Windows 8 Installation Hangs

[zcabin01]

I am trying to install Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation x64 on my Windows 7 x64 (host).

When I start Virtualbox with the installation ISO of Windows 8 mounted, the screen just hangs on the boot screen. Installation doesn't start. The screen is just stuck on the "Windows" logo. See the image below.

[BillG]

How long did you wait? It can sit there for a while with no output to the screen.

[zcabin01]

How long did you wait? It can sit there for a while with no output to the screen.

I waited more than 30 mins... It just sits on the same screen...

I tried Widnows 7 x86 and it works fine...

I am going to try to see if Widnows 8 x86 works...

[zcabin01]

x86 version of Windows 8 doesn't work also...

I tried on another computer, and everything works fine... how can i get it to work on my PC?

[BillG]

I have no idea.

[stefan.becker]

Do you have another guest like xp?

If yes, start it before and wait until login. Then start again the windows 8 install.

It sounds crappy, but i saw this behaviour on one of my machines.

On the same machine with VMWARE i dont have this problem. On another machine it works perfectly.

[zcabin01]

Do you have another guest like xp?

If yes, start it before and wait until login. Then start again the windows 8 install.

It sounds crappy, but i saw this behaviour on one of my machines.

On the same machine with VMWARE i dont have this problem. On another machine it works perfectly.

I installed Win 7 perfectly fine with no issues....

[zcabin01]

I pulled up the log, and below is the last few lines from the log which will help indicate why installation is not working.

00:00:49.674373 NAT: zone(nm:mbuf_cluster, used:0)
00:00:49.676218 NAT: zone(nm:mbuf_packet, used:0)
00:00:49.676274 NAT: zone(nm:mbuf, used:0)
00:00:49.676299 NAT: zone(nm:mbuf_jumbo_pagesize, used:0)
00:00:49.678008 NAT: zone(nm:mbuf_jumbo_9k, used:0)
00:00:49.679189 NAT: zone(nm:mbuf_jumbo_16k, used:0)
00:00:49.679935 NAT: zone(nm:mbuf_ext_refcnt, used:0)
00:00:49.938543 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={db7ab4ca-2a3f-4183-9243-c1208da92392} aComponent={Console} aText={The virtual machine is being powered down}, preserve=false
00:00:49.995296 Changing the VM state from 'DESTROYING' to 'TERMINATED'.
00:00:50.947652 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={db7ab4ca-2a3f-4183-9243-c1208da92392} aComponent={Console} aText={The virtual machine is not powered up}, preserve=false
00:00:51.933973 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={db7ab4ca-2a3f-4183-9243-c1208da92392} aComponent={Console} aText={The virtual machine is not powered up}, preserve=false

[Perryg]

Afraid not. Post the complete log file (as an attachment)

[shantanu.roy.live]

I had the same problem. I was getting similar ACCESS DENIED problem for Windows 8. Next time I ran virtual box as a administrator and I was through with the installation. Hope this helps.

[mpack]

The "access denied" thing is not important. Everyone gets that with recent VBox versions. The VM was shutting down and hence some background process lost contact with it, that's all.

[ybbozman]

Hi all,

Well, same problem.

Solution I found: uncheck "Enable EFI". Then, it works (for me)!

Fred

[olegg]

Hi guys,

I can confirm the same issue with Windows 8x32 Pro installation on VirtualBox 4.2.6 r82870 on Ubuntu 12.04/x32 host on AMD-based laptop (Inspiron 1501).
I have attached a log from VirtualBox and here is my cpuinfo.

Code: Select all

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: AuthenticAMD
cpu family	: 15
model		: 104
model name	: AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-58
stepping	: 1
cpu MHz		: 800.000
cache size	: 512 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 2
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 1
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow extd_apicid pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy 3dnowprefetch lbrv
bogomips	: 1595.96
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps

processor	: 1
vendor_id	: AuthenticAMD
cpu family	: 15
model		: 104
model name	: AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-58
stepping	: 1
cpu MHz		: 800.000
cache size	: 512 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 2
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 1
initial apicid	: 1
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 1
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow extd_apicid pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy 3dnowprefetch lbrv
bogomips	: 1595.96
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps

As for others the Win8 installaton just locks up and shows the blue window/door(?) on the black background without any change (if everything would go good then I would get a swirl animation in the bottom of the screen showing progress of the Win8 preparation).

I have tried followign workarounds which were suggested in the thread:
1) The EFI thing is switched off in my settings and switching it on crashes the virtual machine.
2) stefan.becker suggested to run Win XP guest and then Win 8x32 - didn't work for me.
3) repeated restart of the VM with Win8x32 guest, helped a couple of times wit a stock VirtualBox 4.1 shipped with Ubuntu 12.04 and never worked with the latest VirtualBox 4.2.6 r82870. But as far the installation requires a reboot in between it couldn't make it through the 2nd reboot.
4) tried to run the VirtualBox with root permissions via gksudo - it didn't help either (please look into attached log Win8root).
I wonder if there are any other tricks I could try here?

As others I have tried VMWare Player with the same Windows 8x32 Pro installation on the same laptop and it went well.
On the same laptop and with the same VirtualBox I can install Windows 7x32 Pro with no problems whatsoever.

Somehow I suspect there is something fishy with combination of AMD CPU, VirtualBox (both Windows and Linux hosts) and Windows 8. I wonder if VirtualBox experts can see something wrong in the attached logs.
Please let me know if you need any assistance.

[Jason7113]

I was having same problem running Windows 7 and trying to install Windows 8 on V Box. I found that I had to Enable Vertualization in BIOS, this is done by getting into BIOS using F10 key, selecting Power option, and then Enabling Vertualization, it worked for me, hope this helps.

[eshornock]

I was kinda surprised when I found that Server 2012 would install fine but Win8 would hang.

Since the server versions of Windows don't enable sound out of the box I disabled the audio device in the VM config; the Win8 installation completed sucessfully. After several successful boots I re-enabled the audio device. Result: hang

This is with the debian package from virtualbox.org, 4.2.6-82870~Debian~wheezy

Edit: It seems I was just 'lucky' when it worked. It's not consistent.