Problems with vboxdrv on Ubuntu

[xionc]

Hi,

I was using Virtual Box with Windows XP as guest system, but I had some problems with graphics. I have read in the help file, that Guest Additions must be installed to use video accelertaion so I have installed it. During installaton it added some packages and also removed some.

Then Virtual Box was not starting anymore and I had to reinstall it. Reinstalling the package did not help, so I have removed the application and installed a new version from this site.

Unfortunatelly during the installation it detected vboxdrv files and asked if I want to keep these. I have unchecked the option to delete and the application was installed.

Now it started all right, but my guest system did not start displaying the famous message that I need to run vboxdrv setup.

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. 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.

The file '/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup' was not to be found.

I decided to reinstall Virtual Box, this time leaving the checkbox alone, but the system told me debconf file forbidden this option (and the checkbox did not appear).

I removed DKMS package and reinstalled Virtual Box again (two Nvidia packages has been automatically removed as well). Now I could leave the checkbox alone (it displayed again), but the message remained the same and vboxdrv setup was still absent. I reinstalled DKMS, but not the Nvidia packages.

The final result - I have no access to my Guest System and I work in low resolution. I will probably have to reinstall Ubuntu - now my questions:

1. Why installing Guest Additions stopped Virtual Box running? Is it how they should work?
2. Is it possible to reuse my Guest system configuration after I reinstall Ubuntu?
3. If Guest Additions won't help my problems with graphics in the guest system (I was trying to do 2d plots in SAS), what else can I try?


Sorry for this long mail, but I'm new to Virtual Box...

[Perryg]

It would help to know exactly what Ubuntu version you are using as the host.
The quote that you show usually means that you have not added you login to the vboxusers group in the host.

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usermod -aG vboxusers <your username>

There are a few requirements for this to work as it should.
In the Ubuntu host you need the following installed before you install VirtualBox:

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sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-generic

As well as If you don't want to re-compile the VirtualBox module each time the kernel is updated you should install dkms.

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sudo apt-get install dkms

Also to make you life a lot easier before you do any of this you should really run the following to be sure that your host OS is up to date

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

One other thing to remember is when you add the guest additions to the windows guest, if you want 3D/2D you must install them (in the guest) in safe mode.

[xionc]

Thank you for suggestions.

I tried to run all these command, but the problem persists. The biggest issue I guess is the file '/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup' is missing. Do you think I can recover it somehow?

My Ubuntu version is 9.10 (karmic) Kernel linux 2.6.31-19-generic

[baf]

Try reinstalling the guest additions in the guest. If you get ANY error messages post them here.

[skymaster]

Ubuntu 9.10, VB 3.1.2. Every time i restart Ubuntu, start VB and have same message: kernel driver not instaled. After taht I go in terminal mode, use sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv.dpkg-bak setup, and after few minutes VB goes on. Where is the problem that I must use this command every time after restart Ubuntu ?

[baf]

I think I see now.

The guest additions should be installed in the guest. If you have installed them in the host that has broken your installation.

You should probably remove them from dkms if they are there. Unistall VBox. Check that all vbox* files are gone from /etc/init.d and your module directory, then reinstall vbox again.
After that install the guest additions in XP.

[skymaster]

Solve,
I use sudo gedit /etc/modules and on last line write vboxdrv , save exit and restart . Seems work well.

[xionc]

Thank you guys!

I finally managed to resolve this. The thing I needed to do was to chose complete removal of VBox (with config files). Then reinstall it with default options (of course I needed to remove guest additions on the way too).

Now it works well (I have minor problem with installing GeForce driver on the guest system, but I hope I will be able to overcome this one).

[Perryg]

You might cause more problems if you continue to try to install the GeForce drivers on the guest.
VirtualBox uses its own drivers (vboxvideo) and not the driver for you hosts graphic card.

[xionc]

Thanks for this hint!

Now I can try to install guest additions on the guest system, properly.

[Ozdemon]

Solve,
I use sudo gedit /etc/modules and on last line write vboxdrv , save exit and restart . Seems work well.

What a fantastic tip!

I was losing my hair over this. Big thank-you.