Bug with VBoxManage guestcontrol from Guest Additions v7

[TVG]

Hello everyone,

I managed to open the Calculator on my Windows 10 guest from my Ubuntu 23.04 host using the command:

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VBoxManage guestcontrol $MY_VM_NAME run --exe "C:\\Windows\\System32\\calc.exe" --username $MY_USERNAME --password $MY_PASSWORD

However, when doing the same for Microsoft Office applications or Adobe Acrobat Reader, it doesn't work:

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VBoxManage guestcontrol $MY_VM_NAME run --exe "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16\\WINWORD.EXE" --username $MY_USERNAME --password $MY_PASSWORD

The command keeps running for ever (Terminal never return the prompt) while nothing happens on the VM.

Thanks for your help.

[scottgus1]

If "guestcontrol" works for something, anything, it means Virtualbox is working. If it works for some things but not others, then there are uniquenesses between the working and non-working items that cause trouble for "guestcontrol", not that "guestcontrol" is failing.

Do you see anything happening in Task Manager or Process Explorer inside the VM when the Word/Adobe commands are run on the host?

How does trying "guestcontrol" on Wordpad work? How about other 3rd-party apps in the VM?

[TVG]

In the Task Manager, when I try the command with Adobe, I see two new processes below "Background processes". One is shown with the status "Suspended" and disappears very quickly. The other one stays in the "Background processes" until I stop the VBoxManage guescontrol command in the host Terminal with CTRL+C.

For Wordpad, I got an error. It seems the path is uncorrect. However, I double check and don't find what's causing the problem.

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ticjo@komputilo:~$ VBoxManage guestcontrol $MY_VM_NAME run --exe "C:\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Accessories\\WordPad" --username $MY_USERNAME --password $MY_PASSWORD
VBoxManage: error: Waiting for guest process (flags 0x1) failed: No such file or directory "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\WordPad" on guest
VBoxManage: error: Details: code VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80bb0005), component GuestProcessWrap, interface IGuestProcess, callee nsISupports
VBoxManage: error: Context: "WaitForArray(ComSafeArrayAsInParam(aWaitStartFlags), gctlRunGetRemainingTime(msStart, cMsTimeout), &waitResult)" at line 1372 of file VBoxManageGuestCtrl.cpp
ticjo@komputilo:~$

[scottgus1]

The Wordpad command is definitely incorrect. On my Windows 7 & 10 hosts it's in

"C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe"

[TVG]

I made a right click on the Wordpad app, then clicked on "Open file location" and finally copied the path from there.

It seems that the path you mentioned contains the .exe file indeed. I wonder what the other path for. Using this path has the same behavior than for the Adobe app. It generates a background process, called "Windows Wordpad Application", but nothing happens on the desktop.

[fth0]

The start menu entries are often link files (e.g. WordPad.lnk), so I'd expect it not to work. You'll probably have to provide the fully qualified filename of the executable.

[TVG]

I've tried with "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe". However, process stays in background.

[scottgus1]

One thought, could the "guestcontrol" process be attempting to redirect the output of the app to the host? I don't remember the guestcontrol switches...

[TVG]

Maybe this is related to your thought:

I made a PowerShell script on the Windows VM (see viewtopic.php?p=522191#p522191) that opens a Word window, or focus, or minimize it (depending if the Word application is already running). When I execute this script in the guest, before Word opens, I briefly see the Windows Command Prompt with the following:

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IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType                                                    
-------- -------- ----                                     --------                                                    
True     False    FocusWindow                              System.Object 

I also have a bash script on the host (see viewtopic.php?p=522191#p522191) that calls the guest PowerShell script using VBoxManage guestcontrol. When I run it, I got the lines above from the Windows Command Prompt in the Linux Terminal. Maybe this is a redirection of the output of the app to the host?

