virtualbox.org

Running a VirtualBox of Windows 8.1 (64-bit) for some time now, but since yesterday a blinking hyphen/underscore in the top left corner is showing at start-up and I can't do anything. Don't know what to do anymore? Any help is welcome.

Below are some checks I have done and the current settings. Also two logs, one of yesterday and one of today.

I have checked and changed numerous things such as:
- BIOS has virtualisation on
- Hard remove of Hyper-V in Windows 11 (on host PC)
- Change number of CPUs and RAM for multiple times
- Changed operation system setting in VM from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 (32-bit and 64-bit), keeping it now at Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
- Changed paravirtualisation to different settings, keeping it now at default

Current settings are:
OS Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
RAM 2048 MB
Sequence Floppy, Optical, Hard drive
Accelaration VT-x/AMD-V, PAE/NV, Hyper-V paravirtualisation
Video memory 128 MB
GPU controller VBoxSVGA
Remote Desktop Disabled
Recording Disabled
Controller SATA 0 Windows 8.vdi (normal, 40 GB)
Controller SATA 1 [Optical station] VBoxGuestAdditions.iso (59 MB)

Randomly changing settings usually does more harm than good. It is definitely not recommended.

That doesn't look like a VirtualBox problem to me. It looks like a screwed boot loader. It is not good news. Search for Windows 8 boots to blinking cursor.

The 'yesterday' log appears to be from a different host and VM. The 'today' log is the 11 host 8 VM.

I agree with Bill, there seems to be no issues in the Virtualbox 'hardware'. The 8 OS could use 2 processors in normal operation.

I suspect something has gone wrong in the OS inside the VM. Set the VM to 2 processors, then use the Windows 8 install media to run a repair install inside the VM, or restore the VM from your backups.

A clue for further troubleshooting of any VM, as Bill also mentioned: If the VM was running with certain settings before, and the VM suddenly stops working without any changes being made to the VM settings, then changing the VM settings will probably hurt and not fix the VM.

Agree with you both, thanks!

Just did a full re-install and used 7-Zip to extract import files from the .vdi file.