[vbox-dev] Callee RC: REGDB_E_READREGDB (0x80040150)

[Thorsten Schöning]

Hi all,

I would like to use VirtualBox-6.1.18-142142-Win.exe on a Windows
Server 2019 to host some few VMs. The important thing of course is
that those VMs need to run automatically besides any interactive user
login AND I would like to manage those (running) VMs using the by
default installed GUI.

Am using VB on various Ubuntus to run headless VMs already maintained
by phpVirtualBox and while it works in general, it runs into problems
regarding the web service of VB pretty often and stuff like that.As
Windows provides a GUI already, I hoped that using the native VB-GUI
would work a bit smoother overall. Additionally I would like to avoid
using the extension pack of VB because from my knowledge it can't be
used in a commercial scenario and I would like to avoid maintaining
RD-ports per VM and stuff like that.

So what I did was creating a default new user account on the server to
maintain and run VMs only. The VMs are started using the following
command line and task scheduler witht he correct credentials of the
user etc. after server startup and run successfully this way:

> VBoxManage startvm "[...]" --type headless

After shutting VMs down, I can reliably maintain those interactively
using the same user as well, start them, even detached/headless etc.
The problem is with running VMs: While at first the GUI is able to
manage VMs started headless by the task scheduler as well, show the
console output, shut them off etc., this simply fails after some time.
Things are simply kept running, the GUI is started with the same
credentials like before and used by the task scheduler, but at some
point communication fails with the following error:

> Callee RC: REGDB_E_READREGDB (0x80040150)
https://ibb.co/p2jHyVX

Afterwards the GUI starts, but is unable to show some properties of
the VM, can't display the console output anymore, pause or power it
off etc.

https://ibb.co/wQD4J14
https://ibb.co/NCxNdTk

That problem is additionally not restricted to the GUI, but the shell
doesn't work anymore as well: 

> C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>vboxmanage controlvm tepu-ux poweroff
> VBoxManage.exe: error: Code REGDB_E_READREGDB (0x80040150) - Could not read key from registry (extended info not available)
> VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: "LockMachine(a->session, LockType_Shared)" at line 388 of file VBoxManageControlVM.cpp

After restarting the "VirtualBox system service" aka "VBoxSDS", the
error message printed by the GUI is gone and the properties of the VM
are shown again, but it doesn't recognize that the VM is running
anymore. The shell won't work as well:

> C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>vboxmanage controlvm tepu-ux pause
> VBoxManage.exe: error: Code E_FAIL (0x80004005) - Unspecified error (extended info not available)
> VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: "LockMachine(a->session, LockType_Shared)" at line 388 of file VBoxManageControlVM.cpp

So, is the GUI of Virtual Box at all designed to manage headless
executed VMs this way?

Are there any special requirements the executing user needs to fulfill
in this setup? I don't seem to have any permission related problems
and when using the built-in admin of Windows in task scheduler and
GUI, I had the same problem that it suddenly stops working.

Is there any way to make the GUI get to know the real state of the
executed VMs after restarting the service? Processes etc. are still
there, it's only that the GUI doesn't seem to know.

Any other idea about the underlying root cause, especially what
REGDB_E_READREGDB might mean in this context? According to MS it means
"Could not read key from registry", but which key etc.? I monitored
using Process Monitor and didn't find anything obvious, there are
always optional registry keys checked in some background code.

Thanks!

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Thorsten Schöning

-- 
AM-SoFT IT-Service - Bitstore Hameln GmbH i.G.
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Für Rückfragen stehe ich Ihnen sehr gerne zur Verfügung.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Thorsten Schöning


Tel: 05151 9468 0
Fax: 05151 9468 88
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