Can't install Fedora 33 Workstation on VirtualBox 6.1.16

I have a 64-bit Windows 10 Professional 20H2 with VirtualBox 6.1.16 and I try to install Fedora 33 Workstation on it. Unfortunately the live installer (Anaconda) gets stuck and then crashes when it’s on the very first window (of choosing language). This is what I see when I try to run it manually from a terminal:

[liveuser@localhost-live applications]$ /usr/bin/liveinst
Starting installer, one moment...
anaconda 33.25.4-1.fc33 for Fedora 33 started.
 * installation log files are stored in /tmp during the installation
 * shell is available on TTY2 and in second TMUX pane (ctrl+b, then press 2)
 * when reporting a bug add logs from /tmp as separate text/plain attachments
Anaconda received signal 11!.
/usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages/pyanaconda/_isys.so(+0x13c7)[0x7f8e713b53c7]
/lib64/libc.so.6(+0x3dc50)[0x7f8e803a7c50]
/lib64/libc.so.6(+0x1625b5)[0x7f8e804cc5b5]
/lib64/libc.so.6(+0x6e4a8)[0x7f8e803d84a8]
/lib64/libc.so.6(+0x7efc5)[0x7f8e803e8fc5]
/lib64/libglib-2.0.so.0(g_vasprintf+0x1f)[0x7f8e7274f27f]
/lib64/libglib-2.0.so.0(g_strdup_vprintf+0x2d)[0x7f8e7272759d]
/lib64/libglib-2.0.so.0(g_prefix_error+0xac)[0x7f8e726f40ac]
/lib64/libgio-2.0.so.0(g_unix_connection_send_credentials+0x18c)[0x7f8e724b712c]
/lib64/libgio-2.0.so.0(+0xf9559)[0x7f8e724e9559]
/lib64/libgio-2.0.so.0(g_bus_get_sync+0x9c)[0x7f8e724f47fc]
/lib64/libgio-2.0.so.0(+0x10e03e)[0x7f8e724fe03e]
/lib64/libgio-2.0.so.0(g_initable_new_valist+0x92)[0x7f8e72463232]
/lib64/libgio-2.0.so.0(g_initable_new+0x99)[0x7f8e724632e9]
/lib64/libgio-2.0.so.0(g_dbus_proxy_new_for_bus_sync+0xfd)[0x7f8e724fff1d]
/usr/lib64/gtk-3.0/modules/libpk-gtk-module.so(+0x26f8)[0x7f8e65dff6f8]
/lib64/libglib-2.0.so.0(+0x51117)[0x7f8e72706117]
/lib64/libglib-2.0.so.0(g_main_context_dispatch+0x167)[0x7f8e72706ff7]
/lib64/libglib-2.0.so.0(+0xa2b88)[0x7f8e72757b88]
/lib64/libglib-2.0.so.0(g_main_loop_run+0x7b)[0x7f8e727066cb]
[New LWP 5659]
[New LWP 5660]
[New LWP 5744]
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib64/libthread_db.so.1".
0x00007f8e80437d0f in wait4 () from /lib64/libc.so.6
Saved corefile /tmp/anaconda.core.5652
[Inferior 1 (process 5652) detached]
[liveuser@localhost-live applications]$ 

In addition to the official ISO of Fedora 33 I’ve also tried the F33-20201201 respin ISO. But it has similar troubles.

Any help to install Fedora 33?
Why Anaconda crashes?

1 Like

Verify that VirtualBox supports installing Fedora 33 on a Windows host.
I think it’s better to contact VirtualBox support channels:
Community – Oracle VM VirtualBox

Unless you need both windows and fedora running at the same time why not install fedora dual boot instead of in virtualbox.

1 Like

So the live boots fine.
Could you try with the netinstall?

https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/33/Everything/x86_64/iso/Fedora-Everything-netinst-x86_64-33-1.2.iso

2 Likes

The netinstall works now (downloads and installs packages). I’ve passed the step where Anaconda was stuck and crashing. However I experienced several lags during that and further steps. For example when I wanted to change language I waited a few seconds after the click before the language was actually changed. There were a few other lags after that. I suspect those lags relate to my original issue. The netinstall doesn’t boot into a full live system, i.e. it’s lighter.

I’ve also made a bug report:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1907107

2 Likes

The issues should be addressed to the hypervisor bug tracker.
There’s no point to file tickets on the guest OS bug tracker.

@vgaetera How do you know this is hypervisor only? After Fedora 33 is installed it works properly, even on VirtualBox.

There’s no problem installing Fedora 33 in KVM/QEMU.
Moreover, many people successfully install it on real hardware.
Thus, your issue should be related to hypervisor/host.

Wait @vgaetera
Since VirtualBox is a widely used hypervisor, if the installation fails, you can agree that a lot of people around the world will not be able to try and use Fedora on their systems.
Indeed, due to this popularity, a Change happened in F28 was the inclusion of VirtualBox guest additions by default on Fedora Workstation (Changes/VirtualBox Guest Integration - Fedora Project Wiki).

So it is in the interest of our community to at least investigate where the problem is. So a bug report on bugzilla is perfectly fine.

1 Like

@rosti In addition, could you share the configuration of the virtual machine? Some strange option? How much memory did you allocate to the VM?

In addition I would attach the core dump (BTW I don’t know if it is too big) or some other log file to the bug.

@alciregi Here or in the bug report?

