[Solved] Editing Guest OS System parameters

[PeteThePen1]

Hi Folks

I have just installed VB on my old Acer Aspire 3820 TZ laptop which is running Lubuntu 20.04 quite nicely. The installation of VB was very easy so congratulations to the folks responsible for the Linux Version. I have also cloned the Windows XP guest OS that is running on my PC under Win 10 in order to have a backup running on the laptop. The reason being that I have my accounts and a few other items of legacy software that do the job well, so why dump them?

The Problem - The WinXP guest OS file from the PC has been imported into the VB installation on the laptop. It will not run because some of the system settings in the clone are no longer suitable to the laptop hardware. The error messages relate to Memory Allocation and System Acceleration. The amount of memory allocated to the Guest OS was set at more than the laptop has available but once that was re-set to a sensible level the error message disappeared. Going to the section for Acceleration, the Paravirtualisation interface was re-set to 'None' and the Hardware Virtualisation (enable nested paging) checkbox was unchecked.

Unfortunately, the latter changes do not remove the error message and so my changes cannot be saved. I have tried all the available possibilities for Paravirtualisation just to see if they make any difference but they do not.

I would welcome your bright ideas as I am not sure where to go from here. Should I perhaps not have used Clone? Is there an option menu elsewhere that needs to be addressed first?

Regards

Pete

[scottgus1]

The paravirtualization interface is just a way for modern (i.e. way past XP) OS's to communicate to the hypervisor when the OS is running in a virtual machine, so the OS can run more efficiently. Modern Windows OSs would use the Hyper-V paravirtualization interface. XP does not have a paravirtualization interface, so 'none' should be appropriate.

The WinXP guest OS file from the PC has been imported into the VB installation on the laptop.

Exactly how did you do this? There are methods and there are methods that work better. And maybe the method has not interfered this time, but let's cover all bases.

My XP guest boots with nested paging on or off.

We will need to see a screenshot or text of the error message. Also a log from the guest. If possible, start the guest from full normal shutdown, not save-state. Run until you see the problem happen, then shut down the guest from within the guest OS if possible. If not possible, close the Virtualbox window for the guest with the Power Off option set.

Right-click the guest in the main Virtualbox window's guest list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log, zip it, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.Also post screenshots, cropped and resized less than 128kB, using Upload Attachment.

Further, check you laptop's BIOS for Virtualization Technology, see I have a 64bit host, but can't install 64bit guests.

[mpack]

This query badly needs a VBox log for diagnostics.

[PeteThePen1]

Thanks for showing an interest folks.

I have dug out the last (I think) of the the logs and here it is:

