VirtualBox and Failure to Create VirtualBoxClient COM Object

[Mark Szkolnicki]

Good day all!

As mentioned in a previous post on another subject, I finally had some down time to address a number of hardware and software issues related to my systems, after 21 months of responding to both Covid and Forest Fire related emergency issues.

One of the items has me stumped at the moment, so I thought I'd go out to the community to see if any bright ideas present themselves that I missed. (as always the simplest problems may be totally overlooked without a second set of eyes)

I use Virtualbox v5.0.51 regularly with a number of versions of Windows installed to do a number of tasks that I can't do under ArcaOS.

My main system has had both Virtual PC 5.1 and has run Virtualbox v5.0.6 and then v5.0.51 successfully for years, and still continues to do so.

Building a new system (but with a comparable era motherboard) from the ground up about a year ago, I attempted to install VirtualBox v5.0.51 on that system in exactly the same configuration as worked successfully on my other system, only to run into the following error window on starting up VirtualBox.exe

______________

Failed to Create the VirtualBoxClient COM Object

The Application will now terminate

Callee RC: NS_ERROR_ABORT
(0x80004004}

____________

Actual window capture attached

As part of the new installation I have already:

Added the required YUM packages using ANPM
(The installation is ArcaOS v5.0.6)

yum install libc libgcc1 libcx libstdc++6 libstdc++
yum install libsupc++6 libsupc++ libgcc-fwd
yum install gettext libxml2 libxslt openssl libcurl zlib
yum install libidl libvncserver libaio SDL glib2
yum install libqt4 pthread libvpx libpng libjpeg
yum install urpo yum install expat curl mmap

Added the following to CONFIG.SYS
(in the appropriate locations based on the working Config.sys in the other system)

- A dot (.) in the LIBPATH statement in CONFIG.SYS, at the beginning.
- DEVICE=D:\Programs\VirtualBox\Bin\VBoxDrv.sys
- SET LIBCX_HIMEM=2
- VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT=1536

I believe that was all that was needed previously, after disccusions at the time in this forum - I have updated all the packages on the working system regularly, so I don't think it is a problem with incompatible DLL's

Similar problems have been reported with this error message on Windows based systems, which usually involved clearing Windows registries (not applicable on ArcaOS systems) or reinstalling the VirtualBox installation, which I have already tried.

I thought it was time to see if anyone has run into this specific problem installing v5.0.51 specifically on ArcaOS in the past, as comparing my working system VBox installation and the one I installed on the new system, I'm not finding any differences.

Being a troubleshooter by nature and profession, I like solving problems - but currently I'm stumped, Guys and Gals. Any bright ideas to contribute accepted gratefully and Best as always!

Mark

[Valery Sedletski]

This error usually means that something went wrong when loading VBOX binary: some lib is missing, or too little low shared memory, or etc.
Also, there is a ticket about it in the bug tracker: https://trac.netlabs.org/vbox/ticket/73.

In your case, probably, you miss uclip and gsoap libs, and maybe, something else.
Also, you have VAL=1536, which may be too low. Thry increasing up to 3072 or whatever.

Please look here https://trac.netlabs.org/vbox/ for the exact list of dependency libs.

[Doug Bissett]

- SET LIBCX_HIMEM=2

I found that that is only needed by VBox. It can cause problems elsewhere. I also gave up on VBox 5.0.51, and went back to VBox 5.0.6. For me, it is much more stable (meaning usable). I still need that setting, or I get the COM message. I do not put it in CONFIG.SYS. I do put it in the DragText Environment tab (without "SET "), in the VBox icon. That way, it is only used with VBox.

Also, you have VAL=1536, which may be too low. Thry increasing up to 3072 or whatever.

Yes, 1536 is way too low (even 2048 is too low). I use 2560, for all of my systems (even my antique IBM ThinkPad A22e, which is maxed out at 256 MB of real memory, but I don't try to run VBox on it). I have two machines that will run with 3072, but I still use 2560. The rest of my systems become very unstable if I use more than 2560. I also monitor the free upper, and lower, shared memory space. If I run win XP in VBox, lower shared memory drops to the 100 KB range, and upper shared memory still has about 1,200 KB. If I run win 7 in VBox, lower shared memory drops to the 50 KB range, and upper shared memory still has about 800 KB available. If anything else tries to run, lower shared memory can (and does) drop to zero. If that happens NOTHING works any more. I had to eliminate the AOO Quick Start thing, and Firefox Turbo, to clear enough shared memory space to be able to run win 7 in VBox. Even then, I sometimes need to reboot, before running VBox, or lower shared memory can be fragmented enough that something can't get what it needs, and bad things happen.

VBox, under OS/2 , is a delicate balancing act, and almost anything can push it over the edge.

