So far I've only seen the VM start up and complete work once. Most of the time now all I see is a few console windows open and close in quick succession but never the VM running.

Checking the logs I see this:

Setting VirtualBox PATH in Windows...
Trying to grab installation path of VirtualBox from Windows Registry...
ERROR: Retrieving the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Oracle\VirtualBox\InstallDir value was impossible

Trying with VBOX_INSTALL_PATH environment variable...
Old PATH environment variable:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\

Adding VirtualBox to PATH:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;X
INFO: Cleaning old VMs of the project...
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to discard the state of the VM.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: The VM could not be removed via VBoxManage.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to remove the IDE controller.
INFO: I´m running in a Windows system...
CreateProcess Failed!INFO: CernVM does not exist, so it is not necessary to unregister.
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
INFO: Cleaning completed

Initializing VM...
Decompressing the VM
Uncompressed finished
INFO: Cleaning old instances...
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to discard the state of the VM.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: The VM could not be removed via VBoxManage.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to remove the IDE controller.
INFO: I´m running in a Windows system...
CreateProcess Failed!INFO: CernVM does not exist, so it is not necessary to unregister.
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
Registering a new VM from unzipped image...
CreateProcess Failed!ERROR: Create VM method: createvm failed!
ERROR: createvm --name BOINC_VM --ostype Linux26 --register
INFO: Cleaning registered VM from a failure...
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to discard the state of the VM.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: The VM could not be removed via VBoxManage.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to remove the IDE controller.
INFO: I´m running in a Windows system...
CreateProcess Failed!INFO: CernVM does not exist, so it is not necessary to unregister.
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
INFO: createvm() Aborting
19:03:49 (8140): called boinc_finish


To me it looks like it's having trouble finding the VirtualBox. I've checked the registry and the install path is there.

I've just added the environment variable VBOX_INSTALL_PATH in the hope that it will solve the problem but I suspect it wont. As Boinc is reporting "26/08/2011 22:34:36 | Test4Theory@Home | This computer has finished a daily quota of 1 tasks)
" I wont be able to tell until tomorrow.

If anyone has any better ideas I'd lover to hear them.

To me it looks like it's having trouble finding the VirtualBox. I've checked the registry and the install path is there.

I've just added the environment variable VBOX_INSTALL_PATH in the hope that it will solve the problem but I suspect it wont. As Boinc is reporting "26/08/2011 22:34:36 | Test4Theory@Home | This computer has finished a daily quota of 1 tasks)
" I wont be able to tell until tomorrow.

If anyone has any better ideas I'd lover to hear them.

OK, it looks like sometimes it can access the install path in the registy and others it can't. I have no idea why that might be. However adding the VBOX_INSTALL_PATH environment variable hasn't hellped as it still adds X to PATH. THis time I'll try adding the install path to the PATH variable and see if that works. If it does it's only a workaround, you couldn't expect your average PC windows user to do this kind of thing but you guys already know that.

<core_client_version>6.12.33</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<message>
Incorrect function. (0x1) - exit code 1 (0x1)
</message>
<stderr_txt>

Setting VirtualBox PATH in Windows...
Trying to grab installation path of VirtualBox from Windows Registry...
ERROR: Retrieving the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Oracle\VirtualBox\InstallDir value was impossible

Trying with VBOX_INSTALL_PATH environment variable...
Old PATH environment variable:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\

Adding VirtualBox to PATH:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;X
INFO: Cleaning old VMs of the project...
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to discard the state of the VM.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: The VM could not be removed via VBoxManage.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to remove the IDE controller.
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
CreateProcess Failed!INFO: CernVM does not exist, so it is not necessary to unregister.
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
INFO: Cleaning completed

Initializing VM...
Decompressing the VM
Uncompressed finished
INFO: Cleaning old instances...
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to discard the state of the VM.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: The VM could not be removed via VBoxManage.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to remove the IDE controller.
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
CreateProcess Failed!INFO: CernVM does not exist, so it is not necessary to unregister.
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
Registering a new VM from unzipped image...
CreateProcess Failed!ERROR: Create VM method: createvm failed!
ERROR: createvm --name BOINC_VM --ostype Linux26 --register
INFO: Cleaning registered VM from a failure...
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to discard the state of the VM.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: The VM could not be removed via VBoxManage.
CreateProcess Failed!WARNING: it was not possible to remove the IDE controller.
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
CreateProcess Failed!INFO: CernVM does not exist, so it is not necessary to unregister.
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
INFO: createvm() Aborting
10:13:07 (8184): called boinc_finish

</stderr_txt>
]]>

That didn't help so I'm all out of ideas for the moment.

