virtual machine does not boot [Resolved]

[harald123]

After it starts to boot some time this error is shown and does not proceed:

"(initramfs) Unable to find a medium containing a live file system"

I found on the internet that this should be caused by usb settings. Therefore I have tried with usb 2.0 and usb 3.0 , each one with each of the 5 USB filter available and with no usb filter.
Unfortunately the issue is still there.

The usb stick I try to boot from is working fine when booting a computer from it.

[scottgus1]

"(initramfs) Unable to find a medium containing a live file system"

This is a non-Virtualbox message. this means the VM is running and is able to load something rekated ti the installed OS.

If you are booting from a USB stick pushed through a USB Filter on the USB Filters tab, then Go through USB basics and troubleshooting. If steps 1 through 7 cannot get your device working, please provide the troubleshooting command outputs in step 8, as text in

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 tags. Also zip and post the requested vbox.log, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab. 

As of yet we do not know how you were booting from a USB stick. Virtualbox requires its VM to be set to EFI BIOS to boot from a USB stick.

Please right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose "Show in Explorer/Finder/File Manager". In the window that opens, zip the VM's .vbox file and the .vbox-prev file, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab. (Please make sure all file extensions are shown, so you will be able to see the .vbox extension easier.)

[harald123]

Hi and thank you for the quick reply.
I did not push the usb stick through a filter , at least not in a conscious manner.
I have used these instructions to have the virtual machine boot from usb : https://www.howtogeek.com/187721/how-to ... irtualbox/
And yes, you are right, it starts booting and then after some time it displays that error.

Let me know if in this case the troubleshooting suggested is still useful and I will come back with the files and information from testing these instructions.

Thank you.

[scottgus1]

OK, looks like you are using the Raw-Disk-Access method, which fakes Legacy BIOS to think the USB stick is a regular hard disk.

Please check that the disk being referred to in the raw disk vmdk file is what the host OS is providing, per your posted tutorial. (This is one problem with using Raw Disk Access: the host can enumerate the disks differently at any time, making the VM boot from the wrong disk.)

[harald123]

well I can confirm the correct usb disk is used in the raw disk vmdk file as it starts to boot and I can see on the screen it is the expected one.
If it is possible to attach the usb stick as a boot device from the 'USB' menu I can try that as well, just I do not know how to select it there (I tried).

[scottgus1]

If you try to stop using Raw Disk Access, you'd have to use EFI BIOS, see the VM's System settings, Motherboard tab, Enable EFI checkbox.

Note that the OS on the stick must support EFI boot, it must be compatible with Virtualbox's EFI, and you might need to reinstall the OS if you had to go through the install process when you made the VM. If the OS on the stick is some kind of LiveCD-style OS, the it should be OK to try EFI boot.

You also have to get the USB stick to attach to the VM, and that part I don't know how to do yet. We'll have to wait for a guru to stop in, and I'll stay tuned too.

[harald123]

I understand. Yes, it is a LiveCD-style OS usb stick. As indicated it works fine on another pc where I boot from usb.

I have enabled the EFI checkbox and the initial menu looks indeed different now when starting the vm, but in the end it stops at the same error.

Please find attached the Vbox.log, VBoxSVC.log and the two vbox files. As well as the output of the commands:

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c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox
λ VBoxManage --version
6.1.18r142142

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c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox
λ VBoxManage list extpacks
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0:   Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Version:      6.1.18
Revision:     142142
Edition:
Description:  Oracle Cloud Infrastructure integration, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Host Controller, Host Webcam, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM, Disk Encryption, NVMe.
VRDE Module:  VBoxVRDP
Usable:       true
Why unusable:

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c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox
λ VBoxManage list usbhost
Host USB Devices:

UUID:               fc101468-75ed-4d46-b662-f405a886eb46
VendorId:           0x8087 (8087)
ProductId:          0x0aaa (0AAA)
Revision:           0.2 (0002)
Port:               10
USB version/speed:  2/Full
Manufacturer:       Intel Corp.
Address:            {e0cbf06c-cd8b-4647-bb8a-263b43f0f974}\0000
Current State:      Busy

UUID:               81d52f5b-8556-4b61-9c8a-071b93e50136
VendorId:           0x090c (090C)
ProductId:          0x1000 (1000)
Revision:           17.0 (1700)
Port:               3
USB version/speed:  2/High
Manufacturer:       General
Product:            USB Flash Disk
SerialNumber:       048MHYAXM9II8BHJ
Address:            \\?\usb#vid_80ee&pid_cafe#048mhyaxm9ii8bhj#{00873fdf-cafe-80ee-aa5e-00c04fb1720b}
Current State:      Captured

UUID:               381d57fd-cc66-439d-9d39-3b0019cb50db
VendorId:           0x04f2 (04F2)
ProductId:          0xb604 (B604)
Revision:           0.39 (0039)
Port:               8
USB version/speed:  2/High
Manufacturer:       Chicony Electronics Co.,Ltd.
Product:            Integrated Camera
SerialNumber:       0001
Address:            {36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}\0005
Current State:      Captured

