Two issues that are small - How does one create an icon in the task bar? It seems to only link back to the installation files but not a link to just open the manager. The same issue regards the start icon. Never had this problem in previous updates. Second, does the VM need to have access to the internet or is just being available all that's required?

How does one create an icon in the task bar?

You mean BOINC Manager's icon in Windows? Has it gone missing? Is BOINC Manager actually running?
If it's not visible in the tray, the easiest way to fix that is to repair install BOINC over itself. That should fix any broken links (in the registry) or missing programs.

Second, does the VM need to have access to the internet or is just being available all that's required?

When you install VirtualBox it'll ask you to make a virtual connection to your network connection, that's all it needs. The VMs self downloaded from the projects that use a VM, shouldn't need an internet connection.

Thanks for the response. I've downloaded Boinc three times and all I can get on the task bar is the blank page icon, which does open the manager, so I'll stick with that, I suppose. I miss the previous windows versions that let you choose icons for each program. But, since I need manager to just open to keep checking to see if Milkyway@home is screwing up again, it's good. I signed on to Rosetta@home in order to see if that can run the 2 cores without increasing the remaining time (entirely different issue that I'm troubleshooting slowly).

Again, thanks.

Is this Windows 10 or 11?
What if you uninstall BOINC using the Microsoft Troubleshooter from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed-or-removed-cca7d1b6-65a9-3d98-426b-e9f927e1eb4d, then reboot and then reinstall it? (It says on the page it supports up to Windows 10, but according to other pages 11 is included).

In the days of Windows 7, it used to be easy to manage the display of a BOINC icon in the Notification Area (system tray), down in the bottom right corner near the clock:


The BOINC installer set it up to display 'Notifications only', but it was easy to change to permanent display:


Windows 10 made that harder to achieve, and the workrounds varied from release to release.

I haven't tried with Windows 11 specifically, but searching the web for something like "Windows 11 show notification area icons always" might turn up something useful.