[SOLVED] VirtualBox disappearing. How to install properly?

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Dirkoir
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[SOLVED] VirtualBox disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by Dirkoir »

Hello, I am new to linux, and...

My attempts to install VirtualBox have resulted in several mysterious disappearances of the just installed VirtualBox and in a current installation of it which fails to work.

I am on Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon, the Ubuntu-Version of Mint. The straightforward install as described in http://www.zdnet.com/how-to-install-ora ... 000028403/ certainly did not work. Software Manager and terminal have both failed me.

The non-free and free packages for VirtualBox were both release version 4.3. The qt version of VirtualBox is 4.3.10-dfsg-1. I don't know how to id my version of Linux Mint exactly. I made the live dvd a week ago (2014-07-24) and ran upgrades last night (2014-07-29) with the Update Manager which seems to have worked since it only lists the level 4 and 5 packages now.


Events and terminal feedback:

I installed virtualbox-nonfree from the Software Manager since I had read on the web this is the version of VirtualBox to go for.

It seemed to install and showed in the Start Menu. (no idea what else to call the menu that resembles a Windows Start Menu). All seemed fine.

Then I installed virtualbox-guest-additions-iso also in the Software Manager which was still open. I closed the Software Manager, believing I was done.

And then the grief:

In the Start Menu, Oracle VirtualBox was GONE! :(

So, I installed it again from the Software Manager, even ran it afterwards, but trying to run a preconfigured VM in it, was told some USB support was missing and I should install Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack. So, I closed VirtualBox and went back into the Software Manager which listed no such package. And then: VirtualBox was gone from the Start Menu again! :o It even showed as not installed in the Software Manager at this point, if I recall correctly. My next recollections are a little fuzzy and possibly a little out of sequence since there was just too much confusion and too much to try.

I looked for something sounding like virtualbox in /bin and usr/bin but found only a vclient which I could not run...

I went into the terminal... (*gulp*) and typed virtualbox:

Code: Select all

adminuser@mydisk ~ $ virtualbox
The program 'virtualbox' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-get install virtualbox-qt
OK... So, now I was being directed to go for virtualbox-qt. Maybe I had been installing the wrong package. Just to be sure, I tried the regular virtualbox package in the Software Manager in case it was a missing piece. It didn't help a lot (I don't recall the details), so I uninstalled it from the start menu (right-click -> uninstall). After that, typing virtualbox in the terminal didn't even give me the invitation to install virtualbox-qt anymore.

During this fuzzily remembered intermission, I was able to run some version of VirtualBox by typing virtualbox in the terminal once...

Anyway, for reasons not well remembered, I decided to uninstall (see above) and try the virtualbox-qt installation, this time from the terminal since the Software Manager's installations never seemed to stick. It almost worked:

