virtualbox.org

Yes, I know BSODs are now BUGCHECKs, but whatever they are called, the system is rendered unusable!

I don't know if VirtualBox is the culprit - it is notoriously hard to figure out where issues in Windows lie.

Are there any known errors with VBOX that can cause BSOD on the host box?

But here's the background (tl;dr version).

I have a Windows 10 installation that I upgraded from Windows 8 in July.

I have (had) VirtualBox installed - along with piles of other stuff, of course. The version is VirtualBox-5.0.0-101573-Win installed on August 1st (as an upgrade to VirtualBox-4.3.28-100309-Win).

I have several guests (all 64 bit Ubuntu) running. Usually one at a time, but this doesn't appear to affect things.

The host Windows 10 machine BSODs rather unpredictably. Usually with one of the IRQ level bugs. I think it happens when trying to sleep, but I am not sure. I usually have left the VMs running so of course they are killed. That is (at least at this stage no big deal), I have saved everything anyway.

I have been unable to diagnose what is is causing the BSODs, so am stumped. I had turned Driver Verification on for a variety of non Microsoft drivers. That caused the system to notice a driver error, but then could never recover itself. So I had to reinstall Win 10. I chose the option that kept all of my files. So didn't lose anything. I have not (yet) reinstalled VBOX in case that was causing the issue. Is there anything that this community knows about that might implicate VBOX? I hope not, it has been invaluable.

Thanks - and sorry for the length.

Chris

There is nothing that VirtualBox can possibly do - even via a bug - that should cause a BSOD. If one happens then you should take the matter up with Microsoft - it is their software that has crashed.

Microsoft has ways to dig deep and tell what file caused a BSOD. Search on their website for how to diagnose a BSOD.

I would re-install Virtualbox myself if I did a supposed "reinstall & keep files" of my OS. (Personally I wouldn't trust that kind of OS reinstall any further than I would trust a politician.)

FWIW, I have been running a Windows 10 host since the day Windows 10 became available. Which was one day after I bought the Windows 8.1 box. I've also had every version of VirtualBox since installed on it up to VB 5.0.8 without any BSOD.

I suspect the "piles of other stuff" is the issue and is causing conflicts.

Thanks all.

I agree the other "piles of stuff" may well be implicated. Some of it is gunk from the manufacturer.

I am very glad to hear that it is unlikely to be one of the VirtualBox drivers. I have been heavily reliant on VBOX for some time now.

Reinstall time!