The the logs in the bug report.

Some hint on your VM configuration could be useful here too.

@alciregi anaconda.log, anaconda core dump and a few other logs were attached into the bug report.

This is the content of the “Fedora 33.vbox” file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
** If you make changes to this file while any VirtualBox related application
** is running, your changes will be overwritten later, without taking effect.
** Use VBoxManage or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes.
-->
<VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.virtualbox.org/" version="1.17-windows">
  <Machine uuid="{370ed856-8b71-43d1-8e02-479b3f1349fd}" name="Fedora 33" OSType="Fedora_64" snapshotFolder="Snapshots" lastStateChange="2020-12-13T18:43:54Z">
    <MediaRegistry>
      <HardDisks>
        <HardDisk uuid="{ab18e353-0ecd-435d-9bfb-9fb0d099a258}" location="Fedora 33.vdi" format="VDI" type="Normal"/>
      </HardDisks>
      <DVDImages>
        <Image uuid="{efb83321-8c71-41d2-bfb9-d7f9cacccb97}" location="D:/OSes/Fedora/Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-33-1.2.iso"/>
        <Image uuid="{5f8f4afa-a3a2-48d0-81ea-006380d54335}" location="D:/OSes/Fedora/F33-WORK-x86_64-LIVE-20201201.iso"/>
        <Image uuid="{1889cf7b-c4ea-4924-bd9c-f497d66ee583}" location="D:/OSes/Fedora/Fedora-Everything-netinst-x86_64-33-1.2.iso"/>
        <Image uuid="{8a984a54-da68-46b9-b2c7-fa5000ff434c}" location="C:/Program Files/Oracle/VirtualBox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso"/>
      </DVDImages>
    </MediaRegistry>
    <ExtraData>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastCloseAction" value="PowerOff"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastGuestSizeHint" value="1920,985"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastNormalWindowPosition" value="0,23,640,480,max"/>
    </ExtraData>
    <Hardware>
      <CPU count="4">
        <PAE enabled="true"/>
        <NestedHWVirt enabled="true"/>
        <LongMode enabled="true"/>
        <X2APIC enabled="true"/>
        <HardwareVirtExLargePages enabled="true"/>
      </CPU>
      <Memory RAMSize="8192"/>
      <Chipset type="ICH9"/>
      <Boot>
        <Order position="1" device="DVD"/>
        <Order position="2" device="HardDisk"/>
        <Order position="3" device="None"/>
        <Order position="4" device="None"/>
      </Boot>
      <Display controller="VMSVGA" VRAMSize="32" accelerate3D="true"/>
      <VideoCapture screens="1" file="." fps="25"/>
      <BIOS>
        <IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
        <SmbiosUuidLittleEndian enabled="true"/>
      </BIOS>
      <Network>
        <Adapter slot="0" enabled="true" MACAddress="080027B47A0C" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <InternalNetwork name="intnet"/>
            <NATNetwork name="NatNetwork"/>
          </DisabledModes>
          <BridgedInterface name="Intel(R) Ethernet Connection I217-LM"/>
        </Adapter>
        <Adapter slot="8" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="9" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="10" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="11" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="12" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="13" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="14" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="15" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="16" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="17" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="18" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="19" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="20" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="21" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="22" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="23" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="24" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="25" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="26" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="27" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="28" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="29" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="30" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="31" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="32" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="33" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="34" cable="false"/>
        <Adapter slot="35" cable="false"/>
      </Network>
      <AudioAdapter codec="AD1980" driver="DirectSound" enabledOut="true"/>
      <RTC localOrUTC="UTC"/>
      <Clipboard mode="Bidirectional"/>
      <GuestProperties>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/HostVerLastChecked" value="6.1.16" timestamp="1607883382041692300" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Revision" value="140239" timestamp="1607883327233696406" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Version" value="6.1.14" timestamp="1607883327233696404" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VersionExt" value="6.1.14_Fedora" timestamp="1607883327233696405" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Product" value="Linux" timestamp="1607883327233696400" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Release" value="5.8.15-301.fc33.x86_64" timestamp="1607883327233696401" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Version" value="#1 SMP Thu Oct 15 16:58:06 UTC 2020" timestamp="1607883327233696402" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/GUI/LanguageID" value="C" timestamp="1607885034407980500" flags=""/>
      </GuestProperties>
      <StorageControllers>
        <StorageController name="IDE" type="PIIX4" PortCount="2" useHostIOCache="true" Bootable="true">
          <AttachedDevice passthrough="false" type="DVD" hotpluggable="false" port="1" device="0">
            <Image uuid="{efb83321-8c71-41d2-bfb9-d7f9cacccb97}"/>
          </AttachedDevice>
        </StorageController>
        <StorageController name="SATA" type="AHCI" PortCount="1" useHostIOCache="false" Bootable="true" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3">
          <AttachedDevice type="HardDisk" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
            <Image uuid="{ab18e353-0ecd-435d-9bfb-9fb0d099a258}"/>
          </AttachedDevice>
        </StorageController>
      </StorageControllers>
    </Hardware>
  </Machine>
</VirtualBox>

I tried several configurations. For example with 4 GB of RAM instead of 8 GB, 2 CPUs instead of 4 CPUs, PIIX3 chipset instead of ICH9. Also tried with several guest CPU feature disabled - PAE, nested VT-x. Also tried to disable the 3D acceleration.