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Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 21. May 2009, 18:02
by Fargo73
Hi

I'm having some problems using vboxsdl via Citrix.
I have a Win2k3 running as Virtualbox host and Citrix Server.

I can successfully run my Win2k guests via vboxsdl from desktop, but if I try to run it via Citrix I will receive this error:

SDL Error: 'No available video device'

Curiously, if I run Virtualbox and start a VM from there Citrix, it runs smoothly.
Does someone know how to solve this problem?

Thanks

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 21. May 2009, 18:11
by vbox4me2
You need to be clearer what exactly you're doing.

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 21. May 2009, 18:25
by Fargo73
Ok :wink:

Let me try to explain it better.

Scenario:
Host is Windows 2003 Server
Guest is Windows 2000 Pro
On the Host I also have a Citrix Presentation Server

My guest is running fine if I start it with VirtualBox, but since I need to put the host in the hands of users, I do not want them to change settings.
So I created a batch files that does this:

"C:\Program Files\Sun\xVM VirtualBox\vboxsdl.exe" --startvm My-VM --nohostkeys fnpqr --termacpi

I can run it successfully when logged in Windows 2003 as a user (both as Administrator or unprivileged user).

Now comes the Citrix PS part.
I exported this application (the batch script) with Citrix to a web interface, and users should be able to start (and see) VM clicking on it.
But when I do this, I get the error:

SDL Error: 'No available video device'

If I export the application Virtualbox.exe with Citrix, I can successfully run the same VB from it (but this is not what I would like to achieve...)

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 21. May 2009, 18:34
by vbox4me2
Sounds like its trying to run as a service which is not supported out of the box, search the forum for service solutions.

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 21. May 2009, 21:45
by Fargo73
vbox4me2 wrote:Sounds like its trying to run as a service which is not supported out of the box, search the forum for service solutions.
It seems different to me, like if the VBoxSDL is using a different video device than VirtualBox (which is actually working even via Citrix).
Or, on the other hand, it could be that the enviroment of Citrix doesn't let the video device work correctly.

Is there a way to see what video device and enviroment is being used by VBoxSDL and VirtualBox?
I wonder if any of the switches of VBoxSDL could help.

BTW, does someone know what these are?

--[no]rawr0 Enable or disable raw ring 3
--[no]rawr3 Enable or disable raw ring 0

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 21. May 2009, 22:00
by vbox4me2
SDL Error: 'No available video device'
Isn't there some sort of virtualization going on already? this message sounds to me your inside a VM(or sandbox) already.

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 21. May 2009, 22:10
by Fargo73
vbox4me2 wrote:
SDL Error: 'No available video device'
Isn't there some sort of virtualization going on already? this message sounds to me your inside a VM(or sandbox) already.
No :(
I even tried to restart the PC and only run VBoxSDL several times from the desktop, and it always worked.
Then launched it from Citrix, and BOOM, error again!
I run it again from desktop, and it works fine...

I was wondering if Citrix itself is somehow "virtualizing" (it actually exports the display to another PC), but I'm astonished by the fact that it works fine with VirtualBox. :shock:
Is it so different to start a VM from VBoxSDL.exe and VirtualBox.exe?
I thought that VBoxSDL was basically a VirtualBox without the configuration stuff...

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 21. May 2009, 23:07
by vbox4me2
If it moves the display then it must be using some sort of sandbox/vm stuff to do that. SDL is as far as I know the master vm controller, virtualbox is the runtime environment for a VM, so you need both.

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 22. May 2009, 08:55
by Fargo73
I guess that Citrix is acting as a sandbox.
What puzzles me is that virtualbox is working while vboxsdl is not :(
Isn't Vboxsdl only a different frontend?

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 22. May 2009, 10:26
by Fargo73
In the last line of the VM log I find this:

"00:01:12.539 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={09789f63-4525-48e5-a5e4-1080453b0eab} aComponent={Display} aText={The object is not ready} aWarning=false, preserve=false"

Myabe it is related to the video device error :roll:

Re: Citrix and Vboxsdl

Posted: 22. May 2009, 13:25
by vbox4me2
Fargo73 wrote:Isn't Vboxsdl only a different frontend?
Nope, they work together.