UUID:               68734290-97be-4c2d-ad45-4e37eb3d5028
VendorId:           0x04f2 (04F2)
ProductId:          0xb604 (B604)
Revision:           0.39 (0039)
Port:               8
USB version/speed:  2/High
Manufacturer:       Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
Address:            {36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}\0005
Current State:      Captured

UUID:               bea13eb8-d504-4df1-b2ef-62673f9364c3
VendorId:           0x0458 (0458)
ProductId:          0x003a (003A)
Revision:           1.0 (0100)
Port:               4
USB version/speed:  1/Low
Manufacturer:       Genius
Product:            Optical Mouse
Address:            {745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da}\0016
Current State:      Busy

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c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox
λ VBoxManage list usbfilters
Global USB Device Filters:

<none>

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c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox
λ VBoxManage showvminfo test
Name:                        test
Groups:                      /
Guest OS:                    Other Linux (64-bit)
UUID:                        73de66be-0327-47e2-889e-1ae214c75fd1
Config file:                 C:\Users\xxx\VirtualBox VMs\test\test.vbox
Snapshot folder:             C:\Users\xxx\VirtualBox VMs\test\Snapshots
Log folder:                  C:\Users\xxx\VirtualBox VMs\test\Logs
Hardware UUID:               73de66be-0327-47e2-889e-1ae214c75fd1
Memory size                  3376MB
Page Fusion:                 disabled
VRAM size:                   16MB
CPU exec cap:                100%
HPET:                        disabled
CPUProfile:                  host
Chipset:                     piix3
Firmware:                    BIOS
Number of CPUs:              1
PAE:                         enabled
Long Mode:                   enabled
Triple Fault Reset:          disabled
APIC:                        enabled
X2APIC:                      enabled
Nested VT-x/AMD-V:           disabled
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:                        enabled
IOAPIC:                      enabled
BIOS APIC mode:              APIC
Time offset:                 0ms
RTC:                         UTC
Hardware Virtualization:     enabled
Nested Paging:               enabled
Large Pages:                 enabled
VT-x VPID:                   enabled
VT-x Unrestricted Exec.:     enabled
Paravirt. Provider:          Default
Effective Paravirt. Prov.:   KVM
State:                       powered off (since 2021-12-27T14:54:13.387000000)
Graphics Controller:         VMSVGA
Monitor count:               1
3D Acceleration:             disabled
2D Video Acceleration:       disabled
Teleporter Enabled:          disabled
Teleporter Port:             0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Tracing Enabled:             disabled
Allow Tracing to Access VM:  disabled
Tracing Configuration:
Autostart Enabled:           disabled
Autostart Delay:             0
Default Frontend:
VM process priority:         default
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
IDE (0, 0): C:\usb.vmdk (UUID: 9d441ab9-29c3-449f-99a5-cc27932eaa7b)
IDE (1, 0): Empty
NIC 1:                       MAC: 080027FCF373, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 1 Settings:  MTU: 0, Socket (send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window (send:64, receive: 64)
NIC 2:                       disabled
NIC 3:                       disabled
NIC 4:                       disabled
NIC 5:                       disabled
NIC 6:                       disabled
NIC 7:                       disabled
NIC 8:                       disabled
Pointing Device:             USB Tablet
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:              enabled
Audio capture:               disabled
Clipboard Mode:              disabled
Drag and drop Mode:          disabled
VRDE:                        disabled
OHCI USB:                    disabled
EHCI USB:                    disabled
xHCI USB:                    enabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:<none>

Capturing:                   active
Capture audio:               active
Capture screens:             0
Capture file:                C:\Users\xxx\VirtualBox VMs\test\test.webm
Capture dimensions:          1024x768
Capture rate:                512kbps
Capture FPS:                 25kbps
Capture options:             vc_enabled=true,ac_enabled=true,ac_profile=med

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size: 0MB

[scottgus1]

Two things I could suggest:

1. Move the vmdk to a subfolder, not the C drive root. The Windows C drive root has special permissions setup which could be interfering.

2. Did the VM always use USB 3? The OS on the drive might not have USB 3 device drivers? Try USB 2 in the VM USB settings?

[harald123]

well yes, VirtualBox needs to be started as administrator to access the file.

Yes, I tried all possible combinations with USB 2 and 3. I have done this after installing the extension pack, before there was usb 1 with the same error.

Meanwhile I have managed to use a tool called 'Virtual Machine Usb Boot' which assigns usb drives to vms to boot from. It ends with the same error when starting the machine..

Is there anything suspect in the logs or vbox files?

[scottgus1]

Not that I see, but I may have missed something that a guru might identify.

Has this VM ever booted from the Raw Disk Access setup before?

[harald123]

No, it has not booted from the Raw Disk Access setup before.

Looking at what the mentioned tool has done - it has done the same thing as I did manually with the raw disk setup.

LE:
I was able to solve it an boot the OS from the usb stick.
Solution: used the option 'Boot from external hard disk' instead of 'boot <osname>' in the grub menu.