The error occurs in an environment with:

• Host OS: Ubuntu 12.04
• VirtualBox 4.3
• Vagrant 1.5.1
• Box: centos-64-x64-vbox4210 (Puppet Labs)

default: SSH address: 127.0.0.1:2222
default: SSH username: vagrant
default: SSH auth method: private key
default: Error: Connection timeout. Retrying...

First check if the VM is actually booting:

VBoxManage list runningvms
VBoxManage showvminfo [VM_UUID] --details

Modify your Vagrantfile to explicitly configure networking:

config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 22, host: 2222, id: "ssh", host_ip: "127.0.0.1", auto_correct: true
config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.33.10"

Enable verbose SSH logging:

config.ssh.verbose = true
config.ssh.insert_key = false # Preserve default insecure key

Try manual SSH connection:

ssh -vvv -p 2222 -i ~/.vagrant.d/insecure_private_key vagrant@127.0.0.1

Connect to VM console to verify boot completion:

VBoxManage startvm [VM_UUID] --type emergencystop
VBoxManage startvm [VM_UUID] --type headless

For this particular CentOS box, try:

config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", disabled: true
config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
  vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--cableconnected1", "on"]
end

If SSH keys fail, try password authentication:

config.ssh.password = "vagrant"
config.ssh.username = "vagrant"

Increase timeout values:

config.vm.boot_timeout = 1200
config.ssh.timeout = 1200

---

When working with the CentOS 6.4 Vagrant box from Puppet Labs, many developers encounter SSH connection timeouts during vagrant up. The root cause typically lies in one of these areas:

1. Boot timeout too short (default 300s)
2. SSH key authentication configuration
3. NAT networking issues in VirtualBox
4. Box-specific initialization delays

First, try these quick fixes in your Vagrantfile:

config.vm.boot_timeout = 1200  # Double the default timeout
config.ssh.insert_key = false  # For older boxes with pre-configured keys
config.ssh.private_key_path = "~/.vagrant.d/insecure_private_key"

1. Verify Box Integrity

Before troubleshooting complex networking issues, ensure the box downloaded correctly:

$ vagrant box list
centos-64-x64-vbox4210 (virtualbox, 0)

$ vagrant box update

2. Manual SSH Inspection

Boot the VM and attempt manual SSH connection:

$ VBoxManage startvm "vm_name" --type headless
$ ssh -p 2222 -i ~/.vagrant.d/insecure_private_key vagrant@127.0.0.1

For CentOS 6.4 boxes specifically, these network tweaks often help:

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 22, host: 2222, id: "ssh"
  config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
    vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--natdnshostresolver1", "on"]
    vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--natdnsproxy1", "on"]
  end
end

Check VirtualBox logs for startup issues:

$ VBoxManage showvminfo "vm_name" --machinereadable
$ tail -f ~/VirtualBox\ VMs/vm_name/Logs/VBox.log

Common findings might include:

00:00:05.361955 VMMDev: Guest Log: BIOS: Boot : bseqnr=1, bootseq=0231
00:00:05.362003 VMMDev: Guest Log: BIOS: Booting from Hard Disk...

If standard boot fails consistently, try this provisioning workaround:

config.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
  sudo service network restart
  sudo chkconfig sshd on
  sudo service sshd start
SHELL

For Ubuntu 12.04 hosts specifically:

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-dkms
sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest