A few days ago, one of my clients contacted me to report the following problem, when trying to start a virtual machine from Oracle VM Virtuabox, on his Windows 10 PC: "Failed to open a session for the virtual machine %VMachineName%. The Virtual machine has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1)." As my client informed me, the VirtualBox issue is appeared suddenly and the previous day the Virtual Machine started without any problems.
This tutorial contains instructions to resolve the following error in VirtualBox:
"Failed to open a session for the virtual machine.
The virtual machine 'VMachineName' has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1). More details may be available in 'C:\Users\%Username%\VirtualBox VMs\%VMachineName%\Logs\VBoxHardening.log'.
Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: MachineWrap
Interface: IMachine {b2547866-a0a1-4391-8b86-6952d82efaa0}"
How to FIX VirtualBox Error: Failed to open session for Virtual Machine (Exit Code (0x1) / Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Method 1. Discard Saved State.
If you have closed the Virtual Machine abnormally and you have chosen to save the machine's state, then maybe the VM's state is corrupted. So, proceed and delete the saved state and then see if the "Failed to open session for Virtual Machine" has resolved. To do that:
1. Right click on the Virtual Machine and select Discard Saved State.
2. Then try to start the virtual machine. If the problem persists, continue to the next method below.
Method 2. Uninstall and Re-Install VirtualBox.
The next method to solve the problem "Failed to open a session for the virtual machine" in VirtualBox, is to uninstall and then to reinstall the VirtualBox application, especially if the problem appeared after a Windows Update.
1. Go to Control Panel & Uninstall VirtualBox. (Don't worry, the VMs will stay untouched).
2. Reboot your computer.
3. Download latest version of VirtualBox.
4. Right click on the downloaded file and click "Run As Administrator".
5. Follow the on screen prompts to install VirtualBox.
6. After installation, reboot your computer.
7. Open VirtualBox manager and start your Virtual Machine.
8. If the Virtual Machine opens fine, then proceed to install the Guest Additions and the Extension Pack (if needed).
That's it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.