<core_client_version>6.12.33</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<message>
Incorrect function. (0x1) - exit code 1 (0x1)
</message>
<stderr_txt>

Setting VirtualBox PATH in Windows...
Trying to grab installation path of VirtualBox from Windows Registry...
ERROR: Retrieving the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Oracle\VirtualBox\InstallDir value was impossible

Trying with VBOX_INSTALL_PATH environment variable...
Old PATH environment variable:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox

Adding VirtualBox to PATH:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox;X
INFO: Cleaning old VMs of the project...
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
INFO: Cleaning completed

Initializing VM...
Decompressing the VM
Uncompressed finished
INFO: Cleaning old instances...
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
Registering a new VM from unzipped image...
Done!
INFO: Maximum usage of CPU: 100.000000
INFO: Setting how much CPU time the virtual CPU can use: 100
INFO: Success!
INFO: BOINC status suspend = False. Resuming VM
ERROR: Get cernvm status error!
INFO: cernvm status error Aborting
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
10:47:02 (6116): called boinc_finish

</stderr_txt>

Hmmm, looking at it that does look a lot better now. It's still not working but it looks like progress.

You could try jujube's 7 to 8 step manual to salvation:

1) In BOINC manager set T4T project to No New Tasks and abort any T4T task you have

2) Open Oracle VirtualBox Manager, it will be on your Start menu in a folder named Oracle. If you see any BOINC_VMs there then highlight each one and click Remove. Then click File -> VirtualMedia Manager and Remove cernvm.vmdk if there is one.

3) In BOINC manager, detach (remove) the T4T project.

4) Uninstall VirtualBox in Windows Add/Remove software.

5) Run a registry cleaner and see if it reports any errors in the registry.

6) Reboot Windows.

7) Reinstall VirtualBox, version 4.1.0 or version 4.1.2, it doesn't matter which. Now there is some suspicion that VirtualBox needs to be installed on a partition with lots of empty space. Install on the partition that has the most empty space and tell us how much free space you have on that partition.

8) Add T4T project to BOINC, wait fort a T4T task and see what happens.

OK, it looks like sometimes it can access the install path in the registy and others it can't. I have no idea why that might be.

However adding the VBOX_INSTALL_PATH environment variable hasn't hellped as it still adds X to PATH. THis time I'll try adding the install path to the PATH variable and see if that works. If it does it's only a workaround, you couldn't expect your average PC windows user to do this kind of thing but you guys already know that.

Jujube,

Adding to PATH appears to have helped a little.
I posted the results in message 4462.

I spend my days at work resolving app problems on windows servers so this shouldn't be beyond me but windows 7 home isn't as nice to work with. Having said that I know next to nothing about Unix/Linux.

Extra slash added. I wasn't sure about including it because none of the other enries in the PATH variable ended in a slash.

As I'm at my daily limit again, we'll find out tomorrow if this worked.

@ Andy,
Sorry, I missed message 4462. We must have been typing at the same time. We'll wait and see what happens with the terminating backslash. Adding the install dir to the path has reduced the number of errors and I think it's because the apps in the VirtualBox dir now run because they're on the PATH. Sounds like you've got solid experience with Windows. Don't worry about Linux/Unix because this problem seems to be happening only on Windows, so far, and Linux doesn't have a registry.

@ Jord,
Yes, running the registry cleaner is probably unnecessary so I'll remove that step. I included it because my hypothesis at the time was that the registry was fubar which prevented VirtualBox from adding its own keys to it. Now it looks like the keys are added but the wrapper that doesn't read the key, on some systems sometimes. Can you think of a reason why that might be?

@ Jord,
Yes, running the registry cleaner is probably unnecessary so I'll remove that step. I included it because my hypothesis at the time was that the registry was fubar which prevented VirtualBox from adding its own keys to it. Now it looks like the keys are added but the wrapper that doesn't read the key, on some systems sometimes. Can you think of a reason why that might be?

No, I just thought you probably had some family matters to take care.

I think it's either a permissions problem or the wrapper doesn't wait long enough for the registry to unlock. Do some read/write operations lock the registry? Do I remember that correctly or is my memory playing tricks on me?

