# VirtualBox not working...



## ikbendeman (Mar 2, 2010)

When I try to run VirtualBox I get the following error (even when run as root):

```
Failed to create the VirtualBox COM Object.

The application will now terminate.

Details:

Callee RC:                    NS_ERROR_ABORT (0x80004004)
```

I have tried running VBoxSVC first, as well, and this is what happens:

```
*********************************************
Sun VirtualBox XPCOM Server Version 3.1.2_OSE
(C) 2008-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Starting event loop....
[press Ctrl-C to quit]
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'xml::EIPRTFailure'
  what():  Runtime error: -102 (File not found.)
Abort (core dumped)
```

The terminate called message comes as soon as I start VirtualBox. I've tried running both as root, both as user, and both combinations thereof. I've deleted all files in ~/ and /tmp as suggested online.... anybody have any suggestions?


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## eyebone (Mar 3, 2010)

hej,

check if VirtualBox.xml file exists, if so and it's empty just delete it and try again, this got me rid of this error.

regards


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## ikbendeman (Mar 4, 2010)

and where would this file be located?


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## segfault (Mar 20, 2010)

Sorry for a late reply but just happened across this thread.
I am not currently at my machine but I believe you'll find your file in something like ~/.virtualbox
...or something like that.

Good luck.


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## sprewell (Sep 10, 2011)

I just came across this error today when trying to setup VirtualBox without the Qt frontend.  When I run VBoxManage for the first time to create a new VM, I get the same NS_ERROR_ABORT message along with the unhelpful info, "Most likely, the VirtualBox COM server is not running or failed to start."  Luckily I found some forum where someone mentioned that you need a .VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml, so I copied one over from a different FreeBSD install where I had used VirtualBox with Qt and it now works.  I guess nobody uses VirtualBox without a GUI frontend much so this isn't a commonly noted bug, but it does seem to be a bug that you need the GUI to create this file for you.


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## kpedersen (Sep 10, 2011)

Hmm that is odd.

I use VBoxManage and VBoxHeadless on my 8.2-RELEASE server and everything works well.

I do have the GUI parts installed, but they have never been run because I do not have xorg on the server.

Perhaps if I update my ports, I will start experiencing the same issues you are describing.

I use the following commands with little modification (http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch07.html#idp11625184). perhaps it is the --register step that generates the .VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml (because I do seem to have that)


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## sprewell (Sep 10, 2011)

Hmm, are you sure you never ran the GUI remotely?  Maybe there's some other part of the frontend that automatically generates that XML file then, because it wasn't there for me.  I couldn't even do a "VBoxManage list systemproperties" as a result.  This is with VirtualBox 4.0.12 from ports, should be pretty easy to reproduce if you build without the Qt frontend and take away a pre-existing .Virtualbox config.  I actually tried using the exact same commands you link to from the manual, except that first createvm step kept failing.  I thought maybe I hadn't properly added myself to the vboxusers group at first but that wasn't it, so I then started googling that error and eventually found mention of that xml file.


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## kpedersen (Sep 10, 2011)

The version I am using (32bit).


```
virtualbox-ose-4.0.8
virtualbox-ose-kmod-4.0.8_1
```

I definitely have not run the GUI stuff (through vnc or ssh/x11). I basically use this machine purely to host a Windows 2003 VM image that I will never need to activate online (in case of World War III).

I have a script that effectively wipes any trace of VirtualBox from my home directory (including the .xml file), and then generates a fresh VM using the Windows 2003 .vdi. The only tools that are used are VBoxManage and VBoxHeadless.

The only "strange" thing that I do is set my $HOME to $HOME/.VirtualSandbox so that my home directory doesn't get spammed with .VirtualBox or VirtualBox VMs folders.

So it looks like this could be a bug with the newest version of vbox.


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## alie (Jan 9, 2012)

I got the same issue with today build. Anyone have a way to fix the issue?


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