Solved VM stuck in login loop_Not Enough Virtual Disk Storage Space? Something else?

[bob466]

Sherri,

I'm not having a go at you...I'm trying to show you the easy way to re-size your VM that works.

I've just installed Mint Cinnamon 22.1 in Virtualbox and followed my instructions that I gave you...

As you can see the size is 20GB...

Following the instructions I gave you and nothing else...it's now 38GB.
Now select Cinnamon 22.1 and click...Start...Login...

Here we are at the Desktop...it's that easy.
Please don't take notice of what you read on the Net because it can cause more trouble than good especially Terminal commands.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Sherri,

I'm not having a go at you...I'm trying to show you the easy way to re-size your VM that works.

I've just installed Mint Cinnamon 22.1 in Virtualbox and followed my instructions that I gave you...
View attachment 25564
As you can see the size is 20GB...
View attachment 25565
Following the instructions I gave you and nothing else...it's now 38GB.
Now select Cinnamon 22.1 and click...Start...Login...
View attachment 25566
Here we are at the Desktop...it's that easy.
Please don't take notice of what you read on the Net because it can cause more trouble than good especially Terminal commands. View attachment 25567

Thank you. I appreciate this, I really do. I need to let my brain rest for a bit. I'll come back to this in a bit. I'm not ignoring you.

 

[bob466]

To remove a VM...open Virtualbox...select your VM and go to...Machine...Remove...Delete All Files.

 

[Condobloke]

@bob466 & @Sherri is a Cat ....this from a person who never uses a virtual machine.....

Sherri, you are using Oracle virtual box...from their website
Bob, you are using Virtualbox...from the Linux Mint repository

I'll leave it up to you both to be sure the instructions etc etc passing back and forth are applicable equally to both of these.

 

[wizardfromoz]

OK, I am behind the eight ball because I first responded to the other thread of the OP here

https://www.linux.org/threads/ubuntu-or-debian-installers-for-lmde.56464/post-267271

I'll repeat that here

If you are saying what I think you are, namely, that you are, in the LMDE 6 VM, using Timeshift to take a snapshot ... not a lot of point in that, as you cannot access the snapshot if the Guest falls over.

If, in your Host (Linux Mint 22.1?) you are taking snapshots that include Home, the VM will be covered.

VM data is stored in, eg /home/Sherri/VirtualBox VMs/

Those snapshots can be accessed externally by using a Linux Mint 22.1 Live USB stick, as well as from Linux Mint 22.1 itself.

Follow?

If you did not delete your VM, the Timeshift problem would have to be cleared manually, via Terminal.

When Timeshift ran out of space, it still consumed all the space and captured an incomplete snapshot that would be stored where other snapshots (if any) are stored in that environment.

That incomplete snapshot would have to be identified (exact path) and deleted, before the lost space could be redeemed.

So don't take snapshots in a VM.

HTH

Wiz

 

[wizardfromoz]

If so, how do I get rid of the rest of it?

Run

du -ah /usr/lib/virtualbox/

If there is content for that, then

sudo rm -R /usr/lib/virtualbox/

will erase it.

Wiz

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Sherri, you are using Oracle virtual box...from their website
Bob, you are using Virtualbox...from the Linux Mint repository

There are subtle differences in the drop-down menus. I had to hunt around a little to find the Virtual Media Manager. The tutorial I followed has images like @bob466 . Adding memory that way didn't 'Stick'.

If you did not delete your VM, the Timeshift problem would have to be cleared manually, via Terminal.

I deleted it.

I went about it a little different to create a new machine. Primarily I changed the subtype and version of the ISO image to Debian, Debian (64 bit). So far so good.

I clicked on Finish and it started installing itself.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

So don't take snapshots in a VM.

See post # 15

 

[bob466]

@bob466 & @Sherri is a Cat ....this from a person who never uses a virtual machine.....

Sherri, you are using Oracle virtual box...from their website
Bob, you are using Virtualbox...from the Linux Mint repository

I'll leave it up to you both to be sure the instructions etc etc passing back and forth are applicable equally to both of these.

I always download Virtualbox and the Extension pack from their web site https://www.virtualbox.org/ ...never from the Software Manager.

 

[Condobloke]

@bob466, is that because the Software managers version is an old version.....? ......and do you download for Ubuntu or for Debian-based Linux distributions....?

I notice both Oracle virtual box and Virtualbox are both made by Oracle.

I have never run a vm so am completely in the dark

 

[bob466]

Something else to remember with Virtualbox...never give your VM more than half your installed Ram.

My SSDs run Mint Cinnamon 21.1 and 22.1 are both 500GB...so I can give my VMs say 50GB each and have plenty of Disk space left.

I normally have only one VM...with 16GB of installed Ram...I can give my VM 6GB of Ram...if I have two VMs I can give both 6GB of Ram but I would only run one VM. I could still run both at the same time but I'd be using 12GB of Ram...leaving only 4GB of Ram for the Distro...it would work but I would never do it.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Finally finished updates. Restarted right into the desktop. I'm going to get some sleep now. We'll see how it goes in the morning

 

[bob466]

@bob466, is that because the Software managers version is an old version.....? ......and do you download for Ubuntu or for Debian-based Linux distributions....?

I notice both Oracle virtual box and Virtualbox are both made by Oracle.

I have never run a vm so am completely in the dark

Years ago the Mint Software Manager always had on old version which caused many problems...the main one was when you installed updates...the update for Virtualbox screwed it up and Virtualbox wouldn't work...so ever since then I always install from their site.

It's important to choose the correct version of Virtualbox to download...run this command...

The above is the right one to download...it's that easy...you'll notice I'm running Cinnamon 21.1 at the moment...if you choose the wrong one it won't install...will show errors.

Of course when you install a new version of Mint...sometimes Virtualbox won't work either...like some other software but that's life.
Oracle Virtual Box is it's name but everyone calls it Virtualbox...it's very handy for testing Distros that the Live Session can't...and Exporting the VM to an External SSD/HDD and Importing it back on a clean install...like I have done with my win 7 VM for 9 years.

 

[Condobloke]

correct version of Virtualbox to download........ inxi -Szxx ?

 

[bob466]

correct version of Virtualbox to download........ inxi -Szxx ?

Mint version...

Correct download...

 

[Condobloke]

ahhh.....got it !....the penny has dropped !

Thanks Bob !

 

[bob466]

If I was running Cinnamon 22.1...as I'm running in Virtualbox...this is what I'd download...

Ubuntu 24.04

 

[bob466]

Just looked at the Software Manager in Cinnamon 22.1 and it has Virtualbox 7...things have changed but I'd still download from the web site.

 

[Mike-BTU]

Just looked at the Software Manager in Cinnamon 22.1 and it has Virtualbox 7...things have changed but I'd still download from the web site. View attachment 25589

That's what I did, from the Virtualbox website.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Thank you everyone!

*Should I defrag the virtual disk?​

So far everything looks good. Everything is updated, firewall on, no SnapShots!
Disk Usage Analyzer shows 90.7 GB available.
The virtual disk is formatted with EXT4. From my days with the Giant I would say the virtual HDD needs to be defragged. There doesn't seem to be consensus on defragmenting drives formatting using EXT4.