virtualbox.org

Hello everyone,
I'm on a Windows 10 10.0.18363 host, trying to run a Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS guest. A few days ago, the VM didn't start normally and went into recovery mode and prompted me to run a fsck command on /dev/sda1 to check the integrity of the system files. After that, the VM would start in low graphic mode and to correct that I tried all the solutions I could find on the internet ("how-to-fix-the-system-is-running-in-low-graphics-mode-error" - I tried all of those). After all those unsuccesful fixes, the VM doesn't load at all when I boot it ! It alternates between black screen, bordeau/orangeish screen or even sometimes the usual Ubuntu loading screen but it never fully boots.
When the problem occurred I was in VBox 6.1.24 now I updated it to 6.1.32.
Things I tried to fix the low graphic mode bug :

1. Use the failsafeX option in the recovery mode (it still went to low graphic mode and didn't load)
2. Reinstalling ubuntu-desktop
3. Checked if the greeter was invalid
4. Freed space
5. Removed the X11 config file
6. Changed the display manager from lightdm to gdm3

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Edit1 : Adding details about the fixes I tried

I looked through Vbox.log.1, which is the next-to-the-most-recent log. ("Vbox.log" without the .#, found on the far left tab of Logs, is the most recent.)

I did not see any problems running the VM 'hardware'. This probably means that the Virtualbox VM is not having any problems and that the OS inside the VM is messed up.

You have some older Guest Additions installed (6.1.6), but it does not appear that they are interfering. You'd probably not want to try those 6.1.0rc1 Guest Additions, they're really old.

The screen size is staying at 800x600, but that could arise from the OS inside the VM asking for that size.

I surmise that this is a problem inside the VM's OS, not in the Virtualbox 'hardware'. Please continue to try fixing this in the Linux OS itself, pretending that the OS is installed on a real PC, and using the Linux OS's help channels and forums.

As a different test, try making a new VM with the existing VM's Linux installer ISO. If the new VM runs correctly, this would tend to show that the problem is not in Virtualbox but inside the bad OS.

Thanks a lot for your time! I've been using a coworker's VM in the meantime. I'm not sure I understand your suggestion at the end though. I'll try other fixes on the weekend!

CaptSift wrote:I'm not sure I understand your suggestion at the end though.

I'm assuming this refers to this:

scottgus1 wrote:As a different test, try making a new VM with the existing VM's Linux installer ISO. If the new VM runs correctly, this would tend to show that the problem is not in Virtualbox but inside the bad OS.

A computer consists of hardware and software. If a problem develops, the problem could be in the hardware or the software (the OS). By installing a fresh OS on the hardware, one can determine if the problem is in the hardware or the software:

• If the problem keeps happening on the hardware with a new fresh OS, then the problem is in the hardware.
• If the problem stops happening, then the problem was in the old software, the OS, not the hardware.

Virtualbox provides the 'hardware'. A new VM uses Virtualbox's 'hardware' (the same 'hardware' the old VM uses) and a new OS. If the problem you see does not happen anymore, then the problem in the old VM is not from the 'hardware', but from the software, the OS that is installed on the old VM.

If the problem keeps happening in the new VM, then the problem is in Virtualbox's 'hardware', which we can try to fix. If the problem stops happening, then the problem is in your old VM's OS, which we cannot fix.