Code: Select all

adminuser@mydisk ~ $ virtualbox
bash: /usr/bin/virtualbox: No such file or directory
adminuser@mydisk ~ $ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-qt
[sudo] password for adminuser: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libgsoap4 libvncserver0 virtualbox
Suggested packages:
  libvncserver0-dbg virtualbox-guest-additions-iso vde2
Recommended packages:
  virtualbox-dkms virtualbox-source
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libgsoap4 libvncserver0 virtualbox virtualbox-qt
0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 36 not upgraded.
Need to get 20.7 MB of archives.
After this operation, 83.2 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] ^Cadminuser@mydisk ~ $ Y
Y: command not found
adminuser@mydisk ~ $ y
y: command not found
adminuser@mydisk ~ $ 
adminuser@mydisk ~ $ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-qt
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libgsoap4 libvncserver0 virtualbox
Suggested packages:
  libvncserver0-dbg virtualbox-guest-additions-iso vde2
Recommended packages:
  virtualbox-dkms virtualbox-source
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libgsoap4 libvncserver0 virtualbox virtualbox-qt
0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 36 not upgraded.
Need to get 20.7 MB of archives.
After this operation, 83.2 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe libgsoap4 i386 2.8.16-2 [522 kB]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main libvncserver0 i386 0.9.9+dfsg-1ubuntu1 [164 kB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/multiverse virtualbox i386 4.3.10-dfsg-1 [15.4 MB]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/multiverse virtualbox-qt i386 4.3.10-dfsg-1 [4,586 kB]
Fetched 20.7 MB in 19s (1,037 kB/s)                                            
Selecting previously unselected package libgsoap4:i386.
(Reading database ... 147583 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libgsoap4_2.8.16-2_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libgsoap4:i386 (2.8.16-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libvncserver0:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../libvncserver0_0.9.9+dfsg-1ubuntu1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libvncserver0:i386 (0.9.9+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox.
Preparing to unpack .../virtualbox_4.3.10-dfsg-1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking virtualbox (4.3.10-dfsg-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox-qt.
Preparing to unpack .../virtualbox-qt_4.3.10-dfsg-1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking virtualbox-qt (4.3.10-dfsg-1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-16) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.13-1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.2-0ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.10.1-0ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.54ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libgsoap4:i386 (2.8.16-2) ...
Setting up libvncserver0:i386 (0.9.9+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ...
Setting up virtualbox (4.3.10-dfsg-1) ...
 * Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules                          [ OK ] 
 * Starting VirtualBox kernel modules             * No suitable module for running kernel found
                                                                         [fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript virtualbox, action "restart" failed.
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-16) ...
Setting up virtualbox-qt (4.3.10-dfsg-1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.19-0ubuntu6) ...
adminuser@mydisk ~ $ 

I am now able to run VirtualBox which is now named "VirtualBox" and accessible through the "Accessories" portion of the Start Menu as opposed to being "Oracle VirtualBox" sitting in the "Administration" portion -- BUT when I try to run the VM (which ran fine in Robolinux's preinstalled VirtualBox), VirtualBox fails to run it giving me an error about a missing kernel:
The virtual machine ... has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1.
Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver (vboxdrv) is either not loaded or there is a permission problem with /dev/vboxdrv. Please reinstall the kernel module by executing

'/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup'

as root. If it is available in your distribution, you should install the DKMS package first. This package keeps track of Linux kernel changes and recompiles the vboxdrv kernel module if necessary.
Well, so I tried that -- in vain:

Code: Select all

adminuser@mydisk ~ $ sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
[sudo] password for adminuser: 
Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules ...done.
Uninstalling old VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules/etc/init.d/vboxdrv: 302: /etc/init.d/vboxdrv: /usr/share/virtualbox/src/vboxhost/do_dkms: not found
 ...done.
Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMS/etc/init.d/vboxdrv: 327: /etc/init.d/vboxdrv: /usr/share/virtualbox/src/vboxhost/do_dkms: not found
 ...failed!
  (Failed, trying without DKMS)
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel modules ...failed!
  (Look at /var/log/vbox-install.log to find out what went wrong)
Result: no change.

BTW, just as the terminal no longer suggested to install the qt version, the Software Manager now flags virtual-nonfree as "Not available" telling me to "Please use apt-get to install this package." -- Geez! What a run-around I am getting.

According to the Software Manager the following are currently installed (most of which I did not select manually for install): virtalbox (base binaries), virtalbox-qt, virtalbox-quest-dkms, virtalbox-guest-utils, virtalbox-guest-x11

I am at my wit's end.

So:
1.) Is it normal for installations in Software Manager to simply evaporate like this or to have these kernel failures? Why is this happening?
2.) What gives? What am I doing wrong? How can I install VirtualBox successfully? What mess do I have to clean up?

I would be so grateful if someone could help me with this.
:?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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kyphi
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by kyphi »

Although you have given a detailed account of what you have tried to do, you will have to undo it all. Go into synaptic and remove all that you have installed relating to virtualbox. If that fails you should consider a new installation to overwrite any damage caused.

