Virtualbox error - Cannot register - the hard disk already exists

Via https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44114854/virtualbox-cannot-register-the-hard-disk-already-exists

For me, the menu path in Virtualbox 7.1 was:

Tools -> (Hamburger menu) -> Media -> (choose the one to remove) -> Remove button on toolbar

Virtualbox guest additions issue on Ubuntu 24.04

Uncompressing VirtualBox 7.0.10 Guest Additions for Linux  100%  

VirtualBox Guest Additions installer

Removing installed version 7.0.10 of VirtualBox Guest Additions...

Copying additional installer modules ...
Installing additional modules ...
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Starting.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Setting up modules
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel
modules.  This may take a while.

VirtualBox Guest Additions: To build modules for other installed kernels, run
VirtualBox Guest Additions:   /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup <version>
VirtualBox Guest Additions: or
VirtualBox Guest Additions:   /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup all
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Kernel headers not found for target kernel
6.11.0-26-generic. Please install them and execute
  /sbin/rcvboxadd setup
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Running kernel modules will not be replaced until
the system is restarted or 'rcvboxadd reload' triggered
VirtualBox Guest Additions: reloading kernel modules and services
VirtualBox Guest Additions: cannot reload kernel modules: one or more module(s)
is still in use

VirtualBox Guest Additions: kernel modules and services were not reloaded
The log file /var/log/vboxadd-setup.log may contain further information.

ChatGPT said,

1. Check Your Running Kernel Version

uname -r

2. Install Matching Kernel Headers

If you're running kernel 6.11.0-26-generic, try:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

If you get an error like "Unable to locate package", it means headers for that kernel aren't available in your current apt sources. This often happens with custom, bleeding-edge, or unofficial kernels.

vmwgfx seems to be running on an unsupported hypervisor

It seems this message of "running on an unsupported hypervisor" can be ignored? According to the post at https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=305120

this message simply means that, you're running on the vmware module/GPU stack and the driver is not officially from vmware, on it's own that message is normal and shouldn't be inherently cause for concern.

turn off gmail "smart" summaries

 via https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2025/05/gmail-is-reading-and-summarizing-your.html

On Android --> GMail app --> Hamburger menu --> Settings --> choose the account for which you want to disable --> Untick smart features checkbox

lots of github and Mac learnings

Trying to compile OpenSpace on MacOS - 

https://github.com/hn-88/OpenSpace/tree/ToCompileOnXCode16.4

https://github.com/hn-88/OpenSpace-AppleSiliconMac/actions

https://github.com/hn-88/OpenSpace-IntelMac/actions

Learnt a lot of things from Copilot and ChatGPT - since I didn't have any humans available to ask specific questions. Also bumped against the limitations of the LLMs - sometimes they give wrong advice with full confidence! Perhaps adding prompts to cite sources, mention confidence level etc might help. Some points, in no particular order.

•  XCode support for some C++ features is missing - C++ language support - and in some cases, AppleClang's interpretation is stricter than gnu c++ or MSVC. Also, some flags specific to MacOS would change from old versions to new versions of MacOS. And homebrew support for older Macs is spotty. So, supporting Macs is a challenge.
  
  
• Verifying and testing on github runners has some issues due to their headless nature.
  
  
• Uploading to draft releases works best if that draft release is pre-created - sometimes the tag creation takes a few seconds, leading to failure in uploading the artifact to the draft release. Or, can create a new tag, wait for a few seconds, and then upload the artifact to draft release using a personal access token - PAT.  
  
  
• MacOS, especially after 15.2, does not make it easy to run unsigned apps. Some workarounds which exist now, like removing the quarantine flag from the internal binary, may not work in the future. It is possible that Debug builds may work and (unsigned) Release builds may not work as in the case of Android apk files - unless we add a codesign step after the build.
  
  
• Even with the bundling of dylibs using otool, the binary still seems to look for dylibs in /opt/homebrew etc. So, the bundling code suggested by ChatGPT still has flaws. Or maybe there are some dependency calls which are only at runtime and hence not detected by otool. 

2FA required for Google Workspace admin users

Passed on Google's message that two-factor authentication / 2FA / 2-Step Verification (2SV) is required for Google Workspace admins starting August 13 2025 - 

.... please alert any of the users who have been given access to admin.google.com in case they have not enabled 2FA already.

How to enable 2FA:

Start by logging on to your Google account for our.domain.org

• Click your avatar (top-right) and choose Manage your Google Account.
• Click Security in the left pane.
• In the Signing in to Google section, click 2-Step Verification.
• Click the Get Started button.
• Enter your password (if requested).
• Click Continue.
• Click Send to send a text message to your phone.
• Enter the 6 digit code sent to your phone and click Next.
• Click Turn On to finish the process.
• Your account is now protected with 2 step verification.