[SOLVED] Installing the latest Virtualbox version on Linux Mint

[maccabbeo]

Hi to all,

I've been asked to install the latest release of VirtualBox to fix some issues. However, there's no specific installation instruction for Mint in the official download page https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads.

At the moment, version 5.2.26 is the latest on my repositories. How can I solve the problem?
Should I replace any Ubuntu or Debian codename to replace that <mydist> in the following line before adding it to my /etc/apt/sources.list file?

deb https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian <mydist> contrib

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.

EDIT 1: inxi -S

System: Host: mano-X510UNR Kernel: 4.15.0-45-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: MATE 1.20.1
Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara

EDIT 2: this solved the problem viewtopic.php?f=231&t=289089&p=1601927#p1601783

[ajgringo619]

Use bionic for <mydist>.

[kyphi]

Since the current version of Linux Mint uses the Ubuntu 18.04 base you install from that giving you VirtualBox 6.0.4.

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

Don't forget to install the Guest additions which are included. The Extension Pack has to be downloaded separately - necessary for USB connectivity.

[smurphos]

At the moment, version 5.2.26 is the latest on my repositories. How can I solve the problem?

If you've got 5.2.26 showing in your repositories you've already got the Oracle virtualbox repo set up. So it should just be a case of

apt install virtualbox-6.0. Installing 6.0 will automatically remove 5.2.26.

[maccabbeo]

Hi ajgringo619, smurphos and kyphi,

Thanks for your feedbacks. I did not mention that of I already tried to install version number 6 just as you suggested and as described in the VirtualBox download page. Also, I added the relevant line in my source.list file as you soggested, but some error messages show me that something went wrong.

This is what I get when I run virtualbox & from terminal

WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module
available for the current kernel (4.15.0-45-generic) or it failed to
load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by

sudo /sbin/vboxconfig

You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.

while I get this after running sudo /sbin/vboxconfig
[/quote]vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules.
vboxdrv.sh: failed: modprobe vboxdrv failed. Please use 'dmesg' to find out why.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox. To re-start the set-up process, run
/sbin/vboxconfig
as root. [/quote]

I get a similar message on one of the two popup windows shown when trying to run the guest OS [Windows 7 64 bit] from the Virtual Box graphical user interface:

VirtualBox - Error in suplibSplitOsInit

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

'/sbin/vboxconfig'

as root.

where: suplibOsInit what: 3 VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED (-1908) - The support driver is not installed. On linux, open returned ENOENT.

while the other popup window shows this:

The virtual machine 'Win764bit' has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1).

Codice di uscita:
NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Componente:
MachineWrap
Interfaccia:
IMachine {5047460a-265d-4538-b23e-ddba5fb84976}

In order to avoid messing all the versions, I purged them all before reinstalling the 6 but it didn't work either. I also tried to install virtualbox-dkms from repos, which of course installed the virtualbox-dkms 5.2.18 version... which may not be compatible with the version number six of Virtualbox (?!?)

[Pierre]

that error of "Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)"
followed by the statement of:
-- Please reinstall the kernel module by executing
'/sbin/vboxconfig'
as root.
is quite common, & I'd first struck it, when upgrading from VB5.0 to VB5.1
& the fix, apart from repeatedly running the temporary fix of '/sbin/vboxconfig' as root,
was to Completely Remove VirtualBox in Package Manager aka synaptic,,
and then installed the VB5.1.xx.deb file, from the VirtualBox Site.

it now does seem, that this error is continuing into the VB6.0.x series - as well.
so, once you've gotten tired of that temporary fix,
- is to use the Completely Remove VirtualBox in Package Manager aka synaptic,, again.
dunno why, this issue is continuing into the VB6.0.x series .. .
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads
should give the latest VB6.0.x series of VirtualBox.

[maccabbeo]

Hi Pierre,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Unfortunately it did not work for me. I just purged the previous installation of Virtualbox, downloaded the .deb from the official website (for Ubuntu 18.01, as suggested by kyphi) and installed it via gdebi but I always get the same error

vboxdrv.sh: failed: modprobe vboxdrv failed. Please use 'dmesg' to find out why.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox. To re-start the set-up process, run
/sbin/vboxconfig
as root.

In fact, I also run dmesg but I'm not able to find any line related to the issue maybe just because I don't know what I should look for.

[thx-1138]

.........................................

Make sure first Secure Boot is disabled (in your BIOS / UEFI).

[maccabbeo]

Unbelievable! That solved the problem! Thank you all very much for your time.

However, why do the Virtual Box team give such apparently unrelated and misleading error messages:?:

[ftolar59]

My HP Pavilion Mini Desktop - 300-030 doesn't seem to be able to disable Secure Boot. It has been this way ever since I bought it. HP denies all of course.
One more thing, I had this computer installed with Ubuntu Groovy Gorilla and had the exact same issues. It is a HP problem for sure. Well if I get lucky tomorrow night and win the Mega Millions, I'll buy new computers.