There are no windows visible on Ubuntu 11.10 guest on a Mac OS Lion (10.7.2) with Virtualbox 4.1.6 and guest additions installed in Unity 3D.

[matthewsedam]

When I installed Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot on Virtualbox 4.1.6 on Mac OS X 10.7.2 Lion and install guest additions, no windows will show on Unity 3D. When I click on Firefox, for example, no window is visible, but I can still maximize it and minimize it, but I cannot see it. Some workaround to this, I have found, are: to use "killall nautilus" or to login to Unity 2D and use "compiz --replace". I think the problem is with guest additions and the X.org, Nautilus, and Compiz.

[aurelieng]

Same here, with the same configuration. Pretty annoying.

[mtsmit2]

Same problem for me. Host OS is OSX 10.6.7. I just ended up disabling 3d acceleration and using unity 2d for now.

[matthewsedam]

What you can do is install gnome tweak tool through Unity 2D and click "Let File Manager Control Desktop" (or something like that) to disable it and Unity 3D windows work. The downside is that there will be no icons on the desktop.

[michael]

Please attach log files from a run of the VM. In particular knowing what graphics hardware you have on the physical host system is important. And did I understand correctly that something (the Unity dock?) is visible but most things not? If so, is it something that you can capture in a screenshot?

[matthewsedam]

Log

[matthewsedam]

Replying to michael:

Please attach log files from a run of the VM. In particular knowing what graphics hardware you have on the physical host system is important. And did I understand correctly that something (the Unity dock?) is visible but most things not? If so, is it something that you can capture in a screenshot?

Here is a hyperlink to a video that shows what is happening (I did not make it, but it is the same exact thing that is happening)  http://screencast.com/t/wZIug5RsG3fh. Also, my video card is an ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256 mb of vram. On iMac 11,2 (mid-2010 21.5").

[michael]

Could you try running Unity with these two environment variables set in the Ubuntu guest?

CR_DEBUG=1
CR_DEBUG_FILE=/var/tmp/VBox.log

That might provide us with more information about what is happening.

[matthewsedam]

I added the VBox.log you asked for. Also, when I enter fullscreen, it just shows the same size box with black around it.

[matthewsedam]

Debug file from Unity

[matthewsedam]

Replying to michael:

Could you try running Unity with these two environment variables set in the Ubuntu guest?

CR_DEBUG=1
CR_DEBUG_FILE=/var/tmp/VBox.log

That might provide us with more information about what is happening.

Any luck?

[misha]

Unfortunately the log did not reveal the root of your problem :( We'll need to try to reproduce it here on a host with ATI graphics. Unfortunately, given the amount of work each of us currently has, this might take quite some time, but I hope we should be able to look into your issue until the end of January and will get back to you as soon as we can.

[bulletmark]

@misha this issue is not just with ATI graphics. As I said in

 https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=45825&start=15#p209998

I have a 2011 MBA with Intel HD3000 graphics and I see this problem. Note that Unity 3D (using Compiz) does not work but gnome-shell (3D, using Mutter) does work ok. The recent VB 4.1.8 (with 4.1.8 guest additions installed) does not change this either. I wonder if anybody using Lion 10.7.2 and recent VB can run Ubuntu 11.10 Unity 3D? Given Linux is mostly Ubuntu, and Ubuntu is mostly Unity 3D, then this is a show-stopper bug for Linux hosts on Mac VB.

[aearenda]

And it happens for me on a 2010 MacBook Pro with NVidia graphics, using Lion 10.7.2 (MacBookPro7,1). The workaround of not letting Nautilus manage the desktop works for me (see  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11423998).

[tmandersson]

Same issue for me with a 2011 MacBook Pro. (Mac Book Pro 15-inch, late 2011 with Model nr: MD318LL/A)

[peacockhung]

Same for my 13" Mid 2009 MBP. 10.7.2 w/ nvidia 9400M

[matthewsedam]

I just tried this out with Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin Alpha 1 and it is the exact same thing - no changes there.

[Matthew Sedam]

Is there any news? (Changed my nickname.)

[Matthew Sedam]

On the latest Virtualbox and the latest updates on Ubuntu 11.10, the problem goes away.

[ppostma1]

This issue has resurfaced. After upgrading my virtual box to 4.3.8 I lost windows and icons in Ubuntu. At first I thought it was hanging after displaying the desktop background, but high-lights changed and things popped open as I clicked around. Most of the icons and menu's had just gone transparent.

The key sequence to pop open a terminal is ctrl + alt + t

from there, remounting and running the virtual-box guest editions /media/VBOXADDITIONS_4.3.xx_yyyy/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

Then apt-get update and upgrade, (clean up might not hurt at all) and a reboot brought everything back to normal.

(People are being directed here after Google Searches)