virtualbox.org

hi all. I encountered this error (attached below) today after previously using my ubuntu linux vm without much issue, most recently 2 days ago. I've tried some of the solutions on here like disabling hyper v, but i still keep running into the same issue, and I can't get onto my vm. not sure if this is contributing, but i manually installed vboxguestadditions and installed it through the vm. i might add that i am very new to this, and somewhat technologically illiterate, so if anyone does have a solution please try to make it easy to follow. I have a research project i've been working on through the vm, and i really need to finish it. thanks so much for the help!!!

just figured out i can't attach a picture here, so ill type out the error message

[ 0.060237] RETBleed: WARNING: Spectre v2 mitigation leaves CPU vulnerable to RETBleed attacks, data leaks possible!
/dev/sda3: recovering journal
/dev/sda3: clean, 258204/3244032 files, 12344786/12975104 blocks
[ 1.734799] [drm:vmw_host_printf [vmwgfx]] *ERROR* Failed to send host log message

mample wrote:just figured out i can't attach a picture here

Pictures can be posted using the forum's Upload Attachment tab on the first day first post. Thanks for typing out the error, though!

mample wrote:[ 1.734799] [drm:vmw_host_printf [vmwgfx]] *ERROR* Failed to send host log message

This one can be ignored, it's a recoverable bug in the Linux OS driver for the VMSVGA video card. The VM OS will continue to boot if it doesn't have any other problems.

I'm not certain about the other lines. They are from the OS inside the VM, though, so the Virtualbox 'hardware' appears to still be working.

Start the VM from full normal shutdown, not save-state. Run until you see the problem happen, then shut down the VM from within the VM's OS if possible. If not possible, close the Virtualbox window for the VM with the Power Off option set.

Right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log, zip it, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

thanks again for your help

As mentioned, none of the messages given above are actually errors. Please indicate what your actual problem is?

The log shows properly-working 'hardware' and a VM OS that boots and loads Guest Additions.

Assuming that your problem is that the Ubuntu desktop doesn't appear, Ubuntu is known to go blackscreen if there is not enough free disk space to start the desktop environment. This happens in real PCs too. The solution is to log on text-only and delete stuff until the desktop environment can start. Web-search how to fix this in an Ubuntu PC and apply the steps to the VM. Also see How to Resize a Drive

all that happens is i see the error message and nothing else happens after that, it just stays on the screen with a blinking cursor under it. I tried the process of resizing the drive, however i don't think I can extend the primary partitions from outside of the virtual machine to actually give it the extra space. If I can let me know. also, if you could link the process of deleting files from outside of the desktop environment that would help because i could not find a guide on how to do that. along with that (forgive me if this is not the smartest comment) i could not type into the vm where my cursor was after the error message, so can I still delete files from outside? and i do think that the storage trouble is the issue, as i began to reach the storage limit the last time i could use the vm. thanks

mample wrote:i don't think I can extend the primary partitions from outside of the virtual machine to actually give it the extra space. If I can let me know.

Did you see Step 2 in the tutorial?

mample wrote:if you could link the process of deleting files from outside of the desktop environment that would help because i could not find a guide on how to do that.

I don't know either, personally.

scottgus1 wrote:This happens in real PCs too. ... Web-search how to fix this in an Ubuntu PC and apply the steps to the VM.

I saw step two, but i cannot figure out how to mount the partitioner, because i can't get into the vm. can i mount it outside the vm?

mample wrote:because i can't get into the vm. can i mount it outside the vm?

Outside the VM, no. But outside the guest OS, yes. Just boot the VM from a gparted live CD.

ok, how would i go about doing that

In the VM's Storage settings, click Optical Drive, then Choose A Disk File. Browse to the Gparted ISO you downloaded. Select the ISO.

Open the VM's System Settings, Motherboard Tab. Look at the Boot Order boxes. Be sure "Optical" is checked and comes before "Hard Disk". Click OK

Start the VM. It will boot from the Gparted ISO. (watch the boot messages to see if there is a "press any key to boot GParted" or some other message like that, I don't know if there is one.).

How to use Gparted is not in the scope of the Virtualbox forum. There are plenty of help sources on the web for how to expand partitions to use new disk space using Gparted on the web.

So gparted opened, but when i went to resize the vdi, it still set the limit to where i originally had it. do you know what i could've done wrong here?

Please run these commands in the host Command Prompt and post the output:

cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\Virtualbox"
vboxmanage showmediuminfo "driveletter:\path\to\the\diskfile.vdi"

VBoxManage.exe: error: Could not get the storage format of the medium 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\driveletter:\path\to\the\diskfile.vdi' (VERR_INVALID_NAME)
VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80bb0005), component MediumWrap, interface IMedium, callee IUnknown
VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: "OpenMedium(Bstr(pszFilenameOrUuid).raw(), enmDevType, enmAccessMode, fForceNewUuidOnOpen, pMedium.asOutParam())" at line 191 of file VBoxManageDisk.cpp

mample wrote:VBoxManage.exe: error: Could not get the storage format of the medium 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\driveletter:\path\to\the\diskfile.vdi' (VERR_INVALID_NAME)

Take a look at that path:

'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\driveletter:\path\to\the\diskfile.vdi'

If you attempted to alter the path in the error message to hide your user account name for security theater purposes, boy you really hid it! Please unhide it and show us the unaltered command.

If you really entered "vboxmanage showmediuminfo 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\driveletter:\path\to\the\diskfile.vdi' " as the command, then you ought to know that you can't have a colon in the path of a file except after the drive letter, you wouldn't put two drive letters on one path, there's no drive in Windows called 'driveletter:', and there's no way your drive file is going to be in "C:\Program Files". You have to substitute your VM's disk file path for "driveletter:\path\to\the\diskfile.vdi" (Kinda thought that would have been obvious... )

Edit: Per fth0's next post, you may have copied the command exactly without actually changing the shown path to your disk file's actual path. That path should have been adjusted.