Ubuntu MATE 16.04.3. Virtualbox 5.0.40 (from the Ubuntu repos).
I have been using Virtualbox for 2 years now. I booted yesterday and it is no longer working.
All text in the GUI is in italics (which I think is trying to tell me something), and when I start any VM the PC instantly freezes. A hard reboot is required.
Any pointers ?
I did some more research and it seems this is a known bug.
Another ask Ubuntu post talks about this very issue and offers a workaround of booting into the LTS 4.4 kernel for now, which is also what I discovered with a little trial and error.
So, until the bug is fixed it seems the recomended work around is to boot into the 4.4 LTS kernel if you want to run Virtualbox.
As the HWE kernel has been installed as default in my Ubuntu MATE installation, I had to install the LTS 4.4 (GA) kernel manually.
sudo apt install linux-image-generic linux-headers-generic
At the grub boot prompt, select "Advanced Options" for this Ubuntu installation (I dual boot and have multiple installations) and select the 4.4 kernel.
(The italic text in the Virtualbox GUI remains a mystery !)
