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VirtualBox is an open source x86 emulator developed by innotek (bought by Sun, now Oracle) comparable to VMware. A proprietary extra package enhances the base experience, adding things like RDP access to the Guest. This page contains some how-to, tips and tricks when setting up and using VirtualBox. |
Since version 4.0 the name suffix OSE became obsolete. All non-GPL parts are now packed in an additional extension pack available from Oracle.
Contents
Installation of non-free edition
Debian Sid/Unstable
There is a package in the contrib section of the main repository, only available for the amd64 architecture. It can be installed using the following procedure: Add the "contrib" and the "non-free" components to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:
# Debian Unstable "Sid" deb http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ sid main contrib non-free
Update the list of available packages:
# sudo apt update
Install the virtualbox package, for example:
# sudo apt install virtualbox
Debian 10 "Buster"
Packages for VirtualBox are not available in Debian 10 and won't be in buster-backports either. A recommended alternative is Virtual Machine Manager (buster/virt-manager). See also this link that explains some useful basics for qemu
You can install Virtualbox either using Lucas Nussbaum's repository or Virtualbox's official third-party repository
Lucas Nussbaum's unofficial repository
Lucas Nussbaum maintains an unofficial (and unsupported) backport of the Debian unstable package for Debian 10.
Oracle Virtualbox third-party repository
Add virtualbox.list to /etc/apt/sources.list.d
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian buster contrib
Add Oracle VirtualBox public key:
wget https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc sudo apt-key add oracle_vbox_2016.asc
Install virtualbox-6.1
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install virtualbox-6.1
Complete instructions on the VirtualBox Wiki
Debian 9 "Stretch"
Packages for VirtualBox are not available in Debian 9. To install VirtualBox you must use the stretch-backports repository or the upstream third-party repository.
stretch-backports
See the instructions on https://backports.debian.org/Instructions/ (add an entry for the contrib section, not just the main section) and install with
apt install virtualbox
Oracle Virtualbox third-party repository
Add virtualbox.list to /etc/apt/sources.list.d
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian stretch contrib
Add Oracle VirtualBox public key:
wget https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc sudo apt-key add oracle_vbox_2016.asc
Install virtualbox-6.1
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install virtualbox-6.1
Complete instructions on the VirtualBox Wiki
Debian 8 "Jessie"
VirtualBox 4.3.36 is packaged for Debian 8 "Jessie".
The virtualbox-* packages were moved to contrib at VirtualBox 4.2, as a non-free compiler (Open Watcom) is required to build the BIOS.
Add the "contrib" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:
# Debian 8 "Jessie" deb http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib
Update the list of available packages:
# sudo apt-get update
Install the relevant linux-headers package and virtualbox package, for example:
# sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r|sed 's,[^-]*-[^-]*-,,') virtualbox
This will also install virtualbox-dkms and other recommended packages. DKMS will build the VirtualBox modules for your system.
VirtualBox can now be started. To not load the VirtualBox modules at system startup, edit /etc/default/virtualbox and set LOAD_VBOXDRV_MODULE to 0.
Starting
Desktop
In KDE, go to: KDE menu > System > VirtualBox
In GNOME, go to: Activities > All Applications (super + A) > Virtualbox
In Mate, go to: Mate menu > Applications > System tools > VirtualBox
From an X terminal:
$ virtualbox Or $ VirtualBox
Server
You can start VirtualBox in Headless mode using VBoxHeadless like this:
$ VBoxHeadless -startvm "VMName"
You should run this inside a screen instance and detach the screen after starting the VM with Ctrl+a d. At least in version 4.0.x you won't need to use screen. Just start the vm with:
$ VBoxManage startvm "VMName" --type headless
and a VBoxSVC process appears in the background. You can loggoff without problems.
Troubleshooting
The character device /dev/vboxdrv does not exist
When starting VirtualBox, the following message is shown:
WARNING: The character device /dev/vboxdrv does not exist. Please install the virtualbox-ose-modules package for your kernel and load the module named vboxdrv into your system. You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.
Load the VirtualBox kernel module (also load vboxnetflt in Debian Squeeze):
$ su # modprobe vboxdrv
If the module is not found, refer to Installation to provide a virtualbox-dkms* package to your system.
You are not a member of the "vboxusers" group
As stated by VirtualBox:
WARNING: You are not a member of the "vboxusers" group. Please add yourself to this group before starting VirtualBox. You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.
Add your user account to the vboxusers group via adduser(8), as described in Installation:
$ su # adduser yourusername vboxusers
Log out and log back in to your system to apply the group membership change.
Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)
You receive the following message
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. Users of Ubuntu, Fedora or Mandriva should install the DKMS package first. This package keeps track of Linux kernel changes and recompiles the vboxdrv kernel module if necessary.
After running
$sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
VirtualBox works fine until you reboot the system. This is because "vboxdrv" is not loaded during system boot.
Solution.
Make sure that you actually have these packages in your system
1) dkms;
2) build-essential;
3) linux-headers-$(uname -r)
Then, append the following line to /etc/modules
vboxdrv
-1909 VERR VM DRIVER NOT ACCESSIBLE
See You are not a member of the "vboxusers" group above.
RDP not working out of the box?
To get RDP working you need to install the VirtualBox Extensions Pack from the vendors website VirtualBox Downloads.
Simply download the extensions pack, click "File" => "Preferences" => "Extensions" => "Down arrow". Select the file you downloaded above. Click "OK". Restart VirtualBox.
Tips & Tricks
Switching consoles
The normal way to switch consoles in Linux is to use the ctrl-alt-Fx key combination. This does not work for a VirtualBox virtual machine (VM); it will switch consoles for the host system instead.
You should use <Host Key>-Fx instead, where <Host Key> is the key defined in File->Preferences->Input.
This also works for ctrl-alt-del and ctrl-alt-backspace
This is documented in the VirtualBox user manual in the section "Keyboard and mouse support in virtual machines", subsection "Typing special characters".
(An alternative method to switch between text consoles is to use alt-left and alt-right, but that does not work for graphical consoles like XOrg or DirectFB.)
How to remotely start virtual machines using VNC
Remote:
- log onto your remote box
install tightvncserver
- launch it (you don't need a display), pick a password
- determine which port it is using, a way to do so:
netstat -tap | grep vnc
- Let's say it's 5901
- unlog from there since the server forked in the background
Local:
install xtightvncviewer
- create a ssh tunnel to your box:
ssh -L 5901:localhost:5901 you@remote
- use it: (note there are two colons)
xtightvncviewer localhost::5901
then VBoxManage startvm $yourvm &
- and start as many virtual machines as wanted.
See Also
Alternative SystemVirtualization tools.
It is possible to use Veewee to automate the creation of Debian guests images for VirtualBox
External Links
http://www.virtualbox.org/ - VirtualBox OSE homepage;
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/User_FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html (PDF) - Official User Manual
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads - Using upstream's binaries (repository).
ToDo:
Describe shared folders feature (user needs to be in vboxsf group)
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