Linux – “FATAL: Could not read from the boot medium! System halted.” in VirtualBox

linux-mintvirtualbox

I have downloaded a Linux Mint ISO file from online and I've configured VirtualBox to boot from that ISO.

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It can start the guest OS correctly the first time. But when I try to restart the guest OS from within, I always get the error: FATAL: Could not read from the boot medium! System halted.
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Why is this happening? Why can't VirtualBox remember the settings used to boot when the guest OS restarts? How can I make the guest OS always boot using the ISO image specified in the VM's settings?

Best Answer

Looks like there's a bug in VirtualBox. I just tried what you're doing on my system and it looks like after it boots from the Optical, it will not boot from that drive again until the VM is completely halted, even if the optical drive is the only storage the VM has.

I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but from the looks of it, you could always install the OS onto another hard drive. After you do that, install the guest additions and shut down the VM completely. Next, make the hard drive Immutable in the media manager. Each time you shutdown and power up the VM, all changes to the hard drive image will be discarded and it will be like new each time.

Edit: I just launched the VM with a Mint ISO, and vdi. After the live OS booted, I did a dd to copy everything from the ISO to the vdi and rebooted. Everything seems to be like it's a Live CD, and it reboots without an issue. Still might want to make the hard drive Immutable though, just in case.

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