This sounds exactly like Linux giving the old OOM killer. Reproduce the problem, then look at the output of sudo dmesg. If it shows something like “OOM killed process”, then yes, that’s the problem.

Do the following:

1. Consider giving less memory to the VM
2. Ensure you have at least a little swap space configured on Linux
3. Consider getting more memory
4. Exit other programs on Linux, especially web browsers

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