Opened 10 years ago
Last modified 8 years ago
#13053 new defect
VirtualBox linked cloned machine (link lost when deleted)
| Reported by: | willianmai | Owned by: | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Component: | other | Version: | VirtualBox 4.3.12 |
| Keywords: | Cc: | ||
| Guest type: | other | Host type: | other |
Description
When a linked clone machine is created and deleted it loses the link because the virtual disk uuid is detached from the original machine and it doesn't have enough information in the .vbox xml file to reattach it to the original machine.
solutions that could be deployed: you could implement a new button in properties menu to "move a machine from one path to another". So when we want to move cloned linked machine, we wouldn't have to delete it, move it to the new path and then open the .vbox file to add it again to the virtualbox machines list.
ERROR MESSAGE: ====================================================================== Failed to open virtual machine located in C:/BACKUP/VIRTUAL_MACHINES_1/VirtualBox/win81x32LinkedClone1/win81x32LinkedClone1.vbox.
Could not find an open hard disk with UUID {eaa88706-e2ce-4170-95a5-dbdc78e297fd}.
Result Code: VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001) Component: VirtualBox Interface: IVirtualBox {fafa4e17-1ee2-4905-a10e-fe7c18bf5554} ======================================================================
Attachments (1)
Change History (4)
by , 10 years ago
follow-up: 2 comment:1 by , 10 years ago
I'm not sure the above wording is adequate (for "delete" read "remove"), but basically I have tested and can confirm that the above behaviour is a VirtualBox bug. See an example discussion here reported by a user :-
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64855
I have investigated this. I believe I understand the cause and can suggest a solution.
Basically, the base VM media registry is where all media for both base VM and linked clone is stored. This is unexpected - I expected the clone's media to be registered in the clone.
When you Remove the linked clone from the UI then its corresponding media is deleted from the base VM media registry. This means that you can't add the linked clone back (using Machine|Add...), because the disk attachment references media that now is not registered anywhere.
Solution: any media used exclusively by the linked clone should be registered in the linked clone's own registry, not elsewhere. This should include the primary difference image used as main disk of the linked clone VM.
I don't think the OPs suggested solution is adequate, since the basic problem may cause issues in many guises, the basic problem being that media is registered in an unexpected place. It's really a reprise of the issues that caused us to decentralise the media register in the first place.
comment:2 by , 8 years ago
Replying to mpack:
any media used exclusively by the linked clone should be registered in the linked clone's own registry
Even that is not enough. <MediaRegistry> should also contain parent's hard disks to be able to open the linked clone alone.
comment:3 by , 8 years ago
This issue is valid in 5.1.12 and I'd recommend to never 'remove' any linked clone information and show extra warnings to allow to fix the 'link' to parent.
All it took for me is to change the cloned disks location in parent's config, but it was not obvious, since the parent worked fine, but the clone was broken


vbox.log of the linked clone machine