[Bug]: VirtualBox 7.2.4 VMs doesn't start from the CLI (virtualboxvm command)

[frank67]

Version

7.2.4

Host OS Type

Linux

Host OS name + version

Debian 13.2

Host Architecture

x86

Guest OS Type

Linux

Guest Architecture

x86

Guest OS name + version

Debian Live or Windows XP

Component

Other

What happened?

If I start the virtual machine from the GUI (virtualbox command) all works nicely, the issue occurs when I try to run the command:

~$ virtualboxvm --startvm=Live

It fails showing a dialog box window error (see VBox.log) (VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_ACCESSIBLE).

My user belongs to "vboxusers" group:

~$ groups
frank cdrom floppy audio dip video plugdev users netdev vboxusers

I expect that the VM starts as it happens if I start it in the GUI.

VBox.log

How can we reproduce this?

On Debian 13.2 OS please try to open a VM from the CLI using the virtualboxvm command:

~$ virtualboxvm --startvm=Live
~$ virtualboxvm --startvm=WinXP

Did you upload all of your necessary log files, screenshots, etc.?

• Yes, I've uploaded all pertinent files to this issue.

[galitsyn-oracle]

Hi @frank67 ,

Could you please attach output of ls -la /dev/vbox*? Does the issue persist if you reboot the host?

[frank67]

Hi @galitsyn-oracle ,

Output of LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 ls -la /dev/vbox* >devoutput.txt in attachment.
I've rebooted many times and reinstalled VirtualBox 7.2.4 and rebuild the driver (sudo /sbin/vboxconfig command).

devoutput.txt

[galitsyn-oracle]

@frank67 ,

Somehow udev does not want to change group to vboxusers for /dev/vboxdrv and /dev/vboxnetctl. Do you see anything suspicious in system log?

[frank67]

I remember to you that running VMs from the GUI (virtualbox command) all works nicely: no permissions issue.

Answering to your question, I run the ~# journalctl --boot=0 --grep udev command and there wasn't nothing related to VirtualBox.

During the VirtualBox installation process an uDev rule is placed under the /etc/udev/rules.d/ directory, the 60-vboxdrv.rules file, I will post it as attachment. However I've already tried to edit that file (and after to reboot) but nothing changed, I think that the /dev/vboxdrv block file is created by the driver before the uDev subsystem starts. It is not possible to change group owner of the driver.

IMO I think that there is an issue inside the code of /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBoxVM in particular about how it accesses the driver, maybe I'm wrong.

60-vboxdrv.rules.txt