All those 2.3 million queued tasks on the front page really are all Python tasks. In their words "a huge queue"

If there are so many Python tasks, then why can't I get them?
I've monkeyed around with all the parameters in BOINC and I get nothing.
Right now due to the last monkeying around the queue to each project is all messed up so I am playing catch up.

About the only thing I have not done is remove the project from BOINC, do a system clean and reinstall RAH on BOINC.

I don't know. Why can't you?

I'm a complete beginner on the subject. I did a little reading a week or two back and the only thing I picked up was that there are some quirks/differences/nuances with Virtual Box versions/settings so it's recommended to get the package from the Boinc download page. While I was away (again) I decided to do that on the PC I had there - a 4-core i3-8350K with 16Gb RAM. What a terrible mistake that turned out to be.

All started well enough. I had to increase my disk allocation from 15Gb to 25Gb, then to 35Gb, then 40Gb, then 45Gb to get tasks to come down, but they arrived easy enough. I had the space available.
And the first started easy enough - so I went off to work.
14hrs later I came back and the 1st task was still running, but 90% complete. So I looked at the task detail.
No recorded runtime, no recorded CPU time/ Both showed "---". Oh...
A 2nd python task had started too and reached 7hrs. Also no recorded runtime or CPU time and the 2nd task was now waiting for memory.
On a 4-core machine, no 3rd or 4th tasks were running. Neither further python tasks nor WCG tasks that were part of my cache.
So I aborted the non-running 2nd Python task to see if that gave room for something else to run. It may have - I can't recall now.
So I rebooted the PC and a few Python tasks started to run but stopped before a minute was up, some saying "waiting for memory" and some saying "Postponed: VM environment needed to be cleaned up"
Programmers don't tend to be the most literate people in the world, so it wasn't clear to me whether the VM environment had needed (past tense) to be cleaned up and that was now done, or whether it still needed to be cleaned up
Either way, nothing was running.

Is that what you meant too when you wrote "each project is all messed up"? Maybe not, but it rather seems to me that the only thing worse than not being able to get VM tasks to download is successfully getting them to download.
That PC is currently a disaster zone for Boinc. After 2 days, nothing is running right, so I've left it while I have a think or get advice.

I tried to uninstall Boinc, hoping it would uninstall Virtual Box too, but Virtual Box seems to have remained in place and I can't see how to remove it.
I've looked at Grant's link to how to remove Virtual Box and the first line says "Open VirtualBox and go to the VM VirtualBox Manager screen". I failed there. I have no idea where it is.

Is your problem worse than mine? I very much doubt it.

At the start I said I was a beginner. Or a novice. Maybe the best word is "dunce".
If you haven't previously installed Virtual Box and got it to work successfully, whatever you do, don't install this one. Run a mile and wait for Rosetta 4.20 tasks, however long they take.

I did ask about my VM problems and the reply I got was
"I also am not that familiar with how the client handles the VM jobs with other projects but it seems to work ok on my lab workstation"
so if anyone's expect help from above, I doubt it's going to come.
My impression is that you guys here will have better practical knowledge on the subject, so I'll ask for help here rather than via Rosetta's admin.

That's maybe not what anyone wants to read, but better I say it than someone expect the cavalry to arrive over the hill to sort things out.

---

RAH was removed and added back
Vbox was removed, registry cleaned, drive cleaned, rebooted after install.
No VM's are active at this time. NO LHC running.
No app_config
No cc_config limiting RAH
Just a GPU restriction to put prime grid on my 1080.
Preferences set for "Home" all settings are default.

There is NOTHING on my end restricting RAH from doing anything.
Yet all it wants is 4.2
So what the %$#&%& is wrong with RAH?

Your post crossed over while I was typing.
Maybe your problems are as bad as mine after all.
My experience isn't any better. I wish I knew how to remove Vbox so I could be in as bad a state as you.
Welcome to the new normal.

