VirtualBox 7 VM Freezes or UI glitches

[Jean-Paul Ebejer]

Using VirtualBox VM 7.0.6 (guest additions installed) with an Ubuntu 22.04 LTS host and Win 11 guest, with an nvidia RTX 3080 Ti (and attaching log).

If I use the above combination I get frequent VM freezes (even if I leave it for hours). This happens regularly especially when I launch a browser (both MS edge and firefox exhibited this behaviour). The only way to recover is with a "power off" of the VM.

I have read in the forums (second post here: ​https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=107371) that this happens with VB7 and the solution for it is to enable 3D acceleration in the settings. I do that and the VM stops freezing BUT ...

The UI is almost unusable as it is broken in multiple ways (even when switching transparency off): broken borders, broken backgrounds, flickering, fonts looks rough, buttons disappear, etc etc etc. For example when I launch MS Office, I get an empty (white) panel and nothing else. This is certainly related to 3D acceleration as when I set a regedit key (DisableHardwareAcceleration to 1) to disable 3D hardware acc. for office 365, this starts working normally. But the rest of the OS still suffers from the visual glitches.

Let me know if you require any more info.

[Jean-Paul Ebejer]

VM log with 3D hardware acceleration on

[akira]

I have the same issue. I'm using Iris Xe Graphics (i7-12700H).

[AndyDF]

Same exact issue here, Win 11 host with Win 11 guest.
Without 3D acceleration the machine freezes up, WITH 3d acceleration the UI is unusable.

There's now a TON of posts about this, please address the issue.

Thank you.

[Jean-Paul Ebejer]

I have found a temporary workaround for this. For graphics controller (with 3D hardware acceleration off) use VBoxVGA. In the limited time that I have used it with this setting, Win11 guest has not frozen and there are no annoying Win UI glitches like the ones you see with 3D hardware acceleration on.

Let me know if this also fixes it for you.

[tekstryder]

Running Virtualbox 7.0.6 with Guest Additions 6.1.42 is the only workaround I've been able to employ without completely reverting to the Virtualbox 6.1.4x series.

Same freezes here with VBoxSVGA (default), Hyper-V (default), and the workaround to try the other virtual video driver modes is not viable in my case, as I need full 4k resolution fullscreen support.

I can reproduce this Win11 VM freeze 100% reliably by simply launching Windows Explorer.

There are many similar tickets regarding this failure currently reported and none have any developer responses.

See also:

https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21291

https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21431

https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/21492

[tekstryder]

Forum discussion on this topic:

​https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=108440

[tekstryder]

This issue is still present and easily reproduced on Virtualbox 7.0.8 with Guest Additions 7.0.8.

Guest freezes with the same log/error but nothing else informative:

00:02:52.712472 VMMDev: vmmDevHeartbeatFlatlinedTimer: Guest seems to be unresponsive. Last heartbeat received 4 seconds ago

Once again I've installed GA 6.1.44 in VB 7.0.8 Win11 guest as a temporary workaround until a proper fix is eventually released.

Attaching an updated log for 7.0.8 freeze.

[tekstryder]

Also, see new Virtualbox Forum thread:

​https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=109147

[Jean-Paul Ebejer]

I can confirm this is still the case with VB and guest additions versions 7.0.8.

[Dmitrii Grigorev]

Hello all.

On my side the freeze of a Windows11 guest VM reproduces quite rarely. Could you please perform this steps to collect more information for analysis:

1. Download and install on your Windows 11 VM the Guest Additions from "Development snapshots" section at
   

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Testbuilds

2. Add the environment variable VBOX_RELEASE_LOG=-dev_vmm_backdoor.restrict
3. Reproduce the freeze and attach your VBox.log here

The VBox.log you'll finally get should contain lots of traces from VGPU driver.
Thank you!

[Dmitrii Grigorev]

Hello all. Please download and install on your Windows 11 VM a recent Development snapshots version of Guest Additions from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Testbuilds. The issue has been fixed. Please check it!

[Jean-Paul Ebejer]

Unfortunately, I haven't managed past step one of your recipe. So I installed python and pywin32 as well as the VC redistributables which were prerequisities.

But now the installation of GA 7.0.97 just fails without a detailed error I can followup (see image attached)

[Dmitrii Grigorev]

Replying to TheMalteseFalcon:

Unfortunately, I haven't managed past step one of your recipe. So I installed python and pywin32 as well as the VC redistributables which were prerequisities.

But now the installation of GA 7.0.97 just fails without a detailed error I can followup (see image attached)

Hello TheMalteseFalcon.

Could that happen that you've tried to install Guest Additions into host OS (instead of guest)? Please check it and attach *.log files from this folder on you guest C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox Guest Additions.

[Jean-Paul Ebejer]

Hi there,

So I am working with an Ubuntu 22.04 host and a Win 11 guest. I uninstalled guest additions (7.0.8) in Win11 and tried to install 7.0.97. Again this fails as above image.

Moreover, in C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox Guest Additions there are no log files (as shown below)...

[GuyR]

Replying to Dmitrii Grigorev:

Hello all. Please download and install on your Windows 11 VM a recent Development snapshots version of Guest Additions from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Testbuilds. The issue has been fixed. Please check it!

Running VirtualBox 7.0.6 on Windows 7 Pro; my attempts to update to any later versions fail with the message that I must install the VC 2019 runtime, even though I've already installed it.

I was experiencing the freeze every time. I tried turning on 3D acceleration; that fixed the freeze with no issues. I reverted that change before proceeding.

Following instructions, I installed guest additions 7.0.97 into the Windows 11 VM. That has fixed the freeze issue for me.

Thanks.