Re: Restoring VirtualBox VM

Hey, Rudy, thanks for the kind offer.

I was able to open the rogue .vdi using PowerISO and get the files I 
needed--a couple of important ones that had not made it into my backup 
for some reason So I'm going to forget about the troublesome recovery 
project. I created a new Win 10 VM and am off and running.

Thanks again.

Eric Beversluis
www.ericbeversluis.com
2x Honorable Mention--Writer's Digest Contest


On 2/24/25 3:04 PM, Rudy Zijlstra wrote:
> Eric,
>
>
> can you show the content of the vbox file?
>
>
> I've more than once hand edited one to get it working.
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
> Rudy
>
> On 24-02-2025 19:23, Eric Beversluis via Any discussion of 
> rdiff-backup wrote:
>> Thanks, Rudy.
>>
>> I tried that, using first
>>     /VirtualBox VMs/Windows 10 VM, then
>>     /VirtualBox VMs/Windows 10 VM/Windows 10 VM.vbox
>> and then, that same command after renaming Windows 10 VM.vbox-prev to 
>> Windows 10VM.vbox.
>>
>> This is what I got back from the command:
>>
>> eric@fedora:~$ vboxmanage registervm '/home/eric/VirtualBox VMs'
>> VBoxManage: error: Document is empty.
>> VBoxManage: error: Location: '/home/eric/VirtualBox VMs', line 1 (0), 
>> column 1.
>> VBoxManage: error: 
>> /home/vbox/tinderbox/build-VBox-7.1/svn/src/VBox/Main/src-server/MachineImpl.cpp[691] 
>> (nsresult Machine::initFromSettings(VirtualBox*, const com::Utf8Str&, 
>> const com::Guid*, const com::Utf8Str&))
>> VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), 
>> component MachineWrap, interface IMachine, callee nsISupports
>> VBoxManage: error: Context: "OpenMachine(Bstr(a->argv[0]).raw(), 
>> Bstr(strPassword).raw(), machine.asOutParam()))" at line 159 of file 
>> VBoxManageMisc.cpp
>>
>> eric@fedora:~$ vboxmanage registervm '/home/eric/VirtualBox 
>> VMs/Windows 10 VM.vbox'
>> VBoxManage: error: Runtime error opening '/home/eric/VirtualBox 
>> VMs/Windows 10 VM.vbox' for reading VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND (File not 
>> found.).
>> VBoxManage: error: 
>> /home/vbox/tinderbox/build-VBox-7.1/svn/src/VBox/Main/src-server/MachineImpl.cpp[691] 
>> (nsresult Machine::initFromSettings(VirtualBox*, const com::Utf8Str&, 
>> const com::Guid*, const com::Utf8Str&))
>> VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), 
>> component MachineWrap, interface IMachine, callee nsISupports
>> VBoxManage: error: Context: "OpenMachine(Bstr(a->argv[0]).raw(), 
>> Bstr(strPassword).raw(), machine.asOutParam()))" at line 159 of file 
>> VBoxManageMisc.cpp
>>
>> eric@fedora:~$ vboxmanage registervm '/home/eric/VirtualBox 
>> VMs/Windows 10 VM.vbox'
>> VBoxManage: error: Runtime error opening '/home/eric/VirtualBox 
>> VMs/Windows 10 VM.vbox' for reading VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND (File not 
>> found.).
>> VBoxManage: error: 
>> /home/vbox/tinderbox/build-VBox-7.1/svn/src/VBox/Main/src-server/MachineImpl.cpp[691] 
>> (nsresult Machine::initFromSettings(VirtualBox*, const com::Utf8Str&, 
>> const com::Guid*, const com::Utf8Str&))
>> VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), 
>> component MachineWrap, interface IMachine, callee nsISupports
>> VBoxManage: error: Context: "OpenMachine(Bstr(a->argv[0]).raw(), 
>> Bstr(strPassword).raw(), machine.asOutParam()))" at line 159 of file 
>> VBoxManageMisc.cpp
>>
>> I don't know if this means anything to you. I'll also post these 
>> results on my threat at VirtualBox.
>>
>> I always have the VMs shut down when I run rdiff-backup.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Eric Beversluis
>> www.ericbeversluis.com
>> 2x Honorable Mention--Writer's Digest Contest
>>
>>
>> On 2/24/25 12:05 PM, Rudy Zijlstra wrote:
>>> Eric,
>>>
>>>
>>> When restoring from a file backup, you may need to re-register the 
>>> VM. That is fully delete it, put the files in place from backup, and 
>>> then vboxmanage registervm <abs path to vbox file>
>>>
>>>
>>> This is on the assumption the external backup was made while the VM 
>>> was NOT running. If it was running during the copy, there is no 
>>> guarantee the backup file is consistent. It might still work, but 
>>> the key word there is "might"
>>>
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>>
>>> Rudy
>>>
>>>
>>> On 23-02-2025 20:43, Eric Beversluis via Any discussion of 
>>> rdiff-backup wrote:
>>>> Eric, sorry about not addressing the list. I don't know what made 