[fth0]

The VirtualBox 7.0.10 Change Log mentions a bugfix in VBoxManage guestcontrol. In consequence, I'd suggest to update to VirtualBox 7.0.10 and try if your issue persists. If it still doesn't work, try the following command syntax:

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VBoxManage guestcontrol $MY_VM_NAME run --exe "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16\\WINWORD.EXE" --arg0 "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16\\WINWORD.EXE" --username $MY_USERNAME --password $MY_PASSWORD

Please report back if and what part of it helps!

[TVG]

I'm using VirtualBox 7.0.6. I've tried the suggested command on this version. I've got the following error:

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VBoxManage: error: Unknown option: --arg0

The version I'm using is from the lunar/multiverse repository. How can I update it safely from the Oracle repository? There are instructions for "Debian-based Linux distributions" here: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads. Should I follow those steps? Should I remove my current version first? I'm afraid of breaking something by doing this.

Thanks for your help!

[fth0]

First of all, if you have anything valuable on your computer, you should have a backup anyway, because at one day in the future your SSD or HDD might simply stop working forever.

Before installing the VirtualBox packages provided by Oracle, you should uninstall the version provided by your Linux distribution, that is uninstalling all VirtualBox packages currently installed. The VMs and configurations will be kept, just like your text documents are being kept when uninstalling the word processing software.

[TVG]

Thank you! I uninstalled VirtualBox with:

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ticjo@komputilo:~$ apt-get purge virtualbox*
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), are you root?
(base) 09:27:30 ticjo@komputilo:~$ sudo apt-get purge virtualbox*
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-ext-pack' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-guest-x11' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-ose' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-ose-fuse' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-guest-additions-iso' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-guest-modules' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-guest-utils' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-guest-utils-hwe' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-guest-x11-hwe' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-modules' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-qt' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-2.0' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-2.1' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-2.2' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-3.0' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-3.1' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-3.2' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-4.0' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-4.1' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-4.2' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-4.3' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-5.0' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-5.1' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-5.2' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-6.0' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-6.1' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-7.0' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-source' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-dkms' for glob 'virtualbox*'
Package 'virtualbox-ose' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-ose-fuse' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-6.1' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-6.0' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-5.2' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-5.1' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-5.0' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'virtualbox-dkms' instead of 'virtualbox-modules'
Package 'virtualbox-2.0' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-2.1' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-2.2' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-3.0' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-3.1' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-3.2' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-4.0' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-4.1' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-4.2' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-4.3' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-7.0' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-ext-pack' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-source' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-guest-utils' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-guest-x11' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-guest-utils-hwe' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'virtualbox-guest-x11-hwe' is not installed, so not removed
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  dkms libgsoap-2.8.124 liblzf1 libqt5help5 libqt5opengl5 libqt5sql5 libqt5sql5-sqlite libtpms0 libvncserver1
  linux-headers-6.2.0-20 linux-headers-6.2.0-20-generic linux-image-6.2.0-20-generic linux-modules-6.2.0-20-generic
  linux-modules-extra-6.2.0-20-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  virtualbox* virtualbox-dkms* virtualbox-guest-additions-iso* virtualbox-qt*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 4 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
After this operation, 243 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 
(Reading database ... 239843 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing virtualbox-qt (7.0.6-dfsg-1) ...
Removing virtualbox (7.0.6-dfsg-1) ...
Removing virtualbox-dkms (7.0.6-dfsg-1) ...
Module virtualbox-7.0.6 for kernel 6.2.0-26-generic (x86_64).
Before uninstall, this module version was ACTIVE on this kernel.

vboxdrv.ko:
 - Uninstallation
   - Deleting from: /lib/modules/6.2.0-26-generic/updates/dkms/
 - Original module
   - No original module was found for this module on this kernel.
   - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version.

vboxnetadp.ko:
 - Uninstallation
   - Deleting from: /lib/modules/6.2.0-26-generic/updates/dkms/
 - Original module
   - No original module was found for this module on this kernel.
   - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version.

