5.0.0 fails to start (Win7/32-bit)

[ColH]

Please see forum post ​https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=69084 I've tried numerous routes to get VB to start up - the only success I've had was to set virtualbox.exe to Vista Compatibility mode - it would then start, and create a vm and virtual disk, but the vm will not start. I'm happy to try to analyse what's going on, if you can give some advise on how to get to the bottom of it (how can I trace what file/registry access is broken?)

Latest VboxSVC.log attached. Note however that the on-screen error is "Failed to create the VirtualBoxClient COM object. The application will now terminate. Callee RC: REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG (0x80040154)"

[ColH]

This may not be relevant at all but I've seen mentioned, in another ticket (#12087), the registry key along the lines of "00020424-0000-0000-C000-000000000046". In a procmon trace I see do see for the VBoxSVC.exe process: "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{00020424-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" giving a "Name Not Found" message. I *do* have that key in "HKCR\CLSID\", not in HKCU.

[ColH]

Installer log

[Frank Mehnert]

Any change with VBox 5.0.2?

[ColH]

Sorry, have been away on holiday. No change with 5.0.2 - still the same error ("REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG").

[Frank Mehnert]

What happens if you completely uninstall VirtualBox, reboot the host and re-install VirtualBox?

[ColH]

Tried that a few times with the previous version, but ok. What do I need to do to "completely uninstall" - just from Control Panel, or is there more I should clear out in registry etc? (Btw - is there a way to get email notifications when a reply is posted?)

[Frank Mehnert]

Just complete uninstall from the control panel.

[VVP]

It would be better if you run uninstall with logging (--logging) from the command line. You can run the same installer which you have used to install the current version from the command line with "--logging" option. Next, do the same for install process. And upload log files here. Maybe, there are some issues in uninstall/install process.

[ColH]

Thanks - will do. Could you confirm exactly where/what I need to run to uninstall from the command line - I don't want to lose the log.

[ColH]

And whether to open an Administrator command prompt or not.

[VVP]

ColH, run the same installation executable file which you used to install and add "--logging" option. For example, you uses VirtualBox 5.0.0 r101573, so you run "VirtualBox-5.0.0-101573-Win.exe --logging". The installer will offer you two choices "repair" or "uninstall". click uninstall. Log file will be stored in the C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\Temp\VirtualBox\ or similar path. There is no need to open command prompt as Administrator.

[ColH]

Logs attached

[VVP]

At first glance, both log files look normal.

[ColH]

That's a shame! Do you know what (missing) registry entries etc might generate the error message? Or a way to more-in-depth debug the start-up?

[VVP]

you wrote:"In a procmon trace I see do see for the VBoxSVC.exe process: "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{00020424-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" "

can you provide more information from procmon? you can double click on this line in the procmon and a new window will be opened. There you will see 3 tabs "event", "process" and "stack". What is there?

[ColH]

Not sure which would be the best line to examine. I'd like to just send the whole [filtered] log, but it's over the attachment size limit.

[simonemagnaschi]

I have the same exact problem since today. Don't know why. It happened with 5.0.4 after a reboot and since then I uninstalled multiple times adn tried also with 5.0.2. No luck.

If I try to start VBoxSVC.exe from command line or GUI Windows 10 tells me that the file doesn't exist even if it's there and I can read its properties and so on. This happens as a local user or as an administrator. The only way I found to get VB to work in this state is the following:

• Make a copy of VBoxSVC.exe with other name in the same directory (because, you know, file doesn't exist but it can be copied right? -_-)
• Start VBoxSVC_Copy.exe
• Start VirtualBox.exe

Then everything works.

Windows 10 makes me speechless.

[simonemagnaschi]

Ok, after a lot of troubles I ended up resolving this. The problem lies on the fix that I had installed found here somewhere regarding early network windows 10 issue. The fix let windows 10 work ok with VBox. Since I upgraded to 5.0.4 I deleted the exe with the fix from my computer, and than started the problem (I couldn't relate the two since the problem rose on the next reboot happened days later). After running a search in regedit there was a key somewhere still pointing to the file that for some reason hijacked the VBoxSC.exe execution. Deleting the key everything started to work again.

[ColH]

Hi, Any further suggestions to my issue?

[Frank Mehnert]

Still relevant with VBox 5.0.14?

[EliasP]

Replying to frank:

Still relevant with VBox 5.0.14?

Yes, I installed version 5.0.14 and the problem persists. It started after I uninstalled and re-installed Microsoft Office 2010. I tried setting compatibility mode which starts VBox Manager but the VBox image does not start, even in headless mode.

[Frank Mehnert]

EliasP, the VBoxHardening.log file does not show a problem. The error message sounds more like the VBoxSVC service could not be started. Does it help if you do the following? Open a command line (cmd.exe) as Administrator:

cd \program files\oracle\virtualbox
vboxsvc /regserver

Then try to start VirtualBox

[Frank Mehnert]

No response, closing.