I don't know how fast user switching and remote desktop access affects permissions in Windows, I'll leave it to someone with more recent experience with Windows programming to figure that out. The last time I wrote anything for Windows was back in the days of Win ME.

OK, adding the "\" hasn't helped.
As for permissions on the registry and locking it when switching users etc. I'm local admin, boinc and VirtualBox run under my ID so that shouldn't be an issue.
I've checked permissions on the registry key and even users have read access.

<core_client_version>6.12.33</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<message>
Incorrect function. (0x1) - exit code 1 (0x1)
</message>
<stderr_txt>

Setting VirtualBox PATH in Windows...
Trying to grab installation path of VirtualBox from Windows Registry...
Success!!! Installation PATH of VirtualBox is: C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\.
Old PATH environment variable:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\

Adding VirtualBox to PATH:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\
INFO: Cleaning old VMs of the project...
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
INFO: Cleaning completed

Initializing VM...
Decompressing the VM
Uncompressed finished
INFO: Cleaning old instances...
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
Registering a new VM from unzipped image...
Done!
INFO: Maximum usage of CPU: 100.000000
INFO: Setting how much CPU time the virtual CPU can use: 100
INFO: Success!
INFO: BOINC status suspend = False. Resuming VM
ERROR: Get cernvm status error!
INFO: cernvm status error Aborting
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
09:50:13 (8180): called boinc_finish

</stderr_txt>
]]>

I've set the project to not allow new tasks so that I don't run out of my daily quota before I get a chance try something new.

I've just found this in VBoxSVC.log. I prsume it's caused by the CernVM because I have no problems with my other VMs.

00:00:08.206 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_INVALID_VM_STATE (0x80bb0002) aIID={5eaa9319-62fc-4b0a-843c-0cb1940f8a91} aComponent={Machine} aText={Machine is not locked for session (session state: Unlocked)}, preserve=false
00:00:09.267 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80bb0005) aIID={5eaa9319-62fc-4b0a-843c-0cb1940f8a91} aComponent={SessionMachine} aText={Saved screenshot data is not available (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)}, preserve=false
00:07:46.662 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_INVALID_VM_STATE (0x80bb0002) aIID={5eaa9319-62fc-4b0a-843c-0cb1940f8a91} aComponent={Machine} aText={Machine is not locked for session (session state: Unlocked)}, preserve=false
00:07:49.392 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80bb0005) aIID={5eaa9319-62fc-4b0a-843c-0cb1940f8a91} aComponent={SessionMachine} aText={Saved screenshot data is not available (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)}, preserve=false
00:32:42.571 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_INVALID_VM_STATE (0x80bb0002) aIID={5eaa9319-62fc-4b0a-843c-0cb1940f8a91} aComponent={Machine} aText={Machine is not locked for session (session state: Unlocked)}, preserve=false
00:32:45.270 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80bb0005) aIID={5eaa9319-62fc-4b0a-843c-0cb1940f8a91} aComponent={SessionMachine} aText={Saved screenshot data is not available (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)}, preseve=false

Time for some more investigation.

As for permissions on the registry and locking it when switching users etc. I'm local admin, boinc and VirtualBox run under my ID so that shouldn't be an issue.

I don't use fast user switching. I'm the only user and I don't even have the machine lock after a period of inactivity.

Unless Ageless has something more to add concerning permissions I think we have to conclude it's not a permissions problem that's stopping the wrapper from getting the install dir from registry.

Adding the install dir to PATH manually has prevented many of the errors Andy was getting. With the install dir in PATH the apps the wrapper calls to initialize/start the VM now run without crashing, I think.

Andy, the remaining errors might clear up if you run the 8 steps mentioned above. Set T4T to No New Work and abort any T4T tasks you have. Also, don't bother running the registry cleaner unless you want to as the wrapper is able, sometimes, to read the key. So it's not a fubar registry.

I think the wrapper sometimes finds the key/registry locked by other processes on your system and just doesn't wait long enough for it to unlock. Just a hypothesis. Unless someone else has an idea I think I don't have much else to offer at this time. I'm going to ask Daniel to examine this thread when he returns from his honeymoon. I think everything he needs is explained clearly and concisely with appropriate logs and comments from Andy. Thanks again Andy for your excellent help on this.

I've followed 7 of the 8 steps and it's still not looking good.

