...

scottgus1 wrote:OK, I'd suggest switching in a different disk in the computer and fresh-installing Windows 10 on the work PC, getting rid of anything that might be left over from HP. Let Windows update, check that Hyper-V et al is not running (I have a 64bit host, but can't install 64bit guests) then try Virtualbox. Then migrate the other work programs you use.

Sometimes you just have to nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...

I called HP, and they agree about nuking from orbit! They say if a vanilla Windows 10 install works then they will consider that their software may be the problem and escalate it further (rather than me having to nuke all the pc's in my company). It will take me some time and then I will report back. Thanks

I installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 with drivers but no HP software. Problem is gone. I can restart the host and the VM starts up without error. That is not conclusive since I haven't installed all the other software I had on the machine, but a pretty good indication. I shall now report this to HP and see what they say. Thanks.

kiwi_canuck wrote:They say if a vanilla Windows 10 install works then they will consider that their software may be the problem

That's an incredibly stupid statement from whomever said that. Of course HP ProtectTools is the problem, they have no incentive to make that software good. But, so many things would be changed by a total vanilla reinstall of Windows that only a total assbrain would conclude that doing so proves anything.

If I am not mistaken, they write it here on spam link deleted that Virtualbox introduced a bug in 4.0.12. It turns out that the error is happening in 4.1 on AMD computers. It's not cool, but really annoying. I also encountered such a problem and thought for a long time what can be done about it. Guys, as it turned out, everything that is written on the Internet does not quite work as I would like. Guys, did you manage to solve this somehow? Thnx.

p.s. I later discovered that my own hardening logs include that "edgegdi.dll" error, so it is not fatal.

hooso wrote:If I am not mistaken, they write it here on spam link deleted that Virtualbox introduced a bug in 4.0.12.

You are correct, that statement is mistaken.

Hardening (introduced in 4.0.12) was a deliberate feature, not a bug. If VirtualBox implements a new hardware check and that check detects a hardware problem, that does not mean that adding the check is a bug. OTOH one could argue that failing to do the check was a bug.

Incidentally, the link you provide does not say anything about VirtualBox, whether version 4.0.12 or any other. Why did you post it?? This looks like spam, especially since the subject of discussion is such ancient history (VirtualBox 4.1.0 was released in 2015), I suspect the text of the post may be lifted from an older topic.

Edit: Since "hooso" did not respond to my last question, the presumed spam link has now been deleted.

Success!
HP advised "You can use revo uninstall or any 3rd party uninstaller to remove the HP software. You can use this link to install Freeware of Revo software https://www.revouninstaller.com/start-freeware-download" .

I installed revouninstaller, and ran it. It listed “HP Sure Sense” (the problem program) even though I had previously uninstalled it via Apps and was no longer listed in Apps. As soon as it had uninstalled (and scanned for leftover files) a message popped up in the notification area saying “You are not protected by HP Sure Sense anymore” or something similar. That means it was in the background, active, even though I had removed it. I then reinstalled Virtualbox. I can now restart the computer, and virtuabox still works after restarting! It seems it was HP SureSense all along.

Thanks for your help.

Glad you're up and running!