Installer hangs after Multimedia codecs screen (VirtualBox)

[mmortal03]

@pbear asked that I branch this off into a separate thread from the following: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=366393

In VirtualBox, the Linux Mint installer hangs after the Multimedia codecs screen, whether or not "Install media codecs" is selected.

I've reproduced this on multiple Windows 10 host machines, *as long as the NAT Network adapter is attached*. A workaround is to disable the VirtualBox Network adapter, but I'm trying to discover the underlying cause and report the bug. I've searched for previously reported bug reports over on GitHub, but haven't found any. A good bug report will require specific conditions to reproduce.

So far, others, such as @JerryF, haven't been able to reproduce. I've verified the sha-256 hash of the linuxmint-20.3-cinnamon-64bit.iso that I downloaded.

Steps to reproduce:

Install VirtualBox-6.1.34a-150636-Win.exe in Windows 10. All of the defaults are fine.

Create a New virtual machine, naming it LinuxMint, and leaving the default Type "Linux" and Version "Ubuntu 64-bit" (but "Other Linux 64-bit" does the same).
Recommended memory can stay at 1024MB. Select create a virtual hard disk now, leave it set to VDI, Dynamically allocated (but "Fixed size" does the same), and change size to 15 GB. Create.

Before powering on, open the instance's settings.
Under System, it doesn't matter if you check Enable EFI or not.
Under Storage, click on the Empty item, check Live CD/DVD, and select the linuxmint-20.3-cinnamon-64bit.iso.
Under Network, make sure that Enable Network Adapter is checked, and Attached to: NAT is selected.
Click OK, and then Start the instance.

Select Start Linux Mint.

Double-click on "Install Linux Mint".

Click Continue on English.
Click Continue on English (US).
Click Continue on Media Codecs (doesn't matter whether the install codecs box is checked).

The little "processing" circle mouse icon appears and remains until I force quit the instance.

[Reddog1]

Does the install still choke if you increase the system memory to 2048 or to 4096??? 1 GB of memory ain't much for Mint

[pbear]

Been testing permutations of those variables. As reported, 1 GB + network enabled goes into a loop, where 1 GB with network disabled goes through. OTOH, no problem if memory is bumped to 2 GB and cores to two, even with network enabled. And, as Reddog1 says, 1 GB is pretty thin anyway. Most people seem to give VMs about half the available memory (and cores, if they know about the setting), so that's probably why they don't run into the issue. In any event, haven't been able to think of a good reason why network connection makes a difference in the thin memory scenario.

[mmortal03]

Thanks, yep, this looks to be the key variable!

My initial thoughts are that maybe VirtualBox could consider increasing their default base memory preset for Ubuntu-based installs (even though the Ubuntu installer doesn't run into this problem, only Linux Mint), but I also think there should be a more elegant memory management solution here in Linux Mint's Live DVD. It shouldn't just be quietly freezing -- there should be some indication to the user that there's not enough memory to run. I did at least get a "Cinnamon just crashed" pop-up at 1056 MB (see my testing below), but even that didn't directly specify memory as the problem. Maybe some logs somewhere do, but it'd be helpful to users to both handle this more elegantly and prompt with something more informative, like "Out of memory" or something.

Here are my test results thus far:

When Enable Network Adapter is not checked:
Base memory at:

960 MB and below freeze or cause other problems.

996 MB, No freeze. Installation works.

When Enable Network Adapter is checked & "Attached to: NAT":
Base memory at:

1024 MB, It freezes after the Multimedia codecs window, but no crash pop-up window from the OS.

1056 MB, I got: a crash pop-up window: Cinnamon just crashed. You are currently running in fallback mode.

1064 MB, No freeze. Installation works.

[Cosmo.]

The amount of RAM depends from the system, that shall get installed as a virtual machine. In case of Mint of course the requirements of Mint are important, and that are clearly: 2 GB minimum, 4 GB recommended. So 1 GB RAM is not supposed to work. The default values of VB are far too low.

[pbear]

Interesting, Cosmo. In fairness to the OP, the recommended system resources aren't easy to find. Notably, they aren't indicated on the download page or the Release Notes. Rather, they appear only in the blog post announcing the release, which is linked on the download page but that's pretty thin notice. For that matter, I hadn't realized the recommended minimum RAM had been bumped to 2 GB. For Cinn 20.1 (which is what I'm using), it was still 1 GB. The current recommendation for Ubuntu is 4 GB, but says lower spec machines should work also; pretty sure that number was 2 GB for 20.04.

The moral of the story, mmortal03, is that the Ubuntu/Mint developers aren't keen to keep the operating system lean. If you want to run in VBox, you should give VMs as much RAM (and as many cores) as you can (within reason). Never mind whether installation will go through. Even more, it's a performance issue. If your system is relatively lean, consider a RAM upgrade. Not expensive.

[Cosmo.]

Indeed, documentation is once again a weak point.

To get the requirements you need to click at release announcements from the download page. The problem is, that only a few people know, what the differences between notes and announcement might be. I don't think, that it is too much demanded to provide on the download page a clear system requirement link or a box with that info and not a labyrinth. Otherwise one could simply refer to a Google search.

[Cosmo.]

The current recommendation for Ubuntu is 4 GB, but says lower spec machines should work also; pretty sure that number was 2 GB for 20.04.

This shows, that the fault is in this case on the side of Oracle. The 1 GB default value, that VB "recommends" for an Ubuntu installation is far away from the actual need.

[mmortal03]

The moral of the story, mmortal03, is that the Ubuntu/Mint developers aren't keen to keep the operating system lean. If you want to run in VBox, you should give VMs as much RAM (and as many cores) as you can (within reason). Never mind whether installation will go through. Even more, it's a performance issue. If your system is relatively lean, consider a RAM upgrade. Not expensive.

The current recommendation for Ubuntu is 4 GB, but says lower spec machines should work also; pretty sure that number was 2 GB for 20.04.

This shows, that the fault is in this case on the side of Oracle. The 1 GB default value, that VB "recommends" for an Ubuntu installation is far away from the actual need.

Oracle definitely needs to increase the suggested amount, then, for Ubuntu-derived systems to be at least 2GB, but I still say the OS should be handling low memory situations more gracefully. Heck, even if we can't get a lower level memory management solution, the installer itself could just tell people they need at least 2GB of RAM -- no need to read *any* documentation!

[pbear]

We can wish for lots of things, but in the end it is what it is.

[mmortal03]

We can wish for lots of things, but in the end it is what it is.

I guess I'll just have to make a bug report, while whispering sweet nothings into various devs' ears.

[Cosmo.]

Of course the installer could display the system requirement. But how without making it annoying? Further more, this cannot be a replacement for a documentation on the download page, because a user might want to know the requirements without the need, to download and start a installation. Others do not want to download or install at all but only to reread the requirements. Or they want to know the values, before they download.

[mmortal03]

I agree 100% that the website should make obvious the minimum requirements *before* people download. But we know people download Linux ISOs that they've used before without thinking that the minimum requirements might have changed. There'd be no annoyance if the installer did a silent check of the RAM, and didn't prompt anyone unless their RAM was below the minimum. It would've been a lot less annoying than trying to figure out this whole silent freeze issue! The installer could've just told me, "Hey, my friend, you can still try installing me if you want, but I noticed you've got less than 2 gigs of RAM, so, I might just freeze up on you after the Multimedia codecs screen!"

[mmortal03]

It just occurred to me to test the same situation with MATE and xfce, and these both successfully install in VirtualBox with Network Adapter enabled and only 1024 MB of RAM. (Probably to be expected, but you've always got to test to be sure!)