VirtualBox Error – Fix E_FAIL (0x80004005) When Running Linux on Windows 8

virtual machinevirtualboxwindows 7windows 8.1

I wanted to run Linux through my Winows 8.1 machine using VirtualBox as hypervisor. After I tried adding Ubuntu (or Fedora, on another instance) to the list of virtual machines, I clicked Start, but it refused to run and an error popped up, saying:

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: Machine
Interface: IMachine {480cf695-2d8d-4256-9c7c-cce4184fa048}

and another error message was also given, saying:

Error relaunching VirtualBox VM process: 5
Command line: '81954AF5-4D2F-31EB-A142-B7AF187A1C41-suplib-2ndchild–comment Fedora32 –startvm fd699e30-a77b-4eac-8ced-1210d756855d –no-startvm-errormsgbox' (rc=-104)

Best Answer

Possible solution: The following registry key seems to cause trouble:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers] "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VirtualBox.exe"="DISABLEUSERCALLBACKEXCEPTION"

See if this entry exists. If so, delete it and try again.

You may also need to disable your antivirus. If nothing works, try one of the following:

  • Uninstall your antivirus (NOT RECOMMENDED)
  • Replace your antivirus with Microsoft Security Essentials Pre-release (4.6)
  • Give up on VBox and use Hyper-V

Also, as a side note, if you are using Windows 8.1 Pro or higher, try Microsoft's Client Hyper-V. I extremely prefer it over VBox.

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