<core_client_version>6.12.33</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<message>
Incorrect function. (0x1) - exit code 1 (0x1)
</message>
<stderr_txt>

Setting VirtualBox PATH in Windows...
Trying to grab installation path of VirtualBox from Windows Registry...
Success!!! Installation PATH of VirtualBox is: C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\.
Old PATH environment variable:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\

Adding VirtualBox to PATH:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\
INFO: Cleaning old VMs of the project...
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
INFO: Cleaning completed

Initializing VM...
Decompressing the VM
Uncompressed finished
INFO: Cleaning old instances...
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
Registering a new VM from unzipped image...
Done!
INFO: Maximum usage of CPU: 100.000000
INFO: Setting how much CPU time the virtual CPU can use: 100
INFO: Success!
INFO: BOINC status suspend = False. Resuming VM
ERROR: Get cernvm status error!
INFO: cernvm status error Aborting
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
23:25:38 (3544): called boinc_finish

</stderr_txt>
]]>

I agree it's probably not a security problem. As I'm running "Windows 7 home premium" I don't get any real control over security. I'm sure it's all in there under the covers but Microsoft just wants to screw another £100 out of me to use it.

I've even tried creating virtual XP pro machines in virtual box and running boinc/VirtualBox on the virtual machine. That hasn't worked at all, but I'm not surprised. Trying to run a hypervisor under another hypervisor was always going to be a long shot.

Strange that it added the VB install dir to PATH again. It's in there twice now but I can't see that causing a problem.

How did you install BOINC... to run in PAE mode (as a daemon)? If you're not sure then restart BOINC, open Event Log (Advanced -> Event Log) and copy the first 30 lines and paste them here, please.

I'm sure I'm not running Boinc as a service but just to be on the safe side, here's everything before any of the apps start.

29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Starting BOINC client version 6.12.33 for windows_x86_64
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Libraries: libcurl/7.19.7 OpenSSL/0.9.8l zlib/1.2.5
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Running under account Andy
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Processor: 8 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz [Family 6 Model 30 Stepping 5]
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Processor: 256.00 KB cache
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss htt tm pni ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 nx lm vmx smx tm2 popcnt pbe
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | OS: Microsoft Windows 7: Home Premium x64 Edition, Service Pack 1, (06.01.7601.00)
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Memory: 5.96 GB physical, 11.92 GB virtual
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Disk: 1.75 TB total, 561.97 GB free
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | Local time is UTC +1 hours
29/08/2011 12:28:50 | | NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTS 240 (driver version 27533, CUDA version 4000, compute capability 1.1, 970MB, 363 GFLOPS peak)

There's no sign of the VirtualBox version in any part of the Boinc log.

I can tell you that I'm running 4.1.2r73507.

I presume that Boinc not reporting the VritualBox version is a problem.

Another update.
I repalced the 32bit version of Boinc with the 64bit version and now it detects the version of Virtualbox but it still doesn't work :(

