VirtualBox Seamless Mode not working on Windows 10 — [Resolved]

Oracle VirtualBox is one of the most popular free hypervisors. This allows users to run virtual devices on the computer. Being extremely popular among enthusiasts, it has a vast library of support for almost all operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Haiku, etc.

Download Oracle VM VirtualBox & Install on Windows

Recently, many users have reported that the VirtualBox app doesn’t load on Windows 10. There have been reports about VirtualBox Seamless Mode not working as well. Here, I’ll cover smooth mode and how you can solve it using simple techniques.

What is VirtualBox Seamless Mode?

Oracle’s VirtualBox is a free platform for virtual machines. This allows users to run virtual machines on top of the current operating system installed on their devices. This is very useful when users want to try some development code, application, etc.

You may often need to get rid of the VirtualBox navigation menu bar and seamlessly use the virtual operating system on your computer. This feature can be enabled using VirtualBox seamless mode, which removes additional menu bars and other navigation bars of the VirtualBox application. The keyboard shortcut for the same is Host+L.

Why doesn’t VirtualBox Seamless Mode work?

There are many reasons why you may see VirtualBox not working on your Windows 10 device. Some of these include:

• Plug-ins such as Hyper-V, when not enabled on your computer, can cause VirtualBox to fail to load on your device.
• Legacy VirtualBox virtual machine software may sometimes not have the appropriate guest OS support.
• Windows Updates handles the drivers installed on your device. Because VirtualBox also installs custom drivers, Windows can block specific features and cause conflicts between them.
• Windows updates can also cause problems with the VirtualBox virtual machine software, which can be resolved by using Paravirtualization.

How to Solve VirtualBox Seamless Mode Not Working in Windows 10?

Now that you have a little idea of why you might get this error, here are some simple solutions that you can use to troubleshoot the VirtualBox Seamless Mode error.

Solution 1. Update the integrated graphics drivers

Although Windows Updates handle driver updates, you may have missed some critical driver updates that could cause the virtual machine application to crash or full load. This is one of the most common reasons why this error can occur. If you missed some device driver updates, these outdated drivers can conflict with your hardware and lead to many errors, including this VirtualBox seamless not working error.

After that, you should see your VirtualBox seamless Mode not working error resolved.

Solution 2. Install the Guest Add-on image

The necessary drivers and packages are installed with the application itself when installing the VirtualBox application. However, the Guest Additions image does not install with the app, leading to specific errors on your device.

Without the Guest Additions image, you can’t use the Seamless mode in VirtualBox. You can see that the option is unavailable or does not work when clicked. To install guest add-ons, follow these steps:

1. Open the VirtualBox virtual machine application and boot into the guest operating system.
2. On the top bar, click on Devices to expand the context menu.
3. Here, select Insert Guest Additions CD Image.

This should bring up the Installation Wizard. Follow the on-screen instructions to install additional packages.

However, if you see that the Guest Additions image is not installed, you need to log in to your virtual operating system, open the Run command prompt, type the following command, and press Enter:

D:\VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe

Restart the virtual machine after the installation is complete. This should fix your VirtualBox Seamless Mode Error.

Solution 3. Update Windows and VirtualBox

If you see that the Guest Additions image is already installed on your device, there may be a problem with your operating system and the VirtualBox application. This can be solved very easily by updating all the components involved.

First, install any pending updates on your Windows operating system. Each update contains bug fixes and new versions of installed drivers.

Then, upgrade the VirtualBox client. Installing a fresh copy of the app is the best way to do this.

1. From the Control Panel, uninstall the VirtualBox application. (Shortcut: use the appwiz command.cpl in the Run dialog)
2. Then, visit the VirtualBox website and download the latest version of the client software.
3. install the software by double-clicking on the downloaded executable file.

You can point VirtualBox to existing virtual machines installed on your VirtualBox software. Your virtual machines are stored in the following folders:

C:\Users\[username]\VirtualBox VM 
C:\Users\[username]\VirtualBox VMs\[vm group]\[vm name]

You can get the latest version here: Download Virtualbox: All Versions for MAC, Windows, Linux, and Solaris – TechRechard.

This should fix your VirtualBox Seamless Mode Error.

Solution 4. Enable Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V (Virtual Windows Server Virtualization) is a module required to run virtual machines on your computer. This module is used by many other third-party applications to run virtual operating systems on top of an existing OS in Windows 8 or higher.

