Question about not starting guests

[Abrugal]

VirtualBox on the contrary, appears totally blank after that with no machines surviving.

Most probably you're running as a user that did not create the machines.

ROFLMAO
I am god here.

[Abrugal]

Totally not true. You can always use the add feature if they become lost, which should never happen if done correctly.
Main manager -> machine -> add.

And it offers to create a blank machine with no settings using an existing VHDD. And if I name it same as the old one, it stops me dead in the tracks refusing to create it, as "the directory exists and is not empty"

[Abrugal]

VirtualBox on the contrary, appears totally blank after that with no machines surviving.

How exactly are you installing VirtualBox?

I am so tired of this telling you for the 10th time that I download RPM from Oracle, install it with yum and that is about all I can say.
No one here ever used the VB from Fedora repo as we would not trust those blighters to wash our cars. They can't get anything right, so we do to the source.
Why do you keep asking me how I install over and over, when the only way in Fedora to install a package is to run 'sudo yum install package.rpm -y'?

[dwarsligger]

You have so many mistaken assumptions in your post, that it's going to be a long reply. Let me start trying to cover them one by one:

1. "type in a terminalwindow "apt-get install Virtualbox" then I don know if I get an OSE or an PUEL version"
   If you're using 'apt-get', you are getting the OSE Ubuntu fork of VirtualBox. Unless you manually added the VirtualBox repository, you are using the Ubuntu repository.

Itś even worse then you represent the matter while having the VB repository in the sources list , i wil get the ubuntu OSE version depending on what package name I use , that is confusing to users as the installation doesn't tell the user which version its installing the OS or the PUEL version , that is not an assumption

[*]Yes ( the Vbox manager does respond 5.024___ubuntu___)
That's the proof that you're using the Ubuntu version, not the VirtualBox one.

You shoudl make the full quote and not react to only part of the sentence,
so I reiterate when a user like myself clicks the About Virtual box s/he get an indication of 5.0.24.xxxxx for example irrespective of using the OSE or the PUEL version so he doesn know what version he has installed /used as a consequence you might have create a VM in the an OSE build and reinstalled a PUEL build and get into trouble ( which is not an ssumption either)

[*]get 5.0.24 and a buidl number which concurs with the version on the oracle website and is the same for the OSE amd PUEL version
Which is perfectly fine. The only thing that the VirtualBox team asks is for the distros to mark their fork. But even if they don't mark it, I haven't heard of any lawsuits yet.

I eat with a fork and a knife I haven got a clue what fork you are talkign about , but not withstanding teh gibberish about cutlery, as a user I cannot make a difference between between an OSE and A PUEL version base on info in the about box ( see above)

[*]You might want to consider changing build if not version numbers like say Virtula box makes 5.0.24 build 123456 and an distor distributes an OSE version then that shoudl be named 5.0.25 build 123456
You should talk to the distros about this.

I think Virtual box shoudl talk to the distroś about this and make sure users are not mislead in what version they are using

[*]there has been a problem with VM not laoding when upgrade by force installing another later versuion of virutal box which turns out t be a OSE version and the problem is always teh above 1912 error
Because there is a driver conflict. VirtualBox warns you about this when you install it. It's kind of hard to miss. You have to uninstall the fork before you install the original. You have to do this, not VirtualBox.

Let me rephrase that :
There is a problem with the following course of events
A- it starts when a user like myslef ans Hopa , start on Virtualbox from the ubunty software repository and create one of more VMś
B- things don wordk so we are referred to the Oracle Virtualbox website
C- things seem to be solved in a later package of the Virtual box sofatre on the vbox website
D- user like me ignore teh differnce and downlaod the software and when we get it installed we are confrotned with VMś that don work becasue of the 1912 error
E- When we have removed/purged the PUEL version and the remainder of the OSE version and reinstalled from scratch the newly downlaoded PUEL version , the VMś refuse to load due to the 1912 error

Thsi means that comparing VBOX ot Libre office, I cannot use my spreadshets from libreoffice a.b.c. version that i got with the ubuntu distro with later libre office b.c.d version taken from the libreoffice wbsite

[*]private users (iḿ not talking about profesiionals) start always using Virtual box with the version they get from the Ubuntu software installer ( or theor distro provider) and create one or more VM's
That's fine. As long as they seek support from wherever they got their VirtualBox from, I don't think I see a problem.

I it was possibel to determine where to get support form the about box , and AFAIC VBOX is VBOX, so I shoudl get suupport from Vbox but that seems to be a problem in the whole of the Linux world

[*]when they want to move to newer versions offered on the Virtual box website their VM will not function ( like spreadsheets in libre office do after you installed another version)
I'm afraid that this is simply not true. You're the only one I've seen complaining about this, so please do not say "users", say "I".

Hopa and I are not teh first complainign about this , we took the trouble of reporting it as an issue , for each of us tens of other users have abandonned VBOX and if you see the comments on boards about they are fairly devastating and rvieuwers get slpaaed for their messy and incomplet reviews

[*]the User is forced to rebuild his VM ś using the new Vitrual box distro
Again, this is not true. You (again) are the only one reporting this, so you must be doing something that is not right. Either a mistake in, or a misunderstanding of the process.

