Aero does not work anymore under Windows Vista guests

[gojul]

Hi,

Starting with VirtualBox 4.3.14 (w/ corresponding guest additions) I've remarked that Aero desktop stopped working for Windows Vista guests (while it works on the same host for Windows 7 guests). So we get the old, ugly window style in Vista guests.

Host : AMD Phenom 9850 8 GB RAM NVidia GeForce 660 Ti with nvidia-331 driver and 2 GB VRAM Kubuntu 14.04.1 LTS 64 bits

Guest : Windows Vista Professional 32 bits 2 CPU assigned 2 GB RAM 3D support activated within guest additions 256 Mo VRAM assigned.

[Frank Mehnert]

Could you please attach a VBox.log file for a VM session with VBox 4.3.16?

[UFOnseca]

Hi Gohul,

I found a workaround to make Vista Aero Glass work under VirtualBox 4.3.16 r95972. What I did was to:

• Download VB 4.2.26-95022-Win from ​http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.2.26/VirtualBox-4.2.26-95022-Win.exe (as this was the latest Version in which Vista Aero Worked for me)
• Extract contents with 7-ZIP by right-clicking on the file and select "Extract To...".
• Once the .exe contents extracted, you will find the VBAdditions ISO Image (file_VBoxGuestAdditions.iso).
• Extract the ISO contents to a new folder
• Copy the VBAdditions Folder to your Vista VM (I copied it to my Desktop)
• Uninstall VM VirtualBox Guest Additions from Programs and Features in Control Panel
• Reboot your Vista VM
• From the VBAdditions Folder you previously copied, double-click on "VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe"
• Follow the on-screen instructions as with any other VB Additions Installation
• Reboot your Vista VM
• Voila!... Your Vista Aero Glass Theme is back!

[frg]

Guest additions were broken between 4.3.13-93752 and 4.3.13-93973.

[frg]

Startup file

[frg]

Hung at welcome screen ACPI shutdown worked

[frg]

dwm crash

[frg]

Reinstalled Guest additions and got a dwm crash. Log files replaced.

[gojul]

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply, I've got another computer since then and wanted to test if the issue was also there... and it is.

The new config : Kubuntu 14.04 LTS Intel Core i7 4790 16 GB RAM NVidia GeForce 760 w/ 343 binary blob.

Actually the issue is reproducible as long as you have a Vista guest running in Linux. Note that the reboot issue is also present at least for 8.1 guests.

[gojul]

My Vista log

[gojul]

Looks this also break 3D under Windows 8.1 guests for some apps. For example Warcraft 3 has stopped working anymore on Win 8.1 guests since upgrade to version 4.3.14 and some other 3D apps too.

Interestingly, WinXP guests do not seem affected.

[gojul]

still not fixed with VBox 4.3.20 :-(

[Stefan Becker]

​http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.3.12/VBoxGuestAdditions_4.3.12.iso

The Additions from 4.3.12 are working.

Host: OpenSuse 13.2 / 64, AMD Radeon with fglrx, VBOX 4.3.20.

[frg]

The Additions from 4.3.12 are working.

Yeah I use the ones from 4.3.13-93752 which have some additional minor fixes but why are these broken now for 5 releases without a fix? Even some really obscure Linux distributions get vbox fixes...

FRG

[frg]

For what's is worth. Still broken in the latest test build 97206. Didn't bother to upload a new log because nobody seems to work on it. :(

[frg]

Still broken with latest test build 97569.

Not yet there to celebrate the first birthday of broken Vista 3D support be we are getting closer...

FRG

[gojul]

The problem is that this issue seems to break some other 3D apps, at least under Windows 8.1 (I'd not be surprised that most of the code of the Vista/7 WDDM driver is reused in 8.1 driver).

But VBox does not seems to be actively maintained anymore, no version 4.4 is coming, bad news... :-(

[frg]

Still broken with latest 4.3.23-98406 test build.

4.2.28 guest additions seem to work best for now.

FRG

[frg]

Still broken with latest 4.3.27-99265 test build.

[frg]

Tried it just for sports with latest 4.3.29 test build. Still no luck. dwm crashes during startup. Also not fixed in 5.0 Beta 3.

Since 4.3.12 was the last official unbroken release we can now celebrate the first anniversary of this bug.

FRG

[sunlover]

I believe the problem has been fixed in guest additions 4.3.29r100510. Please try a new additions test build from our test builds page. Thanks!

[frg]

Thanks. Seems to be fixed.

But installing the guest additions ended in a black screen first. ACPI shutdown didn't work. Needed to reset the vm.

Also the drivers show a corrupted screen when switching to full screen mode. task bar is drawn correctly. Refreshing the screen using the standard desktop menu in Vista worked.

Attached the logs if someone wants to look into this.

Big Thanks FRG

[sunlover]

frg, thanks for testing. I do not think that the hang and the screen corruption is directly related to the Aero fix. It worked fine here (AMD graphics on the host).

Of course the fix will be included in the next VirtualBox releases.

[frg]

I do not think that the hang and the screen corruption is directly related to the Aero fix. It worked fine here (AMD graphics on the host). <<

System is stable as a rock otherwise. Didn't have much time lately but will test it on Windows x64 host too. There were reported numerous problems with Virtualbox Beta 5 too when it comes to 3D graphics. I think the 4.2 drivers behave a lot better than 4.3+

FRG

[frg]

I am unable to reproduce the full screen corruption problem with Windows 7 x64 and latest ATI 15.5 Beta drivers. Still reproduceable under Windows XP x64 so either the ATI 14.4 driver is to blame or some incompatibility. Same VM.

But upgrading from an older 4.2 drivers still results in a black screen during install even under 7 x64.

I still prefer the 4.2 drivers. For what's it worth WinSAT reports an index of 4.9 for the older versus 2.9 with the newer drivers. The older ones seem to be more snappy. Same but not as bad with Windows 7 guest.

If you need another log or information I am most happy to assist.

FRG