virtualbox.org

Host: Win7 Professional 64 bit
Guest: not yet installed
VirtualBox version: 4.3.12

I am getting this error: "Could not launch a process for the Virtual machene .. . (VERR_INVALID_UTF16_ENCODING)".


3 weeks ago I successfully installed Suse 13.1 on a Virtual Machine using same VirtualBox installation. Now I can't launch that machine and not even launch a newly configured Virtual Machine for installing. Since then I have added a graphics card to the system in order to support a high-resolution monitor (2560 x 1440 resolution). When it worked for me 3 weeks ago, I used built-in Intel 4000 graphics and HDMI resolution.

Does VirtualBox have issues with such high resolution systems (so-called ´4k monitor systems')? They are becoming quite common now, BTW, and should be supported.

My graphics details:
card: NVIDIA NVS 310 (a slightly modified OEM model branded with the "HP" brand, but the difference is only that the cooling profiles take less space with the HP model. Electronically they are identical)
driver: as displayed in Windows 'device manager': "9.18.13.3788". Installed with (lastet Microsoft certified driver for this card from Nvidia webiste) the installer file "337.88-desktop-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-english-whql.exe".

.. and if it matters my system is (and always was) running with Danish language interface and locale settings.

The error message doesn't indicate a graphics problem. It's saying, if I understand it correctly, that the .vbox file has been edited and replaced with a unicode file. You could zip up the .vbox file and post the zip here.

2560x1440 resolution has nothing to do with 4k. 4k display devices have 4000 horizontal pixels. I've owned an iMac with a 2560x1440 27" display for about a year and it would not support a 4k source. 4K is certainly not common in the U.S. and there are no TV providers that supply a 4k signal.

edit: I forgot to mention Apple came out with a 30" Cinema Display with 2560x1600 resolution 10 years ago. Also not 4k.

The file has not been edited (not by me at least). It was created (by VirtualBox GUI) less than 5 seconds before trying to launch the machine for the first time. Anyway I am uploading SuSE.zip (original file name "SuSE.vbox"). Note that this is not the VM that was functional 3 weeks ago. This is a brandnew one.

The only changes to my system over the last 2-3 weeks I can think of is the changes to the graphics system (card + driver). That is why I assumed that it could be related.

copy/paste of error message (some Danish occurring):

Kunne ikke åbne en session til den virtuelle maskine SuSE.

Could not launch a process for the machine 'SuSE' (VERR_INVALID_UTF16_ENCODING).

Retur kode: VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80BB0005)
Komponent: Machine
Kort: IMachine {480cf695-2d8d-4256-9c7c-cce4184fa048}

Hmm. The .vbox file is not in Unicode. I also don't see any special character codes (escape codes) in the xml, so I don't see what provokes the error.

The only thing I do see is that the VDI file has been located outside of the VM folder for some reason. What is drive "S:" on your host?

I makes no difference where the .vdi is. I tried with the original positon position in my Windows 'user profile' as well and the same error occurs! I created the virtual machine from Virtualbox GUI, stopped Virutalbox, copied the .vdi, removed the virtual machine and created a new virtual machine from the .vdi.

The S:-drive is a 100GB partion that I have reservered for an OpenSuSE virtual machine. My primary disk is a 240 GB mSATA SSD only and is partitioned into 140 GB for Windows and 100 GB for Linux (and the reason is that I want to manage backups of the two independently)

It most certainly makes a difference where the VDI is - it must be in the location where it was registered. When I've seen this kind of error in the past, it was because the file had been located along a path which included some non-Roman character accents. However the .vbox file you provided showed no such problem.

There is no need to create host partitions for virtual machines. The virtual "drives" are just ordinary host files and need no special treatment.

*IT IS* in the position where it was registered. I have not moved it since it was registered. Please read what I am writing. Besides it makes no difference where it is (as long as it is where it was registered). The same error occurs. Also 3 weeks ago I had another VM in same position created exactly the same way and it worked fine.

I feel myself even more convinced that there is some unwanted 'interference' with the graphics system! This is the only significant change with my system from when it worked 3 weeks ago till now when it does not.

.. so in other words I think I bumped into a bug in program code! What ws cactually what L tried to communicate from the very beginning. It simply does not (always) work as it should and a fix wold be highly appreciated.

jazcyk wrote:I think I bumped into a bug in program code! It simply does not (always) work as it should and a fix wold be highly appreciated.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence!
So far the evidence at hand:

• You have an error message about a .vbox file which refers to Unicode compliance (or not).
• You don't know if someone messed with the .vbox file.
• You did a hardware upgrade.

Try the following:

• Uninstall VirtualBox (optional).
• Delete (or even better rename) your preferences. That would be a folder called ".VirtualBox" in your home directory.
• Re-install VirtualBox (if you uninstalled it).
• Create a new VM. Stick with the defaults. See if that runs.

The fact that you had a new hardware installed may be completely coincidental.

jazcyk wrote:I feel myself even more convinced that there is some unwanted 'interference' with the graphics system!

I wouldn't be so sure. You know that Friday the 13th was a full moon? Random? I don't think so!

"You don't know if someone messed with the .vbox file.". WRONG!! I perfectly know that nobodyy did. Why are you not reading what I am writing? The.vbox file was created few seconds before I attempted to launch the virtual machine. Nobody else but me uses this system. But also the old VM that worked 3 weeks ago, now does not.

I have been an IT-professonal for almost 30 years (first as an Algol and ADA programmer and now in test/techncial support) and have seen similar issues before occuring as a result of a missing variable initialization, a wrong pointer assignment and similar. On my system VB picks up a string that it should not. This could very well be an issue that only code review will identify.


I will try what else you propose!

Not sure about Full Moon. But I sacrificed a chicken, and it did not help either!

I completely uninstalled VirtualBox. Deleted all files related to it (in 'Program Fles', in 'Program Data' and in my user profile). Ran a registry cleaner deleting anything that could be identified as related to Virtualbox.

Did a fresh install of Virtualbox. Created Virtual machines in two ways: 1) registering the existing (empty) .vdi and 2) created a new .vdi. Both machines are visible in VirtualBox GUI interface. But trying to lanch any of them still returns exactly the same error.