Since the information in the Software Manager lists multiple options for virtualbox which apparently has led to confusion for you, I recommend that you go straight to the "horse's mouth" to download the software:

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

On the first line of the list select the download for "Trusty Tahr" according to your architecture - either i386 or AMD64 (i386 is 32bit, AMD64 is 64bit).
The downloaded file will have the name of: virtualbox-4.3_4.3.14-95030~Ubuntu~raring_i386.deb or amd64.deb depending on which you have chosen to download (the version number 95030 may alter).
To install the .deb file double click on it and an installer window will open. Follow the prompts. You may see a message that a similar version is available from the Software Manager - ignore and continue. Virtualbox will now install and appear in your main menu as "Oracle VM VirtualBox".
In a terminal type

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install dkms
which will ensure that any kernel updates are properly accommodated.

When you run virtualbox you will get prompts to install guest-additions and expansion-pack. Get the expansion pack from Oracle as well as a User Manual.

That should be enough to get you up and running ... and please note that we all have had little catastrophes like you have experienced. Good Luck.
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Dirkoir
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by Dirkoir »

Thanks, kyphi.

When you say "Go into synaptic and remove all that you have installed relating to virtualbox", do you mean the Software Manager or the Synaptic Package Manager, or does it make no difference? I am asking lest I do something wrong again.

I take it, that installation of Virtualbox from the Software Manager is not working, then? How come an installation made in the Software Manager shows up in the Start Menu (Toolbar Menu?), and can even be run, only to disappear seconds later? Is something else required after the Software Manager finishes installing a packet? I am asking so as to learn what I may have done wrong.

I appreciate the help. Mint looks good, I would like to make it work for me. I just hope not all installs are so tricky or that I learn to do them right. ;-)
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by Pierre »

do use the synaptic AKA "package manager" to remove all traces of Vbox.
( complete removal )
then via that link, get the i386 version of Vbox, - Ubuntu 13.10 is the latest one listed.
& install that - make sure that you are on_line - as well.
- in case it wants some extra files - usually does. ..
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by kyphi »

Follow Pierre's advice and use the Software Manager to remove all traces of virtualbox. The Software Manager will show you with a green tick what you have installed.
When you become more familiar with how Linux Mint works you can then use Synaptic which lists all programs and support libraries and is, in fact, a more elaborate and comprehensive version of the Software Manager.
As to your question on what you have done wrong - I don't know, other than changing horses in the middle of the race :wink:
We will all help you make Linux Mint work for you. It is a great distribution.
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by Dirkoir »

Success! :-)

I followed Pierre's advice and used Synaptic Package Manager to remove all five virtualbox items it listed as installed. I used the "removal" option instead of the "complete removal" option since somewhere I saw that the "complete removal" is for the Debian version. For good measure, I fired up the Software Manager which showed no survivors. Following the rest of kyphi's instructions, I installed from the Oracle website and then continued with the sudo apt-get install dkms command in the terminal, which reported allegedly no longer required packages (which I haven't touched, being a little shell shocked):

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install dkms
[sudo] password for dirkoir: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
dkms is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libgsoap4 libvncserver0
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 37 not upgraded.
VirtualBox works now :D, albeit it still gave me the USB 2.0 error forcing me to turn off its USB 2.0 support:

Code: Select all

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine VBxp.

Implementation of the USB 2.0 controller not found!

Because the USB 2.0 controller state is part of the saved VM state, the VM cannot be started. To fix this problem, either install the 'Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack' or disable USB 2.0 support in the VM settings (VERR_NOT_FOUND).

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: Console
Interface: IConsole {8ab7c520-2442-4b66-8d74-4ff1e195d2b6}
As for my first install going wrong by me switching horses, I only switched horses after things had already gone wrong. The very first installation I did in the Software Manager (of the "non free" package) had Oracle VirtualBox appear, and as soon as I also installed the guest package as I had been instructed on the web page I linked to in my opening post, it disappeared. That is still a mystery to me.

