VirtualBox crashes when running "npm install" -> duplicate of #11649

[machete143]

I use vagrant provisioning for VirtualBox but there seems to be an issue with "npm" (nodejs). This problem exists only on my Windows 7 host, on Mac OS X this works fine!

I've disabled vagrant provisioning and just used vagrant for setup with:

vagrant up --no-provisioning

After that, I conntected to the vm using

vagrant ssh

After this, i ran

npm -g install bower

This crashed the VM. But it is not important which package I install.

npm install

crashes regardless of the package I'm trying to install.

So, here are some logfiles!

VBox.log: ​https://gist.github.com/arekkas/8319356

npm-debug.log: ​https://gist.github.com/arekkas/8319277

vagrant.log: ​https://gist.github.com/arekkas/8318589

The host is Windows 7 64 Bit, the Guest is Ubuntu precise 32Bit.

My gist config is:

# -*- mode: ruby -*-
# vi: set ft=ruby :

# Vagrantfile API/syntax version. Don't touch unless you know what you're doing!
VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"

Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|  
  config.vm.box = "http://files.vagrantup.com/precise32.box"
  config.vm.box = "precise32"
  config.vm.provision :shell, :path => "bootstrap.sh"
  config.vm.network :forwarded_port, host: 4567, guest: 80
  config.vm.network :forwarded_port, host: 3456, guest: 3306
  config.vm.synced_folder "../", "/var/www", :owner => "www-data", :group => "www-data", type: "nfs"
end

I'd be happy to help with this issue as best as I can, because we really need the setup for our develop environment.

[machete143]

I've previously opened a ticket on vagrant's github, which you may find here: ​https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/issues/2786

[machete143]

Oh sorry, of course I meant to write: "My vagrant config is" instead of "My gist config is".

[machete143]

This problem also does not seem to be related to

vagrant ssh

because when I start the VM from the VirtualBox GUI (-> using the VM viewer), npm crashes the VM as well.

[Frank Mehnert]

A corresponding VBox.log file for this VM session is missing.

[Frank Mehnert]

Oh sorry, nevermind, didn't find the link before because of all the Vagrant noise. Next time please use the 'Attach File' button.

[Frank Mehnert]

So as I understood from your description, the VM crashes if you execute 'npm install' is that correct? Or is only a guest application crashing? Also, you say that you can reproduce the problem only when running your guest on a Windows host but not when running on a Mac OS X host. Is there any difference in the VM configuration between these two hosts? Please also attach the VBox.log file of such a VM session running on Mac OS X.

[machete143]

No, the whole VM crashes when running 'npm install'! Sometimes I get a Windows crash message regarding "VBoxHeadless.exe" (mostly when running 'vagrant up').

The setup *should* be the same, because both VMs are configured through the vagrant config posted above. I will attach the log for the Mac OS VM soon.

[machete143]

Here's the corresponding Mac OS X log:

​https://gist.github.com/arekkas/8319960

[Frank Mehnert]

On which drive are you performing 'vagrant up', is this a VirtualBox shared folder?

[machete143]

Yes, the folder from which 'vagrant up' is run is a VirtualBox shared folder. In fact, the folder above is also shared:

Vagrant file: D:\workspace\athene2\vagrant\vagrantfile

Shared folder: D:\workspace\athene2 -> /var/www

[machete143]

Sorry, I should have included the bootstrap.sh script as well for easier reproduction: ​https://gist.github.com/arekkas/8320463

[machete143]

I just ran 'npm install -g bower' on a custom setup VM (running Debian 7.2 64bit) using this guide for nodejs installation ( ​http://ariejan.net/2011/10/24/installing-node-js-and-npm-on-ubuntu-debian/ ) and everything worked fine. The VirtualBox log is: ​https://gist.github.com/arekkas/8320592

[Frank Mehnert]

You might want to try upgrading the VBox Guest Additions. The current version you are using with your Windows/Mac OS X host is 4.2.0 which is quite old. Better use 4.3.6. This might affect the problem as the Guest Additions are required for shared folder support.

[machete143]

Ok, I've updated the guest additions - still no luck, the vm crashed again.

According to the VBox.log they've been updated so I hope that this wasn't caused by me:

00:00:06.447223 Guest Additions information report: Version 4.3.6 r91406 '4.3.6'

If you want to see the full log please let me know

[machete143]

I'm really running out of ideas here. I've now tried a different box ( ​http://puppet-vagrant-boxes.puppetlabs.com/debian-70rc1-x64-vbox4210.box ) but that didn't change anything.

[machete143]

So I've now created a custom debian box, where I installed some modules globally. While everything worked fine here, npm crashed VirtualBox again as soon as I added that VM as a box to vagrant and ran 'vagrant up'.

[machete143]

It's not associated with shared folders - as I expected. I disabled all shared folders and the VM still crashes when doing 'npm install'.

[machete143]

Found it, it is related to the network type! It seems to be related to: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/11649

I disabled 'NAT Networking' and enabled 'Network bridge' instead - now I can install everything without a problem.

(still doesn't work through vagrant, because it seems that vagrant does require NAT)