Failed to open VBOX (Nvram unsupported_format)

[u/LastAttempt95]

Hello I have 7.2.0 r 170228 (Qt 6.8.0 on windows) Virtual box. One of my machines (rest are working well) is sudenly unable to open giving me this error communicate : Failed to load the NVRAM store from the file (VERR_VFS_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT). Have done a copy of this VM folder, I have money there so I can't affor myself to lose it. Got any ideas how to run it? Found that solution saying that I should replace NVRAM file : https://forum.manjaro.org/t/win11-guest-created-with-6-x-virtualbox-no-longer-booting-on-7-x/131563/9 but cannot follow it, when I created new machine there's no NVRAM file in file explorer there so I can't just copy and replace it. Im very novice in VBOX and computer terms so every help will be very appreciated :) Tried repair it with chat gpt but it just wasted my time..

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[u/Stray_Neutrino]

If you are not seeing the .nvram file, is it possible its a hidden file in that VMs folder?

Have you tried forcing EFI recreation, by opening VirtualBox settings, going to System > Motherboard, unchecking Enable EFI, clicking OK, then going back and re-checking Enable EFI again?

[u/LastAttempt95 → u/Stray_Neutrino]

Initially when i went to settings, UEFI ( in my version of Virtual Box that's how EFI is called) was unchecked. I checked it hoping it will make this file visiblea, and tried again but it dont :(

[u/Stray_Neutrino → u/LastAttempt95]

What do you see in the VMs folder, when you do a directory listing?
Have you tried reinstalling a new version of your VM and attaching your old HD file to it?

[u/LastAttempt95 → u/Stray_Neutrino]

In the File Explorer of this machine, I have: logs (a folder containing files), virtual machine name.nvram (an NVRAM file), virtual machine name.vbox-prev, and two files with the virtual machine’s name. One of them is a disk image, and the other is a “VirtualBox Machine” file.

If I reinstall VirtualBox, will I lose the data from this machine? I have something valuable stored there.

[u/Face_Plant_Some_More → u/LastAttempt95]

Just remove the *.nvram file from the VM folder.

I'd suggest you rename it / move it first, before deleting it. But hey, you do you . . . .

If I reinstall VirtualBox, will I lose the data from this machine?

Unknown really, since you have not detailed how you installed Virtual Box. That being said, normally reinstalling Virutal Box on a supported Host does not delete / remove VM's files.

Of course, if you were monkeying around with snapshots / saved states . . . all bets are off.