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I have an issue similar to this.
I connect via windows remote desktop to a windows server 2012 R2. On that machine I have virtual box installed and want to run my virtual machine. I don't want to connect directly to the VM via RDP. Just rdp to server and work on the server like on a local machine and working also includes running this VM. ( I don't even have the RDP extension installed)
My VM has virtual display disabled and installation of virtualbox did not break RDP connection. What breaks the connection is as soon as I start the VM. The VM uses NAT not bridged networking which also is slightly different from the linked thread.
So what causes my Remote desktop connection to fail on start of the VM? How can I work on the remote server with virtual box just like ti was a local PC without losing connection?
EDIT:
Issue most likely caused to running nested virtualization (see potential answer in comments or here). My solution was to just request another VM via IT which is a bit cumbersome usually.
Is a UAC popup kicking you off? If you reconnect, is the VM started? What happens if you start the VM using
VBoxManage
? – Attie – 2018-03-06T12:42:22.890As soon as i start the VM, I get kicked out of the RDP session and reconnection is not possible. The remote server must be rebooted via management tools. This is done by IT and each reboot means a new ticket and takes hours. So experimenting is not really an option. – beginner_ – 2018-03-06T12:46:54.513
How frustraiting - I'd suggest arranging a 1-to-1 session with someone from IT who can assist with reboots etc. If the server is itself a VM, then this may be part of the issue - do you know about the infrastructure you're running on? – Attie – 2018-03-06T12:51:23.250
Did you review this answer? https://superuser.com/a/642851/707676
– Attie – 2018-03-06T12:52:50.867AFAIK the remote server is on vSphere / VMWare. I saw the that answer but I have the bridged adapter installed and RDP works just fine. It's only when I actually launch the VM that the connection gets cut. Also the VM uses NAT. – beginner_ – 2018-03-06T12:58:53.903
I suspect this may be a large part of your pain... Have you researched nested virtualization? https://egustafson.github.io/post/esxi-nested-virtualbox/ -
– Attie – 2018-03-06T13:03:03.293vhv.enable = "TRUE"
in the VMWare config appears to come up quite a bit.Is there any particular reason you need to use VirtualBox? Could you use another VM supplied by IT? – Attie – 2018-03-06T13:03:33.090
Yeah now that I think about it running nested virtualization was a stupid idea to begin with. Why I went this way is really stupid as well. Company laptops are still 32-bit! windows 7 hence I'm RAM limited hence I have this server to actually work on. The VM is my linux I needed to look at. It's easier to just do it than go via IT and request a new VM but looks like that is what I will have to do. Thanks all. – beginner_ – 2018-03-06T13:10:14.103