[Solved] VirtualBox won't install after NTLite upgrade (Win7)

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pmikep

Active Member
Does anyone have any ideas about what components are needed for VirtualBox to install? Powershell?

Good news/bad news. The good news is that I found my "Flag 9" problem. (I had let NTLite trim too much from my image. I went back and kept the .win 2 (Setup). So then I was able to upgrade my old Win7 with a fresh reinstall of Win7 + NTLite.

Most of my apps are working as they used to. (I had to fight Comodo, for reasons below.)

Now the bad news. My old Win7 had VirtualBox working. My updated version does not. Nor can I install VirtualBox now. It get's about to the point where it wants to install the Network Adapter and then rolls back. saying that the Install failed.

Maybe some of this is my fault, because in the new NTLite'd Win7, I changed a few of the network things. For example, I removed SMBv1, which removed some low level networking stuff, like NetBUI.

So, either because of that, or just because Windows starts over when you upgrade, some things had changed in the Properties Box for my NIC. For example, the Comodo virtual firewall thing was gone. (So I had to use a cleanup utility to remove Comodo.)

Since I had NetBIOS in the old VirtualBox Virtual Host adapter, I presume that is why the VBox adapter is gone now.

Anyway, it appears that I have removed something from Win7 using NTLite that prevents VirutalBox from installing. Looking for ideas. (I updated Trust Certificates. That didn't fix it.)
 
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Isn't the VirtualBox Compatibility option only necessary if one wants to install the iso in a VB virtual machine? (But the answer to you question is, No, I didn't enable this option for my Desktop install.)
 
I made (yet another) iso, this time with Powershell and SMBv1 & NetBEUI left in. The VBox adapter was still missing when I upgraded Win7. But the VBox Installer got alongma lot farther before it failed.
 
Kasual, you might be correct about needing to keep VBox enabled in order for a virtual NIC to install in Windows. Funny thing because I've always had it enabled for when I wanted to run my iso in VBox. But I've tried a bunch of things without success. So as Sherlock Holmes said, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." So I'm trying again. Will let you know.
 
Have you used a known working version of VB and the extension pack or have you updated to a later versions? Have a look at VB's requirements and wikipedia page, you may see summat you missed. If that doesnt give you a eureka moment i would do a live removals test. Install a standard w7 install then a known working version of VB and extension pack, then do you removals 1 by one or in groups of 4 at a time until VB breaks. Right now you are trying to pluck ideas out of the air.

It cant be keyboard/language/font/ issue so its gotta be a driver or other component.
 
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Rats. It didn't work. I looked at the driver that the virtual NIC is using an Oracle driver, dated late 2017. So the driver comes from the VBox installation routine.

I'm trying again with the VM Virtual NICs left in. Maybe Oracle hooks those somehow. (But if they did, wouldn't that be locked in my hardware list?)

I dunno - about the only major thing to try would be to put parts of IE back in.

People in the VBox forum say that this problem is a Windows problem, that something is wrong with the msi installer. I can't imagine how NTalite could break that. Although I do have the patch cache set to 1. Maybe I should try setting the cache higher.

But, as a sanity check first, I'll install my vinalla Convenience Rollup to see if the Oracle installer is okay.
 
Installer cache set to 1? I never fiddle with that and leave it well alone. IE is well threaded into windows and the html engines notes say it is needed by other programs. VB 5.2.6 is an exe file, not msi.
 
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Its possible ntlite didnt pick up a required host hardware driver, but i wouyld rule out a bad vb installer/vb issue 1st.

Do the vinalla install then vb and extension pack. run vb then use a driver backup tool like driver genius. Compare the backed up inf files to your removals list see if anything was missed by ntlite.
 
Thanks for the offer. I'm gonna do some more basic testing and then I'll send you my preset. In the meantime, I noticed one difference between an OEM Win7 and an NTLited Win7. And that is with Windows Script Hosting. The one on the left is the OEM. It has an "Enabled" setting. Whereas the one on the right, run thru NTLite does not.

But now, it's 3 am here. I've been up for 18 hours playing/fighting this. Gotta get some sleep.
 

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I never played Dragon & Dungeons when I was in college, but I think NTLite is as addictive.

Anyway, it occurred to me last night that I could try installing VirtualBox in a Virtual Machine and save myself time testing. So this morning I tried a vanilla Win7+Convenience Rollup. VBox installs okay in that.

So clearly it is something I am doing with NTLite that is causing the VBox install to fail in my trimmed builds.

Another day spent testing. (I don't know how nuhi can stick with it.)
 
Am doing what Clanger suggested. Started with a vanilla Win7 Convenience Rollup and am starting to trim. Am finding that something in NTLite changes the Windows Script Host key in the Registry, as above. But I just got a successful install of VBox even with that in one of my trials. So even tho Windows Script Host is being changed, that is not the problem here. Next trial coming up.
 
Anyone got a recommendation for a free Notepad-like comparison utility, where I can load two different presets into it and it color codes what's different between the two? (I gotta believe nuhi has one, if he didn't write it himself.)
 
I'll plan to put this in the Suggestion forum, but a neat feature for NTLite in the future would be an "Expert" mode, where you load a Present, and NTLite shows color codes for what was added/taken away compared to the last (or your choice) preset. Kind of like comparing, but in real time while you're making selections.
 
Yeah, I should probably try the beta. But I'm trying to be like you now and take it one step at a time.

If I were smart enough, I could converge from two different directions. In one instance of NTLite, I would start with everything and incrementally trim. In the second instance, I would start with a very aggressive (non-working) barebone and incrementally add meat to it until both instances meet somewhere in the middle.

But I'm not smart enough.
 
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