ubuntu12.04 with PAE kernel doesn't boot on VirtualBox - PAE support is not enabled by default

[da]

In Ubuntu 12.04 daily build (21/12/2011) I can't boot. It gives the message: This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU: pae Unable to boot – please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU. It happens in PC (Intel x86) desktop CD. Is it correct? Can it be a bug? When I download the image from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/12.04/alpha-1, there is no problem.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

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[Daniel Manrique (roadmr)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

 It looks like your CPU doesn't have PAE support, which would be the case if it's an older one. I wonder if you could boot any Linux version and attach the contents of /proc/cpuinfo to this report, to confirm your CPU's model and capabilities.

I'm also moving this bug to the proper package, which is the Linux kernel.

Thanks for your report!

[da (daduck10)]

The problem happens in virtualbox 4.1.8. I don't no if it affects in the bug. The cpu info are attached from two computers that don't work the ubuntu 12.04 in virtualbox. I use ubuntu 11.10 in both computers as default and it works correctly. Thanks.

[da (daduck10)]

For more information, the screenshot of the boot after click to use without installation.

[Daniel Manrique (roadmr)]

Ah, Virtualbox appears to be the key here.

Could you confirm whether doing this solves the problem?

- Select the virtual machine in question and click on "settings"
- Select the "system" category on the left, then the "processor" tab on top
- Check "Enable PAE/NX"

Let me know if this makes things work.

[da (daduck10)]

Thanks, now it works with PAE/NX enabled. No problem in boot.

[Daniel Manrique (roadmr)]

Jsalisbury beat me to marking the bug as Invalid. just to clarify, the thing here is that Ubuntu now defaults to using the PAE kernel for 32-bit installs, due to it supporting other useful CPU features. So PAE support is pretty much a requirement. There's no actual bug in either Linux, Ubuntu (it's a decision, not a bug!) or VirtualBox (it *has* PAE support, it's just not enabled by default).

I'll try to get this documented and published somewhere (maybe the Ubuntu official system requirements page) so that it doesn't trip people up in the future.

[James E. LaBarre (jamesl-bestweb)]

Is this going to be a permenant requirement from this point onwards? Because teh ONLY system I have that even *has* pae support is my work laptop. Everything at my house is standard 32-bit systems. I think you're getting a very unrealistic view of the world if you think people are going to throw away their perfectly good systems and buy something that will work with what you feel like supporting.

For that matter, as an experiment I installed Windows7 on a T23 (which just barely met the official minimum requirements) It actually installed *and* was usable (as usable as Windows ever is) performance-wise. As someone who despises Windows I was amazed. So how is it you can't even match the capability of the latest hack-job from Redmond? If I could put W7 on a T23, I sould at least be able to put u12.04 on a T42p...

[komputes (komputes)]

As I see it, this is not a bug in the kernel but instead:
1) A decision taken by the Ubuntu TB
2) A change to be requested in Virtualbox

Daniel provides a working solution on how to get 12.04 to run in VirtualBox, see comment #5.
I have assigned this bug to virtualbox. I recommend that virtualbox turn PAE/NX on when creating Ubuntu VMs from now on.

James makes a good point as well. A workaround must be in place to install 12.04 on non-PAE enabled hardware. We used to install PAE only when 4GB or more of RAM was detected and that the system was online when installing. I have been told adding the non-PAE kernel would add ~40MB, therefore it is not possible to have both kernels available on the CD. To install onto older (non-64-bit) hardware, we would need a separate CD for older systems or to revert to what we have been doing up to now.

You can read more on the decision from the Ubuntu Technical Board here:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTAyNzM

Note the following quote: "Switch precise over to PAE kernel by default on i386; we retain the option to revert if it causes too much fallout (Colin)"

[Felix Geyer (debfx)]

This bug was fixed in the package virtualbox - 4.1.10-dfsg-1

---------------
virtualbox (4.1.10-dfsg-1) unstable; urgency=low

  * New upstream release.
  * Build-depend on libpng-dev instead of libpng12-dev. (Closes: #662537)
  * Refresh 18-system-xorg.patch.
  * Link against libgsoapssl++ instead of libgsoap++.
    - Update 33-link-static-libgsoap.patch
  * Enable PAE when creating Ubuntu VMs as it's required by the i386 kernel.
    - Add 36-ubuntu-pae.patch
  * Bump Standards-Version to 3.9.3, no changes needed.

 -- Felix Geyer <email address hidden> Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:09:24 +0100