vboxnetflt.ko:
 - Uninstallation
   - Deleting from: /lib/modules/6.2.0-26-generic/updates/dkms/
 - Original module
   - No original module was found for this module on this kernel.
   - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version.
depmod...
Module virtualbox-7.0.6 for kernel 6.2.0-27-generic (x86_64).
Before uninstall, this module version was ACTIVE on this kernel.

vboxdrv.ko:
 - Uninstallation
   - Deleting from: /lib/modules/6.2.0-27-generic/updates/dkms/
 - Original module
   - No original module was found for this module on this kernel.
   - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version.

vboxnetadp.ko:
 - Uninstallation
   - Deleting from: /lib/modules/6.2.0-27-generic/updates/dkms/
 - Original module
   - No original module was found for this module on this kernel.
   - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version.

vboxnetflt.ko:
 - Uninstallation
   - Deleting from: /lib/modules/6.2.0-27-generic/updates/dkms/
 - Original module
   - No original module was found for this module on this kernel.
   - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version.
depmod...
Deleting module virtualbox-7.0.6 completely from the DKMS tree.
Removing virtualbox-guest-additions-iso (7.0.8-1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.36.0-1.1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (2.2-1) ...
Processing triggers for mailcap (3.70+nmu1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.26-1ubuntu5) ...
(Reading database ... 239226 files and directories currently installed.)
Purging configuration files for grub-pc (2.06-2ubuntu16) ...
ucfr: Association belongs to grub-efi-amd64, not grub-pc
ucfr: Aborting
ucfr: Association belongs to grub-efi-amd64, not grub-pc
ucfr: Aborting
Purging configuration files for virtualbox (7.0.6-dfsg-1) ...
dpkg: warning: while removing virtualbox, directory '/usr/lib/virtualbox/ExtensionPacks' not empty so not removed
ticjo@komputilo:~$

Please note the warning at the end.

Also, during the uninstallation, I got the following message:

grub.jpeg (96.65 KiB) Viewed 8730 times

I clicked on "No". Would it have been safe to say "Yes"?

Then, I have installed VirtualBox 7.0.10 from the Oracle repository by adding the following line in my /etc/apt/sources.list:

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deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oracle-virtualbox-2016.gpg] https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy contrib

Note that I have written jammy while I'm in lunar because it didn't find anything for lunar.

Then I have done the following:

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ticjo@komputilo:/etc/apt$ wget -O- https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes --output /usr/share/keyrings/oracle-virtualbox-2016.gpg
--2023-08-11 09:49:10--  https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc
Resolving www.virtualbox.org (www.virtualbox.org)... 104.108.61.21, 2a02:26f0:9100:1384::37b7, 2a02:26f0:9100:1399::37b7
Connecting to www.virtualbox.org (www.virtualbox.org)|104.108.61.21|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 3157 (3.1K) [application/pgp-signature]
Saving to: ‘STDOUT’

-                                100%[========================================================>]   3.08K  --.-KB/s    in 0s      

2023-08-11 09:49:10 (37.6 MB/s) - written to stdout [3157/3157]

ticjo@komputilo:/etc/apt$

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ticjo@komputilo:/etc/apt$sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lunar InRelease
Hit:2 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lunar-updates InRelease                                                        
Hit:3 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lunar-backports InRelease                                                              
Hit:4 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lunar-security InRelease                                                               
Hit:5 https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease                                                                   
Get:6 https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy InRelease [4,428 B]             
Get:8 https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy/contrib amd64 Packages [1,469 B]
Hit:7 https://packagecloud.io/filips/FirefoxPWA/any any InRelease
Fetched 5,897 B in 2s (3,447 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
1 package can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see it.
ticjo@komputilo:/etc/apt$

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ticjo@komputilo:/etc/apt$ sudo apt dist-upgrade 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
#
# You can verify the status of security fixes using the `pro fix` command.
# E.g., a recent Ruby vulnerability can be checked with: `pro fix USN-6219-1`
# For more detail see: https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-6219-1
#
The following packages have been kept back:
  cloud-init
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
ticjo@komputilo:/etc/apt$ 