So is Hopa

[*]and I suspect the needs to make sure later updates are not installed automatiscally but must update manually from the virotualbox website other wise the whole thing crashes again
The official VirtualBox does not update itself automatically. It pops up a message if there is a newer version available, but you can turn it off in the preferences.

[*]more over the reports on different Unix websites that Virtualbox does have problems with USB support ( that flash drives don't work and wil never work ... ) seems to be valid because other connected USB devices do work ( if the definiton is correct)
Unfounded, unsubstantiated rumors do nothing to persuade me. So far, for every user that has been a USB complaint, 90% of them they were doing it wrong. If you have a problem with USB, then please open a new, appropriate thread because the title "Question about not starting guests" might be misleading.

I have an open therad on USB and many users report Vbox not handing flash drive correctly if at all

[*]Unless this can be solved in a satisfactory manner instead of goint hrough the pain for rebuilding my Vbox - VM I might just rebuild it in VMware
It's your computer, your VMs, your choice.[/list]

[/quote]

It is , and itś my satisfaction / disasafisfaction too that will keep me on VBOX or not

[socratis]

that is confusing to users

a user like myself ... get into trouble

I haven got a clue what fork you are talkign about

as a user I cannot make a difference between between an OSE and A PUEL version

make sure users are not mislead

user like me ignore teh differnce and downlaod the software

that seems to be a problem in the whole of the Linux world

Somehow, I believe that this is more of a user education problem of a new Linux user.

I have an open therad on USB and many users report Vbox not handing flash drive correctly if at all

To which open thread the answer was: Since you are running the distro fork of VirtualBox you now need to ask them for support if you want to continue using their build.

I think I'm going to bed now. Goodnight...

[Perryg]

Let me dispel some myths and confusions.

• 1) The DEVs have talked to the distros about this but you need to understand the distros use the Open Source code ( free to anyone to use ) and no one can make them do anything they do not want to do. You can even do the same and create your own version if you desire Like I do. As such the modified versions almost always have code that has been modified and is not the same ( reason you can not mix OSE and the official release from VirtualBox ). They are not compatible. As far as version numbers this too is controlled by the distos. The distros could even say it is version 12.04 or 16.04 if they like so it matches their OS build but they don't and no one but them can change that.
  
  2) You have the right to use either of these applications as it is your PC and your choice. But it is you that has the responsibility to know what and how to do this.
  
  3) For the most part if you do use the distro version and want to upgrade you must make a decision. Do I upgrade to the same ( distro version ) which always falls behind in the release until and unless you upgrade the distro version to a newer version. The distros do this for compatibility and to avoid conflicts with the packages they use in the particular version so it matches their modified code. Why you may ask? The answer is really obvious. The distro maintainers do not want to revisit their changes and make the necessary modifications. This is pretty much industry wide to cut down on labor.
  
  4) You keep mentioning support. Support is not given here as this is an end user forum. All we can possibly do is to give advise from knowledge obtained from using and studying the source code. If you truly want support you need a service contract. This is the same with all of the various virtualizers out there.
  
  5) You mentioned using a different virtualizer but you need to understand they are almost all of them closed source. Meaning you or the distros can not modify them. Will it fix the issue? Sure but so would installing only the official version of VirtualBox and never trying to mix the OSE and official build.

I have been doing this for a long time and have come to the conclusion that the biggest reason for having issues is a lack of knowledge of the host operating system. This is not in any way a slight or a put down to the user it is just a fact. Once you learn more these issues seem to go away with the exception of regressions that tend to pop up from time to time. Reporting these usually gets them fixed fairly fast as it does in the competitors as well.

I hope this helps but if not there just is nothing else to say. Use it or don't. I hope you do but it really is your choice and nothing anyone can say going forward can change the facts. I believe I have said all that I can and will retire from this thread to pursue other user issues. Have a great day!

[Abrugal]

You should stop pointing fingers and assigning blame and focus on why the RPM that Oracle provides does not cleanly and correctly install.

[dwarsligger]

You should stop pointing fingers and assigning blame and focus on why the RPM that Oracle provides does not cleanly and correctly install.

Indeed the whole of the above explanations by Perryg and Socratis are BS : the same bullshit argumente and reasonings that Microshit has been producing since 1984 : "itś somebody elses problem, preferably the user's and we're not even going to start thinking about solving the issue" ...
if whatever Virtualbox version /distro isn't to load,start and use a vitrtualbox VM like libre office uses spreadsheets ( and it doesn even have te be able to load otehr VMś like libreoffice does with Microshitś XLS , whihc by the way are reusable in the original MS XL afterwards)
it just need to be able to load Virtualbox VMś created in earlier versions , and all the hotair produced in this thread is like Abrugal said : Pointing fingers and assinging blame preaferrably to the user of some other external party ...

[socratis]

This is going nowhere. This is not a forum for philosophical discussions or basic package installation/cleaning. Your questions have been answered in more that one ways and Perry's reply above certainly makes an excellent summary. If you want to talk about VirtualBox in these forums, make sure you have the official VirtualBox version, and only that.

Locking this one.