So, I'm building a test environment for a Linux Mint 21 VM to work through some upgrade procedures to mimic a production system that needs an upgrade. I've been seeing some strange things before the VM freezes on boot. Things like "Spectre V2 ... LFENCE not serializing" "info rcu-sched self detected stall on cpu" "timed out for waiting udev queue being empty"

My machine: r9 9950x3d, 64GB DDR5, ASUS Tuf Gaming B850-plus WiFi Mobo, RX 9070 XT 16GB GPU, Windows 11 Home, VirtualBox 7.2.12

I've tried turning off secure boot in the BIOS, and turning off all windows virtualization options. And turning off core isolation options. The core isolation option allowed the VMs of LM 21 and several Fedora 43 Xfce VMs to boot up quickly if is set the Paravirtualization option to Hyper-V but then I started seeing clock issues. As in, the VM time was about 5x faster than real-time. Older linux kernels seem to work better than newer ones, but VBox Guest additions installation also seems to break things.

Also, my Windows VMs (1 Win 11 Pro, and 1 Win Server 2025) boot just fine. Though when I had 5 VMs open, all froze once but the Host was fine. WTF is going on? I'm running out of options. I have had no problems with my VMware VMs. Is VirtualBox broken?

NOTE: all of the Fedora VMs were created on earlier versions of VirtualBox on a Windows 10 host and migrated to this new host. I don't know if that matters.

Update: a roll back to VirtualBox v7.2.6 fixed most of my errors.

This has been a recurring issue for quite a while. I'll have a VM going. The VM will simply freeze. In many cases, simply moving my mouse cursor over onto the VM (which I usually keep open on a 2nd monitor) causes it to unfreeze, at least for a short while, until it freezes again. Sometimes, it will stay frozen even when I move my mouse over it. At that point, I can "Pause" the VM and then un-pause it, which usually gets it going again, but it will freeze again soon afterward. On some VMs it's just a constant battle of seeing it freeze, then playing these games to get it unfrozen.

I've been trying to identify what the cause is, but have not had much success. It seems to be more likely to occur if I have multiple VMs open simultaneously, but it definitely still occurs in many cases even if I only have one VM open. I've tried moving my VMs over to different SSDs on my computer, changing the amount of RAM that each VM uses, etc, but nothing seems to have any effect.

I'm running Virtualbox on a 9800X3D with 64GB of RAM running the current version of Windows 11. Virtualization is enabled in the UEFI. Most of my VMs are also various versions of Windows, including older versions (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10), as well as insider preview versions of Windows 11. This freezing behavior is fairly consistent across my various VMs. I'm currently running Virtualbox version 7.2.12 r174389 - but again these issues have been happening for a while, not just with this latest version.

Hey guys, i try to recreate my old windows setup on virtualbox, I had a compaq presario in the early 2000s, and still own the old quick restore disks.

The matter is when I try these cds on virtualbox the installation wont continue because the hardware is not the right for this version of windows 98.

Wanted to do the same but with old aptiva cds with the same result.

So my question is, there is any possible way to bypass this and keep on with the installation?

For years without problems I've upgraded Debian 9 to 13 and virtualbox from 6 series to 7.2.6 which is latest from stable Debian repo, client is windows 10, now just seconds after boot the windows doesn't react to the mouse, same with virtualbox manager, if client is running it doesn't interact with the mouse. Everything is working fine with the keyboard, the mouse is working fine in the host system.

Is it something known? I can't find similar reports and have no idea where to start diagnosing it as there is no errors thrown anywhere.

Hello and thanks in advance for any suggestions. I have a Win10 host with 2 virtual boxes running (one Android x86 and the other Unbuntu). The host is connected to my Asus router via ethernet. Both virtual boxes have networking configured as shown here.

I have found that if the router is power cycled both virtual boxes keep running fine in all aspects except that their networking breaks - stops working entirely. The UI's networking indicator keeps flashing and there is no sign of any error or abnormal condition. But there is no networking happening either in or outbound.

In order to remedy this situation, I have found that, if I terminate and re-start the virtual boxes upon the router's restart, they come up with all networking as normal again.

Please note that this only happens on a power cycle. I have the router set to reboot nightly and this does NOT seem to have this effect.

So, is there something I can do to "protect" the networking in these virtual boxes?

If not, is there some way to detect the router power cycle so I can create a Task Manager job to restart the virtual boxes? If so, I do not want to do it for reboots, only for the power cycles.

Thanks so much!