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ticjo@komputilo:/etc/apt$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-7.0
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libqt5help5 libqt5opengl5 libqt5sql5 libqt5sql5-sqlite libsdl-ttf2.0-0
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libqt5help5 libqt5opengl5 libqt5sql5 libqt5sql5-sqlite libsdl-ttf2.0-0 virtualbox-7.0
0 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 92.8 MB/93.3 MB of archives.
After this operation, 224 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 
Get:1 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lunar/universe amd64 libsdl-ttf2.0-0 amd64 2.0.11-6 [15.1 kB]
Get:2 https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy/contrib amd64 virtualbox-7.0 amd64 7.0.10-158379~Ubuntu~jammy [92.8 MB]
Fetched 92.8 MB in 2s (41.6 MB/s)                          
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package libqt5sql5:amd64.
(Reading database ... 202108 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../0-libqt5sql5_5.15.8+dfsg-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libqt5sql5:amd64 (5.15.8+dfsg-3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libqt5help5:amd64.
Preparing to unpack .../1-libqt5help5_5.15.8-2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libqt5help5:amd64 (5.15.8-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libqt5opengl5:amd64.
Preparing to unpack .../2-libqt5opengl5_5.15.8+dfsg-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libqt5opengl5:amd64 (5.15.8+dfsg-3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox-7.0.
Preparing to unpack .../3-virtualbox-7.0_7.0.10-158379~Ubuntu~jammy_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking virtualbox-7.0 (7.0.10-158379~Ubuntu~jammy) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libqt5sql5-sqlite:amd64.
Preparing to unpack .../4-libqt5sql5-sqlite_5.15.8+dfsg-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libqt5sql5-sqlite:amd64 (5.15.8+dfsg-3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libsdl-ttf2.0-0:amd64.
Preparing to unpack .../5-libsdl-ttf2.0-0_2.0.11-6_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libsdl-ttf2.0-0:amd64 (2.0.11-6) ...
Setting up libqt5sql5:amd64 (5.15.8+dfsg-3) ...
Setting up libqt5opengl5:amd64 (5.15.8+dfsg-3) ...
Setting up libsdl-ttf2.0-0:amd64 (2.0.11-6) ...
Setting up libqt5sql5-sqlite:amd64 (5.15.8+dfsg-3) ...
Setting up libqt5help5:amd64 (5.15.8-2) ...
Setting up virtualbox-7.0 (7.0.10-158379~Ubuntu~jammy) ...
Adding group `vboxusers' (GID 130) ...
Done.
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.26-1ubuntu5) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.36.0-1.1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.37-0ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (2.2-1) ...
Processing triggers for mailcap (3.70+nmu1ubuntu1) ...
ticjo@komputilo:/etc/apt$

When I start the VM, I see the VirtualBox logo, then the Windows logo as it if where booting correctly. But then, I only got a black screen. One time, by clicking on this black screen I got a Windows song. Apart from that, I got nothing.

[fth0]

Generally speaking, what you've done looks correct to me.

Regarding the warning at the end of the uninstallation, you should check what's left in /usr/lib/virtualbox/ExtensionPacks, especially since the virtualbox-ext-pack package wasn't installed before. Perhaps there is a conflicting version of a VirtualBox Extension Pack in there.

Regarding the GRUB question, I don't see how that relates to what you've done.

The jammy VirtualBox package is the newest Ubuntu package provided by Oracle, so this was the best choice.

Regarding the black screen, please reproduce the issue, close the VM and provide a (zipped) VBox.log file from that VM run.

[TVG]

Code: Select all

ticjo@komputilo:~$ ls -l /usr/lib/virtualbox/ExtensionPacks/
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 Aug 11 10:22 Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack
ticjo@komputilo:~$

Please find attached the VBox.log file.