Cannot connect to VM with RDP client after VirtualBox upgrade

[Peter Walter]

Host computer: x86 server running SME 8.0b7, a Centos 5 / Red Hat derivative Linux distro, VirtualBox 4.1.4, and Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.4-74291.vbox-extpack.

[root@lucas ~]# uname -r 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5

[root@lucas ~]# uname -m i686

Virtual machine: x86 server running SME 8.0b7, a Centos 5 / Red Hat derivative Linux distro.

My setup was originally working properly with virtualbox 4.1.2 and Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.2-73507.vbox-extpack installed. The problem surfaced once I upgraded VirtualBox and the extension pack to 4.1.4.

The VM apparently starts normally. However, I cannot connect with an external RDP client.

I have checked and rechecked my installation, extension pack, config.php, the VM settings, etc., all with no luck.

All installs were as root. Execution of VirtualBox is as root from rc7.d , as follows: cp /etc/rc5.d/S20vboxdrv /etc/rc7.d/. cp /etc/rc5.d/S35vboxballoonctrl-service /etc/rc7.d/. cp /etc/rc5.d/S35vboxweb-service /etc/rc7.d/.

Contents of vbox.cfg: VBOXWEB_USER='root' VBOXWEB_HOST=127.0.0.1 VBOXWEB_PORT=18083

relevant config.php settings:

• Username / Password for system user that runs VirtualBox */

var $username = 'vbox'; var $password = 'pass';

/* SOAP URL of vboxwebsrv (not phpVirtualBox's URL) */ var $location = '​http://127.0.0.1:18083/';

Disable authentication var $noAuth = true;

/* Enable advanced configuration items (normally hidden in the VirtualBox GUI)

• Note that some of these items may not be translated to languages other than $ */

var $enableAdvancedConfig = true;

Authentication library. var $authLib = 'Builtin';

websrvauthlibrary setting: vboxmanage setproperty websrvauthlibrary null

It seems that the VDRE server isn't running.

[root@lucas ~]# VBoxHeadless -s myvmname Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 4.1.4 (C) 2008-2011 Oracle Corporation All rights reserved.

VRDE server failed to start. VRDE server is inactive.

How can I determine why the VDRE server isn't running?

[Peter Walter]

From googling, tried the following:

[root@lucas ~]# VBoxManage modifyvm dev.sorolo.com --vrdeport 3390 [root@lucas ~]# VBoxHeadless -s dev.sorolo.com Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 4.1.4 (C) 2008-2011 Oracle Corporation All rights reserved.

VRDE server failed to start. VRDE server is inactive.

However, the VM started, although inaccessible to RDP. The log file is attached. Ports 3389-3390 are not in use, AFAIK.

[sunlover]

VBox.log usually has more information why VRDP did not start. The attached log says:

00:00:00.077 VRDE: Warning: failed to launch VRDE server (VERR_NET_ADDRESS_IN_USE):
'VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension server can't bind to the port: 3390'

So for some reason the VRDP server could not bind to the port 3390. The system did not allow to do this.

You could try other port numbers. Or verify whether other applications can bind to the port 3390.

[Peter Walter]

Replying to sunlover:

So for some reason the VRDP server could not bind to the port 3390. The system did not allow to do this.

Yes, apparently not.

You could try other port numbers.

There is only one VM defined. Originally, the port range specified for the VM was 3389-4000 (default). I tried 3389 specifically, and 3390, as from my post immediately prior to your comment:

[root@lucas ~]# VBoxManage modifyvm dev.sorolo.com --vrdeport 3390 [root@lucas ~]# VBoxHeadless -s dev.sorolo.com Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 4.1.4 (C) 2008-2011 Oracle Corporation All rights reserved.

VRDE server failed to start. VRDE server is inactive.

Or verify whether other applications can bind to the port 3390.

netstat -nap | grep 3389 & 3390 returns nothing.

I should point out that in my original description, I said:

My setup was originally working properly with virtualbox 4.1.2 and Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.2-73507.vbox-extpack installed. The problem surfaced once I upgraded VirtualBox and the extension pack to 4.1.4.

AFAIK, nothing else was changed on the server that might have caused the upgrade to break things.

[Peter Walter]

I am hoping that someone familiar with VirtualBox internals will be able to help me diagnose and fix the reason that the VRDE server isn't running.

FWIW, here are additional details about the ports and processes running:

[root@lucas ~]# netstat -nap | grep -i vbox
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:18083 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2015/vboxwebsrv
unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 8781 2033/VBoxXPCOMIPCD /tmp/.vbox-root-ipc/ipcd
unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 8821 2033/VBoxXPCOMIPCD /tmp/.vbox-root-ipc/ipcd
unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 8820 2063/VBoxSVC
unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 8785 2033/VBoxXPCOMIPCD /tmp/.vbox-root-ipc/ipcd
unix 3 [ ] STREAM CONNECTED 8783 2015/vboxwebsrv

[root@lucas ~]# ps -e | grep -i vbox
2015 ? 00:03:39 vboxwebsrv
2033 ? 00:01:04 VBoxXPCOMIPCD
2063 ? 00:02:07 VBoxSVC

[sunlover]

Technically this error means that the 'bind' call has failed for the port. Nothing has been changed in the corresponding VBox VRDP code between 4.1.2 and 4.1.4.

[Peter Walter]

Replying to sunlover:

Technically this error means that the 'bind' call has failed for the port.

Do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions on how I may diagnose the problem? Specifically, to understand WHY the bind call failed? netstat shows nothing bound to the port. If netstat is not the correct utility to use, would you advise which utility might be more appropriate?

[Peter Walter]

SOLVED. The problem wasn't with VirtualBox; it was a misconfiguration of phpVirtualBox. For the details, see ​http://code.google.com/p/phpvirtualbox/issues/detail?id=425#c19

This bug should now be closed.

[sunlover]

Thanks for the feedback.