VM stuck when attempting to open a Microsoft Office file from network

[Panos Kavalagios]

When you try to open a document from a network share the entire VM is stuck. The log report:

00:12:18.795744 VMMDev: vmmDevHeartbeatFlatlinedTimer: Guest seems to be unresponsive. Last heartbeat received 4 seconds ago

[Panos Kavalagios]

It also occupies 100% CPU usage on the host machine.

[Panos Kavalagios]

I have downgraded to the previous version VirtualBox-5.0-5.0.20_106931_fedora22-1.x86_64, but the problem persists. It opens a popup saying:

There was a problem sending the command to the program.

Attached screenshot problem-opening-office-files.png. So, it might be an Office 2016 update that caused that problem. At least with the previous version the VM does not stuck. A workaround is to click twice to open certain files.

[Frank Mehnert]

Please disable 3D in the VM settings and check if this makes any difference.

[Panos Kavalagios]

I confirm that disabling 3D acceleration resolves the issue. That worked fine before.

I also confirm that the 3D workaround works for the latest VirtualBox-5.0-5.0.22_108108_fedora22-1.x86_64 release too.

[Frank Mehnert]

Thanks for testing! When you went back from 5.0.22 to 5.0.20 and the hang did still happen (with 3D enabled), did you downgrade the VirtualBox Guest Additions from 5.0.22 to 5.0.20? If not, could you do another test with 5.0.22 but use 5.0.20 Guest Additions and re-enable 3D? This could be also a regression in the Guest Additions. Thanks!

[Panos Kavalagios]

My tests have been performed with VirtualBox version and Guest additions aligned.

I have also tested your proposal with the currently installed VirtualBox-5.0-5.0.22_108108_fedora22-1.x86_64 and VBoxGuestAdditions_5.0.20.iso, but the behaviour was the same. The VM completely stuck with 100% CPU usage on the host after having double clicking to open an MS Office document. So, we can safely assume that the Guest Additions are innocent.

[Frank Mehnert]

Thanks for testing and confirming that the Guest Additions are not responsible. Could you install the most recent 5.0 test build and check if the problem is fixed?

[Panos Kavalagios]

I've tested VirtualBox-5.0.23-108212-Linux_amd64.run (same guest additions version) with 3D activated and it still produces the opening problem, but without the hang part. The VM does not stuck. It has the same behaviour of the previous version 5.0.20.

[Panos Kavalagios]

I assume I should not use the test built. I have got an unexpected reboot as you can see in the attached log, after closing a Visio file.

[Frank Mehnert]

The reboot was initiated by the guest an I assume it was due to a BSOD. I doubt that this came from the new build. The immediate reboot during BSOD can be prevented if you go to the Advanced System Settings / Startup and Recovery / Settings and uncheck the "Automatically restart" checkbox.

[Panos Kavalagios]

Replying to Panos Kavalagios:

There was a problem sending the command to the program.

Attached screenshot problem-opening-office-files.png.

This is still occurring in 5.1.28 with 3D on, when you open MS Office files.