Virtualbox: failed to load libGL.so.1: VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

[rolfschr]

Nixpkgs version

• Stable (24.11)

Describe the bug

I can't run sway in Virtualbox. I believe the problem is not sway per se, but rather related to 3d acceleration not working. I have been able to run the below configuration.nix successfully (=shows glxgears after boot) with qemu but not with Virtualbox. For Virtualbox, the graphical output is:

VMware: No 3D enabled (0, Success).
libEGL warning: egl: failed to create dri2 screen
00:00:00.040 [ERROR] [wlr] [EGL] command: eglInitialize, error: EGL_NOT_INITIALIZED (0x3001), message: "DRI2: failed to create screen"
VMware: No 3D enabled (0, Success).
libEGL warning: egl: failed to create dri2 screen
00:00:00.046 [ERROR] [wlr] [EGL] command: eglInitialize, error: EGL_NOT_INITIALIZED (0x3001), message: "DRI2: failed to create screen"
VMware: No 3D enabled (0, Success).
libEGL warning: egl: failed to create dri2 screen
00:00:00.053 [ERROR] [wlr] [EGL] command: eglInitialize, error: EGL_NOT_INITIALIZED (0x3001), message: "DRI2: failed to create screen"
00:00:00.053 [ERROR] [wlr] [EGL] command: eglInitialize, error: EGL_NOT_INITIALIZED (0x3001), message: "eglInitialize"
00:00:00.053 [ERROR] [wlr] [render/egl.c:268] Failed to initialize EGL
00:00:00.053 [ERROR] [wlr] [render/egl.c:571] Failed to initialize EGL context
00:00:00.053 [ERROR] [wlr] [render/gles2/renderer.c:499] Could not initialize EGL
00:00:00.053 [ERROR] [wlr] [render/wlr_renderer.c:272] Could not initialize renderer
00:00:00.053 [ERROR] [sway/server.c:236] Failed to create renderer

Looking into the logs from Virtualbox reveals:

00:00:01.899286 VMSVGA3d: failed to load libGL.so.1: VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
00:00:01.899292 AssertLogRel /build/VirtualBox-7.1.4/src/VBox/Devices/Graphics/DevVGA-SVGA3d-glLdr.cpp(328) int glLdrInit(PPDMDEVINS): pfnRet
00:00:01.899296 glXGetFBConfigAttrib missing
00:00:01.899300 VMSetError: /build/VirtualBox-7.1.4/src/VBox/Devices/Graphics/DevVGA-SVGA3d-glLdr.cpp(328) int glLdrInit(PPDMDEVINS); rc=VERR_VGA_GL_SYMBOL_NOT_FOUND
00:00:01.899302 VMSetError: Missing OpenGL symbol 'glXGetFBConfigAttrib'
00:00:01.899303 
00:00:01.899310 VMSVGA3d: Error loading OpenGL library and resolving necessary functions: VERR_VGA_GL_SYMBOL_NOT_FOUND
00:00:01.899314 VMSVGA3d: 3D support disabled! (vmsvga3dInit -> VERR_VGA_GL_SYMBOL_NOT_FOUND)

I believe this to be the same problem with any combination of virtualisation.virtualbox.host.package = pkgs.virtualbox[Hardened] and/or virtualisation.virtualbox.host.enableHardening = [true|false];

I confirmed that my setup is able to run KDE/Plasma (see configuration.nix below). The libGL error is obviously the same but Plasma is able to launch a graphical user environment. This could of course mean that the problem is not libGL/Virtualbox but sway. I also tested cage with no luck neither (similar error message).

Steps to reproduce

I used this configuration.nix and nix shell nixpkgs/nixos-24.11#nixos-generators --command nixos-generate -f virtualbox -c ./configuration.nix:

{ config, pkgs, self, ... }: {
  # Either ...
  programs.sway = { enable = true; };
  environment.variables = {
    WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS = 1;
  }; # https://www.reddit.com/r/swaywm/comments/127fsxr/
  services.getty.autologinUser = "root";
  programs.bash.loginShellInit = ''
    if [ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ]; then
      sway --config ${
        pkgs.writeText "glxgears" ''
          exec ${pkgs.mesa-demos}/bin/glxgears -fullscreen
        ''
      }
    fi
  '';

  # ... or
  # services.displayManager.sddm.enable = true;
  # services.displayManager.sddm.wayland.enable = true;
  # services.desktopManager.plasma6.enable = true;

  virtualisation.virtualbox.guest.enable = true;
}

(~1.6Gb .ova file, 2.8Gb for KDE ...)

Then, import the appliance using File -> Import Appliance. Before launching, open the Settings -> Display -> Enable 3d Acceleartion. Launch the VM, open the Log (Machine -> Show Log...)

Expected behaviour

No error message about a missing libGL.so.1 in the logs from Virtualbox. sway starts up and can show glxgears

Screenshots

see above

Relevant log output

see above

Additional context

No response
Some resources that are relevant IMHO:

• VirtualBox cannot access OpenGL with Nvidia Drivers as Normal User #22760
• https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/279009https://www.reddit.com/r/swaywm/comments/127fsxr/sway_would_not_start_installed_in_virtualbox/
• Fix VBox VM Startup with 3D Acceleration Enabled #313390
• libglvnd, ocl-icd, vulkan-loader: Add /run/opengl-driver(-32) to RUNPATH. #60985 (the introduced shell function/package has been renamed from addOpenGLRunpath to addDriverRunPath` in the meantime)
• virtualbox: add libGL to wrapped qt app #378464 (silly me!)

[I] rolf@tuxpad /r/opengl-driver> ls /run/opengl-driver/lib/
d3d             libEGL_mesa.so.0      libGLX_mesa.so.0            libVkLayer_MESA_device_select.so  libvulkan_intel_hasvk.so  libvulkan_nouveau.so  libxatracker.so        vdpau
dri             libEGL_mesa.so.0.0.0  libGLX_mesa.so.0.0.0        libVkLayer_MESA_overlay.so        libvulkan_intel.so        libvulkan_radeon.so   libxatracker.so.2
libEGL_mesa.so  libGLX_mesa.so        libVkLayer_INTEL_nullhw.so  libvulkan_dzn.so                  libvulkan_lvp.so          libvulkan_virtio.so   libxatracker.so.2.5.0

[rolf@tuxpad:~]$ cd $(dirname $(realpath $(which VirtualBox)))/../libexec/virtualbox

[rolf@tuxpad:/nix/store/jvk26bpi3gnak495gz30majywvirwcmw-virtualbox-7.1.6a/libexec/virtualbox]$ ldd *so | grep -B 3 libGL.so
VBoxSVGA3D.so:
        linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007fffd531d000)
        VBoxRT.so => /nix/store/jvk26bpi3gnak495gz30majywvirwcmw-virtualbox-7.1.6a/libexec/virtualbox/./VBoxRT.so (0x00007fa6e4e00000)
        libGL.so.1 => /nix/store/kynlrr98p2c235b00c72b14apn7l8l4y-libglvnd-1.7.0/lib/libGL.so.1 (0x00007fa6e52d5000)

System metadata

[I] rolf@tuxpad ~/s/opengl-virtualbox> nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m"
 - system: `"x86_64-linux"`
 - host os: `Linux 6.6.76, NixOS, 24.11 (Vicuna), 24.11.20250210.44534bc`
 - multi-user?: `yes`
 - sandbox: `yes`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.24.12`
 - channels(root): `"nixos-24.05"`
 - channels(rolf): `""`
 - nixpkgs: `/nix/store/z88hhaq46sdqzkm0zas1sn284h7w87k9-source`

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