VB 5.1.22 Aborts and issues running Outlook 2016 on Windows 10 Guest

[Paul Allen]

I get sudden aborts of VB 5.1.22 r115126 running a windows 10 guest on a Linux Mint 18.1 Cinnamon 3.2.7 machine.

First, I must run Outlook 2016 in safe mode "outlook.exe /safe" or outlook will immediately go into "Not Responding" and never recover. This is Outlook connected to company Exchange server and Windows 10 guest is joined to domain.

Typically see crash when copying items from host to paste into new email open in guest.

Nothing in Oracle VB logs to indicate why the crash happens, and not seeing anything relevant in Linux logs.

[Frank Mehnert]

Despite the fact that you don't see anything interesting in the log file, the absolute minimum of required information is the VBox.log file of such a VM session.

[Paul Allen]

I've attached my VBox.log file. Unfortunately I rebooted my guest and host several times on the 3rd after 2-3 aborts of VirtualBox. Wish I knew exact time, bu twoudl have been within 30 min to an hour before I opened this ticket as I tried to do some more research on in the forums and Google.

Thanks!!

[Paul Allen]

I just had a crash, so wanted to attach a new VBox.log file.

[Paul Allen]

I think I didn't successfully add the second VBox.log file after it crashed earlier today, but it just crashed again, so I've attached that log.

[Paul Allen]

Today's Crash

[Paul Allen]

I just had another crash. I added VBox.3.log. Once again, I was building an Outlook message which included data from Excel that I was cutting and pasting. I was back on the linux side getting the next table when my VirtualBox suddenly disappeared.

I may have to give up on Oracle VirtualBox, as running Outlook to connect to my companies exchange server, and posting detailed emails with office products like Excel included are my sole purpose for having a VM running Windows, and VirtualBox is proving itself to be too unstable. You cannot appreciate what it means to be that far into a message and have it suddenly wiped out, and yes, sometimes I can recover the draft and the office files.

I'm still having to run Outlook 2016 in "/safe" mode as I checked this past Friday and it immediately hung (not responding) when I opened it up regular after a normal reboot.

Is anyone looking into this, or should I move on to VMWare or something else?

[Paul Allen]

Replying to frank:

Despite the fact that you don't see anything interesting in the log file, the absolute minimum of required information is the VBox.log file of such a VM session.

See now I'm pissed!!! First I get this snarky comment by "Frank", and yet NO ONE had even looked at my support issue!!! Keep your crap to yourself unless you are actually able to HELP!!!

[Paul Allen]

I have struggled with using VirtualBox with continual crashes. I was able to resolve my Outlook issue, so this was not the cause for sure, and things seemed somewhat stable after last few upgrades of VirtualBox, with some random crashes. Now trying to use PowerPoint 2016 I get almost immediate crashes within a few minutes of using the program. I don't need to use PowerPoint often, but right now I'm responsible for a business presentation later this week, so you can see my frustration.

I realize this product is free, but as I posted in reply to Frank above, don't act all high an mighty and then completely drop my issue. I'm going to post this one last issue with current logs, and then forget all about Oracle VirtualBox if unable to get any assistance.

[Socratis]

Replying to pablohawk:

I'm going to post this one last issue with current logs, and then forget all about Oracle VirtualBox if unable to get any assistance.

So, why would anyone deal with it? As a goodbye parting gift? Seriously now? With that attitude, not too many people are going to deal with your issues, believe me.

Having said that, I wouldn't want us to part ways in bad terms, so I'll give it a (quick) shot:

VirtualBox VM 5.1.28 r117968 linux.amd64 (Sep 13 2017 14:06:57) release log
...
00:00:04.865819 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 5.1.24 r117012 '5.1.24'

Do you see the mismatch in the versions? You need to update the Guest Additions (GAs) to the same version as your VirtualBox. Now, there's an issue with the 5.1.28 version which affects mainly Windows guest. I would suggest to download and install the 5.1.29 version from the Test Builds section which has addressed the issue. Or even better, go for the ​5.2.0rc1 one.

---

00:00:00.320737 File system of '/usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso' (DVD) is ext4

Always remove the GAs CD after you've done the installation. Always. Because if you upgrade your VirtualBox installation, the UUIDs won't match and you'll get a big, fat, juicy crash.

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00:00:01.011150 GUI: 2D video acceleration is disabled

So is the 3D one. Shut down the VM, enable them and then re-install the GAs.

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00:00:00.295316 Installed Extension Packs:
00:00:00.295335   None installed!

You might want to install the Extension Pack. It provides functionality such as USB2/USB3, Webcam, VRDP, PXE, PCI passthrough on Linux hosts, VDI Encryption. You have to download it and install it separately from the main VirtualBox program, due to its license.

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00:00:04.866126 GUI: UIMachineLogicNormal::sltCheckForRequestedVisualStateType: Rejecting 'seamless' as is it not yet supported...

Don't go immediately for "fancy" modes such as seamless or full screen. See if you can make it work in normal, windowed mode first.

---

Finally, it's usually better and faster, if issues like this one get first addressed in the ​VirtualBox forums. More than 95% of the issues are resolved over there, which keeps the developers focusing on the bug fixes and enhancements, and there is no need for another ticket to keep track of. For example, yours is most probably not a bug and someone from the developers has to deal with it and close it as "Invalid".

And personally, this is going to be the last time I'm analyzing a VBox.log in the Bugtracker. The Bugtracker is not the place for such discussions, that's what the forums are for.