Unity does not load - VirtualBox

Question

I have the same problem as described here.

I tried almost all the solutions described on that post:

export DISPLAY=:0
ccsm

(when switching to graphic - nothing's there).

or

export DISPLAY=:0
sudo dconf reset -f /org/compiz/

and then setsid unity or unity --reset-icons &disown.

I tried reinstalling unity and ubuntu-desktop.

I also tried removing: rm -rf ~/.compiz-1 ~/.config/compiz-1 and rm .Xauthority.

None of these helped. Still having the same blank desktop with no icons/bar.

I am using VirtualBox Version 5.0.24 r108355. Ubuntu 15.10.

Answer 1

Reinstalling Guest Additions solved it.

cd /media/your_user/VBOXADDITIONS_x.x.xx_xxxxxx
sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
sudo reboot

See How do I install Guest Additions in a VirtualBox VM? for more information.

Answer 2

In my case, changing the graphics controller to VBoxSVGA (was VBoxVGA) solved the problem.

VirtualBox settings for the VM -> Display -> click dropdown for Graphics Controller and select VBoxSVGA.

My symptoms: Recently, Unity stopped loading properly for an Ubuntu 14.04 VM I'd been using for years. I tried many suggested solutions online, before and after upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04, with no success. Using VirtualBox 6.0.8.