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Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Host
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 14:20
by wrighrc
I've been experiencing multiple bluescreens in Vista Guest. I'm running 4.1.8
The installer bluescreened when using a sata controller.
I switched to a SAS controller, at least got Vista to install, but it still has stability issues.
I will try to upload more details.
Would appreciate some help to figure out what is going wrong.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 15:11
by mpack
Your VM are using a large chunk of the available host RAM - you only have 2.7GB available, you are using 2.0GB as RAM, and no doubt an additional amount for VRAM, as well as sundry buffers etc. I would try reducing the RAM request, say to 1GB. (I see you only have 4GB host RAM total, why did you go for a 64bit host OS? My 32bit host OS with 4GB host RAM has 3.17GB available).
I see also that you haven't installed the extension pack. If you need USB or VRDP support then you should do that asap. Also install the guest additions (inside the guest) if you haven't already done so.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 15:21
by wrighrc
Hi mpack,
Thanks for looking at my issue.
I have a license/media for 64bit vista only so that is why I'm using it. As for the Ram, I noticed that Virtual box defaulted to 512MB, while Vista HP 64bit recommended 1GB. Running with 512MB seemed to beat the pagefile to death.
I reconfigured to 1GB but noticed that Vista was hogging most of that up during Service Pack installs so I upped it to 2GB.
Note that I had problems at 1GB. I have set the memory back down to 1GB as 2GB didn't solve the issue.
I have guest additions installed. I don't need USB or VRDP. (I actually disabled USB).
Note that Vista reported a problem and suggested an old version of VirtualBox as the solution.
I didn't install the recommended solution as it didn't seem to make any sense.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 15:33
by mpack
You are correct that the suggested "Virtualbox update" is nonsense. Other than the guest additions, you never install VM software inside the guest.
It would help if I knew what the BSOD was. You should turn off the "Startup and Recover" option which causes Windows to automatically reset when a BSOD occurs. Then try and grab a picture of the BSOD screen, then we'll see.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 16:05
by wrighrc
I just uploaded a screen shot of the system locking up. The Host has a CPU pinned at 100% while the Guest hasn't updated its screen in 20 minutes.
(the clock is froze)
During the lockup the guest was running updates.
(Note that I've set cpu affinty like this: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C start /affinity 1 /B VirtualBox.exe -startvm "YaleVista")
Is there anything I can do to debug it when it locks up like this, without a blue screen?
I've already turned off the "Startup and Recover" option.
Thanks.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 16:16
by mpack
None of the pictures you have posted is relevant, they are just wasting space so please delete them. We don't need to see what updates Vista offered you, nor the installer dialog for same, and we don't need see a picture of the Windows task manager.
You said that the VM bluescreens: I would like to see a picture of that.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 16:49
by wrighrc
That is pretty rude. No I will not delete the pictures. I'm documenting what behavior Virtualbox does.
I can't seem to get it bluescreen again that happened with the sata controller, now it just hangs.
Again if there is something you can do to tell me how to debug it when it hangs I will try to do it.
Is there no way to dump vbox from the host side?
BTW If you need to free up some disk space I'd suggest deleting some of your thousands of old posts.
Thanks.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 17:14
by Perryg
There is a section in your VirtualBox users manual dedicated to troubleshooting and covers how to capture/record the BSOD information.
As for Vista in a VM it has to be the biggest resource hog I have ever used and I use almost all of them. I need to see more under the hood to see what could be causing this issue.
From the hosts terminal/command window type VBoxManage showvminfo <VM Name> --details and post here. Replace <VM Name> with the actual name of the VM. Use "" if the name has a space in it.
Note if the host is Windows you need to be in the directory that has VBoxManage.exe for the command to work.
Next I would not set infinity at all. Let VirtualBox do its thing and it should work. I would also suggest that you use SATA since I know it works and your logs are full of LsiLogig statements suggesting to me that something is not happy.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 17:24
by mpack
wrighrc wrote:That is pretty rude. No I will not delete the pictures. I'm documenting what behavior Virtualbox does.
