VM windowing issues

[climbit]

Hello,

I'm running VirtualBox 5.1.2 on an Xubuntu 14.04 64 bit host. I've tried to install Ubuntu server 16.04 64 bit, then install the desktop on top of this. When the VM restarts itself to complete the install the VM will hang and never finish loading. When I try to install Ubuntu 16.04 desktop 64 bit the VM exits just as it's trying to open the first window to ask if I want to try or install Ubuntu. If I try to install Xubuntu 16.04 64 bit desktop then the install proceeds as normal. But as soon as I install the Guest Additions in the Xubuntu desktop VM it will abort on boot every time - again when the windowing system is starting.

I also have several VMs I was using on the same Xubuntu 14.04 64 bit server using Virtual Box 5.0. The VMs are all Xubuntu 14.04 64 bit. Since I have updated to Virtual Box 5.1.2 I can start the VM's headless, but I cannot start them interactively or detachable. If I start the VM's headless I can't attach to them interactively. When I try to attach interactively the VM window opens briefly then closes and the VirtualBox UI slows to a crawl. The VM is still working correctly in the background, but VirtualBox becomes nearly unusable.

I suspect these problems are related but I'm not sure. Any help would be great! Thank you.

[socratis]

From what I understand you have several cases where you have failures. Pick just one, the simplest of all, and post some full details about the host and the guest and the following VBox.log.zip:

1. Start the VM. Not from a saved or suspended state. Clean start.
2. Take the steps required to generate/observe the error.
3. Shut down the VM (if it hasn't aborted by itself). Not suspended, not paused. Shut down.
4. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager. Select "Show Log..."
5. Save it (just the first log), ZIP it and attach it in your response (see the "Upload attachment" at the bottom of the form).

[climbit]

Thanks for the reply. Here is the simplest scenario - trying to install Ubuntu desktop 16.04 64 bit desktop:

Host: Xubuntu 14.04 running VBox 5.1.2 - accessed via RDP (all current patches applied to OS)
Guest: Ubuntu 16.04.1 desktop 64 bit.

I create an empty disk - 40GB, VDI, dynamically grown. I boot the VM with the Ubuntu ISO for 16.04.1 in the virtual CD drive. The VM starts booting, I see the Ubuntu 16.04 screen where it is getting ready to allow me to install, then the VM aborts.

Let me know if there is more I can provide. Thank you!

[socratis]

00:00:00.279172 Host RAM: 15948MB total, 2381MB available
00:00:00.327782   RamSize    <integer> = 0x0000000080000000 (2 147 483 648, 2 048 MB)
00:00:00.328022   VRamSize   <integer> = 0x0000000001000000 (16 777 216, 16 MB)

You have plenty of RAM on your host (around 15.6GiB), but at the time that you start the VM you have around 2.3GiB available, of which you allocate 2GiB to the VM, plus another 16MiB for VRAM, plus some overhead. You're stretching it. Close a couple of applications on your host to give it some breathing room.

Now, you allocate 16MiB only for VRAM. I would definitely go to at least 64MiB, just to be sure. Personally, on my VMs I usually crank them all the way up to 128MiB.

And you have plenty of cores, 6 to be exact. You can afford to give your VM a little more, like 2?

00:00:23.992764 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 5.0.18 r106667 '5.0.18_Ubuntu'

Finally, it seems that Ubuntu 16.04 comes with its own Guest Additions (GAs). Not only they are an older version (that's sort of OK), but they are the Ubuntu fork (that's sort of not OK). So uninstall these and install the ones that come with your VirtualBox installation.

Try these things and see if the situation improves.

[climbit]

Hi socratis,

Thanks for the quick reply. I've upped the CPU's to 2 and the video RAM to 64Mb. Trying to get the ISO for Ubuntu or Xubuntu both fail in the same spot - just when the window is opening to ask if you want to try or install the software.

I know how to remove the guest additions from a running system, but this is the Xubuntu installer - can I stop them from starting as part of the installer?

Interestingly, if I start headless I can see the "try or install" screen come up in the VM preview window. If I try to attach to the VM at this point I can't - the window for the VM opens and closes immediately.

Any other suggestions? Thanks again!

[socratis]

I'm going to try and replicate it tomorrow morning with 16.04 (I prefer 12.04, more stable). Will let you know if I can think of anything. In the meantime, can you upload a new VBox.log.zip with the new settings?