Snapshots does not work if VHD files are not in default VB folder

[S T]

I use Virtual Box in Windows 7 Prof machine using VHD hard drives. The snapshots feature does not work if the VHD files are not in the default virtual machine folder (C:\Users\[username]\VirtualBox VMs\[VM name]\).

The error I get when trying to start a VM with snapshot taken in this case is:

---

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine XPMCEV.

No error info.

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005) Component: ProgressProxy Interface: IProgress {c20238e4-3221-4d3f-8891-81ce92d9f913}

---

If I try to delete the snapshot I get the following error:

---

Failed to delete the snapshot Snapshot 1 of the virtual machine XPMCEV.

Parent UUID {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} of the medium 'C:\Users\T\VirtualBox VMs\XPMCEV\Snapshots\{aa909f03-903f-49a6-95e4-86be9b669c90}.vhd' does not match UUID {58c773b9-e66b-2a4f-a805-91367074598d} of its parent medium stored in the media registry ('C:\Users\T/.VirtualBox\VirtualBox.xml').

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005) Component: Medium Interface: IMedium {05f2bbb6-a3a6-4fb9-9b49-6d0dda7142ac}

---

When I move the VHD file to the default machine folder, the snapshot works.

I put the VHD file in a different drive due to space and performance constraints.

The snapshot feature really makes it easy to test and rollback changes when needed.

Thank you in advance.

[S T]

Virtual box service log

[S T]

Startup log for VM snapshot issue

[S T]

Log file for VM snapshot issue

[Klaus Espenlaub]

To confirm an error you didn't actually report: yes, it is a known issue that the VM start error is lost on Windows host. It would've shown the same error as with deleting the snapshot.

Can you say a bit more how you created this setup? Did you manually modify the VM config to move the snapshot files elsewhere? Right now I have only an error message, but no idea how to reproduce the issue.

[S T]

Hi,

Here is the detail of my setup and what I've done so far:

1. I have a Windows XP VM named XPMCEV running in Oracle VirtualBox. The host operating system is Windows 7. The virtual hard disk (VHD format) for the XP VM is sitting in a "V:" drive which is a second hard drive on my machine. The virtual machine folder (including snapshots folder) is in the default location "C:\Users\[userid]\VirtualBox VMs\XPMCEV".
2. I have been using VirtualBox for almost 5 years now and before virtual box version 4.3.*, I could take snapshots of my VM and work with the snapshots.
3. Starting from version 4.3.*, when I create snapshots for VMs whose hard disk file is not in the default virtual machine folder (C:\Users\[userid]\VirtualBox VMs\[VMName]), after creating the snapshot, when I start the VM, I get the error I logged in this ticket.
4. I say that the issue started from version 4.3.* onwards because in one of the forums, I saw someone mention that snapshots would work if the VHD files were in the default machine folder. So I tested by moving my VHD file to the default machine folder and snapshots worked. Then I uninstalled VirtualBox and started installing older versions until I found a version where snapshots worked with the VHD file outside the default machine folder (aka V: drive). This version turned out to be 4.2.6 (I haven't tried 4.2.28). However the problem for me with version 4.2.6 is that it didn't support Windows Server 2012 as a guest operating system.

Please note, all my virtual machine hard drives are in VHD format.

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Thank you.

[wullerdewust]

I see a similar problem if I add a VHD to my virtual machine from a different drive. If I move the Snapshots folder to the same drive as the VHD, the problem goes away.

[tobias3]

Replying to wullerdewust:

I see a similar problem if I add a VHD to my virtual machine from a different drive. If I move the Snapshots folder to the same drive as the VHD, the problem goes away.

Can confirm this work-around works with the most recent version ( 5.2.22 ).