Bug 254049 - VBoxService on guest fails to start
Summary: VBoxService on guest fails to start
Status: New
Alias: None
Product: Ports & Packages
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Individual Port(s) (show other bugs)
Version: Latest
Hardware: Any Any
: --- Affects Only Me
Assignee: Virtualbox Team (Nobody)
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2021-03-05 22:22 UTC by Scott Furry
Modified: 2021-03-06 09:38 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:


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Description Scott Furry 2021-03-05 22:22:01 UTC
On a fresh install of FreeBSD 12.2-RELEASE-p4 where FreeBSD is a virtualbox guest. Any attempt to start VBoxService results in an error message:

VBoxService: error: VbglR3Init failed with rc=VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/vboxeservice: WARNING: failed to start vboxservice

No other error indications of how/why VBoxService start failure can be found in system logs.

Followed instructions for installation from handbook, https://docs.freebsd.org/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/virtualization-guest-virtualbox.html,

All packages installed via pkg (not ports).
xorg-servier-1.20.9_1,1
xfce-4.16
virtualbox-ose-additions-5.2.44_3

Confirmed all library and kernel modules described in pkg-plist are present in system.

Bug #192359 appears related but is unresolved. That bug appears to confuse whether FreeBSD is a guest or host.
Comment 1 Scott Furry 2021-03-05 22:54:44 UTC
Manually loading kernel module and starting service:

# kldload /boot/modules/vboxguest
# service vboxservice start

is successful and without error.

Problem appears to be a problem with where kernel modules are installed.
Package instructions for virtualbox-ose-additions places kernel modules vboxservice.ko and vboxvfs.ko in directory /boot/modules(only items in directory).
Comment 2 Vladimir Druzenko freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2021-03-05 23:11:41 UTC
(In reply to Scott Furry from comment #1)
Try this:
$ grep vbox /etc/rc.conf
vboxguest_enable="YES"
vboxservice_enable="YES"
Comment 3 Scott Furry 2021-03-05 23:18:03 UTC
(In reply to VVD from comment #2)
Steps described already completed as instructions from handbook were followed exactly as given including editing /etc/rc.conf.
Comment 4 Scott Furry 2021-03-06 00:05:10 UTC
(In reply to VVD from comment #2)
I haven't had to dig into kernel modules before. Learning process on my part.

After some reading, I get it - 3rd party kernel modules go into /boot/modules(away from actual kernel modules). It seems unusual that starting a service comes back as 'file not found'. And when manually directing the loading of vboxservice.ko, service just starts.

My impression is that there is a disconnect in paths being utilize when searching for a service's kernel module. Why /boot/modules is ignore or not used is a bit beyond me, at the moment.
Comment 5 Scott Furry 2021-03-06 09:38:11 UTC
I suspect that there may have been some issue with sequence of installation.

Initially when I reported, I had installed virtualbox-ose-additions package prior to installing xorg. The virtualbox-ose-additions pulled in select xorg packages but not the xorg-server itself.

I just finished a re-install from scratch but also ensuring that I followed the install sequence: xorg, xfce, virtualbox-ose-additions. After a reboot, the observed error with the service did not occur.

I should note a couple of related items with the package install. While attempting to resolve guest display resolution, a web search brought me to this forum post - https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/i-cant-change-resolution-and-refresh-rate-on-virtualbox.75041/. The thread made clear to me two things:

a) when using the VMSVGA display setting the user needs to install xf86-video-vmware package before display settings can be changed. The need for a video driver is not not mentioned in the handbook.

b) there is a typo in /usr/local/bin/VBoxClient-all script. Line 38 should be changed from:

/usr/bin/VboxClient --vmsvga-x11...

to

/usr/local/bin/VboxClient --vmsvga-x11...

After change to script mentioned above, ensuring proper driver was installed, and following correct install sequence, the VBoxService appears to function as expected.