[Bug]: VMSVGA 3D acceleration fails with `vmwgfx: Failed to open channel` on Windows 11 + NVIDIA RTX 5070 + Parrot OS

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Version

7.2.18

Host OS Type

Windows

Host OS name + version

windows 11 ghost spectre (25H2)

Host Architecture

x86

Guest OS Type

Linux

Guest Architecture

x86

Guest OS name + version

Parrot Security OS 7.3 KDE Security Edition

Component

3D Support

What happened?

Host CPU

AMD Ryzen 5 9600X

Host GPU

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070

NVIDIA driver: 616.56

Kernel tested:

• 7.0.9 (current stock kernel)
• 6.1.0-53

VM configuration

• Graphics Controller: VMSVGA
• 3D Acceleration: Enabled
• EFI: Enabled
• Secure Boot: Disabled in guest
• I/O APIC: Enabled
• PAE/NX: Enabled
• Nested Paging: Enabled
• CPUs: 4
• RAM: 12 GB
• Network: NAT
• Guest Additions: 7.2.18r175117

Problem

Linux detects the VMSVGA/SVGA3D device, but 3D acceleration does not become hardware accelerated.

glxinfo -B reports:

direct rendering: Yes
Vendor: VMware, Inc.
Device: SVGA3D; build: RELEASE; LLVM; (0x405)
Version: Mesa 25.2.6
Accelerated: no
Video memory: 1MB
OpenGL renderer string: SVGA3D; build: RELEASE; LLVM
OpenGL 4.1

The important part is:

Accelerated: no

and the renderer falls back to software.

The kernel repeatedly reports:

[drm:vmw_msg_ioctl [vmwgfx]] *ERROR* Failed to open channel.

Vulkan

vulkaninfo --summary also falls back to software:

GPU0:
deviceName = llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits)
driverName = llvmpipe

Additional testing

The issue was tested with both:

• Linux kernel 7.0.9
• Linux kernel 6.1.0-53

The vmwgfx: Failed to open channel error persists.

With 3D acceleration disabled, the VM works normally, but obviously without 3D acceleration.

The VM is running an X11 session.

Guest Additions 7.2.18 are installed from the official VirtualBox 7.2.18 ISO.

Host-side observations

The VirtualBox log shows:

3DEnabled = 1
VMSVGA3dEnabled = 1
VMSVGA: Adapter 10de:2f04 [NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070]
MesaVmsvgaDrv = 1

The host-side log also shows VMSVGA 3D initialization and a large number of 3D surface/fence operations, suggesting that the VirtualBox host-side 3D backend is being initialized, while the Linux guest vmwgfx driver cannot successfully open its channel.

Expected behavior

With:

• VMSVGA
• 3D acceleration enabled
• current VirtualBox Guest Additions
• a supported Linux guest

the guest should be able to use the VirtualBox VMSVGA 3D acceleration path rather than falling back to llvmpipe.

Actual behavior

The guest sees SVGA3D, but:

Accelerated: no

OpenGL falls back to the software renderer and Vulkan reports llvmpipe.

The kernel repeatedly reports:

vmwgfx: Failed to open channel

Reproduction

1. Install Parrot Security OS 7.3 KDE.
2. Install VirtualBox 7.2.18 on Windows 11.
3. Create a Linux VM.
4. Select VMSVGA as the graphics controller.
5. Enable 3D acceleration.
6. Install Guest Additions 7.2.18.
7. Boot the guest.
8. Run:

glxinfo -B

and:

dmesg | grep vmwgfx

9. Observe Accelerated: no and repeated Failed to open channel messages.

Question

Could the VirtualBox developers please investigate whether this is a VMSVGA/vmwgfx compatibility issue between recent Linux kernels/Mesa and the VirtualBox 7.2.x Windows host 3D backend?

I can provide the complete VBox.log, guest dmesg output, glxinfo output, vulkaninfo output, and additional configuration information if required.

This appears related to existing reports involving vmwgfx: Failed to open channel, but this report provides a newer VirtualBox version, NVIDIA RTX 5070 hardware, Parrot OS 7.3, Guest Additions 7.2.18, and testing across two different Linux kernels.

How can we reproduce this?

VBox.log

Did you upload all of your necessary log files, screenshots, etc.?

• Yes, I've uploaded all pertinent files to this issue.