Avast crashes computer when using Oracle VirtualBox virtual machine

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I have been using Avast Internet Security for a long while now, worked great, have had zero issues. Until recently, of course I let the program update as it sees fit so I have the latest virus definitions. Starting around the beginning of July I had experienced several system crashes when running Oracle VirtualBox. I have just recently narrowed down the culprit to be Avast doing something to the software that flips the switch on my computer. I have a couple of posts on VirtualBox’s forums explaining the entire thing. After disabling all shields except the firewall, the virtual machine is stable and no system crash.

VirtualBox.org Post: https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=93933&sid=7776fd4c13ecd745890157f435eb3157
Superuser Post: https://superuser.com/questions/1462614/oracle-virtualbox-host-machine-crashes-when-booting-guest-for-installation

A fix for this would be really nice, my VMs get lonely.

2

Maybe also worth a look at this thread from reply #14, as before that one posts are dated 2017 vintage.
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=204697.0

3

Agrees ^.

I had what sounds like a similar problem when I first used a VM and it was resolved by a). turning off the AVAST “Enable hardware-assisted virtualization” and b). by checking the UEFI/BIOS that Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) was enabled. The latter is not applicable unless you’re using an Intel CPU but other CPUs (AMD) apparently have similar options under AMD-V.

4

I have disabled hardware virtualization within Avast, so far it has not crashed. I do have AMD-V enabled, virtualbox requires this to be enabled.

5

So everything is now working OK then?