Virtual Box could not read from the boot medium!

throwawaytartan · 2016-03-13 18:13:48

Hey all!

so I installed ubuntu on a virtual box, then I deleted the .iso a while back (just using rm from command line)

It's now giving me "FATAL: could not read from the boot medium! System halted"

I've redownloaded the same version of the ubuntu iso since then and I think I've put it in the right place (where the first .iso was) but nothing seems to be working. Anyone know if there is any way I can recover all my files ?

WFV · 2016-03-14 05:01:21

The vdi most likely still exists in /home/you/VirtualBox VMs, you can use vboxmanage in cli to convert the vdi to an img, then mount the img somewhere in your Arch host, all the files should still be there. The Virtualbox Community and man pages, and instruction manuals on the Oracle VBox website cover how to use vboxmanage. it will be something like

$ VBoxManage clonehd /home/you/VirtualBox\ VMs/pathto/file.vdi /home/you/pathto/file.img --format RAW

but check the man pages, might not need --format RAW for *.img. Also works for iso, and you do use the --format RAW operand with it.

Last edited by WFV (2016-03-14 05:02:27)

throwawaytartan · 2016-03-21 20:27:57

Do you know if I would be able to restore my virtual box to what it was? So that it will work again? I could get my files back but if possible I would like to not have to reinstall everything from scratch because there was a lot in between

WFV · 2016-04-30 22:06:38

Not sure if you had any success, but yes the new img or iso should be mountable - and convertable back to a useable vdi.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-03-13 18:13:48

Virtual Box could not read from the boot medium!

#2 2016-03-14 05:01:21

Re: Virtual Box could not read from the boot medium!

#3 2016-03-21 20:27:57

Re: Virtual Box could not read from the boot medium!

#4 2016-04-30 22:06:38

Re: Virtual Box could not read from the boot medium!

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