Failed to Install the System; Unclean Target

[Embre]

Hi All,

Pretty new to linux and virutalbox here.
My host is UbuntuGnome 16.04, guest is Kali Linux 2016.1, and VirtualBox 5.0.20, all 64 bit.

So my first creation of the VM worked fine, but when I got to the Kali login my password wouldn't work. Don't know if I messed that up setting it up or what, so I removed the machine and started a new one. Now my problem.

I removed the first Kali VM from the VirtualBox Manager and created a new one.
The VM set up now always fails on the 'Install the System' step. The message reads "The target file system contains files from a past installation. These files could cause problems with the installation process, and if you proceed, some of the existing files may be overwritten. Proceed with installation to unclean target?" Choosing yes always results in the same fail.

I've tried reformatting during the Partitioning step in VirtualBox, removing and purging VirtualBox, and autoremove, and downloading a new VirtualBox and Kali Linux. But when I open the new VirtualBox it still has the previous machine listed in the VirtualBox Manager (if I didn't remove it before uninstalling), so I know it's saving something, but I don't know where.

I'm not sure what to do with it now. I did find and remove some leftover vbox files in the root/tmp folder after purge and autoremove, but that didn't fix the problem either. Is there a way to search and remove anything vbox or virtualbox related? Is my problem something else?

Any advice would be appreciated. Let me know if I can provide any more info.

EDIT: found the FIND and EXEC commands to remove files. Seems a little dangerous tho. Hopefully there is another fix to try?

Thank you!

[Perryg]

You should use the main manager and media manager to remove and delete any reference to the first machine you created. Also if you are using the Ubuntu fork of VirtualBox you will need to ask them for assistance as we do not support their version. You can of course purge theirs and install the official version from virtualbox.org

[Embre]

What exactly do you mean by main manager and media manager? The version of VirtualBox I've downloaded was from the VirtualBox website, not through the Ubuntu software. I downloaded Synaptic Package Manager and used that to 'completely remove' virtualbox-5.0, but that still doesn't do the trick.

[Perryg]

When you start VirtualBox you open the main manager. From there you use File -> Virtual Media Manager to open the media manager I referenced.

[Embre]

Ok, thanks. I went into File>Virtual Media Manager and released and removed the hard disk and the optical disk. I also went into Machine>Show in File Manager and deleted the files 'kali.vbox' and 'kali.vbox-prev'. 'kali' was what I named the VM. There was also a 'Logs' folder. Should I delete that too?

I then tried to make a new VM called kali again and got the message that the file 'kali' already existed. So I deleted that folder from my home/VirtualBox VMs folder and opened a new VM.

Still get the same fail.

[Perryg]

Did you reboot the host before you tried to install again? Sometimes after removing a guest improperly it remains and requires a reboot.
You can always delete the VirtualBox.xml file in the ~/.config/VirtualBox directory.

[Embre]

I actually did a remove --purge and reinstall.
I did the remove/reinstall again after deleting the ~/.config/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml and VirtualBox.xml-prev files.
But still get the same fail.

[Perryg]

That's all I have. You have created a situation that I would need to be there to fix. Try using a different name for the guest and if the install fails the same way it must be something with the guest and you would need to ask them.

[Embre]

Ok, thanks for trying! Appreciated.

[Embre]

Something was wrong with the virtual hard disk and partitioning, and I kept using the same one for all the failed installs.

Turns out all I had to do was choose a different size for the hard disk and it made a new one and all is good.