[Valery Sedletski]

> SET LIBCX_HIMEM=2

> I found that that is only needed by VBox. It can cause problems elsewhere.

2Doug: It is required with libcx. Otherwise, VBox libs will work with errors when loaded into high memory. So, it is required by some
of the libs used by VBox. These libs can be used in other programs, though. I'd recommend not setting libcx_highmem=2 in config.sys,
otherwise set it manually in CMD window, before running VBox. Or set it in the .cmd wrapper script for funning VBox. So, the setting
will be not global and is not used by other programs than VBox.

Regarding the VAL. VAL should not depend on present amount of available RAM. It is a virtual memory layout setting, and it should not
depend on physical memory. You may need to decrease THREADS and PROCESSES from the default to a sane value.

E.g., I have PROCESSES=156 and THREADS=511. The default is too large and it consumes much memory for required control
blocks. Also, I have EARLYMEMINIT=TRUE enabled. (without that, it can be to little memory below 16 MB for such drivers as uniaud,
fat32.ifs and genmac and I had problems when loading them).

You can also try loading some VBox libs to high shared memory. For that, there is highmem.cmd script supplied with VBox. It uses
highmem.exe utility from AOO, which marks binaries for loading into high memory. So, if using it, you can spend less lower memory.
Yes, programs like OpenOffice, VBox, Mozilla or some others, use much shared memory. So, with a 32-bit OS/2 they cause many
problems. These problems can be lesser if mark some libs for loading to high memory. This can do something about that.

[Mark Szkolnicki]

- SET LIBCX_HIMEM=2

I found that that is only needed by VBox. It can cause problems elsewhere. I also gave up on VBox 5.0.51, and went back to VBox 5.0.6. For me, it is much more stable (meaning usable). I still need that setting, or I get the COM message. I do not put it in CONFIG.SYS. I do put it in the DragText Environment tab (without "SET "), in the VBox icon. That way, it is only used with VBox.

Also, you have VAL=1536, which may be too low. Thry increasing up to 3072 or whatever.

Yes, 1536 is way too low (even 2048 is too low). I use 2560, for all of my systems (even my antique IBM ThinkPad A22e, which is maxed out at 256 MB of real memory, but I don't try to run VBox on it). I have two machines that will run with 3072, but I still use 2560. The rest of my systems become very unstable if I use more than 2560. I also monitor the free upper, and lower, shared memory space. If I run win XP in VBox, lower shared memory drops to the 100 KB range, and upper shared memory still has about 1,200 KB. If I run win 7 in VBox, lower shared memory drops to the 50 KB range, and upper shared memory still has about 800 KB available. If anything else tries to run, lower shared memory can (and does) drop to zero. If that happens NOTHING works any more. I had to eliminate the AOO Quick Start thing, and Firefox Turbo, to clear enough shared memory space to be able to run win 7 in VBox. Even then, I sometimes need to reboot, before running VBox, or lower shared memory can be fragmented enough that something can't get what it needs, and bad things happen.

VBox, under OS/2 , is a delicate balancing act, and almost anything can push it over the edge.

Good Morning Doug

Long time no talk.

In regards to VBox 5.0.51 the problem I'm trying to solve is not getting this version of VBox to run. I've done that and continue to do that successfully on one of my other towers since I installed it over two years ago, using the settings in my original post.

Either I've been lucky, or its related to the types of things I've been doing, which is mostly professional work related to my emergency corporation, and graphics design, as I happen to like the Windows tools I've been using, and I don't need the latest and greatest to get things done successfully. Transfer of my activities from first Virtual PC 5.1 to VBox 5.0.6 then to 5.0.51 was seamless here

Granted if you wanted to run Windows 7 with those settings it is a pig, but running most of what I need on Windows XP as a client under OS/2 VBox works well, so if it ain't broke I'm not fixing it.

What is puzzling is why I'm not able to start VBox on the tower I build about a year ago - obviously I'm missing something, so plan to try a couple of things Valery suggested. I,m also comparing what Valery suggested to whats on the working VBox installation, to see if differences exist.

Best and a fine day to you, Sir!

Mark

[Mark Szkolnicki]

This error usually means that something went wrong when loading VBOX binary: some lib is missing, or too little low shared memory, or etc.
Also, there is a ticket about it in the bug tracker: https://trac.netlabs.org/vbox/ticket/73.

In your case, probably, you miss uclip and gsoap libs, and maybe, something else.
Also, you have VAL=1536, which may be too low. Thry increasing up to 3072 or whatever.

Please look here https://trac.netlabs.org/vbox/ for the exact list of dependency libs.

Good Morning Valery!

Had a look at your post this morning.

