Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

[EgonF]

VirtualBox 3.2.8
Host: Win7 64bit
Guest: Ubuntu 10.4.

After deleting an old snapshot I started the virtual machine. After a while the message

run-init: /sbin/init: Exec format error
[ ] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

appeared and the virtual machine hangs.

Why did this happens? How can I start the virtual machine?

[Sasquatch]

This problem has different causes. It is possible that because you removed a snapshot, it came to this, but it's also possible that there was an update with some bug that caused this. Please search on Google for this. There are too many variables that can give this result and it's not always VB's fault. Google has enough results for your error.

[EgonF]

I looked up Google before and there are - you said it - many results. To locate the problem I have to have more informations. I would like to see the boot messages. How can I see them in the VM? With VBoxManage?

[Sasquatch]

Well, if you don't see anything except the kernel panic, then you might want to change the boot parameter. Hold down the left Shift when the VM boots and you should get a grub menu. Press 'e' to edit the entry and remove 'quite splash' from the kernel boot options. Then boot the VM and look at the text it's showing up to the kernel panic.

On Google, if I search for 'kernel panic attempt kill init exec format error', I get some more useful results. Though the first I see is this forum post . The second hit told me that init got corrupted. And I doubt that post was about a VM.

[EgonF]

I don't get the grub menu with left Shift during starting the guest.

[Sasquatch]

I assumed you have Grub2 installed, but if you choose to use Grub instead (the older version), then it's the esc key when you see a timer.

[EgonF]

ESC doesn't work. Maybe the system has lost grub?

Another question:
Are there tools to extract a file or a folder from a snapshot?