If you disable this setting, you won’t run virtual machines on your computer. Ensure it’s turned on, and try reopening the VirtualBox software. To enable Hyper-V, follow these steps:

1. Open Windows Desktop Search using the Win+S shortcut.
2. Type Enable or disable Windows features in the search bar.
3. Click on Turn on Windows Features on or off.
4. In the list of available features, look for Hyper-V,.
5. Enable the module by selecting the check box next to the entry.

6. Click Ok for the assignment process to start your module.
7. Once the module is turned on, restart your computer.

Now try to run new virtual machines in VirtualBox seamless mode. VirtualBox seamless mode error should be resolved.

Here is a video tutorial you can use:

Solution 5. Disable Driver Enforcement

Windows 10 has become much stricter, allowing third-party applications to install drivers. Driver Enforcement is one of the security features in Windows that prevents suspicious and poorly encoded drivers from being mounted on your operating system.

Because VirtualBox also installs its drivers, they are treated as external drivers, and Windows may block them. If you see VirtualBox not working, you need to disable driver enforcement in Windows. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, open the Run dialog box by pressing Win + R. Here, type CMD, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run a command prompt with administrator rights. You can use this guide: How to “Run as Administrator” an application on Windows: 3 Easy Methods.
2. Here type the following command and press Enter to execute it: 
   bcdedit.exe / install nointegritychecks on

3. This will verify the integrity of the drivers installed by third-party applications. If you want to enable driver integrity checking, type the following command and press Enter: 
   bcdedit.exe/ disable nointegrity checking
4. Start over your computer when you have disabled integrity checking for third-party drivers.

VirtualBox seamless mode error should now be resolved if VirtualBox did not work correctly due to driver integrity checks.

Solution 6: Modify Paravirtualization

Paravirtualization refers to software technology that allows virtual machines to have a software interface rather than emulate the entire hardware environment. This is necessary to access virtual machines through interfaces similar to the underlying hardware to optimize system performance.

Many users report that this paravirtualization feature is causing problems in VirtualBox. A simple trick is to change the acceleration mode to KVM. Follow these steps for the same:

1. Open the VirtualBox virtual machine application.
2. Click on Settings.
3. Navigate to System > Acceleration > Paravirtualization Interface.
4. Select the KVM option from the drop-down list.
5. Start your computer over and try to rerun VirtualBox.

If paravirtualization caused your app to fail to load, this should resolve the VirtualBox seamless mode error.

Solution 7. Turn off 3D acceleration

When you use 3D acceleration, your virtual machine will use the host computer to render the 3D graphics needed to run the operating system. But the chances are that your graphics card doesn’t support 3D acceleration, this could cause the virtual machine software to crash, and you may see VirtualBox seamless mode blank or miss.

To disable 3D acceleration in VirtualBox, perform the following actions:

1. Open the VirtualBox application on your computer.
2. Select the installed virtual machine and click Settings
3. In the “Display” section, deselect the checkbox associated with ‘Enable 3D acceleration‘
4. Click on the Ok button to save the settings.

This should enable the VirtualBox Seamless Mode on your computer and prevent crashes.

Solution 8. Install VirtualBox Adapters Manually

If VirtualBox fails to install network adapters automatically, you may receive the error message “Unable to load VirtualBox.” If this also happens, you can manually install the VirtualBox network adapters and set the correct configuration values.

1. First, uninstall any previously installed VirtualBox adapters.
2. Open the Run dialog by pressing Win+R.
3. Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to start the Device Manager console.
4. On the top bar, click the Add Legacy Hardware> action.

5. Install Oracle VirtualBox adapters from the following location: 
   C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\network\netadp\VBoxNetAdp.inf
6. Open the VirtualBox app on your device.
7. Navigate to the following path: 
   > > > Host Only Network > > Edit >.
8. Now set the following values:
   IPv4 address: 192.68.56.1
   Netmask: 255.255.255.0

9. Now click on the DHCP Server tab and set the following values in the appropriate fields:
   Server address: 192.168.56.100
   Server mask: 255.255.255.0
   Low address linked: 192.168.56.101
   Top address is linked: 192.168.56.254
10. Click Ok and restart the computer.

This should fix your VirtualBox Seamless Mode Error.

Conclusion:

I hope this guide on VirtualBox Seamless Mode doesn’t work on Windows 10 was helpful. If you face any issues, please comment below.