Ubuntu
mutter package

gdm3 shows only purple color screen in virtualbox with default VBoxSVGA or VBoxVGA video drivers

Bug #1945704 reported by Norbert
8
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
mutter (Ubuntu)
Won't Fix
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Using 20.04 LTS installed from mini.iso, upgraded to 21.10.

Then installed Cinnamon desktop by `sudo apt-get install cinnamon*`.

This is what I see on boot - see screenshot.

---

Note the same happens on installation of regular Ubuntu 21.10 ISO.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.10
Package: gdm3 41~rc-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.13.0-16.16-generic 5.13.13
Uname: Linux 5.13.0-16-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu69
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
Date: Fri Oct 1 00:04:53 2021
SourcePackage: gdm3
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to impish on 2021-09-10 (20 days ago)

Revision history for this message
Norbert (nrbrtx) wrote :
summary: - gdm3 is shows only purple color screen in virtualbox
+ gdm3 shows only purple color screen in virtualbox
Revision history for this message
Norbert (nrbrtx) wrote (last edit ): Re: gdm3 shows only purple color screen in virtualbox

VirtualBox has version 6.1 (on Ubuntu MATE 18.04.6 amd64 host), using default VBoxSVGA driver which works well with Ubuntu MATE 21.10 with the same Xserver version as common package base.

Using VBoxVGA driver results with the same failure.

Switching video driver to VMSVGA helps.

summary: - gdm3 shows only purple color screen in virtualbox
+ gdm3 shows only purple color screen in virtualbox with default VBoxVGA
+ or VBoxSVGA video drivers
summary: - gdm3 shows only purple color screen in virtualbox with default VBoxVGA
- or VBoxSVGA video drivers
+ gdm3 shows only purple color screen in virtualbox with default VBoxSVGA
+ or VBoxVGA video drivers
Revision history for this message
Norbert (nrbrtx) wrote :

Steps for reproduce using Ubuntu 21.10 "Impish Indri" - Beta amd64 (20210929):

1. Open latest VirtualBox 6.1.26 on Ubuntu MATE 18.04.6 amd64 host
2. Create new virtual machine using all default settings
3. Boot VM from ISO-file downloaded from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/daily-live/current/impish-desktop-amd64.iso
4. Install the system to virtual HD
5. Reboot freshly installed system

Expected results:
* user is able to login to system using nice looking purple screen

Actual results:
* nice looking purple screen with no controls is shown, user can't login to this eye-candy system

Revision history for this message
Norbert (nrbrtx) wrote :

On fresh install <RightCtrl>+<F2> to <RightCtrl>+<F5> does not show console login prompts. Very user-friendly system. Brilliant!

Revision history for this message
Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa) wrote :

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1945704

tags: added: iso-testing
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Reassigning - the login screen is provided by 'gnome-shell', launched by 'gdm'.

affects: gdm3 (Ubuntu) → gnome-shell (Ubuntu)
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Please try to find a way to collect a system log (journalctl) from when the problem is happening.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Norbert (nrbrtx) wrote :

here are the logs

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Judging by the syslog, it looks like the VM might have a broken clock. Similar to another bug from a couple of years ago which had the same result: Only the first frame gets displayed so it's a blank purple screen. In that case it was a faulty graphics driver.

Try booting with kernel parameter 'nomodeset'.

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.

Ubuntu 21.10 (impish) reached end-of-life on July 14, 2022.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Won't Fix
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

This may have been https://warthogs.atlassian.net/browse/DT-323 which was fixed in mutter 42.1 (same fix as bug 1967274).

affects: gnome-shell (Ubuntu) → mutter (Ubuntu)
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