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Using VM guest additions on latest 4.3.20 Virtual Box on XP Pro SP3 guest and Windows 8.1 Pro Host.
The Virtual Box Graphics adapter installs and is fine in safe mode but in normal mode it reverts to 640 by 480 screen resolution and 4 bit graphics and cannot put back to 32 bit higher res like 1024 by 768.
Funny thing is if sometimes disable it - normal mode is back to normal but an uninstall always reinstalls same driver.
Sometimes monitor also gets uninstalled with video adaptor - have it set at default monitor but host using a BEN Q G2420HD - would it do any good to install this monitor's drivers?

Otherwise
Don't want to keep it disabled - will there be a fix for this coming or some other driver can download and install?
My host graphics card is an ATI Radeon 2400 Pro (yes several years old card but working well) - will it be possible to install this driver ATi Catalyst legacy ver 11 (I think) in guest xp?

Please help - unable to use guest due to this issue and my children need it mostly -older educational progs.

See Minimum information needed for assistance.

With the XP guest shutdown, make sure to attach the vbox.log (compressed) for the guest.

HI sorry for delay - have been doing repair install of my XP SP3 (after converting from VMware VMDK to VDI) and took some time to reinstall IE8 etc plus having issues in general (2 installs of same version on one machine) - 2nd is a backup to help repair issues with first on different partition.
I have attached all the logs here below. So far briefly looked at one log and seems there is a hydravision error (I don't think this program ever worked well on XP -maybe more for Windows 7) and I thought I had disabled it - so went and tried to uninstall it but not in add/remove progs but there was old ATI driver software -however I am now getting windows installer service errors and programs won't uninstall or install. This is in addition to messages about system being low in resources - have adjusted page file, removed it, reset it etc. Low resources message gone on adjusting also the IRPStackSize value in registry to 21 -was on 48 - not sure what should be in virtual box? However then getting the windows installer service error.

So am trying to fix this at moment also, adjusting IRPStackSize to see if helps and doing some windows installer service troubleshooting, although I did manually remove ATI and hydravision from the registry and rebooted - still same issue.

I have system ram set at 4096GB (host has 8GB) and this is 32bit XP guest which cannot see more than about 3.5-4GB ram -(don't know why setting allows (green bars) for more than this for 32bit XP) and also video ram set at max allowed of 128MB -issue does not occur if video ram set at 64MB and system ram at 3575GB but on my other XP system also in same virtual box machine VDI -none of these issues with 128MB video ram and 4096 system ram and it has no IRPSTackSize set so it is something going on in the install of XP I have. I prefer to be able to use the higher settings. I will also look further into the virtual box logs -is there some lines in particular or other I should be looking at?

Thanks for being willing to help.

First there is no reason to assign 4GB RAM and 128MB VRAM to an XP guest. 2GB RAM and 64MB VRam is more than enough.
Your other issue has to do with security issues with VirtualBox > 4.3.12 on Windows hosts.
See: Windows 4.3.20 specifically for errors due to security
Your best bet is to roll back to VirtualBox 4.3.12.

Astrogirl,

I've been reading your posts and I realized that you are missing one key understanding of how a VM works. A virtual machine consists of virtual hardware, not your physical one. So, no, your VM will not see that you have an ATI Radeon 2400 Pro, or a BEN Q G2420HD monitor. It will see a generic card with a generic monitor. So, not only it will do you any good to install the graphics card drivers, it will cause problems (as you noticed). Best thing is to remove all 3rd party software and install the Guest Additions that come with VirtualBox.

As for the memory, XP will never see more than 3.5GB RAM. Its is a 32-bit system (max. 4GB) and even then not all 4GB will be visible. I would go with loukingjr's suggestion, and that is even high for my taste. I mean, mine has 768MB RAM and it never complained. Of course it depends what apps you're running.

SOLVED
Hi thanks to you both for the suggestions - yes I prob don't need this RAM so high on VM as kids mostly will use one old 98se or XP Program at a time and not multitask like with physical machine and also host is suffering -slow with these settings.

Yes I realized other drivers remaining maybe issue as have used on VMware previously and found out you only use generic guest additions for drivers and not host ones - thought were removed but found traces monitor, ATI etc.
However I found out also issue with res not switching and low system resources error was solved with boot ini settings mainly -had to use /PAE and /userva set at 2900 or lower to use all this RAm without errors -low system resources error did not reoccur at boot then and I fixed the win installer issues by reinstalling it and stopping and starting service.
I had these settings in boot ini before but somehow was messed up after repair install xp sp3 on Main XP - other XP had right boot ini settings I copied from a backup so must have been main issue. Yet now with lower ram settings maybe I can get away with not using these switches or just /PAE. I guess /3G will not be needed. Any ideas on this?

Now having other issues with VM MainXP not restarting -seems to just run saving and shutdown scripts when select restart via xp start button but will not restart as should -my alternate dual boot backup XP (fewer programs not an exact mirror/clone) restarts though as normal. Hence rather than Virtual Box version I think it could be something in startup applications in tray maybe or service that is stopping the restart. I looked at that other link too and I am not having that error described -can start virtual box and guest ok and have latest build and using Kaspersky AV - no issues I can see on host.

Now direct x dxdiag saying 3D items not enabled or available- I have installed latest ver 9c but it won't allow 3D accel although selected in guest (installed in safe mode with guest additions) and allowed in virtual box settings, and can't seem to use scaling properly - goes very slow and hides windows. I will post these in other topics though.
Thanks again -your advice has been helpful as was not sure what RAM to use.