Code: Select all

00:00:02.189361 VirtualBox VM 6.1.6_Ubuntu r137129 linux.amd64 (Apr 15 2020 15:48:44) release log
00:00:02.189365 Log opened 2020-05-09T15:36:55.944691000Z
00:00:02.189366 Build Type: release
00:00:02.189371 OS Product: Linux
00:00:02.189372 OS Release: 5.4.0-29-generic
00:00:02.189374 OS Version: #33-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 29 14:32:27 UTC 2020
00:00:02.189417 DMI Product Name: Aspire 3820                    
00:00:02.189431 DMI Product Version: V1.17          
00:00:02.189446 Firmware type: BIOS
00:00:02.189510 Host RAM: 2729MB (2.6GB) total, 1976MB available
00:00:02.189515 Executable: /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBoxVM
00:00:02.189516 Process ID: 2625
00:00:02.189516 Package type: LINUX_64BITS_GENERIC (OSE)
00:00:02.222952 Installed Extension Packs:
00:00:02.222977   VNC (Version: 6.1.6 r137129; VRDE Module: VBoxVNC)
00:00:02.225162 Console: Machine state changed to 'Starting'
00:00:02.226716 Qt version: 5.12.8
00:00:02.226729 X11 Window Manager code: 0
00:00:02.303716 GUI: UIMediumEnumerator: Medium-enumeration finished!
00:00:02.305593 X Server details: vendor: The X.Org Foundation, release: 12008000, protocol version: 11.0, display string: :0
00:00:02.305612 Using XKB for keycode to scan code conversion
00:00:02.318652 GUI: UIDesktopWidgetWatchdog::sltHandleHostScreenAvailableGeometryCalculated: Screen 0 work area is actually resized to: 0x0 x 1366x736
00:00:02.416073 SUP: Loaded VMMR0.r0 (/usr/lib/virtualbox/VMMR0.r0) at 0xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX - ModuleInit at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and ModuleTerm at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
00:00:02.416125 SUP: VMMR0EntryEx located at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and VMMR0EntryFast at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
00:00:02.434447 Guest OS type: 'WindowsXP'
00:00:02.438760 WARNING! 64-bit guest type selected but the host CPU does NOT support HW virtualization.
00:00:02.438934 fHMForced=true - No raw-mode support in this build!
00:00:02.450132 VMSetError: /build/virtualbox-X5m07m/virtualbox-6.1.6-dfsg/src/VBox/Main/src-client/ConsoleImpl2.cpp(1968) int Console::i_configConstructorInner(PUVM, PVM, util::AutoWriteLock*); rc=VERR_NOT_FOUND
00:00:02.450149 VMSetError: Implementation of the USB 2.0 controller not found!
00:00:02.450150 Because the USB 2.0 controller state is part of the saved VM state, the VM cannot be started. To fix this problem, either install the 'Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack' or disable USB 2.0 support in the VM settings.
00:00:02.450151 Note! This error could also mean that an incompatible version of the 'Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack' is installed
00:00:02.465341 Constructor failed with rc=VERR_NOT_FOUND pfnCFGMConstructor=00007f77bd781010
00:00:02.465934 ERROR [COM]: aRC=NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005) aIID={872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed} aComponent={ConsoleWrap} aText={Implementation of the USB 2.0 controller not found!
00:00:02.465948 Because the USB 2.0 controller state is part of the saved VM state, the VM cannot be started. To fix this problem, either install the 'Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack' or disable USB 2.0 support in the VM settings.
00:00:02.465949 Note! This error could also mean that an incompatible version of the 'Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack' is installed (VERR_NOT_FOUND)}, preserve=false aResultDetail=-78
00:00:02.479219 Console: Machine state changed to 'PoweredOff'
00:00:02.576991 Power up failed (vrc=VERR_NOT_FOUND, rc=NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0X80004005))
00:00:03.078006 GUI: UIMachineViewNormal::resendSizeHint: Restoring guest size-hint for screen 0 to 1920x950
00:00:03.078100 ERROR [COM]: aRC=E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) aIID={4680b2de-8690-11e9-b83d-5719e53cf1de} aComponent={DisplayWrap} aText={The console is not powered up}, preserve=false aResultDetail=0
00:00:03.078249 GUI: Aborting startup due to power up progress issue detected...

The displayed error messages were:

Virtual box Screen Shot.png (74.25 KiB) Viewed 2749 times

Hope that this has been done OK.

Regards
Pete

[scottgus1]

Thanks, Pete, that will work, I think. Here's the kicker:

00:00:02.438760 WARNING! 64-bit guest type selected but the host CPU does NOT support HW virtualization.

The log does not go far enough to say what CPU you have in the PC.

See I have a 64bit host, but can't install 64bit guests. The lowest CPUs (except for the Pentium) for the Aspire 3820 (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Aspi ... 685.0.html) have VT-x, so you need to scour your BIOS. If you cannot turn the VT-X on, you must go back to a 6.0.x version of Virtualbox, and are limited to 1-processor 32-bit guests (which XP should be OK with, and on this laptop that's probably all you should try to push through anyway).

There are some messages about possible USB issues, but let's see if the guest can be started first.

