Several users have been getting the ‘FATAL: No bootable medium found! System Halted.‘ when trying to launch a new virtual machine in Virtualbox. This issue is not exclusive to Windows, as it’s also encountered on Linux and even on Mac computers.
What is causing the “FATAL: No bootable medium found! System Halted.” error?
We investigated this particular issue by looking at various user reports and the repair strategies that they themselves followed in order to resolve the issue. Based on what we gathered, this issue will most commonly happen if the virtual machine doesn’t point to the .iso image of the operating system that the user tries to mount.
There are two main reasons why this issue will occur:
- VirtualBox image doesn’t point to an OS – In order to boot a virtual machine to an OS, you will need to install the operating system first by mounting an ISO or a physical CD with a bootable version of the OS. In this case, you will be able to resolve the issue by accessing the virtual image settings and loading up the bootable ISO file (or bootable CD/ DVD)
- The storage device controller is configured on SATA – For some reason, SATA will only work properly (when used as a Storage Device controller) when it’s being used as the first controller. If that’s not a possibility, you’ll need to mount the image on an IDE controller in order to avoid the error message.
If you’re currently struggling to resolve this particular error message, we have one method that is almost guaranteed to fix the issue. The vast majority of affected users that struggled to resolve this issue reported being able to do so after following the steps below.
How to fix the “FATAL: No bootable medium found! System Halted” error
So, in order to fix the “FATAL: No bootable medium found! System Halted.” error, you’ll need to ensure that the virtual machine is configured to boot from a real OS file (either an ISO file or a physical optical drive with a bootable OS install).
Also, you’ll need to make sure you’re using IDE as the storage controller if you want to minimize your chances of seeing this particular error message.
Here’s a quick guide on fixing the “FATAL: No bootable medium found! System Halted.” error:
- Open Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager.
- Right-click on the virtual image that you’re having issues with and click on Settings.
Accessing the Settings menu of the virtual image - Inside the Settings menu, select the Storage entry from the left-hand side menu.
- Next, click the Empty sub-item of Controller: IDE. Then, go over to the Attributes tab and click on the CD icon and click on Choose Optical Disk File…
Mounting the correct ISO file Note: Keep in mind that if you’re working with a live CD/DVD, you’ll need to check the Live CD/DVD box under Attributes and set the Optical drive to IDE Primary Master.
- Use the browsing menu that just opened to navigate to the location of the ISO file, select it and click Open to mount it.
- Click Ok to save the changes, then launch the virtual machine. You should no longer be getting the ‘FATAL: No bootable medium found! System Halted. error.
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If a VirtualBox machine with couldn’t start with error «FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted», then continue reading below to fix the problem.
The error «No bootable media found», indicates that VirtualBox cannot find a valid boot device to start the virtual machine (e.g. a mounted iso or a virtual disk with a bootable operating system) and can occur for any of the following reasons:
- The virtual disk doesn’t contain an operating system.
- The virtual disk contains a UEFI based operating system (e.g. Windows 10/11).
- The boot configuration on the virtual disk is invalid or damaged.
How to FIX: FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted in VirtualBox.
Method 1. Install an Operating System in the VirtualBox Machine.
In order a virtual machine (VM) to work, you have to install an operating system on it. So, if you just created the VM machine and you haven’t installed an operating system, attach a bootable .ISO file with the operating system that you want to install, and proceed to install the OS. *
* Note: If the VM’s virtual disk already contains an Operating System, skip to Method-2.
1. Open the Settings of the VirtualBox machine and go to Storage.
2. Click the 1st plus (+) button next to Controller to add optical drive.
3. Click Add and open the bootable ISO file with the OS that you want to install (e.g. the «Windows.iso» file in this example)
4. Then select the iso file and click Choose.
5. After attaching the iso file on the Storage devices on the VM machine…
7. … go to System and drag Optical to the top (in order to boot the VM from the attached bootable ISO file), and click OK.
8. Finally, follow the onscreen instructions to install the operating system on the VM machine.
Method 2. Enable UEFI support in VirtualBox machine.
If the virtual disk contains a UEFI based OS (e.g. Windows 10/11), proceed to enable the UEFI feature in VirtualBox, otherwise skip to next method.
