VBoxManage and Guest Additions 5.2.x: Can't communicate with Linux Guests

[Jonas Almroth]

VirtualBox was updated from 5.0.32 (very stable version) to 5.2.4 and later 5.2.6.

All VM:s are provisioned through VBoxManage, but with Guest Additions 5.2.x on Linux guests, the VBoxManage processes just hang. Windows guests work fine, though.

So, with VirtualBox 5.2.6 and Guest Additions Version:

5.2.0-Hangs

5.2.2-Hangs

5.2.4-Hangs

5.2.6-Hangs

5.2.7-120349-Hangs

5.1.30-Works!

[Socratis]

I'm not entirely sure I understand what's failing. Can you give clear and exact steps to reproduce the problem?

[Jonas Almroth]

Yes.

Host is running Linux with VirtualBox (any 5.2.x version).

Guests are running Ubuntu Linux 14.04 and 16.04. Guest Additions tested are all 5.2.x versions plus 5.1.30.

Now, when using Guest Additions 5.2.x and trying to run a "guestcontrol" command

$ VBoxManage guestcontrol "MyAwesomeVM" --username root --password 2Hard2Crack stat "/tmp"

from the host, nothing happens and the execution freezes. I can't kill it with Ctrl+C so I'll have to pause it with Ctrl+Z, find PID with 'ps aux | grep VBoxManage' and then run 'kill -9 $pid'.

In the guest, all modules are loaded and VBoxService is running.

Uninstall the 5.2.x Guest Additions version and install 5.1.30 and the command executes fine:

$ VBoxManage guestcontrol "MyAwesomeVM" --username root --password 2Hard2Crack stat "/tmp

Element "/tmp" found: Is a directory

[Socratis]

Host: OSX 10.11.6
Guest: Ubuntu 16.04 (4.4.0-87-generic)
!VirtualBox: 5.2.97 r120420 (Qt5.6.3)

$ VBoxManage guestcontrol Ubuntu --username socratis --password MineIsHarder2Crack! stat /tmp
Element "/tmp" found: Is a directory

I'm going to try with a lower VirtualBox version when I get a chance...

[Socratis]

You mentioned that 5.2.7-120349 also hangs, so I tested it with this one. Host, guest remain the same as the previous comment. Guess what...

It hangs!!! :(

So, whatever it was, it seems that it has been fixed in the developer tree. Could you try it with the Development snapshots? The last part, not the test builds...

[Jonas Almroth]

Replying to socratis:

You mentioned that 5.2.7-120349 also hangs, so I tested it with this one. Host, guest remain the same as the previous comment. Guess what...

It hangs!!! :(

So, whatever it was, it seems that it has been fixed in the developer tree. Could you try it with the Development snapshots? The last part, not the test builds...

Amazing! It DOES work again! I'm running VirtualBox 5.2.4 and 5.2.6 with Guest Additions 5.2.97-120418 and all my provisioning scripts run perfectly :)

[Klaus Espenlaub]

Thanks for the feedback - we need to investigate what caused this temporary breakage. Don't think that anyone intentionally fixed this. Keep in mind that running development snapshots has additional risk (they're work on a future release, so they might be causing compatibility issues if you switch back to a regular 5.2 release). Use with caution.

[Jonas Almroth]

Replying to klaus:

Thanks for the feedback - we need to investigate what caused this temporary breakage. Don't think that anyone intentionally fixed this. Keep in mind that running development snapshots has additional risk (they're work on a future release, so they might be causing compatibility issues if you switch back to a regular 5.2 release). Use with caution.

Fix seems to be backported to latest 5.2.7 build (120528) just now.

[Jonas Almroth]

Hi again,

I just tried the new stable 5.2.8 version and the problem unfortunately persists in this release.

[pentagonik]

The 5.2 test build 124553 is available here. Please let me know if this fixes the issue for you. Please note that you also need to upgrade the installed Guest Additions on the guest, followed by a guest reboot. Thank you!

[Socratis]

Just to clarify; you need GAs r123553 (or later), which can be either downloaded as a standalone ISO, or with test build r124624 (which includes GAs r123553), or later.

[Jonas Almroth]

Replying to socratis:

Just to clarify; you need GAs r123553 (or later), which can be either downloaded as a standalone ISO, or with test build r124624 (which includes GAs r123553), or later.

Thank you for responding. I'm currently testing VB 5.2.18 with GA 5.2.97-r124231 and Ubuntu Server 14.04, 16.04 and 18.04 as guests and the result this far is positive!

[Socratis]

kl0ckren, please don't mix the Release and Test builds with the Development snapshots. Weird things can happen, unforeseen interactions. Stick with one...