Windows 7 x86 guest keeps aborting! Please help!

[brock]

Hi,

Windows 7 x64 host running a Windows 7 x86 guest almost always aborts on me. Sometimes in a few minutes, sometimes in a few hours. It's very frustrating. I attached the logs. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

-jb

[brock]

Also, I can't start it at all if not headless. Logs for that attached.

[mpack]

Also, I can't start it at all if not headless.

That is usually a big clue. It normally means that you have a hardening problem (unsigned DLL) in your graphics drivers. Headless launches don't load the graphics drivers, that's why headless works.

So let's look at the hardening log:

14fc.19fc: supR3HardNtChildWaitFor[1]: Quitting: ExitCode=0xc0000005 (rcNtWait=0x0, rcNt1=0x0, rcNt2=0x103, rcNt3=0x103, 58924740 ms, the end);

The hardening FAQ explains that one.

Looking for problem DLLs, my eye is caught by "ammemb64.dll", loading from your temp folder. This one has been the cause of hardening problems before. And I see that the last time I had this discussion I also asked and did not get a satisfactory answer to the question: why would legit DLLs load from the temp folder and inject themselves into VirtualBox?

[brock]

Huh. Well, I'm running Actual Multiple Monitors on my host and, strangely enough, that's where ammemb64.dll lives. I have no clue as to why it would need to be loaded. Searching for solutions to DLLs causing hardening problems I've found mentions of simply excluding them. Is that something I can do in the VM settings? I had a quick look at the VM settings dialog and I didn't see any place obvious to do so. Is it a command line thing? A virtualbox settings thing?

[socratis]

I've found mentions of simply excluding them

You can't exclude a DLL from within VirtualBox. What you found were suggestions for antivirus programs to exclude VirtualBox from their "claws".

I had a quick look at the VM settings dialog and I didn't see any place obvious to do so. Is it a command line thing? A virtualbox settings thing?

As I mentioned, no such option exists. VirtualBox cannot control what other programs do. It's up to the other programs to behave. The only option for non-behaving problems is uninstallation or update (if possible).

Read the article "Diagnosing VirtualBox Hardening Issues" to understand what's actually going on.

[brock]

Ok. I'll have to run a test with AMM disabled/uninstalled. Thanks for logs inspection and suggestions!

[brock]

Yeah, AMM was the culprit. Not sure what I'm gonna do about it, but at least I know what the cause is now. Thanks for the hints guys!