29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Starting BOINC client version 6.12.33 for windows_x86_64
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Libraries: libcurl/7.19.7 OpenSSL/0.9.8l zlib/1.2.5
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Running under account Andy
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Processor: 8 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz [Family 6 Model 30 Stepping 5]
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Processor: 256.00 KB cache
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss htt tm pni ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 syscall nx lm vmx smx tm2 popcnt pbe
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | OS: Microsoft Windows 7: Home Premium x64 Edition, Service Pack 1, (06.01.7601.00)
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Memory: 5.96 GB physical, 11.92 GB virtual
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Disk: 1.75 TB total, 561.09 GB free
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Local time is UTC +1 hours
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | VirtualBox version: 4.1.2
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTS 240 (driver version 27533, CUDA version 4000, compute capability 1.1, 970MB, 363 GFLOPS peak)
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | SETI@home | Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | Test4Theory@Home | URL http://boinc01.cern.ch/test4theory/; Computer ID 7916; resource share 300
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | climateprediction.net | URL http://climateprediction.net/; Computer ID 1124658; resource share 100
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | Milkyway@home | URL http://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/; Computer ID 202502; resource share 100
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | SETI@home | URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 5490766; resource share 100
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | Milkyway@home | General prefs: from Milkyway@home (last modified 14-Aug-2010 12:14:09)
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | Milkyway@home | Host location: none
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | Milkyway@home | General prefs: using your defaults
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Reading preferences override file
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Preferences:
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | max memory usage when active: 3051.54MB
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | max memory usage when idle: 5492.77MB
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | max disk usage: 100.00GB
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | max CPUs used: 2
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | don't use GPU while active
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | (to change preferences, visit the web site of an attached project, or select Preferences in the Manager)
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | | Not using a proxy
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | climateprediction.net | Restarting task hadcm3n_y8s2_1940_40_007424297_0 using hadcm3n version 607
29/08/2011 17:21:45 | Milkyway@home | Restarting task ps_separation_82_2s_mix0_1_1593752_0 using milkyway version 88
29/08/2011 17:22:05 | Test4Theory@Home | work fetch resumed by user
29/08/2011 17:22:06 | Test4Theory@Home | update requested by user
29/08/2011 17:22:08 | Test4Theory@Home | Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
29/08/2011 17:22:08 | Test4Theory@Home | Requesting new tasks for CPU and NVIDIA GPU
29/08/2011 17:22:13 | Test4Theory@Home | Scheduler request completed: got 1 new tasks
29/08/2011 17:22:23 | Test4Theory@Home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
29/08/2011 17:22:23 | Test4Theory@Home | Requesting new tasks for NVIDIA GPU
29/08/2011 17:22:24 | Test4Theory@Home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
29/08/2011 17:22:24 | Test4Theory@Home | No work sent
29/08/2011 17:22:24 | Test4Theory@Home | This computer has reached a limit on tasks in progress
29/08/2011 17:22:34 | Test4Theory@Home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
29/08/2011 17:22:34 | Test4Theory@Home | Requesting new tasks for CPU
29/08/2011 17:22:35 | Test4Theory@Home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
29/08/2011 17:22:35 | Test4Theory@Home | No work sent
29/08/2011 17:22:35 | Test4Theory@Home | This computer has reached a limit on tasks in progress
29/08/2011 17:33:45 | Test4Theory@Home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
29/08/2011 17:33:45 | Test4Theory@Home | Requesting new tasks for NVIDIA GPU
29/08/2011 17:33:46 | Test4Theory@Home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
29/08/2011 17:33:46 | Test4Theory@Home | No work sent
29/08/2011 17:33:46 | Test4Theory@Home | This computer has reached a limit on tasks in progress
29/08/2011 17:34:13 | Milkyway@home | task ps_separation_82_2s_mix0_1_1593752_0 suspended by user
29/08/2011 17:34:14 | Test4Theory@Home | Starting task uc_1314257582_24945_0 using cernvm version 605
29/08/2011 17:34:24 | Milkyway@home | task ps_separation_82_2s_mix0_1_1593752_0 resumed by user
29/08/2011 17:34:34 | Test4Theory@Home | Computation for task uc_1314257582_24945_0 finished
29/08/2011 17:34:34 | Test4Theory@Home | Output file uc_1314257582_24945_0_0 for task uc_1314257582_24945_0 absent
29/08/2011 17:34:34 | Milkyway@home | Restarting task ps_separation_82_2s_mix0_1_1593752_0 using milkyway version 88
29/08/2011 17:36:04 | Test4Theory@Home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
29/08/2011 17:36:04 | Test4Theory@Home | Reporting 1 completed tasks, requesting new tasks for CPU
29/08/2011 17:36:06 | Test4Theory@Home | Scheduler request completed: got 1 new tasks
29/08/2011 17:36:16 | Test4Theory@Home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
29/08/2011 17:36:16 | Test4Theory@Home | Requesting new tasks for CPU
29/08/2011 17:36:17 | Test4Theory@Home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
29/08/2011 17:36:17 | Test4Theory@Home | No work sent
29/08/2011 17:36:17 | Test4Theory@Home | This computer has reached a limit on tasks in progress

OK that's done and I deleted the boinc project folder including the .dll and compressed vmdk file. Now the project is reporting that it's downloading. I'll wait and see what happens.

Alas, still no luck.