1. Open the VM Settings and go to System > Motherboard.
2. Here ensure that the Hard Disk is checked and is the first boot device, and at Extended features check the following two (2) options and click OK:
-
Enable I/O APIC
-
Enable EFI (special OSes only)
3. Try to start the Virtual Machine now. If the problem persists, disable the EFI support in VM settings and continue to the next method.
Method 3. Repair Boot Configuration Data using BCDBOOT tool.
As I mentioned above, the VirtualBox fatal error «No bootable medium found», can appear if the GUEST OS doesn’t have a valid boot configuration.* At such a case you have to repair the boot files on the virtual disk in order the VM machine to start without errors.
* Note: This error sometimes occurs if the Virtual Disk (VHD/VHDX) is damaged, or after converting a physical disk to a virtual disk/image (VHD/VHDX) with the Disk2vhd tool.
1. Follow the steps in method-1 above to attach a bootable Windows ISO file on the virtual machine and boot the virtual machine from the ISO file. *
* Note: If the VM machine doesn’t boot from the ISO file, go to VM Settings > System > Motherboard and disable EFI. (After fixing the boot configuration and if the Guest OS is UEFI then proceed to re-enable UEFI. )
2. At the Windows Setup screen press SHIFT + F10 to access command prompt, or choose Next –> Repair your computer –> Troubleshoot –> Advanced Options –> Command Prompt.
3. At command prompt give the following commands in order (press enter after each command)
- diskpart
- select disk 0
- list partition
4. Now notice the size of the System partition (e.g. 100MB in this example).
5. Then type the following command and find out the volume number of the System partition by using its size as a reference. *
- list volume
* e.g. As you can see in the screenshot below, in this example, the System partition (100MB) is the volume 2.
6. Now give the following commands to select the system partition (using its volume number), and to assign the drive letter Z: to it. Then exit DISKPART:
- select volume 2 *
- assign letter=Z
- exit
* Note: Change the Volume number «2» according your case.
7. Finally, in command prompt give this command to repair the boot files: *
- bcdboot C:\windows /s Z: /f ALL
* Note: If the Guest OS is UEFI based, then you can give the following command instead:
- bcdboot C:\windows /s Z: /f UEFI
8. Close all windows and shut down the VM machine.
9. Go to VM Settings > System and set the Hard Disk as first boot device.
11. Start the VM and you’re done! *
* Note: IF the VM couldn’t start now with error «FATAL: INT18: BOOT FAILURE», proceed and enable I/O APIC & EFI in VM’s settings.
![image_thumb[7][4]](https://www.wintips.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image_thumb74_thumb-1.png "image_thumb[7][4]")
That’s it! Which method worked for you?
Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.
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Konstantinos is the founder and administrator of Wintips.org. Since 1995 he works and provides IT support as a computer and network expert to individuals and large companies. He is specialized in solving problems related to Windows or other Microsoft products (Windows Server, Office, Microsoft 365, etc.).
В этой статье будет рассказано о том что означает ошибка no bootable medium found, system halted VirtualBox, почему она возникает, а также как её обойти. Если вы знаете английский, то можете понять примерно следующее — система не может загрузится потому что загрузочный диск не найден.
Причин у такой ошибки может быть несколько. Обычно, она возникает при создании новой виртуальной машины и не зависит от операционной системы. Может встречаться в Windows, Linux и MacOS.
Эта ошибка означает, что загрузочный диск к виртуальной машине не подключён. Если это только что созданная виртуальная машина, то её жесткий диск ещё пуст, на нём ничего нет, и поэтому с него нельзя загрузится. Для того чтобы установить операционную систему надо подключить к машине ISO образ с установщиком и загрузится с него. Обычно при первом запуске VirtualBox автоматически предлагает выбрать образ с установщиком. Но если вы упустили этот момент, то надо сделать всё вручную.
Для этого кликните правой кнопкой мыши по нужной виртуальной машине и выберите пункт меню Настроить, в открывшемся окне перейдите на вкладку Носители:
Здесь есть раздел Контроллер IDE, кликните по значку рядом с ним Добавить привод оптических дисков:
Дальше кликните по кнопке Добавить и выберите файл образа, который надо подключить к виртуальной машине.
Этот файл появится в списке в предыдущем окне, просто кликните по нему и нажмите кнопку Выбрать внизу окна.
