3D acceleration does not work on Linux guest -> supported with VMSVGA emulation for X.Org 1.20 and later

[Kevin L Mitchell]

I just upgraded to 6.0.4, and I installed the guest additions CD on my Linux guest. Despite 3d acceleration being checked in the machine settings, my window manager on the guest comes up in software rendering mode, despite this working with the 5.2 version I upgraded from. (I upgraded because the most recent 5.2 release I downloaded refused to install on my Mac host.) I see no errors logged anywhere, but glxinfo on the guest reports "OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 7.0, 256 bits)".

[Kevin L Mitchell]

VBox.log for affected guest

[Michael Thayer]

Could you please provide a bit more information about your guest system? You might also want to ask about it in the forums.

[Kevin L Mitchell]

Hmmm, I never saw your response, and it looks like you added it to the ticket at the same time I was trying (and apparently failing) to add an update about having to downgrade all the way to 5.2.22 to get the drivers working again, because the performance was too abysmal.

The guest is a Fedora 29 Linux installation, running the Cinnamon desktop under Xorg. I have found that Cinnamon warns about using software rendering if I use any version of VirtualBox after 5.2.22. IIRC, I can get 5.2.24 working, but only if I use the 5.2.22 guest additions. (I tried to add more detail to the ticket, but I'm afraid that update apparently never took, and wasn't saved :/ ) This issue also affects the VirtualBox 6.0 series, apparently.

What I do remember about my debugging session is that I started off by installing VirtualBox 5.2.26 to replace the 6.0.4 version I had installed; I then installed each prior version in turn until I found the one where Cinnamon no longer complained about software rendering, which was 5.2.22. I then updated from there to 5.2.24 to verify that the software rendering issue came back, then downgraded back to 5.2.22 to have a usable version. After each VirtualBox downgrade or upgrade, I made sure to install the guest additions and reboot before observing whether Cinnamon was in software rendering mode.

Interestingly, I noted with 5.2.22 that the shared folder feature was not working, which was odd since it had been working before my upgrade from (presumably) that version to 6.0.4. The problem was, of course, with the code in the guest additions; I found two small code tweaks were necessary to get compilation of the kernel drivers to complete and get all the way to the vboxsf driver. Since this problem does not appear in 5.2.24 or the later versions, I assume you already have it fixed and won't say anything more about it.

[Michael Thayer]

Have you tried setting the graphics device for the virtual machine to VMSVGA? For 6.0 that is where our current 3D focus is.

[Michael Thayer]

I went through the changes between 5.2.22 and 5.2.24, and now it is clear to me what is happening, and I'm afraid it is not something which will change. We disabled the Chromium-style 3D for guests with X.Org 1.20 and later, as we do not have the time to update it and we now have VMSVGA emulation for Linux guests which need 3D. So I will close this as "wontfix".

[Michael Thayer]

That said, feel free to let me know on this ticket if VMSVGA works for you.

[Kevin L Mitchell]

Actually, I remember trying all the emulators in 6.0.4, and none of them resolved the software rendering issue for me, as far as I recall.

[Michael Thayer]

Could you please re-test with graphics set to VMSVGA and 3D enabled? Please attach a log file with then new settings.

[Kevin L Mitchell]

Finally got forced to try this due to another problem (which I'll open a report for shortly). VMSVGA with 3D enabled does not work. I get the grub prompt, but after selecting the kernel, the screen goes blank with a flashing cursor and just sits there; eventually, the laptop fan comes on as if it's working hard, but nothing's happening. This is with the guest additions installed on the guest. Works fine with VBoxVGA, except that 3D acceleration is not available. Tried turning off 3D acceleration with VMSVGA, same behavior. VBoxSVGA works, but comes up with a tiny screen and does software rendering, even with 3D acceleration turned on. Attaching log for the VMSVGA+3D failure shortly...

[Kevin L Mitchell]

Log with VMSVGA+3D

[Kevin L Mitchell]

Based on a bug report I discovered about the other issue I alluded to, I tried 6.0.5-r129654. The behavior is at least a little different: I see the OS booting splash screen, but it seems to freeze trying to start the display manager for the login screen. Attaching the log for that...

