Windows 10 Guest/CPU 100%/Then reboots

[tom-linux-mint]

I am running Virtualbox 6.1.12 r139181 (Qt5.12. on linux mint 20, Kernel 5.4.0-42-generic. 7.7 gb RAM
My Linux box has a 4 cpu processor (Intel© Core™ i3-8100).

I downloaded the MSEdge - Win10 prebuilt file from Microsoft.
I also have another VM of Windows 10 created from an installation iso.
Both VM's give the same issue.
I have assigned 2 cpus to the VM's.
On both VMs, the linux cpu usage for 2 cpus will at some point go to 100% and stay there. When this happens, the Windows guest will reboot itself.
I can reproduce this effect by selecting "check updates" in Windows Update and Security settings. When I do this, the problem will almost always occur.
This has happened with the last three versions of VirtualBox for Linux, so it has not been addressed in any updates, which indicates it may not be a Virtualbox issue.

I can't seem to find any solutions for this kind of issue.
If anyone can point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it.
Tom

[scottgus1]

If the guest Virtualbox window stays open and the guest OS does something guest-OS-ish, then typically, Virtualbox is still running and troubleshooting should take place inside the guest OS.

If your Windows 10 guest OS's reboot under strong CPU they may be BSODing and auto-rebooting (something Windows has done since XP at least). If it is a usual BSOD the Windows Event Viewer will say what the error was, and free troubleshooting programs from Microsoft (try the Windows Debugging tools) and others (Nirsoft BlueScreenView, for example) can be installed in the guest OS to find out what happened.

To see if Virtualbox has trouble, 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.

[tom-linux-mint]

Good point Scott. It makes sense that VirtualBox is still running because it is!
I should have thought of that.
I never see any BSOD. The guest system just stops responding, and the next thing I see is the VirtualBox reboot screen.
I will follow your suggestion of investigating on the windows side.
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Good info!

[multiOS]

One thought: The behaviour described sounds typical of a Windows 10 installation (particularly a new one) that is downloading and applying multiple updates that require restarts. Have you checked the Settings > Updates screen to see what and when updates have been applied to see if they coincide with the sudden restarts. Also check the Update and Restart control settings which are being used, which (I believe still) differ between Enterprise/Pro and Home versions of Windows 10.

[tom-linux-mint]

Thanks for that response. I have turned off Windows update. I still get several crash / reboots before the system settles down.
I don't use it very often, so it's not a pressing issue.

[Goodwin]

I am having the same issue - Windows 10 Pro guest on Debian host. Sometimes I encounter also only the freeze of the guest computer without any visible reboot. I can see, the disk device below is no more blinking. In the VirtualBox Menu in Session ifnroamtions I can see the CPU running on 100%. I use now VirtualBox 6.1.10, tried also 6.1.12, but there was again much more occurence of the error with the crash of the VM because of the clipboard data exchange.

I started the VM on Intel i9 CPU (8 cores CPU with HyperThreading, so effectively 16 virtual cores), there was this problem nearly not visible. After transferring the same system to Intel Xeon CPU X3370 (4 cores) the problem started to be very significant.

Any pointers appreciated.

[Goodwin]

For everybody having same issue - in my case the problems nearly (I am not sure if completely, but really very significantly) disappeared, after I deinstalled virtual guest additions from the Windows guest - on the last time I was not even able to start the VM, it froze always during the startup:
1. I Started VM and held/pressed repeatedly F8
2. I have entered the Windows recovery boot, where I selected to boot windows in safe mode
3. After reboot of the VM the Windows started in I was able to deinstall the virtual guest additions
4. After reboot I was able to work normally again

The file sharing of local files to host I have arranged with samba on the host, mapped in the guest as shared drive. I am looking for the shared clipboard functionality and of course it is not nice to have the resolution only 1024x708, but much better than having steadily crashing or non-startable Windows VM.

[tom-linux-mint]

Thank you for posting this.
I will give this a try.

[tom-linux-mint]

FWIW.
I upgraded VBOX to 6.1.16 and my windows 10 guest seems to be doing better.
I tried the safe mode, but I still had some issues.
One note about booting in safe mode.
In the windows search box, type in msconfig. When you run this, the window contains 4 tabs. The 2nd tab is "Boot". On that tab, you can check a box for windows to boot in safe mode. That way you don't have to do the F8 key thing.

Also, once it was behaving properly, I decided to save the state when closing Vbox instead of shutting it down.