I had Uclip (0.3.0-1) installed already so thats out. As to Gsoap, I did not have it installed on the working installation, but did add it on the new installation - again no soap (sorry - earth humour as Mork used to say).

IOW the COM object window still comes up. I remember at one point I needed to use an experimental version of libcx in the 0.6.x series, but I assume the changes that were in the release at that time were incorporated into the current release (0.7.2-1), as the working installation is at that level, according to ANPM.

Also upped the VAL to 3072 - still the same error message

Will have to look at TRAC and see if I spot any other missing dependencies.

Has there been a significant change in OS/2 VBox 5.0.51 builds in the last two years, as I'm still using a release from a couple of years ago? (possibly the reason for adding gsoap to the list of dependencies?)

Best!

Mark

[Dariusz Piatkowski]

Hey Mark,

...Building a new system (but with a comparable era motherboard) from the ground up about a year ago, I attempted to install VirtualBox v5.0.51 on that system in exactly the same configuration as worked successfully on my other system, only to run into the following error window on starting up VirtualBox.exe

______________

Failed to Create the VirtualBoxClient COM Object

The Application will now terminate

Callee RC: NS_ERROR_ABORT
(0x80004004}

____________

...

Added the following to CONFIG.SYS
(in the appropriate locations based on the working Config.sys in the other system)

- A dot (.) in the LIBPATH statement in CONFIG.SYS, at the beginning.
- DEVICE=D:\Programs\VirtualBox\Bin\VBoxDrv.sys
- SET LIBCX_HIMEM=2
- VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT=1536...

Alright, so I'm seeing exactly the same error here, meaning: the same COM object critical error, however the actual root cause may still be different. I am running 5.0.51r159 release here.

The root cause of your problem is the incorrect statement in your CONFIG.SYS re: LIBCx highmem usage, it should actually be:

Code: [Select]

SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2

(notice the HIMEM vs HIGHMEM)

The details of what the various settings are can be found here https://github.com/bitwiseworks/libcx, check the section titled "Notes on C heap displacement" (https://github.com/bitwiseworks/libcx#notes-on-spawn2-api-usage).

In my case, I have a stand-alone vBox CMD which sets this variable first and calls the virtualbox.exe afterwards. That allows me to start vBox, otherwise, attempting to just start the EXE on it's own produces the COM object error.

So unless there is something else that's contributing, give this thing a try and that should bring vBox up for you.

[Mark Szkolnicki]

Hey Mark,

...Building a new system (but with a comparable era motherboard) from the ground up about a year ago, I attempted to install VirtualBox v5.0.51 on that system in exactly the same configuration as worked successfully on my other system, only to run into the following error window on starting up VirtualBox.exe

______________

Failed to Create the VirtualBoxClient COM Object

The Application will now terminate

Callee RC: NS_ERROR_ABORT
(0x80004004}

____________

...

Added the following to CONFIG.SYS
(in the appropriate locations based on the working Config.sys in the other system)

- A dot (.) in the LIBPATH statement in CONFIG.SYS, at the beginning.
- DEVICE=D:\Programs\VirtualBox\Bin\VBoxDrv.sys
- SET LIBCX_HIMEM=2
- VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT=1536...

Alright, so I'm seeing exactly the same error here, meaning: the same COM object critical error, however the actual root cause may still be different. I am running 5.0.51r159 release here.

The root cause of your problem is the incorrect statement in your CONFIG.SYS re: LIBCx highmem usage, it should actually be:

Code: [Select]

SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2

(notice the HIMEM vs HIGHMEM)

The details of what the various settings are can be found here https://github.com/bitwiseworks/libcx, check the section titled "Notes on C heap displacement" (https://github.com/bitwiseworks/libcx#notes-on-spawn2-api-usage).

In my case, I have a stand-alone vBox CMD which sets this variable first and calls the virtualbox.exe afterwards. That allows me to start vBox, otherwise, attempting to just start the EXE on it's own produces the COM object error.

So unless there is something else that's contributing, give this thing a try and that should bring vBox up for you.

Heh Yourself Dariusz!

Good talking again - this is starting to be like old home week.

And we have a winner!

I said a fresh set of eyes would do it - when I've written 1000 page emergency plans (and a book), looking at something a thousand times times, you learn that you tend to la-la a lot after the thousandth glance at something ............ and then your editor points out something really stupid, that you wrote at the start, and seemed so right and clever ............ and misspelled.

And it was staring me in the face in the CONFIG.SYS on the working installation - STUPID STUPID STUPID

Thats an interesting method of starting Virtualbox using a CMD file - is it because you were having problems, like Doug described, with other things if config.sys loaded SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2 to start? Haven't run into that problem but there are a lot of people here doing a lot more complex things than I do, technically, so I can see how some systems may be unstable or at least quirky as a result.

