Importing an appliance requires VirtualBox to be closed and reopened to work

[notafanof2020]

When first running HiddenVM, importing a virtual appliance results in this error attached. It is required to close VirtualBox and relaunch Virtualbox before an appliance can be successfully imported.

[aforensics]

Doesn't sound like a HiddenVM issue, but I'll try to reproduce when I have time. Does this happen every time you do a fresh install? Also, have a look here and see if it might be related to your problem: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/18343

[notafanof2020]

Thanks. I researched the error a few weeks ago. It's a generic error, but seems to occur when there is a lack of free space available or VirtualBox cannot write to the location specified.

Yes, it occurs when installing HiddenVM for the first time on that drive and each installation afterwards. Importing appliances is only possible after closing VirtualBox after installation and reopening.

Free space available is not the problem as I'm testing on a 1TB empty drive, plus importing is successful when reopening. I have a feeling that the issue is permissions-based via the HiddenVM installation. But it's clear to me that VirtualBox does have write access to the folder when it first boots... I'm stumped!

Is there a difference in how VirtualBox is run straight after installation as opposed to the user launching via GNOME? I don't think it's a VirtualBox issue as it only occurs straight after HiddenVM installation.

[aforensics]

There shouldn't be a difference. But there's is definitely some mounting and permission setting that occurs when HiddenVM is being setup, so I'll try to reproduce when I have time.

[animik]

Thanks for bringing up this bug @notafanof2020, I've noticed it too. Let's solve it soon!

[aforensics]

I reproduced it, however it's not clear to me why it's happening. The good news is that v2.0, which is a complete rewrite and will come soon, does not have this problem. So for now we will probably just update the instructions to include the a workaround. @animik, could you take care of that?

[notafanof2020]

Sounds great. Thanks you two!

[Brian6Mt]

I am getting the same error message as Notafanof2020 with the most recent release. It will not import. The Veracrypted 1 TB external SSD has about 700 GB available in the hidden volume, so lack of space isn't an issue. I have 32 GB of memory, so that isn't an issue either.

[aceri]

Same error.

Versions:

Whonix-XFCE-15.0.1.4.8.ova
HiddenVM-1.5.0-x86_64.AppImage

Failed to import appliance /home/clearnet/HiddenVM/Whonix-XFCE-15.0.1.4.8.ova.
Result Code: NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057)

Enough space

---

As a workaround, you can rename the ova file as a tar and open it to get the vmdk or import the ovf. It seems it works.

I don't know what impact will this have on HiddenVM though as there seems to be a script on the codebase to make them persistent ?

[aforensics]

Hi, please use the workaround provided by notafanof2020 for now, specifically this part:

Importing appliances is only possible after closing VirtualBox after installation and reopening.

In other words: after installation, close virtual box and then re-launch "HiddenVM Clearnet VirtualBox" from the Applicatons -> System Tools menu. Then your should be able to import successfully.

This bug will get fixed eventually.

[CriticalSteffen]

This bug will be fixed eventually.

It is eventually yet? 😅 I'm having this bug in September 2022.

First Attempt:

1. I performed a fresh HiddenVM install, rebooted, re-mounted the drives, launched HiddenVM, and waited for VirtualBox to start.
2. I attempted to import an OVA (which was tested on another system previously).
3. I got the NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG error message.
4. I closed VirtualBox and waited for the "HiddenVM was successfully shut down" message.
5. On trying to launch VirtualBox again, it failed to start, so I rebooted the system.

Second Attempt

1. Once the system booted up again, I re-mounted the drives, launched HiddenVM, and waited for VirtualBox to start.
2. I then closed VirtualBox and waited for the "HiddenVM was successfully shut down" message.
3. I re-launched VirtualBox (it worked this time) and attempted to import the same OVA.
4. Once again I got the NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG error message, and the OVA failed to import.

Notes

My system has a 1TB drive allocated to HVM, and 32GiB of RAM (~28GiB free at system idle). Tails is running on a 16GB thumb drive (overkill, considering it only uses a fraction of that and there's no persistent storage configured).

If I create a new VM, rather than importing an OVA, then it appears to work just fine.

[timotheengineer]

I am also getting the same error as I try to install gnsvm.ova