… temporarily, at least.

VirtualBox Error: VERR_LDRPE_LOAD_CONFIG_SIZE (-626)

Like many large Windows 10 updates, the newest one trashed my VirtualBox setup. This has happened to my VMWare Workstation installations as well, in the past.

First, it wouldn’t start the VirtualBox app at all. Then I downloaded and installed the latest VirtualBox version and rebooted. Upon trying to start any VM guests, this would appear:

NtCreateFile(\Device\VBoxDrvStub) failed: Unknown Status -626 (0xfffffd8e) (rcNt=0xe986fd8e)
VBoxDrvStub error: Grown load config (192 to 244 bytes) includes non-zero bytes: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 b0 8c 0a 80 01 00 00 00 08 f0 16 80 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 f0 16 80 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00RTLdrOpenWithReader failed: -626 (Image='\Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll'). (rc=-626)

Make sure the kernel module has been loaded successfully.

where: supR3HardenedWinReSpawn
what:  3
VERR_LDRPE_LOAD_CONFIG_SIZE (-626) - The PE loader encountered an unknown load config directory/header size.

I was running Windows 10 x64 version 1703 (OS build 15063.483)

Solution

Uninstalled VirtualBox entirely. Rebooted. Reinstalled VirtualBox. Virtual machines are all working fine now.