Если привод оптических дисков уже есть и там написано Пусто, то кликните по нему, а потом в правой части окна кликните по синей иконке с нарисованным на ней диском, а затем аналогично выберите образ диска:
После этого образ будет добавлен и вы можете снова пытаться загрузить свою виртуальную машину. На этот раз ошибки быть не должно и всё будет работать.
Если это не помогает, образ подключён, а вы всё ещё получаете ошибку, это может означать что образ повреждён или он не предназначен для загрузки. Вы можете заново скачать образ или проверить его контрольные сумы. Обычно для установщиков различных Linux дистрибутивов вместе с образом идёт файл с контрольными суммами.
Если образ не загрузочный, его можно попытаться записать на флешку, например, с помощью утилиты Etcher а потом загрузится с флешки. Обычно утилита обнаруживает загрузчик и делает флешку загрузочной. Для того чтобы загрузится с флешки вам понадобится добавить её в VirtualBox как реальный диск. Далее добавьте ваш новый диск к виртуальной машине так, как описано выше. Только на этот раз надо использовать контроллер SATA вместо IDE.
Выводы
Теперь вы знаете что делать если возникает ошибка no bootable medium found в VirtualBox. Как видите, есть целых два способа её решения. Знаете другие? Напишите в комментариях!
Статья распространяется под лицензией Creative Commons ShareAlike 4.0 при копировании материала ссылка на источник обязательна .
Об авторе
Веб разработчик. Создал losst 9 лет назад. Увлекаюсь открытым программным обеспечением, программрованием, Linux, DevOps. Люблю узнавать что-то новое. В качестве основной ОС сейчас использую Fedora.
Many VirtualBox users have experienced at least once the message ‘FATAL: Could not read from the boot medium! System halted.‘ Sometimes it is also shown ‘No Bootable Medium Found! System halted‘.
This error is more common when trying to start a new virtual machine, but it is not impossible to happen at an existing virtual machine if the virtual hard drive is missing.
📋
This problem has to do purely with VirtualBox and can be experienced on any host operating system, be it Windows, Mac OS or Linux.
What causes this “Could not read from the boot medium” error?
There are two main reasons behind this issue:
- VirtualBox doesn’t point to an operating system, either a mounted iso or a virtual hard disk with a bootable OS. When you create a virtual machine for the first time, you need to mount a bootable iso like Ubuntu. If you mount a bootable iso before you start your virtual machine, you will be successful in booting up the system.
- The CD/ DVD storage device controller is configured as SATA. Another issue can appear if you accidentally mount the bootable iso to a SATA storage device controller instead of IDE. VirtualBox works without any problems when a SATA storage device points to a virtual hard drive, but this is not the case for a bootable iso.
How to solve it?
If you are not sure which of the 2 reasons apply to you, I can show you a solution that covers both, and finally stop receiving the error message.
Step 1: Right-click on the virtual machine that isn’t in a bootable state and click on settings.
Step 2: Once the settings menu is open, follow the steps access storage > Controller:IDE > Choose the bootable iso and click ok.
Step 3: Start your virtual machine and you should be able to boot normally from the mounted iso.
Conclusion
VirtualBox boot issue is very common and easy to fix but frustrating if you don’t know what to do.
If you are a regular reader of It’s FOSS, you know already that virtualization technology is among my interests. If you discovered us recently and you are curious to start exploring the features of VirtualBox, I suggest to start experimenting with this guide that covers Fedora installation on VirtualBox, as you can go beyond a simple installation.
About the author
Dimitrios
Dimitrios is an MSc Mechanical Engineer but a Linux enthusiast in heart. His machines are powered by Arch Linux but curiosity drives him to constantly test other distros. Challenge is part of his per
A large number of users encounter the error “VirtualBox no bootable medium found” when trying to create a new VM. What causes this fatal no bootable medium found error? This post of MiniTool will analyze the possible reasons and provide corresponding solutions.
What Causes the VirtualBox No Bootable Medium Found Error
When trying to create a new VM or start an existing VM, lots of users fail to boot and get the error message “No bootable medium found system halted”. This error is reported to occur on Windows as well as Linux and Mac system.
What causes the VirtualBox no bootable medium found an error? According to the investigation, there are several common reasons that can lead to the VirtualBox fatal no bootable medium found error:
- The bootable ISO disk image is not bootable or has been created improperly. If the physical CD/DVD disc was burned as a data disc instead of a bootable disc, you will get the fatal no bootable medium found error when booting your VM by using the disc.
