There’s a bug affecting certain configurations of Xubuntu when installed in a VirtualBox VM. I encountered it on Xubuntu 24.04. The Register describes the symptoms:
We tested all three installation options of Xubuntu 24.04 in VirtualBox, and we consistently noted one glitch. After installation, on the first boot, it crashed when we logged in. However, the second attempt worked fine.
Unfortunately, the second attempt isn’t completely fine: some background services don’t entirely recover, like the VirtualBox Guest Additions needed for shared clipboard.
There is some good investigative work written up in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/1861609 and https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/-/issues/1053 . It seems a patch to the X.Org X11 server is working its way through the channels.
In the meantime, the simplest workaround that worked for me was:
- Power off the VM
- VM Settings > Display > Screen > ensure “Enable 3D Acceleration” is checked
- (You might need to switch to “Expert” view to see this option, depending on your version of VirtualBox)