Ubuntu 14.10 Desktop installation is unusable

[Paul F]

VirtualBox 4.3.18 r96516
Host: Mac OS 10.10, MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)
Guest: Ubuntu 14.10 Desktop

One the installation disk boots up and leaves text mode, the screen turns into colored vertical lines. Does the latest non-LTS Ubuntu installation does not work with VirtualBox?

[loukingjr]

apparently not...

[loukingjr]

Although I couldn't install a new 14.10 guest, I did successfully upgrade a 14.04 guest to 14.10. Why I don't know.

[Perryg]

Does this happen just after the install and reboot?

You would need to get to a tty and install the guest additions. It has to do with the new way they handle graphics.

[loukingjr]

Does this happen just after the install and reboot?

You would need to get to a tty and install the guest additions. It has to do with the new way they handle graphics.

actually it happens before the install while it's still in LiveCD mode. You could install the GA's in the .iso I guess but when you reboot it they will be gone.

[Perryg]

OK well it is what I said but I did not know if it was after boot or install.
I saw this several months ago ( pre-alpha 14.10 ) and there were fixes in SVN that addressed this. I thought it had progressed to 4.3.18 release but guess not.
There should be a maintenance release soon though and since 14.10 has been released they should have it there.

ubuntu-14.10.png (154.11 KiB) Viewed 11571 times

[loukingjr]

something else btw, when I upgraded 14.04 and rebooted the GA's were no longer working but the desktop was fine but very small . I reinstalled the GA's and everything was working.

[loukingjr]

okie doke. I don't like Ubuntu anyway.

[loukingjr]

here's mine

[Perryg]

I just thought about something else. If you have enabled 3D before the install it might corrupt like this. I would suggest trying with 3D disabled and the after the first boot it should be in software rendering ( very sluggish ). Then install the guest additions and shut down, enable 3D and boot. See if this works.

[loukingjr]

I just thought about something else. If you have enabled 3D before the install it might corrupt like this. I would suggest trying with 3D disabled and the after the first boot it should be in software rendering ( very sluggish ). Then install the guest additions and shut down, enable 3D and boot. See if this works.

actually I think I had 3d disabled when I booted the .iso. I'm going to recheck.

edit:that doesn't help. 3D enabled or disabled. same thing.

[loukingjr]

I tried the trick I used to get Kubuntu Plasma 5 working. Didn't work with Ubuntu.

edit: Dinner time here. ciao (chow) for now.

[loukingjr]

I was led to this possible fix from someone on the Ubuntu forums who found it on the Xubuntu page.

Workarounds for issues in virtual machines

Move to TTY1 (with VirtualBox, Right-Ctrl+F1), then move back to TTY7 (with VirtualBox, Right-Ctrl+F7)

Edit: I just tried this and it works. However, on Mac hosts you have to use Left Cmd+F1 and Left Cmd+F7. If you haven't changed the function keys on the Mac to work as standard function keys, you would have to hold down the Fn key as well.

[Roel]

The workaround (RIGHT_CTRL+F1, then RIGHT_CTRL+F7) worked for me also. I had to use the keyboard of the laptop itself as my external small keyboard does not have RIGHT_CTRL.

[bradjshannon]

The TTY1-7-1 switch worked for me, as well.

Really thought I was crazy and/or using VirtualBox wrong before seeing this thread.