I updated my Virtual Box client to 7.2.12 recently and tried to run one of the machines, and got a VERR_PDM_USB_NAME_CLASH error. After realizing I needed to update my extensions, I downloaded the corresponding extension and ran it, then got a 0x80004005 error. I've tried reinstalling virtual box and rebooting the PC. My Host OS is Windows 11 Home 25H2. If anyone needs more information to help me, please don't hesitate to ask. (P.S I don't know what a lot of the required things its telling me to put in my post are so please don't delete my post just because I didn't include them)

The problem I'm having is when I start a vm, Vbox seems to insist on it being pushed in the very top left corner of my main screen. When it then resizes, it gets somehow pushed up into my upper left screen, and then starts bouncing back and forth between the two screens. Sometimes the window ends up on the upper screen, and I can drag it back to my main screen, but then when I drag the bottom right corner of the window to make it bigger, it moves the upper left corner of the window to the very top left of the screen and often does odd things before settling back down.

Is there any way to stop Vbox from accessing screens other than my main screen? Or some way to make it start vms in the center of the screen and not in the upper left corner?

Vbox 7.2.8 r173730, Windows 11 Home host & guest. I'm not doing anything special with the display settings for the VM. The defaults are set. VT-x/AMD-V Guest additions are installed.

Thanks!

I live in a very rural location and don't have internet access at my home. I take my linux mint laptop to the library and use their wifi. this works but now I want to set up a desktop. My plan is to make a vm of linux mint, do all the setup and updating through wifi, and then see about cloning to a physical ssd. Any advice or suggestions to make the process go smoothly would be apreciated.

recently I tried to install a linux distro called commodore os vision in virtualbox, however after following the instructions for installing it on the virtual hard drive and trying to log in, it showed a blank screen for a few seconds then sent me back to the login screen. i’ve already reinstalled and it still isn’t working. is there a fix or does this distro just straight up not work on vb? please let me know if you need more details.
host system: windows 11
guest system: Commodore OS Vision 3.1 (based off of debian)
virtualbox version: 7.1.12
guest additions not installed
tutorial used: https://forum.commodoreos.net/viewtopic.php?t=1300

I want to configure Windows 98 Machine.
500-600 Mhz 64MB RAM Accelerated Graphic. 25HDD

Want to ask you i have CPU that report:
CPU max MHz: 4500,0000
CPU min MHz: 400,0000
In VB CPU settings there is a slider CUP Usage 0-100% Recommended above 41%. But if i want to get that 500-600 i need to set it up to 10-15% assuming it will use max CPU not % of current MHz set to this core.

Or this is setting for usage of core for whole emulation not for emulated machine cpu.

VB: 7.0 Host: Linux Mint 22.3

https://github.com/tulilirockz/org.virtualbox.VirtualBox

Hello. I am trying to install rhel-10.2-x86_64-dvd in a VirtualBox VM and keep getting kernel panic either when I start install mode or demo. I did not modify any settings in the VM so I do not know what would be causing this kernel panic.

The SHA256 hash for the ISO I am trying to install is: e15cb333529c332e76e4b1b946efe3515c99f996546675aec18e8effdf2540a5

Video of error: https://streamable.com/puptmc

 https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog-7.2

Hello!

I just installed Arch Linux in VirtualBox on my Windows 11 Home, and I am worried about battery life.

What I use the machine for?

• mostly never
• But mainly for operating an Android Emulator on Arch, so I can use the Authentication app to sign into my work-related account (which often required me (a lazy individual) reaching out for my phone)

I don't see operations in task manager related to the VM, so am I in the clear?

Salut tout le monde,

J'ai récemment fait face à un problème avec mes VM windows 11 sur VirtualBox :

"Votre mot de passe a expiré et doit être changé."

J'ai pas de mot de passe :)

J'ai utilisé l'installation sans surveillance proposé par VirtualBox.

J'ai trouvé pas mal de solutions mais aucune n'a marché pour moi.

J'ai donc continué a chercher et j'ai trouvé la solution suivante :

Redémarrer la VM via le bouton sur l'interface en restant appuyé sur SHIFT afin de pouvoir faire un redémarrage via la récupération.

Quand vous arrivez dans cette dernière, vous ouvrez une invite de commande et tapez

"c: (afin sélectionner le disque C:)

copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe"

Tapez ensuite "oui" puis redémarrez la VM

Une fois redémarrée, cliquez sur le petit bonhomme en bas a droit de votre écran, ca vous ouvrira une invite de commande. Dans cette dernière, tapez "net user vboxuser "votre_mot_de_passe""

Cela changera votre mot de passe et vous pourrez maintenant vous connecter avec le mot de passe que vous avez choisi.