Sorry, I did not intend to be rude, though I was admittedly irritated at having my time wasted with downloading and unpacking pictures that proved to be worthless. You were not documenting what VirtualBox does, you were documenting Windows Update doing something stupid: that has nothing to do with VirtualBox, in fact we already agreed that it was nonsense: so case closed, no need to paint the point with pictures. I'll ask you once again to delete them.
wrighrc wrote:Again if there is something you can do to tell me how to debug it when it hangs I will try to do it.
If the guest hangs then you need to clarify that it's
only the guest which has hung, and not the host also. Assuming its only the guest then see if you can bring up the guests task manager (use menu to inject ctrl+alt+del), view processes from all users, and see if you can see a particular process hogging the cpu.
wrighrc wrote:BTW If you need to free up some disk space I'd suggest deleting some of your thousands of old posts.Thanks.
Hardly. You are supposed to search the old posts before asking a question.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 23:22
by wrighrc
Hi mpack,
This isn't a windows update doing something stupid issue.
I can install Vista on Bare Metal and it works fine, updates and all.
Yes it is only the Guest OS that Hangs.
And the particular process hogging the Host CPU is.... Drum roll please.... VirturalBox.exe
This happens when the Guest Hangs.
I thought the pictures would have clarified that that's why I uploaded them.
I will look at the other suggestions and perhaps be able to upload something more useful.
And I did search the forum. If I missed the solution then please send me the link.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 28. Feb 2012, 23:25
by wrighrc
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage.exe showvminfo YaleVista --details
Code: Select all
Name: YaleVista
Guest OS: Windows Vista (64 bit)
UUID: 5c8faa3e-2709-4575-b61b-09a92a472309
Config file: R:\VirtualBox VMs\YaleVista\YaleVista.vbox
Snapshot folder: R:\VirtualBox VMs\YaleVista\Snapshots
Log folder: R:\VirtualBox VMs\YaleVista\Logs
Hardware UUID: 5c8faa3e-2709-4575-b61b-09a92a472309
Memory size: 1024MB
Page Fusion: off
VRAM size: 30MB
CPU exec cap: 100%
HPET: off
Chipset: piix3
Firmware: BIOS
Number of CPUs: 1
Synthetic Cpu: off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device (1): DVD
Boot Device (2): HardDisk
Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: on
PAE: off
Time offset: 0 ms
RTC: local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: off
Nested Paging: on
Large Pages: on
VT-x VPID: on
State: powered off (since 2012-02-28T21:11:18.053000000)
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Storage Controller Name (0): IDE Controller
Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Bootable (0): on
Storage Controller Name (1): SAS Controller
Storage Controller Type (1): unknown
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1): 8
Storage Controller Port Count (1): 8
Storage Controller Bootable (1): on
IDE Controller (0, 0): Empty
SAS Controller (0, 0): R:\VirtualBox VMs\YaleVista\YaleVista.vdi (UUID: 5d1f0be4
-f04e-4834-b093-9117beca1dd8)
NIC 1: MAC: 080027CFA7AA, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'Realtek PCIe
GBE Family Controller', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 8254
0EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
NIC 5: disabled
NIC 6: disabled
NIC 7: disabled
NIC 8: disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
Audio: enabled (Driver: DSOUND, Controller: HDA)
Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
VRDE: disabled
USB: disabled
USB Device Filters:
<none>
Available remote USB devices:
<none>
Currently Attached USB Devices:
<none>
Shared folders: <none>
VRDE Connection: not active
Clients so far: 0
Guest:
Configured memory balloon size: 0 MB
OS type: WindowsVista_64
Additions run level: 0
Guest Facilities:
No active facilities.
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 1. Mar 2012, 04:15
by wrighrc
I just ditched Vista 64 and installed Windows 7 32bit. Much better Now.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 31. May 2012, 09:35
by Ykrons
Hi all,
I'm in the same situation. My Vista 64-bit virtual machine seems to be very unstable.
I'm able to install Vista, but during my last try it seems to be locked after several hours during the first user profile creation.
During my previous tries, it seems that the more I use the VM the more it becomes unstable. It seems to be always related to hard drive issue as if the VM drive was corrupted.
