Ubuntu 15.04 Server won't boot on Windows 10 host

[leopack]

I have just upgraded to VritualBox Version 5.0.16 r105871 on a Windows 10 host. When I booting an existing ubuntu 15.04 server VM the VM starts and gets to the splash screen after selecting the kernel the scree goes black with a flashing cursor. It then goes no further. This is the same for it's clones. However my Fedora 23.02 server and Knoppix vms run without any issues.

I see no error messages. I dont want to have to recreate these VMs as they contain a number of services that I run in production. To do this and test them will take a lot of time and wasted expense.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling a couple of times. I have not tried reverting to a previous version as I dont want to be unsupported.

Any ideas gratefully received.

[Perryg]

Post the guests log file ( as an attachment ). Right click on the guest in the Main Manager then click show log. Save and post as an attachment. Compress if it is too large to post.

[leopack]

Thanks for the response. Please see the log attached.

Thanks for the pointer. Looking at the log it looks like there is an issue with the why the CPU is configured. I am going to check in the bios again. I upgrade the firmware for windows 10 recently. Please let me know if there is anything else you think I need to try.

Jim

[Perryg]

Code: Select all

00:00:01.977116 Guest OS type: 'Ubuntu'
00:00:02.073957   EnablePAE         <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)

The Ubuntu type indicates a 32 bit. If it is a 64-bit you would need to select that in the settings instead. If you are running the 32-bit version you need to enable PAE.

[leopack]

I have tried with PAE switched on, this did not work. Please see latest log.

I am a bit stuck and coming round to conclusion that I need to revert to the version of virtual box where this was working.

[Perryg]

You should enable hardware virtualization in the machines BIOS.

Code: Select all

00:00:02.075198 HM: HMR3Init: Falling back to raw-mode: VT-x is disabled in the BIOS for all CPU modes

As for the guest it looks like a good boot and then a request to power down, so it looks like at 23 seconds you stopped the boot.

Code: Select all

00:00:05.510814 VMMDev: Guest Log: BIOS: Booting from Hard Disk...

00:00:23.091455 GUI: Request for close-action to power VM off.
00:00:23.092115 GUI: Passing request to power VM off from machine-logic to UI session.
00:00:23.092605 GUI: Powering VM down on UI session power off request...
00:00:23.094133 Console: Machine state changed to 'Stopping'

It can take a long time to boot a guest when hardware virtualization is disabled so try that first.

[leopack]

Hi I have given it another go. I left the Vm running for over 18 hours and still not joy. It seems to just hang there after resizing the window. Please see the logs attached.

Still at a bit of a loss.

[Perryg]

The log file looks fine to me. It shows that the guest boots and is running until you issued the power off. When you say it does not boot exactly what do you see in the guest window?
Post a screen shot if it is not totally black.

[mpack]

Yes, this is confusing. The log shows that the VM not only booted, but it ran for 18 hours before being closed down by user request. All with 5.0.16.

Is 768KB and 1 core enough for an Ubuntu server? The host seems to have plenty of RAM available, and the CPU is quad core, so you could afford 2 for the guest.

p.s. This topic clearly does not belong in "Windows Guests". Moving it to "Linux Guests".

[Perryg]

A normal server does not have a desktop, just TTY, so it does not need a lot of memory or processor power, depending on the actual work that is needed of course. Usually 512MB RAM, 1 processor and 12MB vRAM will work just fine. Some Linux OSes will even operate with 128MB of RAM.