Windows 10: scan for hardware changes freezes after loading Virtual Box manager

[K1MGY]

Windows 10 Pro Virtual Box 5.1.26 r117224 (Qt5.6.2)

Restart windows 10 Open device manager Action: Scan for Hardware Changes

The scan completes normally

Open the Virtual Box manager (doesn't matter if we run a session) Close virtual box manager Open device manager Action: Scan for Hardware Changes

The scan never seems to complete. The "Scanning plug and play compliant hardware..." dialog stays on screen.

Plugging in a new device (such as a USB device) does nothing. It is not recognized by Windows.

Something happens to windows when the virtual box application is loaded.

[K1MGY]

Additional comment: can force close device manager/ MMC with task manager. The problem remains despite doing so. Have to restart for normal plug and play operation.

[David Refoua]

No updates on the issue?

[Mihai Hanor]

I can't reproduce the issue, Windows 10 x64 1903, VirtualBox 6.0.12

[Socratis]

Replying to DRSDavidSoft:

No updates on the issue?

It seems that no one has been able to reproduce this in the last 2 years. What exactly are you seeing (since you're not the owner of the ticket)? Can you put a step-by-step procedure so we can see if we can replicate it?

Favor? Please make clear when you're referring to your host and your guest, no ambiguities...

[David Refoua]

Replying to socratis:

Replying to DRSDavidSoft:

No updates on the issue?

It seems that no one has been able to reproduce this in the last 2 years. What exactly are you seeing (since you're not the owner of the ticket)? Can you put a step-by-step procedure so we can see if we can replicate it?

Favor? Please make clear when you're referring to your host and your guest, no ambiguities...

Thank you for your quick response, I'll try to describe how this issue happens, though please forgive the lack of clearness -- as I explain below.

Host OS: Windows 10, either Pro or Enterprise, builds from 1803 to 1809 confirmed to have this issue

Guest OS: Confirmed the same issue on both Linux VMs (distro doesn't matter) and Windows VMs

CPU arch: x86_64, Intel Core i5, 446. @ 3.20GHz

RAM: DDR3, 32.0GBs

Disk: SATA SSD, 1.0TB

Steps to reproduce: 1- Connect a USB peripheral to host (optional)

2- Launch VirtualBox

3- Start the guest VM

4- Try to connect the peripheral to guest (optional; doesn't really matter)

5- Keep the guest running or shut it down (also doesn't really matter)

6- Wait.

Now, somewhere from steps 3 to 6, the problem will start to happen. I really don't want to sound ambiguous, but the issue appears to be intermittent. When it does happen, Windows stops responding to any hardware changes.

If I remove a completely different USB device, and plug it back, windows will not recognize it (The mouse or keyboard for example). Also, as K1MGY pointed out, using the Device Manager to "Scan for Hardware Changes" will get stuck on the dialog.

The host computer also will not respond to shutdown and reboot commands. The screen goes blank and you have to manually cold reboot the system.

I have applied several VirtualBox updates to no avail, sometimes this issue happens, and other times it won't. (I hate to call it random, but it certainly looks like it.)

I believe this to be related to a faulty driver, and its interaction with VirtualBox. However, I'm not sure how I can isolate it in order to report it as a reproducible issue.

I have found the same issue with VMware Workstation Pro, but it's far more stable and seems to produce the issue only when step 4 has been done.

Currently, I have switched to VMware out of desperation, but I'm willing to install the latest builds of VirtualBox and collect logs, dumps, or any sort of data (before, during, or after the problem occurs) that would help to investigate and find the root cause of this issue.