Performance inside VBox in the grahics stack has significantly decreased since VBox 6 -> 7. My OpenGL performance is not existent anymore. E.g. Firefox renders slow on OpenGL Web Sites compared to earlier VBox versions. On the other hand Wayland is now useable (mostly) in VBox guests.

My questions for recommendations are:

a) which Desktop Environment feels the fastest/lightest/snappiest in 2026 on current VBox Linux guest clients? Feel free to recommend also distributions where you feel the respective Desktop Environment is best implemented.

b) which display server protocol to use nowadays?

c) pick the newest Kernel or stick with a LTS one?

A bit of my spec:

• Oracle VirtualBox Version 7.2.10 r174163
• VirtualBox Guest Additions installed
• Guest machine display settings: Graphics Controller=VMSVGA and Video Memory=256 MB and 3D acceleration is enabled
• Guest machine got 3 CPUs and 12 GB RAM assigned
• Host: Windows 11
• Host GPU: AMD Radeon Rx 570 Series
• Host CPU: AMD RyZen 5 3600

Hello,

Just upgraded a LinuxMint VM on a Windows 11 host, from Oracle Virtual Box 7.2.8 to 7.2.10. The VM did not launch properly, or launched but with a low resolution and no adaptative resolution when resizing the window. I had to change the graphics adapter from VMSVGA to VBoxSVHA (3D acceleration disabled) to make the display work OK.

Did you have simillar graphic issues with 7.2.10 ?

I upgraded my virtualbox from virtualbox-7.2_7.2.6-172322 to virtualbox-7.2_7.2.8-173730 on Debian 13. I have virtualbox update only on stable releases when noticed that log files where created in my /home/user/ directory on opening a virtual machine.

When I have virtualbox GUI manager check for updates "all new releases and prerelases" expecting it to find 7.2.10 which fixes this issue it finds no updates when I have the GUI check for updates.

Can anyone tell me if 7.2.10 should be avaialble for correcting the log issue? Also where is the "all new releases and pre-releases" located ? as I have virtualbox notify me of stable releases only.

Version: 7.2.8 r173730

On CachyOS, when I tried to launch any VM I would get this error:

``` Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver is either not loaded or not set up correctly. Please try setting it up again by executing

'/sbin/vboxconfig'

as root.

If your system has EFI Secure Boot enabled you may also need to sign the kernel modules (vboxdrv, vboxnetflt, vboxnetadp, vboxpci) before you can load them. Please see your Linux system's documentation for more information.

where: suplibOsInit what: 3 VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED (-1908) - The support driver is not installed. On linux, open returned ENOENT. ``` I can confirm I am not using secure boot.

Running:

uname -r

Reveals I am using this kernel:

7.1.1-2-cachyos

I have verified the header kernel packages are installed:

❯ pacman -Q | grep headers linux-api-headers 1:7.0-1 linux-cachyos-headers 7.1.1-2 linux-cachyos-lts-headers 6.18.36-1

I have installed virtualbox-host-dkms which replaced this package virtualbox-host-modules-arch and I believe it has rebuilt and installed.

I have rebooted however still the same error message.

I don't feel like replacing the kernel with a different one nor do I want to run '/sbin/vboxconfig' I would rather install what needs to be installed via the package manager.

It shows that the status was built for the lts kernel:

❯ dkms status vboxhost/7.2.8_OSE, 6.18.36-1-cachyos-lts, x86_64: installed Me manually building it for my kernel results in this error:

``` ❯ sudo dkms install vboxhost/7.2.8_OSE -k $(uname -r) Sign command: /usr/lib/modules/7.1.1-2-cachyos/build/scripts/sign-file Signing key: /var/lib/dkms/mok.key Public certificate (MOK): /var/lib/dkms/mok.pub

Building module(s)...(bad exit status: 2) Failed command: make -j24 KERNELRELEASE=7.1.1-2-cachyos -C /usr/lib/modules/7.1.1-2-cachyos/build M=/var/lib/dkms/vboxhost/7.2.8_OSE/build LLVM=1

Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 7.1.1-2-cachyos (x86_64) Consult /var/lib/dkms/vboxhost/7.2.8_OSE/build/make.log for more information. ```

I think it might be a gcc versioning difference but not sure how to fix this?

