How-To Geek

Hi Friends

I installed Sun's VirtualBox and it got installed without issue. I tried to install Windows XP (plain, without any service pack), Windows XP (SP3), and Linux (Ubuntu) OS' as virtual OS' but I get error during their installation (described below). Then, just to try, I tried to install Windows 98 (SE), and it installs just fine! After installing Windows 98, then, I decided to use that same virtual machine to install Win XP or Linux (since Win 98 at least created and formatted the virtual hard disk). While the installation of Win XP proceeds somewhat farther now, Linux installation stops at the same point. But eventually both the installations fail.

It is understandable that when the virtual machine is originally created for Windows as guest OS, Linux won't probably install fine on it. But when I try to install Linux on a new virtual machine created for Linux Ubuntu itself, it still stops at the same point.

Here are the formal details of my configuration, the steps I took, and the error (all the OS', guests as well as host, are 32-bit):

Host OS: Windows XP SP3

Virtual Box version: 3.0.10r54077

Guest OS: <I tried 3 different; described separately ahead>

***

Virtual machine's settings that I changed common to all the machines I created (rest were default or unimportant, like folder paths):
System tab>Motherboard>Base Memory: 1024MB (I also tried 1536MB and 512MB); Boot Order: CD/DVD-ROM, Hard Disk; Enable ACPI checked; Enable IO ACPI unchecked.
System tab>Processor>Enable PAE/NX unchecked (I also tried with it checked).
System tab>Acceleration>Enable VT-x/AMD-V checked and grayed out (I also tried with it unchecked; since it was grayed out in the GUI, I modified the XML file to make that change)

Display tab>Video>Video Memory: 128MB (I also tried 64MB and 32MB); Enable 3D Acceleration checked (I also tried with it unchecked).

Hard Disks tab>IDE Controller Type: PIIX4 (I also tried PIIX3 and ICH6); the virtual hard disk (IDE Primary Master) is an 8GB VDI file that I created on an NTFS drive on my system (I also tried a 3GB VDI file).

CD/DVD-ROM tab>Mounted the ISO image files for the corresponding guest OS' (I also tried using the install disks themselves).

Audio tab>Enable Audio checked; Host Audio Driver: Windows DirectSound (was selected by default; another option present is Null Audio Driver); Audio Controller: ICH AC97 (was selected by default; another option present is SoundBlaster16).

***

Virtual machine's settings that I changed according to different machines I created:

###

First Machine: General tab>Basic>Name: WinXP; Operating System: Microsoft Windows; Version: Windows XP.

Guest OS: Win XP SP3 (I also tried Win XP without any service pack).

What happens: I select this machine and click Start on the VirtualBox window. The machine boots up and the Win XP disk boots the system as it would a physical system, but it doesn't ask for pressing a key to boot from the CD.

Then suddenly the following message is displayed:

"A critical error has occured while running the virtual machine and the machine execution has been stopped.

For help, please see the Community section on http://www.virtualbox.org or your support contract. Please provide the contents of the log file VBox.log and the image file VBox.png, which you can find in the "<Folder where I stored the virtual machine>\Logs\" directory, as well as a description of what you were doing when this error happened. Note that you can also access the above files by selecting Show Log from the Machine menu of the main VirtualBox window.

Press OK if you want to power off the machine or press Ignore if you want to leave it as is for debugging. Please note that debugging requires special knowledge and tools, so it is recommended to press OK now."

Then there are two buttons OK and Ignore. Pressing OK terminates the virtual machine; pressing Ignore leaves it with the installation screen halted at the same position. (Its main portion is just blank.)
On this dialog box, there's an image of a guru as if in meditation, and this dialog is the problem I'm seeking help for. This appears on every machine except the Win 98 machine. So for reference, let us call it the GURU_MEDITATION_MESSAGE.

###

Second Machine: General tab>Basic>Name: Linux; Operating System: Linux; Version: Ubuntu.

Guest OS: Linux Ubuntu 8.10 i386 (I also tried Linux Mint-5-r1).

What happens: I select this machine and click Start on the VirtualBox window. The machine boots up and a message appears:

"The virtual machine window is optimized to work in 32 bit color mode but the color quality of the virtual display is currently set to 16 bit.

Please open the display properties dialog of the guest OS and select a 32 bit color mode, if it is available, for best possible performance of the virtual video subsystem.

