virtualbox.org

VB 4.2.14 was working well with OS X 10.7.5. I migrated the data from the old Macbook Pro by restoring from Time Machine. I apologize for the size of the snapshots. I don't know how to shrink them for this post. I had to split the second because of the 128K size limit.

Now I have a new Macbook Pro with OS X 10.8.4 and VB 4.2.16. I installed VB, but I can't get past this error message:

Cannot create the machine folder Windows in the parent folder /Users/dianevacca/VirtualBox VMs.

Please check that the parent really exists and that you have permissions to create the machine folder.

I had three users (not deliberateIy): two admin with read/write privileges and another with only read priv. I tried creating the user in the error message. I've logged out and logged in as the other admin. None of these worked. I deleted two users, leaving only one, the admin with full privileges. Still nothing. I deleted VB and the downloaded .DMG file and emptied the trash. I think the problem is that I can't find the parent folder /Users/dianevacca/VirtualBox VMs. I can't find VirtualBox VMs.

Library search for VirtualBox VMs:

Library search for Virtual Box:

Don't restore the .VirtualBox folder from Time Machine - make sure that folder is empty. Only restore the contents of "VirtualBox VMs", i.e. the VMs themselves. Next register each VM by selecting it's ".vbox" settings file using the Machine|Add... feature of the GUI. This should all work provided your VMs don't use any absolute paths, which v4 VMs don't by default.

I deleted your pictures since they waste a lot of space and were not helpful.

Thank you for responding so quickly!

I found 5 files and 2 folders with .virtualbox. Two are saved states, 1 is plist, 1 plist.lockfile, 1 webserv.plist, and
.app.virtualboxVM and .app.virtualbox

The last two folders each have 1 folder that has 2 files: org.virtualbox.app.virtualboxvm/com.apple.opencl/com.apple.ocl.64.data and /com.apple.ocl.64.maps. In other words, the last 2 folders (above) are identical in their contents.

So - I'm not sure what you mean by ".VirtualBox folder." I don't have a "VirtualBox VMs," probably because I had only 1 VM (Windows XP).

Time Machine now shows only what I've done on this new computer. (I transferred the data yesterday.) I can get the other, older backups, but then I won't be able to use my time machine drive on the old computer. So I will just transfer with a thumb drive. I'll wait for you before I continue.

Sorry about the pix-- I included in case you needed that info.

I should mention that I'm not a Mac user, so I can't answer questions about Mac folder names or folder structure.

The error message mentioned in your first post says that you had a "VirtualBox VMs" folder, because that's what it was complaining about no longer finding. "VirtualBox VMs" is in your hosts user documents folder, but not inside .VirtualBox. Nowadays the ".VirtualBox" folder just contains software preferences etc, the actual VMs are stored elsewhere, i.e. "VirtualBox VMs".

If you failed to backup "VirtualBox VMs" and have since erased the contents... well that would be serious.


And just to be sure you aren't feeding me red herrings: this VM was previously working fine on a Mac right? You didn't copy the VM folder from a Windows host?

If you still have access to the backups of the older machine, you don't have to use Time Machine at all. You can just open the backup folder on the drive with the old backups, click on the date that you know had the VM, click on Macintosh HD, click on Users, click on dianevacca, there should be the VirtualBox VM folder. Copy it to your new computer or the thumbdrive. Then you can copy it to the new machine. If it balks at letting you open the old user folder, right click on the drive in the sidebar, choose Get Info, and check "Ignore permissions on this drive". When you are done, uncheck it.

I'm not any closer to solving this. I used VB just last night on the old computer, so it has all the files it needs on the old Mac. What follows refers to the old Mac.

There is a folder called VirtualBox in the system library. It has a bunch of logs, 2 .dat files, VirtualBox.xml-prev and VirtualBox.xml. It also has two folders, HardDisks and Machines. HardDisks has 1 file: WindowsXP.vdi; and Machines has 2 logs plus a folder, WindowsXP.

In the new computer (where I want to install and use Virtual Box and WindowsXP), the system library has the same files with one exception: The Machines folder is empty.

That's all there is! No Virtual Box VMs on either computer. I assume the folder Machines is the equivalent to the VirtualBox VMs. My original query has more details.

There may be another problem as well. When I was setting up the computer on Monday, I had to create a different (from the old computer) username: dianedvacca instead of dianevacca. The error msg can't find two things, the old username and the Virtual Box VMs folder. Neither exist on the new computer.

When I kept getting the error msg, I deleted VB, downloaded the latest version and installed it. Should I delete VirtualBox folder from the system library? Start completely from scratch? Time Machine can't see or access the Windows VM. Loukingjr said:

click on Macintosh HD, click on Users, click on dianevacca, there should be the VirtualBox VM folder.

When I do that (on the old machine that has working Virtual Box) I do get a bunch of folders, but no Virtual Box at all.

Any more ideas? Please?

All you have to do is copy the WindowsXP.vdi file from the old machine to the new machine. Say to your desktop on the new machine. Then on the new machine in VirtualBox, create a new WindowsXP machine, you can name it WindowsXP. When the Hard Drive dialog opens click "Do not add a virtual hard drive". Then click Create. Next just drag the WindowsXP.vdi file that you copied from the old computer into the new WindowsXP folder. Then in the VirtualBox window just click on Storage, click on the "Add Hard Disk" green plus sign, then choose, "Choose existing disk", then select the WindowsXP.vdi file. Click "OK". Adjust the settings for the new machine to match those that were set on the old machine. You should be good to go.