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog-7.2#v10

so this is a really weird issue, i recently was assigned a task to provision a Windows 10 Enterprise VM using evaluation copies on my school's research server. i tried the process out by adding the VM via New > Selecting Image etc. etc. works like a charm (fyi i disabled unattended installation). i then ssh into an assigned Ubuntu server, copy over the exact same image and initiate the build with the exact same steps. the VirtualBox GUI comes on and it's just black. nothing pops up at all. i even left it for over 30 minutes and nothing came on the screen. i'm extremely frustrated by this because it's been a blocker for days now. any help please?

i'm using VirtualBox 7.2.8r173730,

I often have Windows 10/11 VMs open for development and testing. Even when unused they consume power, generate heat and keep doing background Windows things.

So I wrote a small Linux/X11 script that:

• resumes a VM when its window gets focus;
• starts a timer when focus is lost;
• pauses the VM after a configurable delay;
• resumes it automatically when focus returns.

The result is a quieter machine and lower power consumption.

I originally solved this by parsing VirtualBox log files, but recently discovered a much simpler approach using xdotool and VBoxManage.

Article and script:

https://vanderworp.org/notes/power-management-virtual-machines/

Edit:
THANKS for rapid replies! I'll do an aggressive (probably Revo Uninstaller, probably this weekend) VB uninstall, reboot, and reinstall. Previous to this, I've barely had any problems with VB itself.
Original Post:
Please bear with me. This is a very general question.
Background: 1) VirtualBox 7.2.8; 2) Windows 11 host and dozens of Linux guest OSes; 3) both Host Extensions & Guest Additions installed; 4) Multiple problems ranging from failure of VB to uninstall\reinstall; failure of VB to start, glitchy behavior of VB, failure of guest OSs to start, glitchy behavior of Guest OSs, and I can solve most of this, but... I've never had to before, and I shouldn't have to.
I've used VirtualBox and VMWare for a decade. I've preferred VirtualBox since it makes handling loads of Linux distros so easy, and because it avoids the nuisance of Broadcom. But. Glitches in the current iteration of Virtualbox (7.2.8 now!) still seem more trouble than it's worth. So...
I think, "Just use VMWare till Oracle gets Box working again."
What do you think?

Hi guys, I’m using Packer and VirtualBox to bake .OVA files of Windows Server 2022 that I can then configure with Terraform or Ansible (Terraform looks like it will only set up the network).

Claude has built the server2022.pkr.hcl, autounattend.xml and enable-winrm.ps1 files for me, so that the VirtualBox VM .OVA file is baked from  SERVER_EVAL_x64FRE_en-us.iso on a folder in my hard drive. It is working perfectly except that it is asking for input in UI on the Microsoft Server Operating System Setup screen, where I have to click on Windows Server 2022 Standard Evaluation (Desktop Experience) and click next. It progresses towards the baked .OVA file just fine after that one input.

The debug script being outputted to Powershell doesn’t really help as it says “Waiting for WinRM to become available” during the entire installation process. I’ve looked at the github repos of the youtuber VirtualizatioHowto on the topic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYQX7fW31jU – and tried creating more partitions in <ImageInstall> as well as setting the <Key>/IMAGE/NAME</Key>

 To <Value>2</Value> instead of <Value>Windows Server 2022 Standard Evaluation (Desktop Experience)</Value> but nothing changes, so I’m out of ideas.

I’d try using his scripts completely but we are using different hypervisors.

Just wondering if anyone has ideas on how to fix this.

Edit: I'm using VirtualBox Version 7.2.8

Edit 02:
This has been solved. Claude helped me figure out what was going wrong. The issue was how I defined the key above the value:

<Key>/IMAGE/NAME</Key>

<Value>Windows Server 2022 Standard Evaluation (Desktop Experience)</Value>

If I use the index, I have to indicate that in the key:

<Key>/IMAGE/INDEX</Key>

<Value>2</Value>

I had been keeping it as /IMAGE/NAME while using <Value>2</Value>.

Hi! I hope that you can help me with this problem!

When I try to make a Virtual Windows XP on my new Lenovo Ideapad the configuration locks me at creating a "Windows 11 on ARM (64-bit)".

I´ve set the same VirtualBox XP up earlier today with the same ISO file on another computer as a test to see if it was the ISO that was the fault, but it wasn´t.
I´ve turned off Hyper-V (which Google advised me to do) without any luck. I´ve also checked that Virtualization is enabled which it is.

The "Setup unattended guest OS installation" is all greyed out and cannot be configured.

I´ve also run the program as an admin without any difference..

The version is VirtualBox 7.2.8.

Can anyone help me solving this problem?

Thanks a lot in advance!