Error and dealing with it

[ks]

I have used virtualbox many times and it worked perfectly.

Today I received this error:
One or more virtual hard disks, cd/dvd or floppy media are not currently accessible. As a result you will not be able to operate virtual machines that use these media until they become accessible later.

When I click check then under Hard drives there is only my .vdi file, and nothing else. I pressed release - was it a bad idea? Because it is still not working.

What do I have to do to get it working again?

I'm still a student, so if someone can, I prefer step-by-step guide

Thank you

[mpack]

When I click check then under Hard drives there is only my .vdi file, and nothing else. I pressed release - was it a bad idea? Because it is still not working.

Yes, that was bad. I hope you weren't using snapshots in whatever VM was using that file.

In any case the message means what it says. If you go to File|Virtual Media Manager then you should see the file in question highlighted - and remember check the bear in mind to check the optical and floppy tabs, since it's more likely to be an ISO that you failed to eject before deleting the ISO or upgrading VirtualBox (since the latter also upgrades the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso file).

[ks]

There is complete emptiness under optical discs and floppy discs.

But yes, my vdi file is with an exclamation mark!

Is there any way to fix this problem?

[mpack]

The only way you can fix it is to put the VDI file back where it's supposed to be, i.e. in the location given by the error message. Or (CONFIDENT USERS ONLY), manually edit the path stored in the .vbox file to point to the correct location.

However, that only repairs the original problem. The fact that you "released" the VDI file (i.e. unregistered it from the VM that needs it), is a new and more serious error that will need to be fixed.

Is there anything special about the VDI location? A common newbie mistake is to locate the VDI outside the VM folder - on an external drive, because that drive has more space. Unfortunately Windows occasionally juggles drive letters, and that screws up that arrangement. A better solution is to locate the entire VM on the secondary drive. Drive letters can still change and cause the entire VM to be marked inaccessible, but although scary that is much more easily fixed than a VM which uses snapshots and has lost contact with its base VDI.

I can very likely fix the .vbox file for you, if you attach it to a message here in a .zip container. I will also need to know the new path to the VDI file.