john pfeiffer
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Linux install virtualbox 3 on debian 5 gui

linux-install-virtualbox-3-on-debian-5-gui


NOTE: this is a command line installation of VirtualBox 3 proprietary driver edition... The "open source edition" does not include RDP into VM's nor USB drivers for VM's to access host USB's


PREPARATION STEPS

uname -r //find your kernel version apt-cache search linux-headers //in the long list see if your version is there

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) //failed because I have "squeeze" 2.6.32-rc8-686 //unfortunately the rc8 headers were missing from debian website

apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.32-trunk-686 //manual way (instead of the fancy function returns a result)

ls -ahl /usr/src //ensure the folders are there, sometimes no kernel folder export KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/2.6.32-trunk-686 //sometimes instead /usr/src/2.6.32-trunk-686


ACTUAL INSTALLATION

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads nano /etc/apt/sources.list //add line

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lenny non-free

apt-get update apt-cache search virtualbox

apt-get install virtualbox-3.0 //install without verification...

sudo addusers username vboxusers OR usermod -a -G vboxusers USERNAME


GUI MANAGEMENT

Setting up virtualbox-3.0 (3.0.12-54655_Debian_lenny) ... addgroup: The group `vboxusers' already exists as a system group. Exiting. Messages emitted during module compilation will be logged to /var/log/vbox-install.log. Success! Starting VirtualBox kernel module:done.. Setting up libsdl-ttf2.0-0 (2.0.9-1) ...

type "VBoxManage -v" to see if everything is working (shows your VirtualBox version)

VirtualBox //this command starts the GUI interface where you can easily create/manage

//you can test it - from the command line create and start a VM, you'll see it appear in the GUI! VBoxManage createvm --name VM1 --register VBoxManage startvm VM1


VirtualBox GUI is pretty straightforward but I highly recommend that you skim the manual and especially that you learn to play with the command line VBoxManage


TROUBLESHOOTING

/etc/init.d/vbox_drv setup The above command often fails, and when it fails, check the install log nano /var/log/vbox-install.log

  1. no kernel headers installed/downloaded or export (so the OS knows where!)
  2. the user running VirtualBox needs to be in the /etc/group/vboxusers

if you have not installed the right headers (e.g. Virtualbox is compiling a driver specific to your kernel) So you need gcc, make... also you need the kernel-headers source uname -a //will show you exactly what kernel you have installed

ls -ahl /usr/src //will show you exactly what directories are there... see some varations:

export KERN_DIR=/usr/src/2.6.32-trunk-686
export KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/2.6.32-trunk-686 export KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/2.6.18-128.4.1.el5-x86_64/

sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-3.0 //the easiest method

do all of the fixes (e.g. in my case I had to downgrade my kernel from 2.6.32-rc8 to 2.6.32-trunk)

sudo apt-get install linux-image-686
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) export KERN_DIR=/usr/src/2.6.32-trunk-686 sudo apt-get install virtualbox-3.0
usermod -a -G vboxusers USERNAME

after the reinstall hopefully you'll see: ... Setting up libcurl3 (7.19.7-1) ... Setting up virtualbox-3.0 (3.0.12-54655_Debian_lenny) ... addgroup: The group `vboxusers' already exists as a system group. Exiting. Messages emitted during module compilation will be logged to /var/log/vbox-install.log. Success! Starting VirtualBox kernel module:done.. Setting up libsdl-ttf2.0-0 (2.0.9-1) ...

type "VBoxManage -v" to see if everything is working (shows your VirtualBox version)


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Published

Feb 6, 2010

Category

linux

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