---

To remove Virtualbox on Windows 10, you can simply go to the Start Menu and type "add or remove programs" It should show up immediately.
Alternatively, find the "Oracle VM VirtualBox" folder, click on it and right-click on "Orable VM VirtualBox". An option to uninstall should appear on the menu. After that, find VirtualBox on the list and proceed with the uninstall process.

---

[snip]

There is NOTHING on my end restricting RAH from doing anything.
Yet all it wants is 4.2
So what the %$#&%& is wrong with RAH?

You might check how much of your computer's memory BOINC is allowed to use. The python tasks reserve almost 8 GB of memory, even if they don't actually use it.

Postponed: VM environment needed to be cleaned up

This means your virtual box program has a bunch of dead tasks in it and you need to open it up and go to each red icon task and right click and select remove virtual machine or some wording to that effect.
Then you confirm delete and it goes away.
You can actually hold the shift button down and click on each red icon machine and then right click and remove and confirm. They should all go away.

Then your VM environment is clean. It is probably the remnants of all the tasks you aborted.
Since I haven't run python in a long time I am not sure what is going on.
The other guys can help you with that.

[snip]

There is NOTHING on my end restricting RAH from doing anything.
Yet all it wants is 4.2
So what the %$#&%& is wrong with RAH?

You might check how much of your computer's memory BOINC is allowed to use. The python tasks reserve almost 8 GB of memory, even if they don't actually use it.

Memory is set for 100%
11/14/2021 4:04:59 PM | | max memory usage when active: 24501.59 MB
11/14/2021 4:04:59 PM | | max memory usage when idle: 24501.59 MB

Currently with no Atlas I am using only 7.6GB of that sum.
And being there is no way that I am aware of to block 4.2 tasks in app_config and no way to tell RAH that for python use only X amount of RAM or X number of cores, I am trapped with no tasks.

Welcome to the new normal.

If you do manage to get the pythons, you will wish that you hadn't. I can get them on Ubuntu 20.04.3 easily, but they don't run well anyway, even with lots of memory.
I have 96 GB, and have tried restricting them to 10 work units max on a Ryzen 3900X (24 cores), and half of them still hang up. And that is if they don't stop with "Vm job unmanageable" suspensions.
https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/forum_thread.php?id=6893&postid=103230#103230
https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/forum_thread.php?id=6893&postid=103232#103232

I am not sure how Rosetta is manged these days, but getting stuff to work is not high on their priority list.

---

RAH was removed and added back
Vbox was removed, registry cleaned, drive cleaned, rebooted after install.
No VM's are active at this time. NO LHC running.
No app_config
No cc_config limiting RAH
Just a GPU restriction to put prime grid on my 1080.
Preferences set for "Home" all settings are default.

There is NOTHING on my end restricting RAH from doing anything.
Yet all it wants is 4.2
So what the %$#&%& is wrong with RAH?

Your post crossed over while I was typing.
Maybe your problems are as bad as mine after all.
My experience isn't any better. I wish I knew how to remove Vbox so I could be in as bad a state as you.
Welcome to the new normal.

Sid it's easy to remove Vbox. Just the same as you remove any other program. Right click the start menu icon of Vbox and remove it. I use Revo unistaller because it has the option to scan for registry remnants and delete them. I use Wise365 to clean up everything else that may have been missed by Revo.
Then I know the system is totally clean.

11/14/2021 7:23:23 PM | Rosetta@home | Resetting project
11/14/2021 7:25:24 PM | Rosetta@home | update requested by user
11/14/2021 7:25:27 PM | Rosetta@home | Master file download succeeded
11/14/2021 7:25:32 PM | Rosetta@home | Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
11/14/2021 7:25:32 PM | Rosetta@home | Requesting new tasks for CPU
11/14/2021 7:25:35 PM | Rosetta@home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
11/14/2021 7:25:35 PM | Rosetta@home | No tasks sent
11/14/2021 7:25:35 PM | Rosetta@home | Project requested delay of 31 seconds

Again..no app_config or cc_config that applies to this project. Clean slate.
I give up. USELESS! And as usual no one from the project cares to read anything here.
I have been with RAH for a long time, its a shame they have resorted to leaving everyone in the dark now and no responding to PM or anything. Again USELESS.