- The ISO image you have created is stored on a faulty disk. In some cases, you cannot boot the VM from an ISO image if it is stored a damaged hard disk drive. Since some fragments of the ISO image are coincidently located on bad blocks of the hard disk, the ISO image will be unreadable.
- The virtual optical drive is empty. If you insert the bootable disc into the virtual optical drive of VM incorrectly, the VirtualBox fatal no bootable medium found error can occur.
- The boot order in the VM settings is incorrect. If you haven’t selected the virtual hard disk as a boot device in the boot order list or the disk boot image contains lower boot priority, you can get the no bootable medium found VirtualBox fatal error.
- The virtual optical disc drive is missing. When the virtual CD/DVD drive is missing from VM configuration, you may get the no bootable medium found system halted error.
- The disk controller is configured on SATA. In many cases, SATA can only work properly when it has been used as the first controller. Otherwise, you need to burn the ISO image on an IDE controller to avoid the VirtualBox error.
The possible causes of the no bootable medium found error has been analyzed. Now, let’s start exploring methods to fix this vexing error.
How to fix the Virtualbox no bootable medium found error
- Check the bootable media for your VM
- Tick the Live CD/DVD checkbox
- Change the boot order in VM Settings
- Add IDE controller
- Clean your CD/DVD disc
- Burn another bootable CD/DVD disc
- Create a new bootable ISO disk image
First of all, you should check if the virtual optical drive is empty and the bootable media is inserted appropriately. Here are detailed steps to check them in the VM.
Step 1. Make sure you insert an appropriate bootable media into a virtual CD/DVD drive of the VM correctly and then restart your VM.
Step 2. In the main interface of the VirtualBox window, select your VM and then navigate to Machine > Settings and select Storage.
Step 3. Check if the ISO disk image or bootable optical disc is inserted into a virtual optical drive or physical CD/DVD disc drive properly in VM.
Step 4. If you find the optical drive is empty in VM, you have to click on Choose Virtual Optical Disk File and click on OK. Alternatively, you can select the host optical drive that contains a physical optical CD/DVD disc.
Once you inserted a correct boot disk image, try restarting the existing VM to see if the VirtualBox no bootable medium found error still persists.
Fix 2. Select the Live CD/DVD Checkbox
If you are using a live CD/DVD disc to boot your VM, make sure you select the checkbox for the Live CD/DVD. This is because a ticked Live CD/DVD ensures that a virtual CD/DVD disc image won’t be removed from the virtual CD/DVD drive.
Otherwise, the virtual CD/DVD drive of VM will be empty and you will get the fatal error “no bootable medium found system halted” in VirtualBox when rebooting VM.
So, if you are using a Live CD/DVD disc, please make sure you select the Live CD/DVD checkbox. Here’s how to do that:
Step 1. Open the VM and select the Settings > Storage option.
Step 2. Click on the Empty word under the Storage Devices There should be a CD/DVD icon next to Empty.
Step 3. Select the checkbox for Live CD/DVD under the Attributes section.
Step 4. Click on the CD icon next to the Optical Drive and select Choose virtual optical disk file from the context menu.
Step 5. After that, click on the OK button and exit the window.
Now, you can use the live CD/DVD to boot the VM and see if the error “No bootable medium found VirtualBox” is fixed.
Fix 3. Change the Boot Order in VM Settings
This error will also occur when the boot order is incorrect in the VM settings. To fix the issue, you can follow the steps below to change the boot order.
Step 1. Open your VM, and then navigate to Machine > Settings.
Step 2. In the Settings window, select the System option in the left side, and then navigate to the Motherboard tab on the right side.
Step 3. Change the Boot Order by pressing the up and down arrow keys. After that, click on the OK button.
Tip: If the floppy disk is not used, you can disable it by unselecting the checkbox.
Fix 4. Add IDE Controller
If the virtual optical drive is missing or the storage device controller is configured as SATA, it can trigger the VirtualBox fatal no bootable medium found error. You can fix it by adding an IDE controller manually. Here’s how:
Step 1. Open your VM, and then navigate to Machine > Settings.
Step 2. Navigate to the Storage tab, and then click on the Add storage controller icon and select the Add IDE controller section from the opened menu.