[Kevin L Mitchell]

VMSVGA+3D, 6.0.5-r129654

[Michael Thayer]

Is this reproducible with a new VM created with VMSVGA?

[Michael Thayer]

And could you please also describe in detail how you create the virtual machine (which installer image you use, which options)? By the way, I seem to recall, but am not certain, that someone else reported similar problems with a Fedora/Cinnamon VM switched from VBoxVGA to VMSVGA which did not happen with a fresh installation.

[Kevin L Mitchell]

I originally created this particular virtual machine on a Linux machine, then migrated it to my work laptop when I finally received it (at the time, it took my company over a month to get me a laptop; I believe they've fixed that particular supply chain problem). I've never actually created a new VM from within VirtualBox.

I'll mention that, with 6.0.4, the VM failed to even show the boot splash screen, which is pre-X, when I switched to VMSVGA. That part _did_ work with the 6.0.5-r129654, but it apparently couldn't start X. If I can get some time today--unlikely, since it took about 3 hours yesterday to get things back to where I could actually use them--I'll try restarting with VMSVGA and capture the X log; maybe that'll highlight a configuration change or missing package that'll make VMSVGA work. Failing that, I'll try creating a from-scratch VM and compare. (Obviously, I'd really like to keep this pet VM functioning, even though I work with cloud cattle all day ;)

[Kevin L Mitchell]

I finally figured out how to get VMSVGA to work with an existing Fedora installation. The necessary magic is to have the "vmwgfx" driver in the initramfs. I was able to accomplish this with the command "dracut -f --kver '5.0.5-200.fc29.x86_64' --add-drivers vmwgfx" (for installed kernel 5.0.5; "uname -r" will give this same information, so a "dracut -f --kver $(uname -r) --add-drivers vmwgfx" should do the trick). After that, I shut down the VM, reconfigured the graphics display to VMSVGA, then started the VM, and it did come up, and Cinnamon was not complaining about software rendering.

That said, I have noticed that the interactive graphics performance is extremely dismal; I'm experiencing the same performance I did with VBoxVGA, when Cinnamon was relying on software rendering. To give you an idea of just how dismal the performance is, in one application I use, I have to stop typing every few seconds to let the interface catch up, otherwise I end up with problems where the "shift" key (most frequently, but I've also seen other keys do this) sticks and keystrokes are lost. I am seeing in Xorg.0.log and glxinfo output that VMware drivers are being used.

For the record, I am currently running 6.0.5-r129665. I'll attach logs from the VM and the Xorg log file and the output of glxinfo.

[Kevin L Mitchell]

Log files

[Kevin L Mitchell]

I just completed creating a new Fedora VM running on VMSVGA out of the box. I have resolution set to 1920x1200 with the scale factor set to 175%, so I can actually _read_ the display. The graphics performance is still incredibly dismal--I lose mouse clicks, making it hard to select text; key down or key up events appear to occasionally get lost, usually leading to repetitions and lost keystrokes; in some applications, while the application is doing something, I can't switch to another application; etc.

Given the incredibly dismal performance of the graphics, I'm starting to think I may need to find a different virtualization solution, unless you have any insights into what's going on and how I can resolve the issue?

[Socratis]

6.0.6 just came out, see if it makes a difference...

[Kevin L Mitchell]

Yeah, I just noticed that. I tried upgrading, but now Cinnamon is back to software rendering, and the graphics performance is just as dismal as before. Opened new ticket #18564...

[Socratis]

Why in the seven kindgoms would you open a new ticket!?!? Just so that a developer has to deal with it and close it as a [Duplicate]?

[Kevin L Mitchell]

Well, this ticket is closed, and the subject is different--it now works, but the performance is abysmal. And, I did do a search for graphics performance issues, and didn't see anything recent that really matched. Given all that, why wouldn't I open a new ticket? If you see it as a problem, re-open this ticket, update its data, and close the other one, as you've suggested.

[Kevin L Mitchell]

For the record, I'm wondering if #18529 could be related to my issue. The main discrepancy is that the reporter of #18529 reports that disabling 2D acceleration resolves his issue, but I don't have 2D acceleration enabled on my VM--only 3D acceleration. (IIRC, having both enabled is an error anyway.)