Total credit 5,116,352
Recent average credit 2,969.42
Rosetta@home member since 30 May 2006 - 15 years and they now start to ignore everyone. Really really smart.

I give up. USELESS! And as usual no one from the project cares to read anything here.
I have been with RAH for a long time, its a shame they have resorted to leaving everyone in the dark now and no responding to PM or anything. Again USELESS.

Total credit 5,116,352
Recent average credit 2,969.42
Rosetta@home member since 30 May 2006 - 15 years and they now start to ignore everyone. Really really smart.

I hope that ALL these problems with virtual wus will, despite all, help to boost scientific research of the project.
But it's clear that they have a LOT of problems to interface with volunteers

---

To remove Virtualbox on Windows 10, you can simply go to the Start Menu and type "add or remove programs" It should show up immediately.
Alternatively, find the "Oracle VM VirtualBox" folder, click on it and right-click on "Orable VM VirtualBox". An option to uninstall should appear on the menu. After that, find VirtualBox on the list and proceed with the uninstall process.

I went to "add or remove programs". I couldn't see it anywhere.
I'll look again now I know what name to look for, but I won't be at that PC for another 3 or 4 days.
Out of sight, out of mind.

---

Postponed: VM environment needed to be cleaned up

This means your virtual box program has a bunch of dead tasks in it and you need to open it up and go to each red icon task and right click and select remove virtual machine or some wording to that effect.
Then you confirm delete and it goes away.
You can actually hold the shift button down and click on each red icon machine and then right click and remove and confirm. They should all go away.

Then your VM environment is clean. It is probably the remnants of all the tasks you aborted.
Since I haven't run python in a long time I am not sure what is going on.
The other guys can help you with that.

Thanks. If I ever find the folder where they reside I'll try it.
No clue where that would be though.

---

There is NOTHING on my end restricting RAH from doing anything.
Yet all it wants is 4.2
So what the %$#&%& is wrong with RAH?

Your post crossed over while I was typing.
Maybe your problems are as bad as mine after all.
My experience isn't any better. I wish I knew how to remove Vbox so I could be in as bad a state as you.
Welcome to the new normal.

Sid it's easy to remove Vbox. Just the same as you remove any other program. Right click the start menu icon of Vbox and remove it. I use Revo uninstaller because it has the option to scan for registry remnants and delete them. I use Wise365 to clean up everything else that may have been missed by Revo.
Then I know the system is totally clean.

I appreciate the help. I'll come back to your messages and look more closely when I return to that PC.
I didn't mention I also put it it on a 2nd PC too before I realised all the issues I had, because I didn't want to look like I was even more of an idiot than I am.
Well, I am... <sigh>

---

[snip]

There is NOTHING on my end restricting RAH from doing anything.
Yet all it wants is 4.2
So what the %$#&%& is wrong with RAH?

You might check how much of your computer's memory BOINC is allowed to use. The python tasks reserve almost 8 GB of memory, even if they don't actually use it.

Memory is set for 100%
11/14/2021 4:04:59 PM | | max memory usage when active: 24501.59 MB
11/14/2021 4:04:59 PM | | max memory usage when idle: 24501.59 MB

Currently with no Atlas I am using only 7.6GB of that sum.
And being there is no way that I am aware of to block 4.2 tasks in app_config and no way to tell RAH that for python use only X amount of RAM or X number of cores, I am trapped with no tasks.

One more thing to check:

Are you using a version of VirtualBox recent enough to support vbox64? Some of the older versions supported only vbox, and therefore could handle only 32-bit programs.

[snip]

There is NOTHING on my end restricting RAH from doing anything.
Yet all it wants is 4.2
So what the %$#&%& is wrong with RAH?

You might check how much of your computer's memory BOINC is allowed to use. The python tasks reserve almost 8 GB of memory, even if they don't actually use it.

