'startx' partly fails + corrupt zsh history file

Two questions:

1, My new installation boots to a command line. Is that usual? (Note
that submitting 'startx' at the command line results in a switch to a
uniformly gray screen that has an immovable mouse cursor at its center,
but that otherwise is empty.)

2, After I login, I see a line that says "zsh: corrupt history file
/Users/root/.cache/zsh_history". Is this something that should concern
me? (Note that this first appeared upon reboot following an attempt to
submit "Compile WindowMaker" as suggested by Lucas (which ended with an
error).)

Supporting Info:
The Gobo installation is into a VirtualBox virtual machine. The VM has
drivers, called "Guest Additions", on a CD ISO image,
'VBoxGuestAdditions.iso', that is mounted in the VM. The CD is
electronically labeled "VBOXADDITIONS_4.3.26_98988". Running a shell
script, '/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run', on that CD may help the situation.
However, from the Gobo command line, "ls /Mount/CD-ROM" returns nothing.

I have about 3200 more questions and problems, but I'd like to start
small. :-)

Thank You.