When you start a virtual machine in VirtualBox, the error message “Failed to open a session for the virtual machine” sometimes appears. This can happen if your current configuration has too many snapshots and takes time to create one. If this happens, run VBoxManage snapshot delete all so that there is only one snapshot left before retrying again.
The “failed to open a session for the virtual machine mac” is a problem that has been present for a while. There are many solutions that have been released by the community, but the best solution I found was this one.
This article explains how to repair the issue “failed to start a session for the virtual machine” while launching any virtual machine in Oracle VirtualBox. The repair works on all versions of Windows, Ubuntu, and other operating systems.
When you launch any virtual machine on your computer using any virtual machine software, particularly Oracle VirtualBox, you may get the message “failed to start a session for the virtual machine.”
The virtual machine VM Name> failed to start a session. VT-x isn’t accessible right now. (VERR VMX NO VMX).
Or,
The virtual machine’s session could not be opened. With exit code 1, the virtual machine ‘VMachineName’ has suddenly terminated during initialization (0x1).
On your computer, the issue might arise for a variety of reasons. I’ll show you how to diagnose and repair this VirtualBox problem in this article.
Let’s go right to the point.
Fix for the issue “failed to start a virtual machine session”:
The issue “failed to start a session for the virtual machine” in VirtualBox is quite general, and the only way to repair it is to try a few different alternatives. I am certain that you will be able to resolve the problem using the five troubleshooting techniques listed below.
- Delete the VM’s stored state.
- Task Manager may be used to terminate the VirtualBox process.
- Hyper-V should be turned off.
- Check the virtual machine files’ permissions.
- VirtualBox software should be updated.
- Install the VirtualBox program again.
Here’s how to solve the virtual machine problem step by step.
1. Delete the VM’s stored state.
You can sometimes preserve the virtual machine state so that you may reuse it from a previous state. This comes in helpful most of the time and serves like Windows’ hibernation functionality. However, this is the most typical cause of the “failed to initiate a session for the virtual machine” issue when attempting to restart the VM.
If the virtual machine has a stored state, it must be discarded.
- Open the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager application.
- On the virtual computer you wish to launch, right-click and choose “Discard Saved State…”
If your VM has no stored state, the option is deactivated, and you must go on to the second troubleshooting step.
2. Using Task Manager, terminate the VirtualBox process.
If a virtual machine is in a hung condition and you attempt to start it again, VirtualBox may not be able to open it. Using your task manager, try to stop the VirtualBox processes before launching the VM.
The process to search for in the task manager is VirtualBoxVM.exe, alternatively you may go ahead and terminate all the processes linked to VirtualBox as shown below.
3. Turn off Hyper-V in Windows.
The built-in Microsoft Hyper-V often clashes with VirtualBox and other type 2 hypervisors, resulting in the message “failed to start a session for the virtual machine.” To repair the problem, you must deactivate Hyper-V by following the procedures below.
- Search for “Turn Windows features on or off” in Windows search to open “Windows Features.”
- Remove the option “Hyper-V” from the list.
- Click the OK button.
- To make the modifications take effect, restart your computer.
4. Verify the virtual machine files’ permissions.
It’s conceivable that you don’t have access to the actual files on your hard disk that belong to the virtual machine. If you’re using Windows, follow the steps below to verify the file permissions.
- Go to Properties by right-clicking on the virtual machine folder.
- Look for the user you’re attempting to run the virtual machine as under the Security tab.
- Examine if the user has “Full Control” of the VM directory.
- If not, go to Edit and enable Full Control.
- To preserve the new permission, click OK.
The problem should be fixed if you restart the virtual machine using VirtualBox.
5. Install the latest version of VirtualBox.
It’s almost probable that your virtual machine launch problem has been resolved if you’ve followed all of the preceding instructions. If you’re unlucky and the problem remains, the VirtualBox file systems are most likely corrupted. To fix the problem, update the VirtualBox software to the most recent version.
6. Install the VirtualBox program again.
If you’ve reached this point in the essay, it’s because you haven’t been able to start your virtual machine yet. I’m afraid you don’t have any further options at this point; you’ve already attempted all of the methods above, which should have corrected the problem when running the VM in VirtualBox.
The problem might be caused by incorrect VM settings. Instead of fiddling with the VM’s settings, I recommend uninstalling VirtualBox altogether and installing the most recent version. VirtualBox Guest Additions must also be installed.
This is the ultimate remedy, and I can tell you that the problem will no longer exist.
Conclusion:
That is all there is to it. I hope the problem “failed to start a session for the virtual machine” in VirtualBox has been resolved. Please let us know which troubleshooting method helped you in the comments. You are invited to contribute any additional potential solutions in the comments area and assist others in resolving the problem.
Greetings!!!
Other VirtualBox fixes may be found here: 1. Why isn’t copying and pasting in VirtualBox working? There are a few things you can do to solve it. 2. On Windows 10, make VirtualBox full screen.
A “ns_error_failure” error is thrown when trying to open a session for the virtual machine. This can be fixed by checking that your VirtualBox installation is up-to-date. Reference: failed to open a session for the virtual machine ns_error_failure.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I fix failed to open the virtual machine on Windows 10?
A: To fix this issue, you can try to run the virtual machine in safe mode.
Why is VirtualBox not opening?
A: VirtualBox has been discontinued.
How do I open a virtual machine in VirtualBox?
A: On a Mac, open the app VirtualBox. Click on the New button at the top left corner of your screen to create a new virtual machine. Then click on Import Appliance. Then browse for and choose an operating system from one of these folders- Windows 10 Pro x64, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64bit, Fedora 26 Workstation 32 bit. Name it whatever youd like! After that go back to Import Appliance and then click where it says Operating System again in order to set up your settings appropriately (memory size/number of CPUs).
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