virtualbox.org

I try to install ubuntu on my pc ( HP EliteBook 745 G3) under windows 10 with one AMD Radeon R6 Graphics.
All time I try to start installation after the boot phase my virtual screen become crazy, multiple colors and line with letters blinking
the parameters of this machine is fully standard (back to the orignal ) try 3D, increase memory...

yet no more idea so hands and help are welcome (in french will be better and easier for me)

Regards

When you see this issue press host+F1 and then host+F7 and see if the screen redraws properly. After the install be sure to install the guest additions. See the users manual for details.

Note: default host key is right ctrl

Moving to Linux guest since this is where the actual problem is.

Thanks very much for your support
It looks fine I started to install and of course I'll try to not forget install gest additions.
I would like just add one point if someelse have the same pb than me and read this post, to obtain the good screen I was do
Host+F1
Host+F7
and one more
Host+F1
I don't know what it is and what it does but it works
one more time Thank for your help
Regards

You had to use the extra step because I posted them in reverse. I should have posted host+F7 then host+F1 but I was doing too many things at once and got it backwards... again.... Sorry

I am having a problem similar to the one that generated this post; however, I am using VirtualBox 5.1.10-112026-OSX on a mid-2010 MacBook Pro 7,1, 64-bit, 4 GB memory. I initially tried to install Ubuntu 16.04.1 in the 64-bit configuration. It ran once, but when I tried to open Firefox it hung. The next time I tried it I got the multi-color screen full of numbers and letters.

Then I read in the user manual that Macs cannot run a 64-bit guest, even on a 64-bit host, so I tried a 32-bit version of Ubuntu 16.04.1 with the VM memory set at 1088 MB, with no acceleration. Same result - multi-colored gibberish. I have also not been able to install the Guest Additions - when I try to mount the ISO from the Devices tab, I get this error message: Could not mount the media/drive '/Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso' (VERR_PDM_MEDIA_LOCKED).

I tried the sequence of host+F7, host+F1, but it did not help. Is there a different sequence for Mac? Log file attached. Thanks in advance for your help!

CSpaniel wrote:Then I read in the user manual that Macs cannot run a 64-bit guest, even on a 64-bit host

No you did not. Please state the exact passage where you read that. That's utterly erroneous.

Socratis, I believe you are right regarding the user manual. I haven't been able to find the reference, perhaps it was in a post on another forum. I have been searching everywhere for a solution to this issue.

Do you have any thoughts on why I cannot create a useable VM to run a Linux/Ubuntu guest on a Mac host? Should I try an older version of Ubuntu?

CSpaniel wrote:Should I try an older version of Ubuntu?

Actually you hit it right on the head. That's what my suggestion would be, even if you hadn't included the question yourself

Ubuntu has been having problems under VirtualBox. A lot of people are seeing these weird graphics issues. I stayed with 12.04 just because of that. I'm thinking of updating/moving to 14.04 at some point, but I never have the time. So, download a 14.04 ISO (32- or 64-bit doesn't matter) and just select the proper template and let it go. That's it.

The only potential problem that I see is that you have really low memory on the host (4GB) so be careful not to run too many applications when you run the VM. It's not the total memory that counts, it's the available one.

May I suggest a couple of applications, so that you know what's available on your system at any given time? What I do, is to have several monitor tools running at all times. Your preference may vary, but you can use either of them (I use all of them concurrently):

• MenuMeters.
• X Resource Graph.
• Memory Monitor.
• Built-in Activity monitor.

I am not familiar with how any guest appears to work on a Mac but I can tell you that what you are seeing ( the graphics issue ) is not actually caused by the age of the OS but rather the way they boot. Ubuntu has been working on a faster boot for a long time and one of the side effect is the virtual GPU not loading properly and causing this screen issue. Switching tty windows out of the graphics one and back forces a reload to some extend and allows the guest software to pick up on the VBox driver code. This started to show its nasty head when gnome 3 came out which had a software rendering aspect in case it could not properly use the acceleration of the host GPU. Every since then this has been a mystery as to how to fix it. 99% of the time is is resolved with the tty change and the rest I have chalked up to the host GPU or drivers. As soon as you get the guest additions installed this should not be a problem but if you just want Linux that works use Mint and select cinnamon desktop.