Here's mystified, but thankful for everybody's help in getting VirtualBox to work. :-)
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by kyphi »

Congratulations on your success.

The message that you got after the request to install "dpkg" is quite normal - all it says is that it is already installed and no further action is necessary.
The message for "autoremove" is quite safe - it will only remove the 2 superfluous files mentioned in the message. To autoremove, use:
sudo apt-get autoremove
Install the "VirtualBox Extension Pack" from the Oracle site and USB2 will be fine.

Would you mark your thread as "Solved" please so that others may refer to it.
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by Dirkoir »

Finishing the Install:
I found that "sudo apt-get autoremove" didn't need the surplus files as arguments. It discovered them on its own and prompted me for permission to uninstall. VirtualBox still ran after that. :)

I found an extension pack (platform independent) at:
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Double-clicking on the downloaded extension pack opened it in Virtualbox as a file and installatio went from there. VirtualBox will now run the VM with USB 2.0 access enabled, although it still fails to actually see a USB stick, even after I added my user to vboxsf and vboxusers. Maybe I'll get that to work someday. :-/

Notes:
(A) Interestingly, looking into Software Manager and Synaptic Package Manager offered no extension pack. The experience described in this post has left me wondering about the usefulness of the official repository and the package installers.
(B) Software Manager and Synaptic Package Manager both show "virtualbox-4.3" as installed (and ONLY that / the guest additions pack is not marked as installed). The detailed version info of "4.3.14-95030~Ubuntu~raring" matches the installer I downloaded from the oracle website. This makes me wonder if either one of these GUI tools - if asked to install "virtualbox-4.3" from the official Mint repository would have gotten me to where I am now (except for the extension pack which apparently can only come from the Oracle website).
(C) I wonder what installation experiences others have had with Virtualbox 4.3 on Linux Mint 17 Qiana (Cinnamon interface). To rehash, I first tried to install the "virtualbox-nonfree" package with the Software Manager since both, the Software Manager and this VirtualBox package came recommended. The recommendation continued to include the guest additions as second install, but as soon as I did this, The "Oracle VM Virtualbox" entry disappeared from the Start Menu (Toolbar Menu? - watever it is called, I still don't know -- the app only calls itself "Menu") and I could not run it from the terminal either, suggesting it had truly evaporated into thin air. Weird.

Conclusion:
Well, if others have this same weird experience installing software using Software Manager, at least in the case of one software package (virtualbox) this thread will point them to an alternative approach which works (minus USB support maybe). Virtualbox runs now, if imperfectly, and it still lists in the "Menu". Thank you very much all who helped! :D


(I have to find out now how to mark this topic as solved. I don't see that option anywhere. Maybe, as a new/normal level 1 user, I lack the privilege? The forum FAQ does not address the issue.)
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by Pierre »

" have to find out now how to mark this topic as solved. I don't see that option anywhere."

- edit the Topic Line of your original post & add the "solved" bit on the end.
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by kyphi »

Just a few points here -
1. Pierre recommended using "Complete Removal" when uninstalling virtualbox components and you chose instead to use "Removal". Complete removal removes ALL files associated with the program including left-over configuration files which, if left behind, could impact on any re-installation.
2. VirtualBox is the property of the Oracle company and the version in Synaptic is made available courtesy of Oracle. Any enhancement packages such as the Expansion Pack are available from Oracle only.
3. Guest Additions is an integral part of the VirtualBox package.
4. Synaptic lists many programs that have been installed by a user on the system regardless of its origin - this makes complete removal quite simple.
5. To use USB devices in VirtualBox they have to be identified - click on Settings, USB, tick both boxes and use the "+" sign on the right to add USB devices.

I hope that the above clarifies some of the issues that you have encountered.
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by Dirkoir »

Thanks again.

You are right. I overlooked the "complete removal" hint. Probably, I didn't recognize it as jargon at the time I read it. Typical newbie mistake. *blush* I guess. it's too late to fix that now.

