virtualbox.org

Until recently I was running VB 4.2.16-86992 with the matching extension pack installed, on a Win 7 64-bit machine with no problems. I have a VM with Windows Server 2008R2 that I'm using for a development environment. I recently upgraded VB to 4.2.18-88781 and was still working fine until today when I received a message that my extension pack was out of date. I accepted the download and install, but the install failed with:
"The installer failed with exit code 1: VBoxExtPackHelperApp.exe: error: Failed to rename the temporary directory to the final one: VERR_ACCESS_DENIED".

I've searched through the forums here and think I've tried every suggestion. I tried running VB as Administrator; I tried exiting, deleting the ExtensionPacks folder, rebooting, and installing from within the UI and from an elevated command prompt; I tried uninstalling, deleting the entire Oracle directory structure, and reinstalling with reboots between each step; I've tried moving the extension pack to different folders on the hard drive to install from. The only thing I haven't done is disable my antivirus, and that's because I can't - it's controlled by corporate IT. When none of that worked, since 4.2.16 had been working for me, I tried uninstalling 4.2.18 and doing a clean install on 4.2.16, but I can't get the extension pack for that to load now either. When trying to load from an elevated command prompt I now get:
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>vboxmanage extpack install "C:\Dev\Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.2.16-86992.vbox-extpack"
0%...
Progress state: E_FAIL
VBoxManage.exe: error: Failed to install "C:\Dev\Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.2.16-86992.vbox-extpack"
VBoxManage.exe: error: The installer failed with exit code 1: VBoxExtPackHelperApp.exe: error: Failed to rename the temporary directory to the final one: VERR_ACCESS_DENIED ('C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox/ExtensionPacks/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-_-inst-10176' -> 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox/ExtensionPacks/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack')
VBoxManage.exe: error: rcExit=1
VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code E_FAIL (0x80004005), component ExtPackManager, interface IExtPackManager
VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: "int __cdecl handleExtPack(struct HandlerArg *)"
at line 1112 of file VBoxManageMisc.cpp

Without the extension pack installed, I can't run my VM - I get:
Failed to open a session for the virtual machine WinSrv2008R2.
Implementation of the USB 2.0 controller not found!
Because the USB 2.0 controller state is part of the saved VM state, the VM cannot be started. To fix this problem, either install the 'Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack' or disable USB 2.0 support in the VM settings (VERR_NOT_FOUND).
Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: Console
Interface: IConsole {db7ab4ca-2a3f-4183-9243-c1208da92392}

I can't disable the USB support in the VM settings and I can't install the extension pack.

I saw a comment about changing the / to \ in one post, but no explanation for how to do it. I need this VM for my job and I already have a month's worth of work inside. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Moved to "Windows Hosts" since the guest OS is irrelevant to the question asked.

Try uninstalling the last extpack (if it will let you), then run "VBoxManage extpack cleanup", then try installing the new extpack again.

If all else fails you can always uninstall VBox, make sure the entire delete the entire "Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\*" folder tree, then reinstall VBox. Your VMs will not be affected.

At this point there is no "last extpack" installed. Running vboxmanage list extpacks returns "Extension Packs: 0". Doing cleanup says successful, but install still fails with same message. As I stated previously, I have already tried completely uninstalling, deleting the entire \Program Files\Oracle\ folder tree, and reinstalling twice - once with 4.2.18 and once with 4.2.16, being very careful to match up the extpack version each time.

Make sure the downloaded extpack file is not located in the root folder of any drive, also that its path does not contain any non-Roman characters.

I'm wondering if there's a way around this entirely. When I try launching the VM, it says, basically, either install the extpack or disable USB. I don't have a specific need for USB in this VM, so if I could disable it and get the VM running again, that would be fine with me. However, when I try going into settings, the checkbox to enable/disable is checked and greyed out, so I can't turn it off. Now the other interesting thing here is that when I go into settings, I also get a message telling me that USB is enabled but the extpack is not installed. The last line of the message says "It will be disabled in the meantime unless you cancel the current settings changes."

To me this means that if I click OK, it should then let me run the VM because USB has been disabled. But that isn't the case. After getting this message and clicking OK, the VM still won't launch because USB is enabled and the extpack isn't installed. I tried editing the .vbox file for that VM and setting both USB settings to false, but then I got an error launching complaining about a configuration mismatch, so I restored the original .vbox file and am back to the USB problem.

Is there any other way to disable the USB so that the VM will run without the extpack?

If you go into the VM configuration via Virtualbox Manager, there is a USB section. Disable the USB2 section.

Sounds to me that all of this was done while the guest was in a saved state and nothing short of discarding the save state will fix the issue AFAIK.
The only issue of lost work is what ever was not saved before you saved the state.

You are correct - the VM is saved and not "Powered off". I was afraid that my only solution was going to be losing the saved state. The really bad part is that I'm not sure how far back that goes now, and I may have to re-create over a week's worth of work.

sailingcomputergeek wrote:I may have to re-create over a week's worth of work.

Why should that be the case? Most data will have been saved back to disk. Only the apps you had running at the moment of interruption (think power loss) will lose data. Surely you didn't keep any application open for that whole time?

Oh, well ... I didn't know what I would lose if I discarded saved state ... if it would roll everything back to the last time the VM was "powered up" or what. So, yes, if what was saved to the (virtual) hard drive isn't lost, then I should only lose about a half day or so.

But, I have a new development. I tried rolling back to a Windows Restore Point from Sunday, before I tried the 4.2.18 extpack. After it completed, I launched VB and immediately got the message that my extpack needed updating which I took as a good sign since that was apparently where my troubles began. This time, though, I cancelled out of the download and update. So at this point I have vb 4.2.18 installed with what should be the 4.2.16 extpack. When I go to File | Preferences | Extensions, I can see what looks like 1 extpack installed, but when I hover my mouse over it, it shows:
Failed to load 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox/ExtensionPacks/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack/ExtPack.xml': RTPathQueryInfoEx failed with VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

Similarly, doing "vboxmanage list extpacks" gives:
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0: Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Version:
Revision: 0
Edition:
Description:
VRDE Module:
Usable: false
Why unusable: Failed to load 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox/ExtensionPacks/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack/ExtPack.xml': RTPathQueryInfoEx failed with VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

When I look on my hard drive, I can see the folder Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack with a number of subfolders for what looks like different OSes, but I don't see any .xml file in there anywhere.

Trying to launch my VM gives the same USB error - which isn't unexpected given the above.

So is there a way to get that xml file back without uninstalling and reinstalling the extpack?

The xml should be in the "Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack" folder. It's not the only file which should be there.

Well, I finally bit the bullet around noon yesterday and discarded the saved state. I was then able to turn off the USB support and launch my VM. It looks like I didn't lose any of the work I had completed, so I'm happy about that. I have not yet tried reinstalling the extpack - I plan on doing that late Friday when I will have the weekend to sort things out without impacting work. I'll keep you posted on my results. Thanks for your assistance so far.