Windows 7 guest crash randomly, it turns out driver's fault

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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NoNoNo
Posts: 51
Joined: 16. Apr 2015, 17:35
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows XP(32bit) / Debian 8.x / Debian 7.x / Windows 7(32bit)

Windows 7 guest crash randomly, it turns out driver's fault

Post by NoNoNo »

Original threads subject: Windows 7 32bit crash lots after Virtualbox 5.0,may avoid it

Recently Upgrade Virtualbox from 4.3 to 5.0 (linux host). mostly existing VM work well with default paravirtualized interface (such as KVM or Hyper-V).

A problematic VM I noticed is Windows 7 32bit (in fact WindowsThinPC). Just share some progress while I try to solve it.

This VM's main rule is a RDP server. Sometimes I run firefox remotely on it. but VM crash lots after I upgrade Virtualbox to 5.0. It crash VM (and break RDP connection) when I try to browse certain website. Virtualbox 5.0 log showing heartbeat lost, only thing could do was RESET guest.

I suspect Hyper-V (paravirtualized interface) at first, but problem still there without this setting.

Later I disable PAE/NX, looks more stable now.

This is not conclusion, I will post more if any change.

(Update 1) 10 minutes add:
Looks problem still exist!
PAE/NX OFF help a little but Guest still crash for no reason....

(Update 2)1 hour add:
It's still not clear reason why VM crash...
and VM crash happened when I browse website with firefox.So, maybe firefox is troublemaker? I dunno, it's hard to detect.
test with fx 31 and fx 38, results are similar, they crash sometimes.
(Reference to another XP guest on same host, it run firefox without problem...)
Next move is downgrade to virtualbox 4.3 in next few day...

(Update 3)
Turn out it's not virtualbox 5.0.0 's fault, It can reproduce with version 4.3.28.
and not cause by PAE/NX, Nested Paging or VT-x ...

(Update 4)
Later, I noticed VM's firewall activity. I lost VM's control when network connections over 500+. So I realize this is guest's network problem, not caused by firefox or virtualbox.
I installed alternative network driver for guest OS, and solved the problem.
This VM's networking is set to bridged networking, virtual NIC is virtio-net.
I upgrade Virtualbox 5.0.0 a couple days before. after that day I also upgrade virtio-net drivers from Fedora.( http://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/ )
I chose an unstable version 0.1.105 to apply on Guest OS(it turns out a bad move). Now I backward to version 0.1.100 and virtio-net no longer crash Guest OS=Windows 7 32bit.

CONCLUSION

Beware newest drivers. :lol:
Last edited by NoNoNo on 20. Jul 2015, 00:49, edited 3 times in total.
noteirak
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Re: Windows 7 32bit crash lots after Virtualbox 5.0

Post by noteirak »

Please read Minimum information needed for assistance and provide zipped attachment of the VM log file and the guest settings.
Hyperbox - Virtual Infrastructure Manager - https://apps.kamax.lu/hyperbox/
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mpack
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Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows 7 guest crash randomly, it turns out driver's fa

Post by mpack »

Please do NOT make substantial edits to older posts. Topics are meant to be left behind to help future readers, and changing the content of older posts makes the conversation very hard to follow.
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