failing to launch virtual box ubuntu VM on Windows

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I installed VirtualBox on Windows. I set it up to boot Ubuntu14. I enabled the virtualization option for the CPU to enabled (before that, the VM would not boot up complaining about i686 CPU). I rebooted the OS. After this, when I try starting the VM, it gives the following error:

The VM session was closed before any attempt to power it on.


Result Code: 
E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: 
SessionMachine
Interface: 
ISession {7844aa05-b02e-4cdd-a04f-ade4a762e6b7}

What did I do wrong and how can I fix it? Thanks. I did not post on serverfault since this is not a server but a laptop.

ubuntu
virtualbox
virtualization
asked on Stack Overflow Sep 26, 2015 by user3813256

10 Answers

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discarding the "saved state" of the virtual machine using the virtual box GUI allowed me to launch the Ubuntu VM.

answered on Stack Overflow Sep 26, 2015 by user3813256
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Just right click and choose "clear saved state" to restart or click on the orange discard icon.

press here

answered on Stack Overflow Nov 18, 2016 by Pegasus • edited Jul 27, 2018 by Simon Schnell
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I just had this same issue, and the fix for me (On Windows) was to run Virtual Box as Administrator.

answered on Stack Overflow Jan 23, 2016 by OneOfThePetes • edited Jan 23, 2016 by OneOfThePetes
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I fixed it fixing filesystem permissions, there were in a strange state by doing as root (or sudo):

find /pathToVmDir -type d -exec chmod 755 {} +
find /pathToVmDir -type f -exec chmod 644 {} +

The state was:

usr@machnine:~$ ls -l /mnt/data/virtualboxVms/                                                                                                                                       [418/418]
ls: cannot access '/mnt/data/virtualboxVms/vmDebDev': Permission denied                                
ls: cannot access '/mnt/data/virtualboxVms/Archiv': Permission denied                                                              
total 0                                       
d????????? ? ? ? ?            ? Archiv                                                                                                                       
d????????? ? ? ? ?            ? vmDebDevJava_Clone
answered on Stack Overflow Jul 24, 2018 by Pipo
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vboxmanage discardstate <vmId>

you can get with vboxmanage list vms

answered on Stack Overflow Dec 3, 2018 by Pipo
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It was a permissions issue for me because I changed the VM folder to a different drive, either try running as administrator or just change the security permissions of the VM root folder to allow full control by anyone. The latter worked for me!

Change permissions

answered on Stack Overflow Feb 19, 2020 by Bassam Helal
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If you have done shapshots .. you can easy get back to the last version: (snapshot > restore spapshot)

answered on Stack Overflow Mar 11, 2016 by Hauke
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I newly installed VirtualBox and try to register a former created virtual machine. When start it I got the same error. And the "clear saved state" was not-able-to-click. I tried other virtual machines, all the same. Then I did this: 1)I enabled the CPU virtualization in bios, which was disabled. (not really related but should give another 64 cpu not supported like error sooner or later). 2)I remove and save storage hard disk. Then another error:

............(Access denied.)..........

3)Reopen virtual box in Administrator. or maybe repeat 2. it works...

answered on Stack Overflow Jan 18, 2017 by Tiina
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I faced the same problem. I resolved it by renaming the .sav file. Steps to resolve the problem.

  1. Select the VM which is having problem and Right click on VM and select 'show log' option

  2. Find the file name which is saved the VM state like '2018-07-03T17-05-16-834993200Z.sav is invalid' in the logs.

  3. Go the path where the .sav file is located and change the file extension to anyother file format.

  4. Restart the VM. It works.

Regards Sridhar Ganji

answered on Stack Overflow Jul 9, 2018 by SridharGanji
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I hope this answer isn't too late, but I was in the same problem and finally I solved with two solutions get from different sources.

You must solve the next issue with:

  • Open the registry editor. Start > Run > regedit
  • Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\VBoxDrv
  • Edit the key called Start. Change its value from 1 to 3
  • Close the registry editor and restart your computer. After your computer restarts you should be able to use VirtualBox without any issues.

If not you must open cmd as Administrator and type the next command:

sc start vboxdrv

After that try to start the virtual machine.

answered on Stack Overflow Oct 14, 2020 by Spulit • edited Oct 14, 2020 by Calculuswhiz

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