virtualbox.org

I'm trying to install Windows 10 using an ISO created with the Windows Media Creation Tool for Windows 10 version 2004. It finishes copying files but then stops doing anything. The session manager shows no resource usage whatsoever. Pausing and unpausing the VM kicks it back into working for a few seconds (occasionally enough time for the percentage to go up slightly) but then stops again. The mouse is not responsive. Yesterday I tried installing Windows but got a blue screen error on the guest but the VM never got to restart because it stopped doing anything at 100% on the blue screen. If I disable Hyper-V in the paravirtualization option and choose anything else, the VM does not get past the Windows logo and freezes. Sometimes moving the mouse causes a slight spike in CPU usage, but no change shows on the screen. My existing VMs do not boot and freeze in the same way. I recently updated the Windows host to 2004, but I don't see why this should affect VirtualBox. Aside from re-installing VirtualBox (I have a macOS VM that took ages to get working), what can I do about this?

Start the guest from full power off, 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.

Please right-click the guest in the main Virtualbox window's guest list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log, zip the log file, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

TwistyTurtleFish wrote:I recently updated the Windows host to 2004

Big clue here, host Hyper-V is probably enabled. The vbox.log will tell.

TwistyTurtleFish wrote:I have a macOS VM that took ages to get working)

If the hardware isn't a Mac, you best keep this strictly on the QT: OSX guests on non-Apple hardware

It's now "Getting files ready for installation" and unlike last time, VMM CPU usage is going from 0% to 1%, and current VM Exits (what does that mean?) is 1-5k times, whereas before it was 0. It has been "getting ready" for an hour now and it's still at 0%, should I see if it does something or shutdown anyway? Also, I'm using Windows 10 Home on the host which I don't think supports Hyper-V, or maybe it does because VBox seems to like it more than no paravirtualization interface.

Home has other services that use Hyper-V, besides the Hyper-V virtualizer option which Home does not have.

For now, if you can shut down the guest inside the guest, do so. If not, just kill it off.

BTW Paravirtualization is not what engine is running the virtualizer. It's a communication channel for guest OS's to talk to the virtualizer so they can run better in a VM. The Paravirtualization setting is the 'language' Virtualbox can talk to the guest OS if the guest OS wants to talk. Windows should remain 'Hyper-V' in the Paravirtualization dropdown, even if we find that Hyper-V is enabled and shut it down.

Here is the log, had to force close the guest.

'Tis a true bill and the usual suspects.

Your log contains these lines:

{timestamp} HM: HMR3Init: Attempting fall back to NEM: AMD-V is not available
{timestamp} NEM: WHvCapabilityCodeHypervisorPresent is TRUE, so this might work...

You might notice in the guest window's Status Bar the green turtle: The choice of animal is appropriate: Your guest is running, just really slow. Or it might guru-meditate or crash. This is because a service that uses Microsoft Hyper-V is running on your host PC. Normally Hyper-V blocks Virtualbox. But your PC is of the type and OS where Virtualbox can attempt to run the guest using the Hyper-V engine. This arrangement is still being developed and isn't 100% yet.

If VirtualBox is running without Hyper-V enabled, and nothing else is interfering with hardware virtualization (VT-x / AMD-V), then the usual virtualization icon () will be seen in the Status Bar.

To turn Hyper-V off completely, do this:

1. Shut down all programs. You will have to reboot your host.

2. Look into I have a 64bit host, but can't install 64bit guests, 2nd post, points 2 & 3 and ensure that none of these things are running.

3. Find the Command Prompt icon, right click it and choose Run As Administrator.

4. Enter this command:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

5. Enter this command:

shutdown -s -t 2

6. When the computer turns off, unplug it for 20 seconds. Then plug it in again and boot up Windows 10.

Your Virtualbox should be running now. If the green turtle still appears and the tell-tale lines are in the log, try all the steps again. If you don't get the standard virtualization icon, post back exactly what you did and we'll try to help some more.

For further info, see https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/139 ... puter.html

Ah, I thought the turtle might just be mocking me. Works great now, I suppose this means I can't use WSL 2 and VBox at the same time, but that's not the end of the world. Thanks for the help!

Correct. WSL2 is another Windows add-on which utilizes hardware virtualization, just like Hyper-V, Device Guard, Credential Guard etc. etc.

I found out that disabling Windows Hyper-V wasn't enough, because I had Windows Sandbox enabled. Disable both Hyper-V and Windows Sandbox on Programas and Features. It also helped to enable PIX4 in the VM's SATA driver.

Yes. Sandbox is another.

migue0583 wrote:It also helped to enable PIX4 in the VM's SATA driver.

No, this was a wrong step. There's no way the virtual hardware knows or cares about Hyper-v on the host. You are using the VirtualBox template, which means that all virtual hardware is natively supported by Win10.