Manjaro 26.0.1 as a VirtualBox virtual machine hangs shortly after startup

Molski · 27 January 2026 22:55

Can you only give it 4G? Are you running out of memory in the guest?
Not as important, but 16MB VRAM is limited in the resolutions you can do.

Why doesn’t say how many cores/CPUs you are assigning your guest? Are you only getting one core in your guest? I’m confused here.

Bernmeister:

        <StorageController name="SATA" type="AHCI" PortCount="1" useHostIOCache="false" Bootable="true" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3">
          <AttachedDevice type="HardDisk" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
            <Image uuid="{f75320db-c763-430b-92e3-163fd9953487}"/>
          </AttachedDevice>
        </StorageController>

Are you sure you want to disable host IO cache here? It’s rare you would want to..
Does the UUID point to a thinly provisioned disk? (You want host cache here even more then.)

linux-aarhus · 28 January 2026 06:45

For comparison - this is the vbox file for my test (efi based)

https://0x0.st/PNyb.xml

<!-- 
** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
** If you make changes to this file while any VirtualBox related application
** is running, your changes will be overwritten later, without taking effect.
** Use VBoxManage or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes.
**
** Written by VirtualBox 7.2.4 (r170995)
 -->
<VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.virtualbox.org/" version="1.19-linux">
<Machine uuid="{d0282613-133c-4c85-8ab4-c82be8722e39}" name="manjaro-plasma" OSType="ArchLinux_64" snapshotFolder="Snapshots" lastStateChange="2026-01-28T06:43:09Z">
<MediaRegistry>
<HardDisks>
<HardDisk uuid="{bae56d81-ebdc-4a63-8c9d-b8974c7c4781}" location="manjaro-plasma.vdi" format="VDI" type="Normal"/>
</HardDisks>
<DVDImages>
<Image uuid="{08118d39-e038-4111-927e-01e30e8aac30}" location="/home/nix/Downloads/manjaro-kde-26.0.1-260114-linux618.iso"/>
</DVDImages>
</MediaRegistry>
<ExtraData>
<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastCloseAction" value="SaveState"/>
<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastGuestSizeHint" value="1606,950"/>
<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastNormalWindowPosition" value="2,28,1280,846"/>
</ExtraData>
<Hardware>
<Memory RAMSize="4096"/>
<HID Pointing="USBTablet"/>
<Display controller="VMSVGA" VRAMSize="256" accelerate3D="true"/>
<Firmware type="EFI"/>
<BIOS>
<IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
<SmbiosUuidLittleEndian enabled="true"/>
<AutoSerialNumGen enabled="true"/>
</BIOS>
<USB>
<Controllers>
<Controller name="OHCI" type="OHCI"/>
<Controller name="EHCI" type="EHCI"/>
</Controllers>
</USB>
<Network>
<Adapter slot="0" enabled="true" MACAddress="0800276F32FC" type="82540EM">
<NAT localhost-reachable="true"/>
</Adapter>
</Network>
<AudioAdapter codec="AD1980" useDefault="true" driver="ALSA" enabledOut="true"/>
<Clipboard/>
<GuestProperties>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/HostVerLastChecked" value="7.2.4" timestamp="1769496892217390000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Revision" value="170995" timestamp="1769582580920509000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Version" value="7.2.4" timestamp="1769582580919874000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VersionExt" value="7.2.4" timestamp="1769582580920177000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Product" value="Linux" timestamp="1769582580918466000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Release" value="6.12.64-1-MANJARO" timestamp="1769582580918808000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/ServicePack" value="" timestamp="1769582580919560000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Version" value="#1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu, 08 Jan 2026 10:03:06 +0000" timestamp="1769582580919197000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/GUI/LanguageID" value="en_US" timestamp="1769582587222554000" flags="RDONLYGUEST"/>
</GuestProperties>
<StorageControllers>
<StorageController name="IDE" type="PIIX4" PortCount="2" useHostIOCache="true" Bootable="true">
<AttachedDevice passthrough="false" type="DVD" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
<Image uuid="{08118d39-e038-4111-927e-01e30e8aac30}"/>
</AttachedDevice>
</StorageController>
<StorageController name="SATA" type="AHCI" PortCount="1" useHostIOCache="false" Bootable="true" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3">
<AttachedDevice type="HardDisk" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
<Image uuid="{bae56d81-ebdc-4a63-8c9d-b8974c7c4781}"/>
</AttachedDevice>
</StorageController>
</StorageControllers>
<RTC localOrUTC="UTC"/>
<CPU count="2">
<HardwareVirtExLargePages enabled="false"/>
<PAE enabled="false"/>
<LongMode enabled="true"/>
<X2APIC enabled="true"/>
</CPU>
</Hardware>
</Machine>
</VirtualBox>

