virtualbox.org

This is continuation of viewtopic.php?f=6&t=56151&p=259905, which was locked prematurely.

I actually first encountered this problem installing the 32-bit Ubuntu 12.04.2 ISO in VBox 4.2.14. I reverted back to 4.2.12 in hopes it would correct the problem. I updated again to 4.2.14, as requested, and the problem persists. I deleted and recreated the guest under 4.2.14 yet again and the problem persists. This is not a 4.2.12 issue, so the proposed 'fix' is not applicable.

Another odd issue. The guest successfully installed using the old 32-bit Ubuntu 12.04 ISO will not retain it window size after a VM shutdown. The 'vboxmanage controlvm setvideomodehint' works normally while the VM is running. It retains the window size through a restart, but loses it after a shutdown. All my other VMs retain their windows size through shutdowns.

UPDATE: With a newly created VM using the 32-bit Ubuntu 12.04.2 ISO in VBox 4.2.14, even if I select 'Try Ubuntu' (rather than 'Install Ubuntu'), it immediately goes into low graphics mode.

You don't mention updating the GAs to v4.2.14 level, did you?

In general, please discuss the v4.2.14 release in the v4.2.14 discussion topic. Otherwise, if there's a genuine issue then we don't want lots of duplicate threads discussing it, e.g. like what happened with the low video mode in Ubuntu issue from v4.2.12.

Actually, I did state that I can not install the GA in low graphics mode...

I have been seeing some people with issues and think you may get it to work with a few steps.

1) boot the guest in recovery mode (hold the left shift key down at power on)
2) select the network first to mount the network and OS.
3) next select the root screen to run commands.
4) here you need to do a complete dist-upgrade (apt-get dist-upgrade) to make sure you have the latest packages in Ubuntu.
5) purge the already installed guest additions (apt-get purge VirtualBox* or apt-get purge virtualbox* be sure to try both) This will also clean out the Ubuntu VirtualBox files that might be corrupting the run.
6) reboot the guest and install the guest additions. (use device tab and install guest additions)

Now to the install problem. You should have set the display section with 3D enabled. If so disable it or disable it depending on the way it is set now and try to see if the install continues.

Thanks Perry for your helpful (as always) suggestions.

This one just keeps getting weirder...

I created another VM from scratch. Performed the install. Everything worked normally. While that one was updating, I created another VM using the same settings. That one failed as before in low graphics mode. Per your suggestion, I created yet another VM with no display acceleration - that one failed as well.

Attempted to follow your instructions with the failed VMs. However, when I select the VM, hold down left shift, and click Start, VirtualBox Manager shows the VM as Running, yet there is no window visible and the Show button is gray.

Out of several attempts, only once did it start in recovery mode. I selected Network, but it would never start (just keep coming back to the same screen each time).

Post the guests log file (as an attachment)
See Online Users Manual for the location of the file.

OK Perry, after a little trickery, I followed your instructions and everything worked.

Found the following. Left shift Start still results in a running VM with no window (what's up with that?). However, if I Power Off the VM, followed by a regular Start (no left shift), the VM starts in recovery mode. After realizing that it was supposed to come back to the same screen after selecting Network (my bad - good instructions, tired operator), selected Root and proceeded with your instructions. There were no GA packages to remove (as expected). Restarted and installed the standard packages (dkms, build-essential, and headers), followed by GA. Procedure worked flawlessly on all the broken VMs I've generated the last couple of days.

Many mysteries here:

* why only 32-bit Ubuntu 12.04.2 (not 64-bit 12.04.2 or 32-bit 12.04)
* why did it sporadically work (about 1 in 10 tries)
* why the odd behavior with recovery starts

Anyway, thanks for providing the solution (again)!

FOLLOW UP...

Did some research and found a perhaps simpler way to correct this problem. Found this The system is running in low-graphics mode (12.04) (and several similar posts). Apparently, this is a known issue with lightdm. Some argue that xorg.conf.failsafe should be remove, but IME that did not work. Copying xorg.conf.failsafe to xorg.conf and restarting lightdm worked like a charm.

Here's the recipe I found to recover from low graphics mode after the install initial restart:

* Ctrl+Alt+F1 to switch to virtual terminal. Login as usual.
* cd /etc/X11
* sudo cp xorg.conf.failsafe xorg.conf
* sudo service lightdm restart

The GUI returns and you're good to go!

I found that for some reason ubuntu-12.04.2-desktop-i386.iso does not create an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file (oddly, ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso and ubuntu-12.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso both do). Apparently, the missing xorg.conf causes lightdm to panic and revert to low graphics mode.

Hope this helps anyone else who has encountered this annoying headache!

Worked a treat.

Cheers