I wish I could do that ("Then on the new machine in VirtualBox, create a new WindowsXP machine"), but that's the very problem that I started with:

I installed VB, but I can't get past this error message when I click "New":

Cannot create the machine folder Windows in the parent folder /Users/dianevacca/VirtualBox VMs.

Please check that the parent really exists and that you have permissions to create the machine folder.

I click "New" then on "Name and Operating System" dialogue I call it WindowsXP, click "continue," and stop dead in my tracks with the above error msg. I don't understand why VB is looking for user dianevacca (old Mac). I had to adopt a new username for the new MBP when I began the data migration. That's probably part of the problem. Where does it get the old username?

I just deleted the VB app again. I notice that the VirtualBox folder in still in the library, including WindowsXP.vdi. I reinstalled VB from the downloaded .dmg and nothing has changed. The only thing I can think of is to move or delete the VB folder from the library.

ciamurra wrote:I wish I could do that ("Then on the new machine in VirtualBox, create a new WindowsXP machine"), but that's the very problem that I started with:

I installed VB, but I can't get past this error message when I click "New":

Cannot create the machine folder Windows in the parent folder /Users/dianevacca/VirtualBox VMs.

Please check that the parent really exists and that you have permissions to create the machine folder.

I click "New" then on "Name and Operating System" dialogue I call it WindowsXP, click "continue," and stop dead in my tracks with the above error msg. I don't understand why VB is looking for user dianevacca (old Mac). I had to adopt a new username for the new MBP when I began the data migration. That's probably part of the problem. Where does it get the old username?

I just deleted the VB app again. I notice that the VirtualBox folder in still in the library, including WindowsXP.vdi. I reinstalled VB from the downloaded .dmg and nothing has changed. The only thing I can think of is to move or delete the VB folder from the library.

Open the VirtualBox Preferences and change the "Default Machine Folder" to another location. Create a folder for it. Create the new machine and drag the the WindowsXP.vdi file out of the folder it's in to the new location. Then you can delete the old folder.

After moving VirtualBox folder from library to desktop on new machine and rebooting, I reinstalled VB. I followed your directions:

"copy the WindowsXP.vdi file from the old machine to the new machine. Say to your desktop on the new machine. Then on the new machine in VirtualBox, create a new WindowsXP machine, you can name it WindowsXP. When the Hard Drive dialog opens click "Do not add a virtual hard drive". Then click Create."

So far, so good. Next step:

"Next just drag the WindowsXP.vdi file that you copied from the old computer into the new WindowsXP folder"

There is no new WindowsXP folder.

I went back to your most recent msg:

"Open the VirtualBox Preferences and change the "Default Machine Folder" to another location. Create a folder for it. Create the new machine and drag the the WindowsXP.vdi file out of the folder it's in to the new location. Then you can delete the old folder."

Not sure about the new location for Default Machine Folder. Somewhere else in Library? The Default M. Folder is now "/Users/dianedvacca/VirtualBox VMs." Can it be something else?

ciamurra wrote: "Open the VirtualBox Preferences and change the "Default Machine Folder" to another location. Create a folder for it. Create the new machine and drag the the WindowsXP.vdi file out of the folder it's in to the new location. Then you can delete the old folder."

Not sure about the new location for Default Machine Folder. Somewhere else in Library? The Default M. Folder is now "/Users/dianedvacca/VirtualBox VMs." Can it be something else?

Just do this.
1. create a folder in Applications and call it VMs.
2. Open VirtualBox, select preferences, select other from the drop down menu for the Default Machine Folder. Navigate to Applications/VMs. Select the VMs folder. Click ok.
3. then just do the steps I mentioned above.

edit: once you create the new machine there will be a folder inside the VMs folder called WindowsXP. Move the .vdi file inside it.

OK. I've done everything including dragging the WindowsXP.vdi from desktop folder to applications/VMs/WindowsXP. Remember, the vdi file was originally in /Library/VirtualBox/HardDisks. Now there is no HardDisks folder.

I started to run the vm called WindowsXP and got this message:

Please select a virtual optical disk file or a phsical optical drive containing a disk to start your new virtual machine from.
... As this virtual machine has no hard drive you ail not be able to install an operating system on it at the moment.

After a little while a little window popped up showing this message and a progress bar:

Creating process for virtual machine "WindowsXP" (GUI/Qt ... (1/2)

Nothing seemed to be happening, so I cancelled the process.

I can't believe how patient you are.

you still need to add the WindowsXP.vdi file as a hard drive to Storage in the settings for the VM. the green plus sign?

loukingjr wrote: ... Adjust the settings for the new machine to match those that were set on the old machine. You should be good to go.

Hmmmm. I was always running short on memory, but I didn't know how to increase the RAM. So when I created the new machine, the recommended amount of memory was in megabytes. I increased it to 4 GB. (I got 16 GB on new computer so that I wouldn't keep running out of memory.) What do you suggest? Is there a way to increase the RAM after creating the machine? The settings don't match. The old .vdi has 1407 MB base memory.

ciamurra wrote:

loukingjr wrote: ... Adjust the settings for the new machine to match those that were set on the old machine. You should be good to go.

Hmmmm. I was always running short on memory, but I didn't know how to increase the RAM. So when I created the new machine, the recommended amount of memory was in megabytes. I increased it to 4 GB. (I got 16 GB on new computer so that I wouldn't keep running out of memory.) What do you suggest? Is there a way to increase the RAM after creating the machine? The settings don't match. The old .vdi has 1407 MB base memory.

You shouldn't need more for Windows XP but you could set it to 2048 if you need to.

edit: btw, running out of memory on the host machine has nothing to do with the virtual machine unless of course the virtual machine was set to use too much memory.