And another test (bios based)

https://0x0.st/PNyu.xml

<!-- 
** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
** If you make changes to this file while any VirtualBox related application
** is running, your changes will be overwritten later, without taking effect.
** Use VBoxManage or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes.
**
** Written by VirtualBox 7.2.4 (r170995)
 -->
<VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.virtualbox.org/" version="1.19-linux">
<Machine uuid="{687af6e3-9731-482e-a595-c125d647f25a}" name="manjaro-plasma-bios" OSType="ArchLinux_64" snapshotFolder="Snapshots" lastStateChange="2026-01-28T06:50:18Z">
<MediaRegistry>
<HardDisks>
<HardDisk uuid="{f397b607-4cb2-47b9-b0bd-3f0b7b6efe55}" location="manjaro-plasma-bios.vdi" format="VDI" type="Normal"/>
</HardDisks>
<DVDImages>
<Image uuid="{08118d39-e038-4111-927e-01e30e8aac30}" location="/home/nix/Downloads/manjaro-kde-26.0.1-260114-linux618.iso"/>
</DVDImages>
</MediaRegistry>
<ExtraData>
<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/AutoresizeGuest" value="false"/>
<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastGuestSizeHint" value="1182,816"/>
<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastNormalWindowPosition" value="265,39,1526,1002"/>
</ExtraData>
<Hardware>
<Memory RAMSize="4096"/>
<HID Pointing="USBTablet"/>
<Display controller="VMSVGA" VRAMSize="16"/>
<Firmware/>
<BIOS>
<IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
<SmbiosUuidLittleEndian enabled="true"/>
<AutoSerialNumGen enabled="true"/>
</BIOS>
<USB>
<Controllers>
<Controller name="OHCI" type="OHCI"/>
<Controller name="EHCI" type="EHCI"/>
</Controllers>
</USB>
<Network>
<Adapter slot="0" enabled="true" MACAddress="080027F8A477" type="82540EM">
<NAT/>
</Adapter>
</Network>
<AudioAdapter codec="AD1980" useDefault="true" driver="ALSA" enabled="true" enabledOut="true"/>
<Clipboard/>
<GuestProperties>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/GuiOnFocus" value="1" timestamp="1769583101274987000" flags="TRANSIENT, RDONLYGUEST"/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Revision" value="170995" timestamp="1769583046527736000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Version" value="7.2.4" timestamp="1769583046526393000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VersionExt" value="7.2.4" timestamp="1769583046527647000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/MAC" value="080027F8A477" timestamp="1769583046536250000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/Name" value="enp0s3" timestamp="1769583046536431000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/Status" value="Up" timestamp="1769583046536347000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/Broadcast" value="10.0.2.255" timestamp="1769583046536098000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/IP" value="10.0.2.15" timestamp="1769583046536027000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/0/V4/Netmask" value="255.255.255.0" timestamp="1769583046536164000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/Net/Count" value="1" timestamp="1769583101546507000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/LoggedInUsers" value="1" timestamp="1769583071533329000" flags="TRANSIENT, TRANSRESET"/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/LoggedInUsersList" value="manjaro" timestamp="1769583071533212000" flags="TRANSIENT, TRANSRESET"/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/NoLoggedInUsers" value="false" timestamp="1769583071533467000" flags="TRANSIENT, TRANSRESET"/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Product" value="Linux" timestamp="1769583046525733000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Release" value="6.18.4-1-MANJARO" timestamp="1769583046525939000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/ServicePack" value="" timestamp="1769583046526296000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Version" value="#1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu, 08 Jan 2026 12:46:08 +0000" timestamp="1769583046526104000" flags=""/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/GUI/LanguageID" value="en_US" timestamp="1769583101555607000" flags="RDONLYGUEST"/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/VBoxRev" value="170995" timestamp="1769583018964390002" flags="TRANSIENT, RDONLYGUEST"/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/VBoxVer" value="7.2.4" timestamp="1769583018964390000" flags="TRANSIENT, RDONLYGUEST"/>
<GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/VBoxVerExt" value="7.2.4" timestamp="1769583018964390001" flags="TRANSIENT, RDONLYGUEST"/>
</GuestProperties>
<StorageControllers>
<StorageController name="IDE" type="PIIX4" PortCount="2" useHostIOCache="true" Bootable="true">
<AttachedDevice passthrough="false" type="DVD" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
<Image uuid="{08118d39-e038-4111-927e-01e30e8aac30}"/>
</AttachedDevice>
</StorageController>
<StorageController name="SATA" type="AHCI" PortCount="1" useHostIOCache="false" Bootable="true" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3">
<AttachedDevice type="HardDisk" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
<Image uuid="{f397b607-4cb2-47b9-b0bd-3f0b7b6efe55}"/>
</AttachedDevice>
</StorageController>
</StorageControllers>
<RTC localOrUTC="UTC"/>
<CPU count="2">
<HardwareVirtExLargePages enabled="false"/>
<PAE enabled="false"/>
<LongMode enabled="true"/>
<X2APIC enabled="true"/>
</CPU>
</Hardware>
</Machine>
</VirtualBox>

