Installer hangs on XPSP3 host with VB 2.1.0 and 2.1.2

ArnoW · Post by **ArnoW** » 23. Jan 2009, 21:51

Hello

Sorry for opening another Installer-Issue thread, but I couldn´t find one that described exactly the same problem.

Just wanted to upgrade from 2.0.6 to 2.1.2. The Installer starts working and everything looks fine. It also asks several times for confirmation as usual, but it never comes to an end. It just stops working and hangs with this green progress-bar (don´t know the exact English word for it) fully moved to the right side.
No error message, neither cancelling the installer nor normal shutdown of the computer worked.
After rebooting the hard way not even normal uninstalling of the unfinished setup was possible. I had to do a system recovery.

I had observed the same behavior with VirtualBox 2.1.0 before...

I tried in two ways of installation:
1. Update-Installation without uninstalling the old version
2. Uninstalling the old version -reboot- installing new version
Both lead to the same result.

My machine: Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 3GB of RAM, Win XPpro SP3 (32bit)

I was able to gather those Installer Logs. Should I post them here or should I open a Bug Report (as they are a bit lengthy)?

Any recommendations are highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Arno

ArnoW · Post by **ArnoW** » 24. Jan 2009, 13:48

Tried to install 2.1.2 on my second computer and observed the same behavior. This machine has completely different hardware (Athlon TB 1400, 768MB RAM) and very few software installed on it. OS is the same than on my main system (Win XP SP3 32bit).

So now I am convinced that there is a bug in the VirtualBox installer... (or it doesn´t like my personal style of setting up a computer)

airesmsferreira · Post by **airesmsferreira** » 24. Jan 2009, 20:03

I have installed Virtualbox 2.1.2 in two different machines and with different result.

I think the problem is related with WXP SP3, because I had no problems with installation on my notebook with WXP SP2.

One circumvention is to install without “VirtualBox Networking”. The problem is that you can not use the host adapter directly in you VM.

I’m still trying to fix it, because I need to activate a network adapter that can pick a IP address on my dhcp main server. Meanwhile, I can only use NAT in the VM.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 24. Jan 2009, 20:36

I don't think it's SP3 that is the problem. I have a Native install of XP with SP3, and two VMs with SP3, on which I have one with VB installed (because I don't boot to Windows often, and though it can't run a VM inside a VM, basic troubleshooting is still possible). Neither had these issues.

airesmsferreira · Post by **airesmsferreira** » 24. Jan 2009, 21:05

Hi Sasquatch,

I misinterpret the issue, thinking it was only a installation hang. The odd is hanging the host/physical machine.

I just want to reinforce that I doesn’t have any problems with installations on Windows XP SP2. Only with WXP SP3. I just repeated an installation on a Dell D620 with SP2.

Can you please confirm if you have on your VM configuration the network adapter "Atached to: Host interface" and you are using DHCP on VM guest adapter. I Cant do this on any of my XP w/SP3.

I have been “googling” for some solution but until now I had no success.

Thanks.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 24. Jan 2009, 21:38

I don't run a DHCP at home, but at school we do have one. No problems with that. Note that I haven't tried this with an XP Host. I'm close to removing Windows and switch to Linux entirely.

ArnoW · Post by **ArnoW** » 24. Jan 2009, 22:05

Sasquatch, like you did before, I just tried to install VB2.1.2 on a Guest XPSP3 and it worked without any issue...

Host was also XPSP3 running VB 2.0.6.

I have not yet tried to set the network adapter configuration to "Host interface" as I am a bit reluctant to install another device driver on my host. If there are further indications that this might help to figure out the root cause of the issue, I could test this on my secondary computer.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 24. Jan 2009, 22:11

ArnoW wrote:Sasquatch, like you did before, I just tried to install VB2.1.2 on a Guest XPSP3 and it worked without any issue...

Host was also XPSP3 running VB 2.0.6.

I have not yet tried to set the network adapter configuration to "Host interface" as I am a bit reluctant to install another device driver on my host. If there are further indications that this might help to figure out the root cause of the issue, I could test this on my secondary computer.

So you're saying that you disabled the installation of the HIF system during setup?

ArnoW · Post by **ArnoW** » 24. Jan 2009, 23:39

No, I didn´t disable it during the installation, I installed with default settings (except for the installation folder).
But if you alter the configuration of any virtual machine´s network adapter from "NAT" to "Host interface", then VB installs an additional device driver on the host to enable the new virtual network adapter.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 25. Jan 2009, 01:30

ArnoW wrote:No, I didn´t disable it during the installation, I installed with default settings (except for the installation folder).
But if you alter the configuration of any virtual machine´s network adapter from "NAT" to "Host interface", then VB installs an additional device driver on the host to enable the new virtual network adapter.

No, this is no longer needed. Since 2.1.0, the HIF system has changes which enables you to select the physical interface directly, without the need of a virtual interface or bridge.

ArnoW · Post by **ArnoW** » 25. Jan 2009, 02:20

Well, this brings us back to why I started this thread... I am stuck with 2.0.6 since the installation of newer releases fails on my physical machines.

GerhardG · Post by **GerhardG** » 25. Jan 2009, 04:33

I ran into similar trouble as Arno while trying to update VB 2.1.0 to 2.1.2 on Windows XP SP3. The installer was stuck at the end of the progress bar, when the system lost its network connectivity and became unresponsive - nothing helped but a hardware reset.
After reset, the system failed to complete its boot sequence - the progress bar under the Windows XP logo would just run forever. Only another reset and returning to the "last known good" system configuration would bring Windows back to life again.
Next, I attempted to repair the VB 2.1.2 installation, but during repair the driver installation failed, kicking the installer into rollback mode, uninstalling VB completely. I reinstalled VB 2.1.0 (no problems here, using host interface network access) and am now posting this message from a Windows-7 Beta (32 bit) guest running in VB.

The Windows Installer logfiles from this odyssey have been collected and can be provided if desired.

ArnoW · Post by **ArnoW** » 27. Jan 2009, 19:39

Following some hints from other threads in this forum I have just set up VB 2.1.2 on one of my physical machines (XPSP3, 32bit) without the Networking feature... and it worked!

Seems that the setup-procedure of the new networking stuff caused the problems I experienced.