unable to start vm

[son of a sailor man]

The problem is that I have been unable to start the vm.

The vm log that is attached is from the original files but the symptoms described below (only some of those I have seen) are from recovery attempts on copies, not on the originals which, hopefully, I still have and have not been corrupted.

I have spent several days rtfm, stff and stfw without success but if the solution I need is in one of those places, or another, and is one that I can find, understand and use to produce the result I would like, I would very much appreciate a specific pointer. (I have not been successful with clonevdi.)

I would like to recover, if possible, the user data. The rest would be nice but is relatively unimportant to me.

Help is requested and will be appreciated if offered. More info available if wanted, of course. In case it’s not obvious, I’m far from being an expert. Thank you.

version of VirtualBox:
dpkg --list | grep virtualbox
ii virtualbox 5.2.10-dfsg-6ubuntu18.04.1
ii virtualbox-dkms 5.2.10-dfsg-6ubuntu18.04.1
ii virtualbox-ext-pack 5.2.10-3ubuntu18.04.1
ii virtualbox-guest-additions-iso 5.2.11-122181-1
ii virtualbox-guest-dkms 5.2.10-dfsg-6ubuntu18.04.1
ii virtualbox-guest-utils 5.2.10-dfsg-6ubuntu18.04.1
ii virtualbox-guest-x11 5.2.10-dfsg-6ubuntu18.04.1
ii virtualbox-qt 5.2.10-dfsg-6ubuntu18.04.1

I have installed the Guest Additions (in the guest)

Host:
cat /etc/issue
Linux Mint 19 Tara \n \l

uname -a
Linux tyc00n 4.15.0-24-generic #26-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 13 08:44:47 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 32848932 4151480 672112 238396 28025340 28651320
Swap: 2097148 0 2097148

Guest make and version including 32 or 64 bit:
Microsoft Windows XP (pro sp3+) 32bit [Version 5.1.2600] 192mb ram.

Problem/issue/symptoms:

A few of the things I have noticed:

-xp_pro.vdi appears to be missing

-asking for a snapshot when trying to restore another gives this error:

Failed to restore the snapshot Snapshot 15jul2018 of the virtual machine xp_pro.
UUID {998df2af-6a0c-4207-9efb-350858647f20} of the medium '/home/q/VirtualBox VMs/xp_pro/xp_pro.vdi' does not match the value {1a7e42b2-db16-40fb-b8d0-c85b76e8a9ac} stored in the media registry ('/home/q/.config/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml').
Result Code:
NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component:
MediumWrap
Interface:
IMedium {4afe423b-43e0-e9d0-82e8-ceb307940dda}

-attempts to change the UUID in VirtualBox.xml have not been successful (vbm) was closed.
-I have also seen:
Failed to open a session for the virtual machine xp_pro Clone.
Could not open the medium '/home/q/VirtualBox VMs/xp_pro Clone/xp_pro Clone-disk1.vdi'.
VD: error VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND opening image file '/home/q/VirtualBox VMs/xp_pro Clone/xp_pro Clone-disk1.vdi' (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND).
Result Code:
NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component:
MediumWrap
Interface:
IMedium {4afe423b-43e0-e9d0-82e8-ceb307940dda}

-In virtualbox manager,
-starting xp_pro (Snapshot_4) gives: “FATAL: Could not read from the boot medium! System halted.” I have been unsuccessful finding a bootable image that lets me start the vm without reinstalling and formatting the guest. That did work but the result was not useful.
-if “Snapshot 15jul2018” is selected, the preview window in vbm shows the specific desktop background that was set in the guest (a hopeful sign?) but trying to restore to the vm gives the same error as the first error shown above.
-cloning the vm in vbm has been successful but only when the attempt has been restricted to the “current machine state” but in no event has the resulting clone booted.


Bzip2 VM log file attached:

[mpack]

As an aside: you seem to have given 10.7GB RAM and 3 cores to an XP VM. The former is wasted (32bit XP can't use anything above 4GB), and the latter is probably not necessary. 1GB RAM and 2 cores is the most I'd give to an XP VM.

As to the drive corruption. All you can do is try mounting the disk in another VM that understands NTFS. Only then can you find out if any of the contents are recoverable.

I am assuming by the way that this VM used to work, and nothing substantial was done to it since it worked. "Substantial" would include moving a bare VDI to a new VM.

[son of a sailor man]

Thank you for your reply (and the "as an aside"). I'll try the approach you suggest and report back if successful.

[son of a sailor man]

Oh, and yes, the vm was working, like a charm. And no, nothing such as you describe was done to it. All I recall doing was shutting it down normally.