I did declare a generic USB device. When that did nothing, I tried to declare a specific one but got an error that none was available. Only then did I do more research and found out about possibly relevant user groups. The USB works today (with the generic device filter at that). I suppose that restarting virtualbox (I thought I did that) or Linux was needed after the extension pack install. :-)

I learned a lot about Linux over the last two weeks (incl. that I don't yet have a full working Linux alternative to a Windows or Mac OS, but I'll keep trying since I am just too unhappy with where the corporate OS giants are headed).

My truly daunting task is now: figuring out what - if any - affordable, refurbished laptop can do a good job running Mint (host) and XP (guest) side by side (or even a scond VM as well) with good performance. It seems the machine should have at least 4 GB of RAM, and the processor should have more than 2 cores, plus a good L2/L3 cache and interconnnection bus. Sadly, the vendors rarely mention core number, and the processor names they do mention apparently mean very little if one doesn't know what "generation" they belong to (*rolleyes*). My experiment on a Dell vostro 1510 (a dual core, 3 GB machine) found my XP-VM loading and running rather slowly (even with 2 GB RAM assigned and video RAM set to the max of 128MB) and my otherwise quite snappy Linux Mint host slowing to a crawl. %-/
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by kyphi »

... I learned a lot about Linux over the last two weeks (incl. that I don't yet have a full working Linux alternative to a Windows or Mac OS ...
I would be interested to learn why you think that you do not have "a full working alternative".

I have used various Linux distros for the last 9 years and they keep getting better with every release, if that is even possible. Whatever I want to accomplish I can accomplish using Linux Mint. Windows does not even come a close second and Mac is, well let's not talk about cousin Mac :wink:

Could it be that the obstacle is your good self?
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by Dirkoir »

kyphi wrote: I would be interested to learn why you think that you do not have "a full working alternative".
...
Could it be that the obstacle is your good self?
My ignorace is at least a big part of it, for sure. I found a learning curve that not only is a bit steep but also rather long, as I am still working on some real basics several weeks into the process. Until I finish the migration, I won't know where exactly it will lead. I can break this thought process down a bit:

1. OS Bug Worries:
1.1. The VirtualBox installation was quite scary with those mysteriously disappearing installations, making me wonder how often the default repositary and installation tools of Linux/Ubuntu/Mint work as intended.
1.2. Gparted either also disappeared, or maybe the installer live DVD just doesn't install it?

2. Applications:
2.2. A brief attempt to do something simple in GIMP failed (the move tool kept taking over from the select tool, menu bar is missing by default). I have since found info on making GIMP friendlier, but have not yet had time to work on that.
2.3. I have worked with LibreOffice and before that with OpenOffice for several years, but severe bugs (esp. in multilingual work) keep bringing me back to MS Office, even as that keeps getting worse with every release.

3. I am still stuck on hurdles in basic setup tasks:
3.1. The default method for typing non-English characters is even more cumbersome than that of Windows. However, I have come across hints that it can be tweaked to be actually easier than on the other OSs either with a custom keyboard profile installation or key bindings. We'll see.
3.2. I think I have figured out that I should move all users' home directories to my data partition, but I don't know yet how to link to them properly. There are "symbolic" and "hard" links, which kind of link Nemo's context menu creates it doesn't say, and I have gotten stuck in a jungle of privileges. The linux GUI either won't let me have the privilege to make changes, or when it does it won't let me see the directories I need to configure; and for some weird reason, the data partition mounts as /media/username in every user session, rather than something uniform which I would have been able to configure by now. (I can create links as admin in standard users' directories, but they use the admin's user name in the file path and therefore don't work for these users, and when I log in as standard user I can't seem to get admin rights. Plus, the links created in Nemo are not editable in it. Argh!). So far, because of these difficulties, I have not even been able to create a shared folder for all users on the data partition. If I make the "mistake" of logging into a standard account first, I cannot even access the data partition after I switch to my admin account because the data partitio is now considered unavailable in that. Yikes! - I need at least a standard account for my wife, and probably a testing or special uses account for myself.
3.3. I had to make a "xset s off" startup to prevent my test laptop from freezing when it goes into powersave mode, but this startup only appears in the admin account. How can I make it work in all accounts other than by making another such startup in each and every account I create?
3.4. What's the fix for Compress Files from Neo's context menu having password and encrypt options greyed out?
3.5. How to get out of "info" in the terminal without closing the terminal and starting a new one (which I couldn't do back when the GUI interface crashed on me for unknown reasons one day).
3.6. I haven't found a way for disabling the logging of recent files or alternatively editing the logged entries, yet.

