VBoxManage modifyvm --recording ... : Crash, Documentation wrong -> fixed after 6.0.4

[HaukeH]

Hi,

I'm running VBox 6.0.4 on Ubuntu 18.04 amd64.

Recording video by using VBoxManage doesn't work for several reasons:

1. The options shown in the help screen (VBoxManage --help) don't exist and aren't accepted by VBoxManage (eg. "--recording filename").
2. By playing with spelling variants of the options I figured out, that eg. "--recordingfile" is accepted by VBoxManage.
3. In my tests I used the options like in the following example:

VBoxManage modifyvm "myVM" --recording on --recordingfile="/tmp/test.webm" --recordingvideores="1024x756" --recordingvideorate=1024 --recordingvideofps=25

After modifying a (turned off) VM with these options the following happens:

1. The VM will crash on next start attempt. This can only be fixed by turning off recording (VBoxManage modifyvm "myVM" --recording off).
2. The CPU will jump to 100% for a few seconds.
3. All VMs aren't available via the VBox GUI. Something like "No information available" is shown where the VM settings are shown usually.

Maybe there are combinations of options that enable recording, but I couldn't find any.

Thank you for your previous work on VirtualBox :-)

Hauke

[Socratis]

1. It's usually better and faster, if issues get first addressed in the ​VirtualBox forums, a lot more eyes there. More than 95% of the issues are resolved in the forums, which keeps the developers focusing on the bug fixes and enhancements, and there is no need for another ticket to keep track of.

Plus a discussion and analysis on the bug tracker is going to help you, me, and potentially a future drive-by user or two. Not so in the forums, many more tend to benefit...

So, if you can, please open a new thread in the ​Using VirtualBox section of the forums. Please be sure to mention that you came from the bug tracker and include the ticket number.

2. You were supposed to follow these steps when you filed the bug, and provide a VBox.log:

   Attach a (full) log file ("Machine" menu/"Show Log" in the main VirtualBox Manager window) straight away to save time for you and for us. The log file contains a lot of useful information about both the host and the guest systems as well as information about what happened during a particular machine run. Please do not cut and paste it.

[HaukeH]

Hi,

thanks for the answer.

1. I will post it to the forum.
2. There is no log created. The VM and the VirtualBox GUI are freezing when trying to start the VM. To get the GUI back to work the process "VirtualBoxVM" has to be killed by hand.

Hauke

[Socratis]

Related discussion in the forums: ​https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=92414

[pentagonik]

I already fixed points 1. and 2. of the initial report, now having a look at the remaining ones.

[pentagonik]

Just reproduced the crash; working on a fix.

[pentagonik]

Found and fixed the issue -- the bugfix will available in the next upcoming maintenance version.