Virtual Machine Inaccessible

[Durinator]

Hey All,

Been trying to use my free time during the quarantine to pick up coding and got started by setting up virtual box with Xubuntu. For the second time, after my PC has restarted, my VB has become inaccessible with the following error;

Failed to open the medium with following ID: {1ff85215-2a82-4058-95e0-7073cccfcc53}.

The given path '{1ff85215-2a82-4058-95e0-7073cccfcc53}' is not fully qualified.

Result Code: VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR (0x80BB0004)
Component: MediumWrap
Interface: IMedium {ad47ad09-787b-44ab-b343-a082a3f2dfb1}
Callee: IVirtualBox {d0a0163f-e254-4e5b-a1f2-011cf991c38d}
Callee RC: VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)

The first time, I hadn't yet done anything at all so rather then troubleshooting the problem i deleted the machine and created a new one. Now, I have projects I've started on there. Any suggestions on how to proceed?

[scottgus1]

This error has showed up a few times, but I haven't found a common thread yet. The error arises because the command is expecting a file path and name and is getting a UUID instead.

Exactly what are you doing to Virtualbox when this error appears? If you are starting the guest, then exactly how are you starting it? Desktop shortcut, double-click in the guest list, double-click on the .vbox file, Start icon in the main Virtualbox window, vboxmanage command line?

[Durinator]

Thanks for the response! The error is simply always present once VB is opened, and it's usually through the desktop shortcut.

[scottgus1]

Try making a new shortcut?

Does the error

always present once VB is opened,

Does this mean the main Virtualbox window or a guest?

[Durinator]

Making a new shortcut doesn't change anything, and I've tried booting it from the command prompt but it says it is not a recognized command.

I believe it would be a guest? I'm running linux guest additions through my windows PC? Sorry I'm relatively new to all this, I'm probably not making a lot of sense here.

[BillG]

The host is the physical PC. The guest is the vm which is hosted on it.

The Guest Additions are installed in the guest OS to improve the operation of the OS when running in a vm.

[scottgus1]

Here is an idea: Let's reset the main Virtualbox window, to see if there's something that got loaded wrong in the main settings or guest list. Your guests will remain behind ready to re-use.

If you made any changes in the main window's File menu Preferences, such as custom NAT networks or Host-Only networks, or Host-key combinations, write them down, you may have to manually reproduce them.

Reboot your PC so no Virtualbox processes or windows are running. If you have any automatic-start guests, disable the automatic start. We need no Virtualbox anything running after the reboot.

Go to C:\Users\{you} and move the ".Virtualbox" folder (note the period (.) in the name) to the desktop. Don't delete it, just move it. We might need it to pin down the error. This folder contains all the global settings and the guest list for Virtualbox.

Now open Virtualbox. A new .Virtualbox folder will be created in C:\Users\{you}, and the main Virtualbox window will open with an empty guest list. Close the main window and open it again. Does the error happen? If so, stop and post back. If not, continue.

Now we will add each guest, running a close & open test to see if something in that guest is not formatted correctly and causes the error.

Use the Machine menu, Add... command to browse to one guest and register the guest's .vbox file. This guest will appear in the main window's guest list. Does the error appear? If it does appear, right-click the guest and click Remove, then click 'Remove Only'. DON'T click 'Delete all files' or your guest will delete completely and permanently without Recycle Bin or any other recovery. 'Remove Only' just takes the guest out of the guest list. Does the error stop? If the error did not appear, close the main window and re-open it. Does the error appear? If the error appears while trying to add this guest or when reopening the main window, remove the guest (not Delete, just Remove) and try the next guest. If no errors happen, leave this good guest in place and add the next guest, running the same tests.

If you can get all of your guests back into the list and have the main window open, and can reset your File menu Preferences, and can run guests without error, then there may have been something wrong in the original .Virtualbox folder. Could you please zip and post the old and new .Virtualbox folders so I might compare them and try to find this error?

If you find that adding a particular guest causes the error, could you please zip and post that bad guest's .vbox file, as well as one of your good guest's .vbox files, for comparison?