None of this makes any sense when I can only jump into emergency console!
Whats the problem… there’s no information in this post. Are you just venting or do you actually want help?
a bit of both 
I d/l haos_ova-8.2.vdi, 8.5, 9.0, &/or 9.2 & added them to a virtualbox as (ahci, ide, or virtio-scis) storage (plus linux 2.6, try 4 to 14 gb ram, 2/4 cpu, default accel, audio/no audio, bridge mt serv deny/all) then hit start… 1. Is it possible I’ve missed the exact setup?
it boot to cli “ha>” as soon as i try to browse to it, system reboot… over & over
The only stable part of any install has been the “HA cli not starting! Jump… emergency console…”
2. is there something i can type here (other than help or exit) that might find issue?
3. what can i search for in the vm log (scrolling shows all services starting; system reboot; services stopping)
help i could find here always starts with gui web page…
one time i got web page, it said it “might take 20 mins” or ??, was when i created a new vm & used the previous/same vdi (which had grown to 3.2gb)
all setups have ran at least overnight… maybe it said “might take 20 hours” hmm, naa, i left one for days…
anywho, my question is… What?
also, Dell T3600, 32gb ram, 4 monitors is down to 2 graphics cards, 2 tape drives run from ultra wide scis card, the most recent thing added are 8 more hd’s & 2 more network connections… i think there’s still one pcix4 slot still avail… all running stable on ubuntu 22.04, plus winxp vm & truenas vm
its gettin kinda warm in this room… also hydro bill double ha ha so ya, this probably reads funnier to me than it will to you
Well thnx for any help it would be great to see what Home Assistant looks like.
Are you following the installation documents for VMware or winging it?
no i followed the get started → virtualbox install
Ah yes, I saw the ova and assumed you were on VMWare.
Anyways, this is most likely related to your VM settings, also, make sure you heed all warnings and notes on that installation instructions.
Lastly, check out the community guides section that cover this process.
https://community.home-assistant.io/search?q=%23community-guides%20vm
omg, this is endless
do you have anymore specific advice for tracking whats happening?
it just keeps going in a start-up & shut-down unmount loop & locks at Failed to send watchdog…
Is there a way to dump to a file from “journalctl -xb” command?
this is getting depressing
Hey @petro thanks for the help… I finally fixed the problem!! 
I am kinda new to Linux & HA & actually to forums also… Will anyone else in my standing find my solution?
To all the newbies who know enough to seriously break things, but not usually enough knowledge to fix them (my standing) & you are trying to use Oracle VirtualBox VM for HA with errors, the first step, after a bit of digging, is to switch to VMWare Workstation Player (ver 16 at this time) to create your VM. There are lots of posts available for help & its very easy to use (see guide below).
The only bit of confusion i had was whether or not the latest version of install was free for home use. And it is, after agreeing to two eula’s 
, by selecting the non-commercial use version.
Home Assistant installed just the way I imagined it would (smooth / first try / no errors / not even 8 mins) after only 2 months of VirtualBox attempts!