>>>> me think you had replied off-list.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for digging into this for me. I'll study the VB forum links 
>>>> you found and return to the qq I've posted there. Hopefully I'll 
>>>> get some love there.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Eric Beversluis
>>>> www.ericbeversluis.com
>>>> 2x Honorable Mention--Writer's Digest Contest
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 2/23/25 12:36 PM, EricZolf wrote:
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> please keep the discussion on the mailing list (and don't address 
>>>>> me directly), you never know who might be able to help, or who 
>>>>> might need the solution.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 23/02/2025 13:07, Eric Beversluis wrote:
>>>>>> Hi Eric,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When I tried to reproduce the original VM by clicking on the 
>>>>>> .vbox file, I got this error message:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Failed to open virtual machines located in .../VirtualBox 
>>>>>> VMs/Windows10 VM/Windows 10 VM.vbox. Callee RC: 
>>>>>> NX_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0X80070057)
>>>>>
>>>>> You are probably better off asking in a VirtualBox forum. Reading 
>>>>> through https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=110774 I get 
>>>>> the impression that the issue is some expectations on the devices 
>>>>> (there the ISO) being available on the host, which are most 
>>>>> probably not part of the backup.
>>>>> See especially the comment 
>>>>> https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?p=544847&sid=1dd533b8b7d03facbea8b6d9e371a3c3#p544847
>>>>>
>>>>>> Nearly as I can tell from searching, that's a kind of generic 
>>>>>> error message that doesn't help much.
>>>>>
>>>>> You are possibly right, I wouldn't know, I haven't used VirtualBox 
>>>>> for decades.
>>>>>
>>>>>> I think I should also be able to create a new VM by importing the 
>>>>>> old .vdi image. But when I try that approach, VirtualBox can't 
>>>>>> find the .vdi image, even though it's in the 'VirtualBox VMs' 
>>>>>> directory.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Somewhere in my vague memory, from years ago when I was more 
>>>>>> active with this stuff, there's the idea that copying an image as 
>>>>>> image is different from copying the files in an image. Could that 
>>>>>> be relevant here? I definitely would have run rdiff-backup with 
>>>>>> the VM shut down.
>>>>>
>>>>> Well, you can do backup from within the VM, at the OS level, or 
>>>>> from outside at the VM image level, but apparently here you've 
>>>>> done it from outside.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sorry I can't help more but it sounds more like a VirtualBox than 
>>>>> an rdiff-backup issue.
>>>>>
>>>>> KR, Eric
>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Eric Beversluis
>>>>>> www.ericbeversluis.com
>>>>>> 2x Honorable Mention--Writer's Digest Contest
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2/23/25 2:46 AM, EricZolf wrote:
>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>> I have no clue of virtual box but which error message do you get?
>>>>>>> Did you backup the image while the VM was switched off? Else it 
>>>>>>> could get inconsistent...
>>>>>>> KR, Eric
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On February 23, 2025 4:48:18 AM UTC, Eric Beversluis via Any 
>>>>>>> discussion of rdiff-backup <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>> I've been backing up my VirtualBox VM as part of my 
>>>>>>>> rdiff-backiup of my Home directory (Fedora 40).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> My Window 10 VM got destroyed, and I'm trying to recreate it, 
>>>>>>>> but VirtualBox does not seem to be able to recognize or deal 
>>>>>>>> with my restored rdiff-backup files of the VM. Everything seems 
>>>>>>>> to be there, but VB doesn't seem to recognize the .vdi file at 
>>>>>>>> all and I get an error when I click on the .vbox file, which is 
>>>>>>>> supposedly what retriggers the new VM.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Does anyone know why I can't restore from my rdiff-backup of 
>>>>>>>> the virtual machine? I thought I was being very prudent with 
>>>>>>>> backing up the VM.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>