Graphics drivers for Virtualbox

Support Virtualization
1

Amongst normal usage I also use Manjaro inside Virtualbox. Now after the last update my drivers seem messed up as the system won’t load the GUI anymore. I can only login in terminal mode. I’v tried to reinstall it using mhwd but I get this error:

> Using config 'video-virtualmachine' for device: 0000:00:02.0 (0300:15ad:0405) Display controller VMware, Inc. VMWARE0405
> Installing video-virtualmachine...
Using default
Has lib32 support: true
Sourcing /var/lib/mhwd/db/pci/graphic_drivers/video-virtualmachine/MHWDCONFIG
Processing classid: 0300
Sourcing /var/lib/mhwd/scripts/include/0300
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core downloading...
 extra downloading...
 multilib downloading...
error: target not found: xf86-video-vmware
warning: gtkmm3-3.24.10-1 is up to date -- skipping
Error: pacman failed!
2

By any chance is xf86-video-vmware installed on the Manjaro guest? If so, remove it and see how it goes.

3

This package doesn’t exist anymore.
I don’t know how mhwd works.
You should refresh the mirrors
and run a full system update.

sudo pacman-mirrors -c germany (is what I use)
sudo pacman -Syu

If that’s not enough, remove the now non existent package “by hand”.
sudo pacman -R xf86-video-vmware
or even
sudo pacman -Rns xf86-video-vmware (watch the list of proposed removals before you commit)

After that,
sudo pacman -Syu
should have no problems anymore.

4

It seems the xf86-video-vmware is still referenced in the mhwd-db repo.

5

Thank you. Refreshing the mirrors and updating (-Syyuu) got it fixed.

6

Don’t use -Syyuu if you don’t know what those options are doing — hint: see the man page.

Use -Syu unless otherwise recommended in the update announcements.

1 Like
7

It seems like the error is back.

8

The mhwd-db package was updated on unstable branch yesterday - removing xf86-video-vmware from the video-virtualmachine entry.

This update does not reflect onto installation ISO media nor is it available in stable branch yet.

 $ mbn info mhwd-db -q
Branch         : unstable
Name           : mhwd-db
Version        : 20250724-1
Repository     : extra
Build Date     : Thu 24 Jul 2025 16:14:15 
Packager       : Philip Mueller <philm@manjaro.org>
Branch         : testing
Name           : mhwd-db
Version        : 20250724-1
Repository     : extra
Build Date     : Thu 24 Jul 2025 16:14:15 
Packager       : Philip Mueller <philm@manjaro.org>
Branch         : stable
Name           : mhwd-db
Version        : 20250113-1
Repository     : extra
Build Date     : Mon 13 Jan 2025 06:01:01 
Packager       : Philip Mueller <philm@manjaro.org>
1 Like
9

How long until it’ll propagate to stable? And what can I do in the meantime? Which driver should I install now and how?

10

xf86-video-vmware

… not what to install - remove xf86-video-vmware

11

It is already removed. But as far as I can see there is no GPU driver installed at all.

12

I do not have VirtualBox installed and thus cannot check.
All I know is that that package does not exist anymore and should not be needed and was erroneously referenced in some mhwd database as still needed, which has been or will be corrected.

13

The video driver required is with the kernel.

If you can start the vm - when at grub loader - edit the cmdline and append the number three (3) - press F10 and boot to CLI.

Login and remove the xf86-video-vmware package.

The other packages installed as part of video-virtualmachine are

  • virtualbox-guest-utils
  • open-vm-tools
  • xf86-input-vmmouse
  • spice-vdagent
  • qemu-guest-agent

An optional package gtkmm3 can be added if you want to pass clipboard back and forth.

With virtualbox you may need to remove references to plymouth - but that is is not definite as only a subset of users experience any issues - specifically xfce and lightdm may need plymouth removed.

14

I’ve now tried the following things:

-installing xf86-video-vmware from AUR
-removing it again
-reinstall guest additions
-install the packages you listed (some were actually missing)
-remove plymouth (pacman refused to do so)

Nothing worked.

15

Obviously if you want it fixed, use the Unstable branch as the fix for the issue is only on Unstable branch for now as already said to you.

1 Like
16

I switched to unstable, did the update and tried to run mhwd again. Now it seems the guest additions are in my way (see screenshot, maybe they were the problem from the start). How can I remove/reinstall them in the terminal?
Can anybody help me post a screenshot? It won’t let me.

17

Upload the screenshot to 0x0.st or imgur.com or any other file sharing service
and post the link they give you here.

here is how to do it for 0x0.st 
cURL examples

    Uploading a file:
        curl -F'file=@yourfile.png' https://0x0.st
18

Don’t post screenshots of your terminal output this is ridiculous please.

19

I hope this helps. Sorry for the language but I’m sure at least one user will understand it.

Mod edit:- URL corrected. No charge.

20

Not really.
It should have been easy to copy/paste the parsable terminal output, instead of making a screenshot.

But you uploaded it to 0x0 and shared it here - thanks.

Have you tried to update your machine?
sudo pacman-mirrors -c germany
sudo pacman -Syu

There is some error/problem visible in your shared output.