4. Additional Rough Edges:
4.1. When GUI tools need higherprivileges, most of them don't ask for them. I then have to start them up with something like sudo or gksu in the terminal, but - in doing so - I lose the directory path I was in, and often I don't even know what the application is to be called in the terminal since the GUI interface has a totally different name if any. (I may then also encounter the above mentioned problem again of having the needed directories and files hidden from or denied to me because they "belong" to another version of myself (another account))

In conclusion, I am presented by a mix of my own ignorance (which will abate) and some unpolished development of the OS and applications that run on it. Thus, I did not exactly encounter a "works fine out of the box" environment, yet. I am sure I can fix my ignorance part and some configuration issues over time, and some of the bugs or feature issues might be improved by developers in the future, but in the meantime I don't have a "full working alternative" to my current home office, yet. I am not complaining, just mentioning a fact, and Linux Mint certainly has a lot to recommend it. I also very much want an alternative to the big guys (and Linux sounds like the only serious alternative out there) not because of how my home office is right now but because of where M$, Apple, Google, and their ilk are trying to take it. ... And then there is also the big drain on $$ with those guys... ;-p

Sorry for the long post, but... well... you asked. ;-) I hope I concocted an interesting read. (and thanks again for the help with my VBX installation problem) :)
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Re: VirtualBox keeps disappearing. How to install properly?

Post by kyphi »

Thank you for your considered explanation ... yes, I did ask.

You are already aware that coming to use a Linux distro is different to what you have been using previously and that much has to be learned and re-learned.
The issues that cause you most frustration are caused by lack of Linux knowledge but they are easily solved. This is not the appropriate venue for a comprehensive lecture on using a Linux operating system but I will address some of the points you mentioned.

1. The issue with VirtualBox I would put down to "pilot error".
2. Gparted is available on the install disk because it is a very useful tool that may be needed during installation or as an independent tool during trouble shooting. If you want it on your installed system you can get it via the Software Manager or synaptic.
3. GIMP is a huge enterprise and has to be learned. I have a 500+ pages book to help me - Beginning GIMP by Akkana Peck.
4. I have not found any bugs in LibreOffice only some minor irritations which I have fixed.
5. To type non-English characters you have to set up a Compose Key on your keyboard (Settings, Keyboard, Keyboard Layouts, Options). After that tap the compose key then the symbol followed by the letter to get é, ô, ë, ö, è, ñ, etc.
6. To get access to a common partition for all your users the partition has to be permanently mounted (that process is a bit too long to explain here).
7. The use of access permissions (privileges) is what makes Linux a secure system and is essential.
8. All laptops use powersaving mode - without it you would end up with a flat battery. Plug it into the mains.
9. Leaving the info screen in the terminal press "q" (for quit).
10. Disabling recently used requires some code work to apply it generally and you can also go into LibreOffice and disable it there.
11. You have a host of workspaces available to you in Cinnamon that let you skip from one to the other - use them.

There are no unpolished developments and I consider that you are not in a position to make that judgement as a novice user. Your expectation that you would encounter a "works fine out of the box" environment made me chuckle.

If you have any questions, post them, one at a time, to the forum. There are many knowledgeable people in the Linux Mint World who will be glad to assist you.
Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon
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