Win10 "Display driver failed to start" always if 3D accel is enabled (Linux host)

[Jim Avera]

Linux 17.10 host using X.Org (not Wayland), Intel i7-8700K built-in graphics.

Every time the Win10 guest starts, a "slide out" notification says:

"Display driver failed to start"

(and the desktop can not be resized I'll attach a screen shot).

I've re-installed the Guest Additions multiple times and rebooted the host too.

Finally I tried disabling 3D Acceleration for the guest, and now it works okay.

I'll attach log files which might be useful. LMK if you need other info.

[Jim Avera]

Screen shot of Win10 error notification

[Socratis]

From your log:

00:00:00.314145 OpenGL Info: Render SPU: GL_VENDOR:   VMware, Inc.
00:00:00.314151 OpenGL Info: Render SPU: GL_RENDERER: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 256 bits)
00:00:00.314153 OpenGL Info: Render SPU: GL_VERSION:  3.0 Mesa 18.1.0-devel

Your host does not use its GPU, it's doing software rendering. Not "powerful" enough to use it with the 3D acceleration. Disable 3D acceleration in your settings, or check what might be wrong with your host's GPU drivers.

May I also suggest something? It's usually better and faster, if issues get first addressed in the ​VirtualBox forums. More than 95% of the issues are resolved over there, which keeps the developers focusing on the bug fixes and enhancements, and there is no need for another ticket to keep track of. For example, yours is most probably not a bug and someone from the developers has to deal with it and close it as "Invalid".

And finally, for future reference, the proper way to get a complete "VBox.log" is:

1. Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state) / Observe error / Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
2. With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
3. Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response.