HELP Vbox Error: Failed to create the VirtualBox COM objec

[karibueli]

Hello Gurus

i have encountered one major problem as i am a newbie to this whole thing...last two weeks i went to turn on my vbox in order to use my guest machine hooked on it and i got this error ****Failed to create the VirtualBox COM object.
The application will now terminate.
Start tag expected, '<' not found.
Location: '/home/myname/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml', line 1 (0), column 1.
/home/vbox/vbox-3.2.12/src/VBox/Main/VirtualBoxImpl.cpp[535] (nsresult VirtualBox::init()).****

since then i have never been able to use virtualbox and i really need a help on this...as i mentioned above i am a newbie but i can follow instruction please fire up clearly

NB/ and on searching and tweeking around i found this line :****myname@Myname-desktop:~$ file /home/myname/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml/home/myname/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml: empty**** i thought i should post it as the word empty in the end might make sense to you
please ask me for more info i will provide them

[Perryg]

Looks like you are heading to a re-install of VirtualBox. It appears that you are using a self compiled version. Can you confirm this?
Can you list how you actually did the install, and where you got the source?

[karibueli]

i installed Vbox from download it on sun.com site and install it has been working for over 2.5yrs or more...suddenly my pc went out of storage space and i started deleting files i dont want...now i am not sure if i end up deleting something i should not have to or not but after i delete some of my personal files thats when i realize vbox doesnt start anymore...
is this information enough please ask i will try and clarify

[Perryg]

Well if this is all accurate then you should be able to get back to a working copy by installing the same version that you have right now. Have you tried that?

[karibueli]

Well if this is all accurate then you should be able to get back to a working copy by installing the same version that you have right now. Have you tried that?

YES...i have tried to remove vbox and re-install it and got the very same error message
any other suggestion!!

[Perryg]

Well let's go at it from a different angle then, since you deleted files and don't know if they were depends to VBox.
These are required to install VirtualBox

Code: Select all

sudo -apt-get install dkms build-essential linux-headers-generic

Also be sure to do an apt-get update then apt-get upgrade as well. Then run the following

Code: Select all

sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

Post the /var/log/vbox-install.log after you run the above command

[karibueli]

]
Post the /var/log/vbox-install.log after you run the above command

amadeus@Amadeus-desktop:~$ /var/log/vbox-install.log
bash: /var/log/vbox-install.log: Permission denied
Sorry i am a newbie on this how do i get the permission there can't remember this!

[Perryg]

You use sudo to elevate your permission when it is needed, or gksu to open nautilus (file manager) in root mode.

[karibueli]

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE ****this has been resolved with some Gurus on Ubuntu Launchpad forum basically i was told

QUOTE rm ~/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml END QUOTE still wonder how this has helped...as the command is telling to remove but the machine went up and running and i recover all my harddisks m back up and running

thanks ya all for your help...
NB/ i cannot confirm if the above command has made the magic or whatelse but i am up and running
Thanks again

[karibueli]

****I have manage to capture the message which is below**** this happen when i execute vbox how can i go resolve this???

The virtual machine execution may run into an error condition as described below. We suggest that you take an appropriate action to avert the error.
The medium '/home/amadeus/.VirtualBox/Machines/WinXP/Snapshots/{06b85b38-ecdf-4fb4-82b6-acbbe3265fdc}.vdi' has a logical size of 2047GB but the file system the medium is located on can only handle files up to 2043GB in theory.
We strongly recommend to put all your virtual disk images and the snapshot folder onto a proper file system (e.g. ext3) with a sufficient size.

[harkm]

I just wanted to let Perryg know that I had the exact same error and with his help the problem is solved!

[tagnu]

Hi,

Just want to confirm the steps performed by @karibueli's (deleting the file) removed the error message for me. (I actually renamed the file)

rm ~/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml

Note: But after deleting the file, the list of virtual machines were empty.
I had to manually create them again by the following steps.

1. Add existing hardisks
File > Virtual Media Manager > Add

2. Create new virtual machines with the added harddisk.
Machines > New > Create new Virtual Machine > VM name and OS Type > Memory > Virtual Hard Disk > Use Existing hard disk

It you get an error that a folder by that name already exists, just rename the folder and you should be good to go.

Thank you