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Symptoms

You have a Linux virtual machine created in VirtualBox. After you import it in Parallels Workstation and start it, the virtual machine's screen becomes black and displays nothing.

Cause

This happens because the VirtualBox video driver doesn't work in Parallels virtual machines and, as a result, the X server doesn't start in the Linux guest operating system.

Resolution

The issue has been fixed in Parallels Workstation 6 Update 1 available on our web site.

Fix for Parallels Workstation Extreme 6 is coming soon with Update 1 as well. Meanwhile you may follow the workaround below.

Workaround

To work around this problem, do the following:

1. When the black screen appears, wait several seconds until the guest operating system boots up.
2. Press Ctrl + Alt + F1 to switch to the Console mode.
3. When prompted, enter your username and password.
4. Rename the xorg.conf file to xorg.conf.vbox by executing the following command:

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.vbox

5. Restart the virtual machine by executing the following command. The problem will be fixed after restart.

sudo reboot