I'm a hardware geek, when I get the time, but always find all the cleverness and ingenuity here fascinating< software wise

But a huge thanks to you Sir, and I owe you one back someday.

Best!

Mark

[Dariusz Piatkowski]

Mark,

...And it was staring me in the face in the CONFIG.SYS on the working installation - STUPID STUPID STUPID

My friend, when you've been burning the proverbial "midnight oil" in hopes of finding the root cause, and have tried numerous solutions in the meantime, it is far too easy to misplace a character...

...Thats an interesting method of starting Virtualbox using a CMD file - is it because you were having problems, like Doug described, with other things if config.sys loaded SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2 to start?

Yup, starting with a CMD for precisely the reason Doug highlighted: I did not want that setting to be impacting every other application on my box.

...But a huge thanks to you Sir, and I owe you one back someday...

No worries, we all benefit from the community involvement here, especially given our tiny, itsy bitsy size!!!

ha ha...OS/2 in 2021 right? who knew right? Cheers to us all..

Troubleshooting seems to be the name of our game, but it's impressive if you take a step back and note how many significant milestones have been achieved on what is otherwised completely locked down platform!

[Mark Szkolnicki]

Mark,

...And it was staring me in the face in the CONFIG.SYS on the working installation - STUPID STUPID STUPID

My friend, when you've been burning the proverbial "midnight oil" in hopes of finding the root cause, and have tried numerous solutions in the meantime, it is far too easy to misplace a character...

...Thats an interesting method of starting Virtualbox using a CMD file - is it because you were having problems, like Doug described, with other things if config.sys loaded SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2 to start?

Yup, starting with a CMD for precisely the reason Doug highlighted: I did not want that setting to be impacting every other application on my box.

...But a huge thanks to you Sir, and I owe you one back someday...

No worries, we all benefit from the community involvement here, especially given our tiny, itsy bitsy size!!!

ha ha...OS/2 in 2021 right? who knew right? Cheers to us all..

Troubleshooting seems to be the name of our game, but it's impressive if you take a step back and note how many significant milestones have been achieved on what is otherwised completely locked down platform!

Have been burning far too much midnight oil for 21 months - ran a variant strike team for Covid in Alberta, helped NZ and the Indian government develop a Covid protocol and plan ........ and then got involved in a lot of Forest Fire response in British Columbia in July, to try to save more lives. My Midnight Oil was spent before I even got a chance to chill down here ...........

As to OS/2 in 2021 ............. started at OS/2 v2.0, through 2.1, Warp 3 and Warp 4, eCS various incarnations, and now ArcaOS ........... frankly I like being with the little guys - its kind of cozy here in the year of 2021.

M

[Mark Szkolnicki]

This error usually means that something went wrong when loading VBOX binary: some lib is missing, or too little low shared memory, or etc.
Also, there is a ticket about it in the bug tracker: https://trac.netlabs.org/vbox/ticket/73.

In your case, probably, you miss uclip and gsoap libs, and maybe, something else.
Also, you have VAL=1536, which may be too low. Thry increasing up to 3072 or whatever.

Please look here https://trac.netlabs.org/vbox/ for the exact list of dependency libs.

Valery, I've solved the problem that was causing the issue I reported, but I was curious about one thing - you advocated a lot for OS/4 in the past - I have added 8 Gb to this system which is about the extent that this motherboard will hold (ASUS M3N-HT), and I know the ArcaOS kernal cannot address it all. Don't know the state of the OSFree project at the moment but was wondering if using that on this experimental tower would allow me to use the additional memory which is installed for the Windows gaming system I also have on this computer, for use under this ArcaOS based VBox configuration.

As I've said, I've been out of the loop for an age, so what is the current thinking related to OS/4 and VirtualBox ............ and are there any instructions as to installing that with current configurations, as especially the ACPI configurations which worked I remember were way back from the current 3.23.16.

Just was interested in trying the OS/4 kernal, given having a lot of free time at the moment

Thoughts and Best!

Mark

[Mark Szkolnicki]

Troubleshooting seems to be the name of our game, but it's impressive if you take a step back and note how many significant milestones have been achieved on what is otherwised completely locked down platform!
[/quote]

Heh Dariusz!

One last question

Since I started using v5.0.51 I have to wait about 15-20 seconds after the first VBox Management window comes up - then I can start one of the client operating systems. Otherwise I still get the old tired "Unknown error 1018 during initialization".

Was wondering if you get that,  using your CMD file arrangement to start VBox, or whether you have seen that when starting up of a client?

Not that it matters much - 15 seconds is nothing in the big scheme of the day, and if it works I don't plan to break it.

Best, Sir!

Mark