Step 3. After adding the IDE controller, click on the Add optical drive icon and then click on the Choose Disk button in the pop-up window.
Step 4. Then click on Add to view the bootable ISO disk image or you can select the ISO image from the list of ISO images.
Step 5. Now, you can check the boot order through the above steps. If the boot order is correct, click on OK to save the settings and start the VM to check if the VirtualBox fatal no bootable medium found disappears.
Fix 5. Clean Your CD/DVD Disc
So, you can try cleaning the disc surface carefully by using the soft sponge and polish the scratches by using a special spray. If the CD/DVD still can’t be read by your host machine, you have to consider burning another disc via the following method.
Fix 6. Burn Another Bootable CD/DVD Disc
If the physical CD/DVD disc was burned as a data disc instead of a boot disc or it got corrupted/damaged, you need to burn another one. How to burn a bootable CD/DVD disc?
There is some free CD/DVD disc burning software such as Ubuntu, BurnAware, Rufus, etc. You can choose one from them to burn a bootable CD/DVD disc on VirtualBox.
There are many instructions about how to burn a bootable CD/DVD disc that you can search for them online. The operating guide varies depending on different burning software. For example, if you want to create a virtual Windows 10 OS on VirtualBox, you can utilize a Windows media creation tool.
Fix 7. Create a New Bootable ISO Disk Image
If you are using a bootable ISO disk image that’s stored on a faulty hard disk by chance, the image will be unreadable. So, your VM won’t boot from the ISO disk image and pops up the error message “no bootable medium found system halted”.
At this time, you need to check if there are any bad sectors on your hard disk first. Here you can utilize a professional disk management tool – MiniTool Partition Wizard. This utility can help you check hard disk easily. Besides, it has helped lots of users fix tricky problems such as e_invalidarg error code in Virtual box, BSOD, disk not showing, etc.
MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Note: If there are a large number of blocks marked with red color, it indicates that your hard disk is damaged seriously. To avoid worse situations, please back up the whole disk as soon as possible.
As you know, it is not possible to restore a corrupted ISO disk image that stored on a damaged hard disk. So, if you find the disk is damaged, the first thing you must do is to transfer all important data to another storage device and then to create a new bootable ISO disk image.
Step 1. To create a bootable ISO image, you need to prepare an external storage device such as USB flash drive, CD/DVD, and external hard drive and connect it to your computer.
Step 2. Then you can create a bootable ISO image by reading this post where detailed steps are provided.
Step 3. Once the bootable ISO image was created, you can use it to create a new VM or start the existing VM on VirtualBox. You can click here to know more details about how to create a VM on VirtualBox.
When I was creating a VM on VirtualBox, an error message “no bootable medium found system halted” pops up. This post provides 7 effective solutions to fix the issue. If you are also troubled by this error, this post is what you need!Click to Tweet
Have a Try Now
Here comes the end of the post. Top 7 troubleshooting methods for the VirtualBox no bootable medium found error has been elaborated to you. Now, it’s your turn to have a try. If you have any questions about MiniTool Partition Wizard, please send us an e-mail via [email protected]. We also appreciate any opinions about this topic left in the comment area.
VirtualBox No Bootable Medium Found FAQ
How to fix VirtualBox no bootable medium found fatal error?
- Check if the virtual optical drive is empty and the bootable media is inserted correctly.
- Tick the Live CD/DVD checkbox.
- Change the boot order in VM settings.
- Add the IDE controller.
- Clean the CD/DVD disc.
- Burn a new bootable CD/DVD disc.
- Create a new bootable ISO disk image.
How to open an ISO image in VirtualBox?
- Attach the ISO image to your VirtualBox.
- In the main menu of Virtual box, click on Virtual machine > Settings
- Navigate to the Storage tab on the left side, and then click on Empty under Controller IDE
- Select the CD/DVD icon and click on Choose virtual CD/DVD disk file. Then select the ISO file that you want to connect to VM.
How to burn a Windows 10 ISO image?
- Insert a blank CD/DVD into a writable optical drive of your PC.
- Right-click the ISO file and select the Burn disk image
- Select the Verify disc after burning option and click on Burn.
How to select a startup disk in VirtualBox?
- Click on the Start button in the VirtualBox toolbar.
- In the pop-up window, click on the Select start-up disk
- Navigate to the ISO image file that you download and click on Start.