virtualbox.org

I am running VBox 4.3.34 on an old laptop with 4GB RAM Core 2 Duo CPU, PAE Long Mode 64bit.
The host OS is Ubuntu 14.04.3 (Linux 3.19.0-25-generic x86_64)

I have one Ubuntu guest, 32 bit server 14.04.3, and it runs great
I have one Mint 17.3 guest , and it runs, but its sluggish.

I get the "Cinnamon is current running without video hardware..." message and i assume that it's because my host cannot provide a 3d graphics environment for the guest to utilize.

I have come to this conclusion, as a result of the 3D acceleration box being greyed out, and the knowledge that the default drivers installed by the Ubuntu server host probably don't support 3D graphics.

I guess my question is two parts... (1) am i right in my assumptions? (2) what can I do to get mint to run smoother?

OK, one more question, are there changes I can make to the hardware or Host OS to optimize any VM's performance. (i believe the laptop will support 8GB RAM)

Thanks and Best Regards
Guy

Please post a log file for the Mint VM. With the VM fully shut down, right click and "Show Log" in the GUI, save "VBox.log" (ONLY) to a zip, and attach the zip here.

Thanks for your reply.

Vbox log attached

Guy

The log shows that the template used was "Linux". It should be "Ubuntu (32bit)" for a Mint 32bit guest. I'm assuming that it's a 32bit guest.

I would increase the RAM allocation to 1024MB. 512MB is a bit low for a modern OS.

VBox.log wrote: VirtualBox VM 4.3.34 r104062 linux.amd64 (Nov 10 2015 23:06:31) release log
...
00:00:00.032614 Installed Extension Packs:
00:00:00.032643 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack (Version: 4.3.12 r93733; VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP)

You have the wrong extension pack installed.

You created a 12GB hard disk. That seems a tad small for a modern OS, but it's borderline. I never use anything less than 32GB for XP era and later.

VBox.log wrote: 00:00:00.070795 ERROR [COM]: aRC=NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005) aIID={431685da-3618-4ebc-b038-833ba829b4b2} aComponent={ExtPack} aText={Failed to locate the module 'VDPluginCrypt' in extension pack 'Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack'}, preserve=false

The above error is reported. I don't know what it means, perhaps it's related to the wrong extpack issue. If you have encrypted your VM then that does of course create an overhead.

Thanks for the help. I will look into the things you mentioned.

Thanks again
Guy

OK, I think i fixed the points you mentioned above for the specific VM, except for the template. I attached the new log.

Now, is there anything that I can do to improve the smoothness of the Mint VM?
....anything I can do to enable 3D acceleration?

Thanks
Guy

The template was the most important point. Why didn't you fix it? It's a trivial settings change (OS version).

Sorry for the late reply, I've been stuck on Jury duty all week.

Also, sorry, I thought that template was something I had to configure at VM set-up only and was not modifiable.

I did make the change, and I have notice that things are running smoother, however, I still cant enable 3D acceleration, and I assume that is related to the video drivers on the the host Ubuntu machine.

Thanks again for your help.

Guy