[PeteThePen1]

Hi

Many thanks for the post. The laptop has a Pentium P6 100, 2.0Ghz 3Mb L3 Cache and 3 GB DDR3 Memory.

I think that I will follow your advice to load the earlier version of VB rather than mess with the BIOS. Lubuntu is running nicely and I would not wish to upset that.

I will post results as soon as that is done.

Regards

Pete

[PeteThePen1]

Hi Folks

Time for an update. I have followed the advice of installing VB 6.0 rather than the current version. There were, of course, a few hiccups in doing that due to my lack of skills. How does one un-install an application under Linux? Where do I find version 6.0 of VB? Eventually I had the same version of VB and the same version of the extension pack installed. To my surprise the WinXP guest was still available in the list of Guest operating systems available.

I examined the settings and error messages and made the System adjustments; less memory and no Paravirtualisation Interface. I also checked on the Shared Folders and removed those that were applicable to the PC implementation of this Guest and added a local shared folder on the laptop. I ignored the USB settings as no error message came up about that. The changes were then successfully saved.

The Guest OS was then launched and went through the process of loading. A welcome screen of sorts appeared and then everything locked up. Two error messages were on screen at that time. One was about Auto Capture Keyboard being enabled and the other was something similar about the mouse, but in both cases only the first line of the message appeared.

After an emergency shut down it was possible to load VB again and then seek out the Auto Capture option and de-select it. I did not find a separate option for the Mouse Pointer Integration. With that change the Guest OS was run again and loaded normally but with the Mouse Pointer Integration error message repeated. Further searching failed to find anything relating to the mouse pointer, but the next test run came up without the mouse pointer error message.

To conclude, it is fair to say that my original problem is now solved and the WinXP Guest appears to run correctly in VB. Many thanks for the advice that you have offered. I suspect that I may be back again as I really ought to update the version of VB on Win10...

Regards

Pete

[scottgus1]

Good! Glad you're up and running!

The messages about the auto-capture keyboard and mounse integration are just notes on operation, not errors. There should be a dropdown box at the end of each message to read it, as well as to block the message from showing again.

When the guest window has focus, the keyboard automatically feeds into the guest OS. When the guest window loses focus, then the keyboard goes to whatever took focus.

If Mouse Integration is on, then the mouse can slide into and out of the guest to the host & back seamlessly. If Mouse Integration is off, then once you click into the guest window, the mouse is captured inside the guest window and cannot get out. You must hit the "host" key on the keyboard (default to Right Ctrl on Windows hosts, probably Linux too) to release the mouse.

Install Guest Additions inside XP to get better Mouse Integration, if MI is not on already. Guest Additions can also help make the XP screen size work better.

Upgrading Virtualbox does not delete the configuration files or the guests, so you should have no worry that upgrading or downgrading will destroy anything. Be sure your guests are fully shut down, not save-stated, before up/downgrading. Saved States often are not good in a different version. Also remember to change the Extension Pack to match whatever Virtualbox version you go to.

[PeteThePen1]

Hi Scott and Fellow Users

Thanks for that additional information in easy to understand format. Very useful.

I thought you might be amused to know that the next time I tried to use VP on the PC it failed and recommended re-installation. So, I bit the bullet, downloaded the latest version and installed it. No problems with that, but the Win XP Guest crashed again. I looked carefully at the error messages and log and that rang a bell. Looking up my notes from 2018 I found a note to myself "Do NOT install Trusteer if the Bank asks you to!" I had, of course, done just that earlier in the week. It was quickly uninstalled and VB ran perfectly with the WinXP Guest. I have now found that there is a long post on this Forum discussing Trusteer and the fact that IBM knows of the issue and still has not fixed it.

Many thanks for all your help.

Regards

Pete

[scottgus1]

Yep, Trusteer is a pain. I haven't had to use it, but if I did I'd install it in a guest.

Glad you're up and running!