Virtualbox “Callee RC: REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG” (0x80040154)?

Question

I was getting the Virtualbox problem

Callee RC: REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG” (0x80040154)

all of a sudden. Problem started on VirtualBox 4.3 (I think). I upgraded to version 5 hoping to fix it but had no luck at that point.

Answer 1

My solution: Check your directory C:\Users\yourname\.VirtualBox\ (yourname is in fact your username.)

On my PC there was a VirtualBox.xml with size of 0 Kb. Also there was a VirtualBox.xml-prev with a size of 3 Kb. Dates where somewhere around the time the problem started...

Renaming the VirtualBox.xml-prev one to the VirtualBox.xml SOLVED my issue.

For those without an xml file, here is my xml file, hopefully it helps .....

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!-- ** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE. ** If you make changes to this file while any VirtualBox related application ** is running, your changes will be overwritten later, without taking effect. ** Use VBoxManage or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes. -->

-<VirtualBox version="1.12-windows" xmlns="http://www.innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings">


-<Global>


-<ExtraData>

<ExtraDataItem value="general,system,previewClosed,display,storage,audio,network,usb,sharedFolders,description" name="GUI/DetailsPageBoxes"/>

<ExtraDataItem value="m=59397901-1440-48ea-8781-6f86d06c7fbb" name="GUI/GroupDefinitions/"/>

<ExtraDataItem value="m=Sharepoint" name="GUI/LastItemSelected"/>

<ExtraDataItem value="415,153,770,550,max" name="GUI/LastWindowPosition"/>

<ExtraDataItem value="D:/virtualbox" name="GUI/RecentFolderHD"/>

<ExtraDataItem value="D:\virtualbox\Sharepoint.vdi;" name="GUI/RecentListHD"/>

<ExtraDataItem value="334,1261" name="GUI/SplitterSizes"/>

<ExtraDataItem value=",confirmGoingScale,remindAboutAutoCapture,remindAboutMouseIntegration,showRuntimeError.warning.HostAudioNotResponding,confirmInputCapture,warnAboutInaccessibleMedia" name="GUI/SuppressMessages"/>

<ExtraDataItem value="53" name="GUI/UpdateCheckCount"/>

<ExtraDataItem value="1 d, 2015-08-19, stable, 5.0.0" name="GUI/UpdateDate"/>

</ExtraData>


-<MachineRegistry>

<MachineEntry src="D:/virtualbox/Sharepoint/Sharepoint.vbox" uuid="{59397901-1440-48ea-8781-6f86d06c7fbb}"/>

</MachineRegistry>


-<MediaRegistry>

<HardDisks/>

<DVDImages/>

<FloppyImages/>

</MediaRegistry>


-<NetserviceRegistry>


-<DHCPServers>

<DHCPServer enabled="1" upperIP="192.168.56.254" lowerIP="192.168.56.101" networkMask="255.255.255.0" IPAddress="192.168.56.100" networkName="HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"/>

</DHCPServers>

</NetserviceRegistry>

<SystemProperties exclusiveHwVirt="false" LogHistoryCount="3" webServiceAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" VRDEAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" defaultHardDiskFormat="VDI" defaultMachineFolder="C:\Users\yourname\VirtualBox VMs"/>

<USBDeviceFilters/>

</Global>

</VirtualBox>

Answer 2

I had the error...

Failed to create the VirtualBoxClient COM object. The application will now terminate. Callee RC: REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG (0x80040154)

...when starting VirtualBox as normal user. Starting as administrator worked on the other hand.

System: Windows 8, VirtualBox 5

Actually, the issue "suddenly" appeared after I played around with raw disk accesses. During these test, I re-installed VirtualBox as administrator.

What people not always know is that the registry has also an access right management, like files. Right-click on a folder to access the Autorisations window to display them.

When I re-installed as administrator, the registry keys where created with an admin level access. By this, I wasn't able anymore to start VirtualBox as non-admin.

Re-installing as normal user did not solve the problem. Probably because some admin-level keys could not be deleted.

Solution that worked for me:

• Back-up .VirtualBox (optional, as all backups are :-)
• Uninstall VirtualBox
• Open Registry Editor regedit.exe as administrator.
• Delete all remaining VirtualBox keys (especially the .NET, driver registrations, Compatibility Manager settings)
• Reinstall VirtualBox using a user account.

Notes:

I did not test escalating the VirtualBox uninstaller process to administrator level with sysinternals. That might work as well.

Be careful with regedit. The GUI is quite '90s. Good to know: CTRL+F searches below the currently selected key, so be sure to go to the top when start searching.

I had one key for an USB driver that I wasn't able to delete due to access rights problems. Finally, this was not needed anyway.

Please don't forget to change access rights on VirtualBox disk files when they have been created with VirtualBox running as administrator.

Answer 3

Renaming the VirtualBox.xml-prev one to the VirtualBox.xml solved my issue.