Note. Some operating systems, like OS/2, may actually work in 32 bit mode but report it as 24 bit (16 million colors). You may try to select a different color quality to see if this message disappears or you can simply disable the message now if you are sure the required color quality (32 bit) is not available in the given guest OS."

Then there's a checkbox "Do not show this message again" and an OK button.
Well, I just pressed OK. (Since the guest OS was not yet installed, I could not possibly change the color quality by going to its display properties. No big deal here. (This message didn't appear on the first - Windows XP - virtual machine.) This is NOT the problem to which I'm seeking a solution.

The Ubuntu disk boots the system as it would a physical system. The choice of languages is shown. I selected English. A menu is then shown with the following options:

* Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer
* Install Ubuntu
* Check CD for defects
* Test memory
* Boot from first hard disk
* Press F4 to select alternative start-up and installation modes

I've tried the first two options with all possible modes offered in the last option. As soon as I make the desired selection and press Enter, the virtual machine's window blacks out, with a text-insertion cursor on the top left. After 2 or 3 seconds, the GURU_MEDITATION_MESSAGE appears. This is the problem.

###

Third Machine: General tab>Basic>Name: Win98; Operating System: Microsoft Windows; Version: Windows XP.

Guest OS: Win 98 SE.

What happens: I select this machine and click Start on the VirtualBox window. The machine boots up and the Win 98 disk boots the system as it would a physical system.

I start computer with CD-ROM support, and operate the FDisk command to create the disk partition and the only drive "C:\". Then I format the partition with FAT32. Then I install Win 98 just as normal. It runs after installation.

***

Now, I unmount the Win 98 disk from the Third Machine and mount the Win XP disk. Then I reboot this machine. The disk boots the machine just as it would a physical system. This time, however, it shows the option to press a key to boot from CD. It starts loading files to the RAM (as it would on a physical system). As soon as the loading is finished, the bottom strip shows the message "Starting Windows...", the machine waits for 2 or 3 seconds and the GURU_MEDITATION_MESSAGE appears.

In short, I've tried everything. Why does this message appear? It doesn't even tell me a reason. Has anyone faced this problem before? Did you find any solution? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance. (If you want to have a look on the log file or a particular screenshot, please let me know.)

Hard to say what happened. I had trouble installing from CD too. That is why I now always install from a .iso in my system. Try this with Ubuntu - install directly from the .iso that you downloaded. Check in step 1.2. in my tutorial. That`s where you have to select the image file (.iso).

Hi LH

I'll try that too. The problem is that these type of software tend to be big, and my connection speed is almost 2 Kbps. So it'll take time after I start downloading. I'll let you know if it worked. Thanks for the suggestion.

What? Unbelievable! I'll let you know today in the evening.

Well... It's a whooping 89.95 MB download! And it forced me to register even without trying the product. Generally I stay away from such products. But I registered because it was recommended by LH. I'll let you all know the results after a few days (when the download is complete). If it worked, I'll mark the problem as solved. If it didn't work as expected and if they didn't let me delete my account, I'll add it to my list of dishonest software, which (the list) I then distribute to all my friends.

Thanks again. From their own site, when the download was 2% complete, I got the error:

Download failed, server returned a 403 error: Forbidden

(Trying again returns the same error right away; the download won't start again.) What a ridiculous server!

I thought of searching for another link but came to post the failure here. And that was good, since I found the new link already!

I have one more question. While browsing the web to get some info on VMware, I read somewhere that I cannot create a new virtual machine with it (but can only use a precreated virtual machine, which I don't have). To create a new virtual machine, those sites said I'll have to get the Workstation version (which is not free). Is that true? I don't want to download two programs; it's simply wrong.

Even the Softpedia download page says: "With VMware Player, you can use any virtual machine created by VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, VMware Server or VMware ESX, as well as Microsoft Virtual Server virtual machines and Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machines."

That is, I can USE the machines created by those other products, but cannot CREATE one. I'm confused.

I am sorry I cannot be of more help. But just last night I re-downloaded vBox (after I had uninstalled the old one), installed it and installed Win7 on it. The whole procedure took a little over one and a half hour and I had no problem at all. Maybe that is what you should do. I did that because my vBox on this system was from the spring and I wanted to make some adjustments.

Thanks LH.

OK. I'll try that.

Hi JonMCC33

Yes I've gone through the forum and there are so many people complaining the same thing. Searching the web for the error also shows many other sites and discussions. I got many suggestions from there and I tried them all (as I detailed in the first post). Then I thought some member or mod might have used the program and might have gotten a solution. If so, that member or mod can help me out.