Here is a screenshot of my last VM crash, and here is the detail information from VBoxManage:
Code: Select all
Name: Vista Basic 64 SP2
Guest OS: Windows Vista (64 bit)
UUID: 8bd73998-cd51-4ba3-98e6-18ff9e7bcc9e
Config file: E:\VM VirtualBox\Vista Basic 64 SP2\Vista Basic 64 SP2.vbox
Snapshot folder: E:\VM VirtualBox\Vista Basic 64 SP2\Snapshots
Log folder: E:\VM VirtualBox\Vista Basic 64 SP2\Logs
Hardware UUID: 8bd73998-cd51-4ba3-98e6-18ff9e7bcc9e
Memory size: 1639MB
Page Fusion: off
VRAM size: 64MB
CPU exec cap: 100%
HPET: off
Chipset: piix3
Firmware: BIOS
Number of CPUs: 1
Synthetic Cpu: off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: on
PAE: off
Time offset: 0 ms
RTC: local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: off
Nested Paging: on
Large Pages: off
VT-x VPID: on
State: running (since 2012-05-30T14:57:05.650000000)
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Storage Controller Name (0): Contrôleur IDE
Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX3
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Bootable (0): on
Storage Controller Name (1): Contrôleur SATA
Storage Controller Type (1): IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1): 30
Storage Controller Port Count (1): 1
Storage Controller Bootable (1): on
Contrôleur IDE (1, 0): C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso (UUID: 70df8ca6-cf01-4485-ad01-05d77fe2c54f)
Contrôleur SATA (0, 0): E:\VM VirtualBox\Vista Basic 64 SP2\Snapshots/{f29b2d9c-d630-411d-9ec5-0ea4059168bb}.vhd (UUID: f29b2d9c-d630-411d-9ec5-0ea4059168bb)
NIC 1: MAC: 080027A87DBC, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny
NIC 1 Settings: MTU: 0, Socket (send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window (send:64, receive: 64)
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
NIC 5: disabled
NIC 6: disabled
NIC 7: disabled
NIC 8: disabled
Pointing Device: USB Tablet
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
Audio: enabled (Driver: DSOUND, Controller: HDA)
Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
Video mode: 640x480x0
VRDE: disabled
USB: enabled
USB Device Filters:
<none>
Available remote USB devices:
<none>
Currently Attached USB Devices:
<none>
Shared folders:
Name: 'C_DRIVE', Host path: 'C:\' (machine mapping), writable
Name: 'P_DRIVE', Host path: 'P:\' (machine mapping), writable
Name: 'E_DRIVE', Host path: 'E:\' (machine mapping), writable
VRDE Connection: not active
Clients so far: 0
Guest:
Configured memory balloon size: 0 MB
OS type: WindowsVista_64
Additions run level: 0
Guest Facilities:
Facility "VirtualBox Base Driver": not active (last update: 2012/05/30 15:56:31 UTC)
Facility "VirtualBox System Service": not active (last update: 2012/05/30 15:56:31 UTC)
Facility "VirtualBox Desktop Integration": not active (last update: 2012/05/30 15:56:31 UTC)
Facility "Seamless Mode": not active (last update: 2012/05/30 15:56:31 UTC)
Facility "Graphics Mode": active/running (last update: 2012/05/30 15:56:31 UTC)
Snapshots:
Name: Clean install (UUID: 923d8b4a-85f2-48ba-ba4a-6149ba8719fb)
Name: Guest addition 4.1.4 (UUID: 225b19db-9e36-439d-894c-14529fdc2986) *
Did someone success to install Vista 64 in VirtualBox? And what was the configuration used?
(I have already installed XP 32, Vista 32, Seven 32 and Seven 64 without problem)
Kind regards
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 31. May 2012, 10:45
by michaln
Try using VDI disk images instead of VHD.
Re: Windows Vista 64bit Guest Unstable on Windows 7 64bit Ho
Posted: 31. May 2012, 12:08
by Ykrons
Hi and thank you for you reply.
I have tried with a VDI disk. The VM have hang during the reboot after the Guest Addition installation. I have started Office installation and get a message from windows about solving an issue installing an old VirtualBox VMM software.
I'll try now without Guest additions.