Technology Tales

Adventures in consumer and enterprise technology

A spot of roughness with VirtualBox 3.02 on Ubuntu

Published on 20th July 2009 Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

Among the various things that I needed to do on Saturday, I got to look at why VirtualBox Windows guests could not shut down and the processes killed. Though it wasn't clear at the outset, my suspicions began to centre on the sound hardware emulation and how it interacted with the host's sound capabilities. A look at the VirtualBox log sent me that way after a spot of experimentation with reinstalling Windows 7 and adding the Guest Additions along with removal and reinstatement of the same for a Windows XP guest that makes my like easier. It also seems that the same problem blighted the start-up of Linux guests too. Either removing virtual sound hardware or using the null sound driver seems to allow things to run smoothly. That may not sound ideal, yet it doesn't bother me, with the host providing all that I need. Also, it's a moot point whether I have come across a bug in VirtualBox or whether using Ubuntu on a hardware configuration on which it wasn't originally installed is the cause, but I have found a way forward that suits me. Saying that, if I find that the issue disappears in a future, that would be even better.

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