Server Execution fails while trying to create a virtual disk

[wcrandthor]

I'm using VirtualBox version 4.2.6 on my Windows7 host, and I'm trying to mount a SD card (in the computer's internal reader) as a rawdisk so that my Guest Ubuntu can "see" it as a /dev/sdx device.

I've tried opening an Administrator Command Prompt and running the command:

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C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename "C:\MySSDDisk.vmdk" -rawdisk \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE3

But when I do I only get the following errors back:

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VBoxManage.exe: error: Failed to create the VirtualBox object!
VBoxManage.exe: error: Code CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE (0x80080005) - Server execution failed (extended info not available)
VBoxManage.exe: error: Most likely, the VirtualBox COM server is not running or failed to start.

Why am I getting this error and what can I do to get this command to work?

[mpack]

Typically, you might get this error when logged in as the wrong user. E.g. logging in as the "Admin" user is quite different from running as administrator.

ps. You don't need admin privileges to run VBoxManage anyway. In particular, all that the command you tried does is create a small descriptor text file. It doesn't do anything potentially dangerous and hence doesn't need elevated rights.

See also:
Enabling raw access to Win7 / Win2k8 disks.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=38914#p175089

[wcrandthor]

ps. You don't need admin privileges to run VBoxManage anyway. In particular, all that the command you tried does is create a small descriptor text file. It doesn't do anything potentially dangerous and hence doesn't need elevated rights.

Yeah, I tried without the elevated privileges (ie right-click and launch the command prompt with "run as administrator") and it provides a different error about not having permissions to access the raw disk:

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C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename "C:\MySSDDisk.vmdk" -rawdisk \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE3
VBoxManage.exe: error: Cannot open the raw disk '\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE3': VERR_ACCESS_DENIED
VBoxManage.exe: error: The raw disk vmdk file was not created

So that started the usage of the command prompt with elevated privileges. WRT:

See also:
Enabling raw access to Win7 / Win2k8 disks.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=38914#p175089

When attempting the steps presented there:

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DISKPART> SELECT DISK 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> OFFLINE DISK
Virtual Disk Service error:
The operation is not supported on removable media.

So apparently the fact that I'm using a removable SD card it's not possible to follow those steps.

[mpack]

Hmm. I don't know why "createrawvmdk" would need to access the physical drive at all for this operation, as all it needs to know is the drive size, which it can get from normal API calls. Oh well, the error message clearly says otherwise. Still, my original answer was essentially correct: server error comes from logging into the wrong user account.

The access denied error could mean elevated rights required (I would try running cmd.exe as administrator), or it could simply mean that the drive is in use.

Personally I just create a VMDK descriptor manually, using a text editor.

Do you really need your guest to see the sdcard as an sdcard? Why not just mount it as a shared folder?