unable to login after updating vbox

[chakars]

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine ubuntu.

Could not launch a process for the machine 'ubuntu' (VERR_INVALID_UTF16_ENCODING).

Result Code: VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80BB0005) Component: Machine Interface: IMachine {480cf695-2d8d-4256-9c7c-cce4184fa048}

this is after updating to the latest version

[Frank Mehnert]

This sounds more like your guest is Ubuntu / Linux and your host is Windows?

[mpack]

Two or three users have now reported the same error in recent months, they also report that reverting to 4.3.6 fixes the issue.

For example: ​https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=62700. This is with Win7 as host and guest. VBox 4.3.14.

After each report I have checked what I thought were obvious causes, by I couldn't find that UTF16 was being used at all, never mind with invalid codes. It looks like a parsing error introduced in 4.3.8, and still there in 4.3.14.

Apparantly the error appears before the log is created, so the above thread includes a log file from 4.3.6 and doesn't show the error. Useful for getting some context though.

None of those affected (apart from the OP) seem to be interested in raising ticket, being happy with the 4.3.6 workaround, so I thought I should do the honors.

[DTMOC]

This issue persists with v4.3.16 and for some reason, any version later than v4.3.6.

See Board Topic "Could not launch a process for the machine 'Windows7 64bit'" for more details Postby DTMOC » 21. Jul 2014, 06:46

ALL VMs fail to start after updating Virtual Box. Reverting back to older version allows all machine to run.

If I create a new VM within the new version, it also fails in the same way. Virtualbox is absolutely useless for some reason (on this machine). Lots of resources, incl 16GB RAM.

[loomchild]

Probably there is no need to downgrade your VirtualBox. I was able to fix the issue by re-encoding .vbox file to UTF16. I used Notepad++ for this task, Encoding -> Convert to UCS-2 Big Endian.

I am even able to consistently reproduce the issue. All I need to do is to add new port forwarding rule. Open VirtualBox manager, click Settings -> Network -> Advanced -> Port Forwarding, add a rule and click OK. Now the .vbox file is encoded as UTF-8 - it's size has roughly halved (for me from 24KB to 12KB).

My configuration: version 4.3.20, host Windows, guest Linux Debian.

[Frank Mehnert]

loomchild, please could you attach such a settings file before (after you changed a VM setting) and after you converted it to UTF16? Thank you!

[loomchild]

Unfortunately I can't reproduce the issue anymore. It seems like the file is UTF-8 encoded now (by the size), but VirtualBox can successfully read it. I tried adding new port forwarding, but VM starts normally.

I will post the files once I see the issue again (or maybe someone else in this thread has the invalid file?)

[lachie_h]

I had this problem and was able to fix it relatively easily. It seems to be an issue with the PATH variable in Windows systems. I somehow managed to get some odd characters in my PATH variable from a dud install of another program. After I corrected the variable and restarted my system, VBox now works perfectly without having to downgrade or re-install.

For anyone also having this issue, edit your path variable (Go to System Properties > Environment Variables > System Variables > Edit "Path") and make sure there aren't any odd looking characters or malformed folders paths.

Without much information on these other systems, this solution might just be for me but as it is a simple process, this solution might be worth looking into. Other versions might work because they perhaps correct any unreadable text in the PATH variable automatically.

[DTMOC]

A note for [lachie_h]...

Wow!
THANKS for posting what you found!
Not sure how on earth you found it, but thanks.

This has been an issue for over a year and there was no resolution until I found your post via google. It did not show up in a forum search for me when looking for "VERR_INVALID_UTF16_ENCODING".

Two bad paths were removed and all was well afterwards
(these are the closest that I can post)...

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\Binn\Binn\?????
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\SnapAPI\???

[cblackburn]

I too had a problem with Skype and VirtualBox. There were some Asian characters at the end of this path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\. I have never used any other localizations since clean installing Windows 10 and don't speak any Asian languages any how. The ironic part is that there aren't any subfolders within that Skype folder anyhow so what's with the asian stuff on the end Microsoft. So is Oracle going to fix this easily solved, but with massive consequences, 3 year old bug or what? Just ignore any path entries with special characters, done.

Thanks, Christian Blackburn