<core_client_version>6.12.33</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<message>
Incorrect function. (0x1) - exit code 1 (0x1)
</message>
<stderr_txt>

Setting VirtualBox PATH in Windows...
Trying to grab installation path of VirtualBox from Windows Registry...
Success!!! Installation PATH of VirtualBox is: C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\.
Old PATH environment variable:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\

Adding VirtualBox to PATH:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\;C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\
INFO: Cleaning old VMs of the project...
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
INFO: Cleaning completed

Initializing VM...
Decompressing the VM
Uncompressed finished
INFO: Cleaning old instances...
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
Registering a new VM from unzipped image...
Done!
INFO: Maximum usage of CPU: 100.000000
INFO: Setting how much CPU time the virtual CPU can use: 100
INFO: Success!
INFO: BOINC status suspend = False. Resuming VM
ERROR: Get cernvm status error!
INFO: cernvm status error Aborting
INFO: VM state discarded!
INFO: VM unregistered and deleted via VBoxManage.
INFO: Hard disk removed!
INFO: I&#194;&#180;m running in a Windows system...
INFO: Successfully unregistered the CernVM
INFO: VM was not registered, deleting old VM folders...
INFO: System was clean, nothing to delete.
21:03:57 (4340): called boinc_finish

</stderr_txt>
]]>

Let's exercise the nuclear option. Do this only if you're not running other VirtualMachines in addition to BOINC_VM. This will delete ALL VirtualBox VMs on your system, not just BOINC_VM.

Delete everything in users\userID\.VirtualBox\ (note this is a hidden folder)
Delete everything in users\userID\VirtualBox VMS\

If that doesn't work then I don't know what else to try. Hopefully Crystal Pellet or somebody else will have some ideas.

Also, you might want to set T4T project to No New Work after you get a task and revert to Allow New Tasks only when you want another task. That way you won't waste your daily quota. When your problem is fixed then you would go back the Allow New Tasks and leave it there.

Well, thanks to a combination of the last 2 posts it now appears to be working.
There was no way I was deleting the virtualbox folders as I have several of my own VMs in there but I did find a BOINC_VM folder in there and deleted that.

I now have the boinc VM running.

Thanks for all the help guys.

You're welcome, Andy. Hopefully you can turn some of your other computers loose too when you have time.

I've been looking into this problem with not finding the VBox install directory in registry. As I suspected it's a bug in the wrapper. I think I've narrowed it down to the precise code block where the bug occurs and have sent recommendations for code changes to the developers. For now I recommend adding the VBox install dir to PATH on your other Windows machines too.

This install dir problem doesn't affect Linux systems but if you do experience a T4T task crash on Linux you may need to clean up the garbage the same way you've done on Windows. On Linux it's important to make sure BOINC is NOT installed as a daemon. The easy way to check that is to start BOINC then click Advanced -> Event Log and scroll up to the top of the log. If it says "running as a daemon" in the first 20 lines, you'll need to uninstall BOINC and install it to NOT run as a daemon. Let me know if you need help with that.

Alas I don't have any other computers. Those you see in my stats are either the same one showing up more than once where I left and rejoind the project so many times or the virtual machines I tried to get this working on.

I'm not sure if things are working 100% now as I appear to have completed some work but now the machine is idle all the time with the message "[info] Asking jmboinc-lb@cernvm-messaging.cern.ch for an address of the storage manager for job (IF: 90274f18-85e1-45de-9a53-69320c1dfc82)"

OK, that explains all the computers I see in your list. Those that don't get used for 30 days will drop off the list. You might be able to merge some of those with the one machine you actually use but that's a minor detail, don't worry about it you can't merge them. Just eliminates an entry in their database.

Now that you're up to speed and on the same page as the rest of us, you've run into the next bump in the road, the infamous [info] Asking jmboinc-lb@cernvm-messaging.cern.ch for an address of the storage manager for job (ID: XXXXXXXXX). That's being discussed in the main message area in this thread and this thread.

Basically what's happened is the VM downloaded a CERN job, crunched (computed) it and now the VM wants to upload the result so it's asking for an address for the storage manager. In those other 2 threads you'll see that there is a communication breakdown at that point. The admins have been trying to debug it but Daniel is on honeymoon right now and they're all pretty busy. On occasion the VM will get the address it wants and the upload will go through. Then you'll get another CERN job.

When it's stuck requesting that address, it can hang there for many hours. If it doesn't make it in an hour then click Machine -> Insert CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the VM. After the reboot the upload sometimes goes through but usually does not. Either way, eventually you'll get another CERN job. I'm sure they'll get the uploads working again soon. They were working nicely before the huge influx of new volunteers but something has happened.

You're not obligated to do the resets. If you want to just let it hang there that's fine, no harm done. It's just good to know you're not crashing the BOINC tasks and you're ready for when they get this upload bug fixed. Watch those threads or other threads in the main forum for an announcement when the bug is fixed or just keep watching your VM as one day soon it'll start working.

I've lost count of the number of times I've sent ctrl-alt-del but the work is going through now.