virtualbox.org

Hi,
Virtualbox running on Linux platform.
I have a virtual disk created a couple of years ago. Everything worked fine, including USB, network and shared drives.

Now, the guest additions don't work anymore and I can't re-install them - this happened a way back, I think I got a virus.

Now, I've upgraded to Virtualbox 1.6.2 and I still can't install those additions although I desperately need it in order to copy my files from the virtual disk to another place, and then I could ditch the old corrupted virtual disk - or better still, repair it.
Here is a screen shot showing the error. No log file is created (it was for the 1.6.0 version, but I get exactly the same error with the 1.6.2 version)
http://stephanepoggi.free.fr/tmp/vmware.png
Thanks for any help.

I have found that when you upgrade VBox, the "old" guest additions don't work with the new version of VBox. I found I had to start my WinXP Virtual Machine and use the Windows "Add/Remove" utility to uninstall the "old" guest additions, restart the VM and then install the new guest additions. If you're running another OS within a Linux host, then you'd need to see how that OS uninstalls the guest-additions before you re-install the new ones.

Another possibility to recover your files might be the following (which should work, but I haven't tested it yet since I only just thought of it):

1. Create a new vdi which will be large enough to contain all the files you want plus a safety margin.

2. Attach the vdi as a second hard drive to your VM.

3. Boot the VM from a Linux Rescue disc (such as PartedMagic or Knoppix) and use gparted to partition your new second (virtual) hard drive as NTFS (or FAT32 if all your files are less than 4 GB). I'm assuming a Windows VM because you mentioned a possible virus. If it was another OS, then you'd need to pick an appropriate file system.

4. Shutdown your rescue CD and shutdown your VM. Remove the CD from the drive.

5. Restart your VM and when it's running then copy your data files to your second virtual hard drive which you've attached to the machine.

6. Once you have copied your data files on the second virtual hard drive (*.vdi) then you should be able to attach that vdi as a second drive for another VM (e.g. Linux guest in Linux host) and access them that way.

If this approach works, it will let you recover your files, but it won't be as elegant as getting the guest additions to work.

I'll keep an eye on this thread to see what luck you've had.

Best wishes,
Ted