Memory is set for 100%
11/14/2021 4:04:59 PM | | max memory usage when active: 24501.59 MB
11/14/2021 4:04:59 PM | | max memory usage when idle: 24501.59 MB

Currently with no Atlas I am using only 7.6GB of that sum.
And being there is no way that I am aware of to block 4.2 tasks in app_config and no way to tell RAH that for python use only X amount of RAM or X number of cores, I am trapped with no tasks.

One more thing to check:

Are you using a version of VirtualBox recent enough to support vbox64? Some of the older versions supported only vbox, and therefore could handle only 32-bit programs.

latest Vbox installed. always keep current.

There is NOTHING on my end restricting RAH from doing anything.
Yet all it wants is 4.2
So what the %$#&%& is wrong with RAH?

Your post crossed over while I was typing.
Maybe your problems are as bad as mine after all.
My experience isn't any better. I wish I knew how to remove Vbox so I could be in as bad a state as you.
Welcome to the new normal.

Sid it's easy to remove Vbox. Just the same as you remove any other program. Right click the start menu icon of Vbox and remove it. I use Revo uninstaller because it has the option to scan for registry remnants and delete them. I use Wise365 to clean up everything else that may have been missed by Revo.
Then I know the system is totally clean.

I appreciate the help. I'll come back to your messages and look more closely when I return to that PC.
I didn't mention I also put it it on a 2nd PC too before I realised all the issues I had, because I didn't want to look like I was even more of an idiot than I am.
Well, I am... <sigh>

Your human and its the weekend.
No problem.

Postponed: VM environment needed to be cleaned up

This means your virtual box program has a bunch of dead tasks in it and you need to open it up and go to each red icon task and right click and select remove virtual machine or some wording to that effect.
Then you confirm delete and it goes away.
You can actually hold the shift button down and click on each red icon machine and then right click and remove and confirm. They should all go away.

Then your VM environment is clean. It is probably the remnants of all the tasks you aborted.
Since I haven't run python in a long time I am not sure what is going on.
The other guys can help you with that.

Thanks. If I ever find the folder where they reside I'll try it.
No clue where that would be though.

It's not the folder that you look for on the drive. What you do is go to your start menu and look through your list of programs. Find in 'O' Oracle. Open that. Then find the Virtual box and click that. When the program opens you will see what I am talking about.

I give up. USELESS! And as usual no one from the project cares to read anything here.
I have been with RAH for a long time, its a shame they have resorted to leaving everyone in the dark now and no responding to PM or anything. Again USELESS.

Total credit 5,116,352
Recent average credit 2,969.42
Rosetta@home member since 30 May 2006 - 15 years and they now start to ignore everyone. Really really smart.

I hope that ALL these problems with virtual wus will, despite all, help to boost scientific research of the project.
But it's clear that they have a LOT of problems to interface with volunteers

I already ragged ADMIN in a PM. Read him a polite riot act.
Told him they should come look at the forum more often.
Told him it seems they just leave us to figure it out on our own and if we don't oh well.
That they are to busy with the AI Neural net to be bothered with classic computers.
All those fancy logos mean nothing to us. That's just where they get money for their fancy play toys at the lab.

I shut down R@H on all my computers and have switched to covid research on World Community Grid. Absolutely no problems keeping all threads busy doing constructive work. Much better environment.
Mike C

I shut down R@H on all my computers and have switched to covid research on World Community Grid. Absolutely no problems keeping all threads busy doing constructive work. Much better environment.
Mike C

Goodbye!

Currently, all of my computers are fully occupied doing Covid or cancer research on WCG, SI-Dock or TN-Grid or climate research on CPDN. When Rosetta has work again it will take it’s fair share of the cores available - it was the same when TN-Grid stopped supplying work and when SI-Dock stopped supplying work and when I cocked up my settings and couldn’t get CPDN work.

No need to throw a paddy and walk away - just accept that no-one’s perfect and let the world keep turning.