None of these exhibit any freeze behavior on my test laptop.

https://0x0.st/PNyQ.txt

System:
  Host: nix-n14xwu Kernel: 6.12.64-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Notebook product: N14xWU v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Notebook model: N14xWU serial: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI
    vendor: American Megatrends v: 1.07.21 date: 09/24/2019
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-8550U bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache:
    L2: 1024 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3790 min/max: 400/4000 cores: 1: 3790 2: 3790 3: 3790
    4: 3790 5: 3790 6: 3790 7: 3790 8: 3790
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Chicony USB2.0 Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.21 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: <missing: xdpyinfo/xrandr>
    resolution: 1920x1080
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.3.3-arch1.1
    renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo de: xfce4-display-settings x11: xprop

Bernmeister · 29 January 2026 23:51

My host has 8GB RAM; I could allocate more (say 6GB) to the VM and test. I thought 4GB RAM would be more that sufficient just to run the VM to then run a Python3 script (my ultimate goal).

16MB VRAM is the default; the resolution for me is fine given I’m doing a bit of testing (as opposed to running the VM extensively).

In terms of CPU cores, I’ve used the default. No idea about how many cores, or not, are in the guest.

Host IO cache: again, whatever the default is set by VirtualBox.

If thinly provisioned means the virtual HDD capacity is increased as needed (up to a maximum set by me of 20GB), then yes, thinly provisioned (a default setting of VirtualBox).

All these settings are the defaults (apart from RAM size and HDD size). Never had an issue with any other distro (Manjaro prior releases and Manjaro 26 GNOME) so I wouldn’t think these should factor in to the issue. There is some quirk of my host (Debian 13 and the kernel version) and/or VirtualBox version and/or Plasma KDE 6.x…as I’ve said in another reply, I’ll give Manjaro 26.x.y Plasma KDE where x > 0 and y > 1 a spin on release. I’ll also test out Kubuntu 26.04 as I believe it too will have Plasma KDE 6.

Molski · 30 January 2026 05:51

You can always just look inside the guest.

All three Manjaro DEs come with a system monitor so you can see your RAM usage.

Otherwise just type:

free

But the monitor will give you a nice graph and let you see if you diip into swap (or fill it), while you do stuff.

For CPUs or cores, you can type:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

There will be an entry for each core you have assigned it. each entry starting with:

processor : {NUM}

Even with 1 vCPU, it would just be slow, not hang. And if you were running out of memory that would be pretty easy to spot in the logs. (Just filtering by errors around when it happened.)

I’ve done 4G RAM with XFCE, but I do have to be careful.

Nowadays 8G is starting to be small to be running 2 DEs. I would almost kill the host DE and give the guest more!

Just trying to think of ideas.

btw qemu has an easy to use GUI called Virtual Machine Manager.

linux-aarhus · 30 January 2026 05:58

For Manjaro in a virtual machine - 2 vcpu and 4g ram should be enough - that is what I configured.

The tests I conducted shows that while the virtual machine is idle (htop inside the vm shows minimal activity) running htop on the host will show one virtualbox thread at 100%.

This points to the virtualbox core binaries, not the virtual machine.

So troubleshooting this as related to Manjaro Linux is futile - because it is not.

BG405 · 30 January 2026 15:15

My preferred method is to have watch -n 10 free -h running in a Terminal window. This is useful when running a browser, which is typically rather memory-hungry with the modern Web, for example. (Adjust the value (in seconds) according to preference).

Bernmeister · 1 March 2026 10:00

Update: Tried Manjaro 26.0.2 KDE (both open source and proprietary drivers); still hangs. Will try again perhaps on 26.1.x