Installation of virtualbox extension

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Brostin
Posts: 5
Joined: 24. Mar 2020, 16:55

Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by Brostin »

Greetings to the Forum,

I'm having difficulty installing the extension package downloaded for VirtualBox version 6. In practice, the file I'm going to download from the VirtualBox 6.1.4 ( section Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack - All supported platforms ), it is downloaded with a .gz extension. I then extracted the contents of the file through 7-zip but the generated file has NO extension. How do I install it ? Thanks
scottgus1
Site Moderator
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Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by scottgus1 »

When you download normally from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads, to get the EP, the extension of the downloaded file is not '.gz', it is '.vbox-extpack'. If you are not downloading in a normal browser, or using some kind of other downloader that changes the extension, don't. Who knows what else it might change?

The file should be called:

Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-#.#.#.vbox-extpack

where #.#.# should be exactly the same #.#.# that your installed Virtualbox has.

The official way is to install the Extension pack through the main Virtualbox window's File menu, Preferences, Extensions. Normally you do not have to extract the EP using other programs. On Windows hosts you must right click the Virtualbox icon and Run As Administrator, in order to get permissions to install the EP where it goes in the Virtualbox install folder in C:\Program Files. Linux & other hosts may have similar elevated-rights requirements.

However, if for some reason you can't get the main Virtualbox window to do the install correctly, the Extension Pack download file is really just a gzip archive (according to 7-zip) and can be installed manually:

Note that if your Virtualbox is installed in a special-permissions folder, like C:\Program Files, you will still need an admin password.

Reboot your host PC to ensure that no Virtualbox processes are running.
Open the archive with a gzip-compatible archive program.
Extract the folder named '.' (a period) to an empty folder in your Home or Documents folder.
Directly inside the extracted folder should be the Extension Pack files.
Rename the exctracted folder to "Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack" (without the double quotes).
Move the extracted folder inside {wherever-Virtualbox-is-installed}/Virtualbox/ExtensionPacks
Start Virtualbox. The Extension Pack should be recognized in File menu, Preferences, Extensions.
Brostin
Posts: 5
Joined: 24. Mar 2020, 16:55

Re: Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by Brostin »

First of all thank you for trying to help me. I immediately ask you that I am Administrator of the machine and therefore all operations are performed with elevated privileges.
The procedure you suggested does not work and my question is the following: why does the file you download not have the extension .vbox-extpack but .gz? I guess why it is compressed. OK. The problem arises because decompressing that file generates a file without an extension and also trying to put it by hand the installation process from inside virtualbox gives me an error during the installation phase.
There are a lot of tutorials and it seems the simplest thing of the way to install extensions. The problem is that on all the tutorials the downloaded file has the extension .vbox-extpack and not .gz. Could it be that complicated ??? Thank you
Martin
Volunteer
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VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by Martin »

The problem with the file extension comes from your browser.
The download link is https://download.virtualbox.org/virtual ... ox-extpack with the correct file extension.
Your method of downloading seems to detect that the extpack is a .gz compressed file an changes the filename.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by scottgus1 »

Brostin wrote:why does the file you download not have the extension .vbox-extpack but .gz?
In the words of Willy Wonka, "Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you."

This is the way the EP is supposed to come:
Brostin wrote:the downloaded file has the extension .vbox-extpack and not .gz
It is a gzip compressed file, renamed by Oracle to have a .vbox-extpack extension. Like Martin says, don't change the extension to '.gz' Leave it as '.vbox-extpack'.
Brostin wrote:The procedure you suggested does not work
There were 2 procedures shown: the official way through the main Virtualbox window, and the manual way when the main Virtualbox window fails for some reason.

Where exactly are you having trouble? Post the exact steps you are taking.
Brostin
Posts: 5
Joined: 24. Mar 2020, 16:55

Re: Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by Brostin »

Very good. The problem was where you said it. My download manager was incomprehensibly changing the file extension. I changed my browser and ... everything is OK.
Thank you. Incredible to waste so much time for such a problem but I guarantee you that it has never happened to me before. Probably the particular extension of the file confused him and applied the extension .gz to the file. Thank you so much
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by scottgus1 »

Good, glad you're up and running!
Brostin
Posts: 5
Joined: 24. Mar 2020, 16:55

Re: Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by Brostin »

Forgive me but come on I was too optimistic. Ok for the correct download of the file and the installation procedure starts correctly but unfortunately ends with an error. There he is :

Failed to load the main module ('C: \ Program Files \ Oracle \ VirtualBox \ ExtensionPacks \ Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack \ win.amd64 \ VBoxPuelMain.DLL'): VERR_SYMBOL_NOT_FOUND - GetLastError = 127.

Exit Code:
E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component:
ExtPackManagerWrap
Interface:
IExtPackManager {70401eef-c8e9-466b-9660-45cb3e9979e4}

I have rewritten the control policies on the whole installation folder and subfolders, assigning Full rights to my user but it seems not enough. I'm sorry
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by scottgus1 »

OK, so it appears that you got Virtualbox to see the EP file, good.

Be sure that the version of EP you downloaded is the same as the version of Virtualbox you have installed.

This:
Brostin wrote:I have rewritten the control policies on the whole installation folder and subfolders, assigning Full rights to my user
has never been necessary to get the EP installed on a normally-configured computer. If adjusting permissions is the sort of thing you've done to fix issues, then there is no way to predict how your EP installation may work or not.

You will have to try the manual process above:
scottgus1 wrote:Reboot your host PC to ensure that no Virtualbox processes are running.
Open the archive with a gzip-compatible archive program.
Extract the folder named '.' (a period) to an empty folder in your Home or Documents folder. Directly inside the extracted folder should be the Extension Pack files.
Rename the extracted folder to "Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack" (without the double quotes).
Move the extracted folder inside {wherever-Virtualbox-is-installed}/Virtualbox/ExtensionPacks
Start Virtualbox. The Extension Pack should be recognized in File menu, Preferences, Extensions.
Brostin
Posts: 5
Joined: 24. Mar 2020, 16:55

Re: Installation of virtualbox extension

Post by Brostin »

Here I am. Finally all right. In the initial chaos I had installed an older version of the extensions than the VirtualBox installation package. I uninstalled everything and cleaned the windows registries. Performed a new installation and then launched VirtualBox with privileged rights to install the extension.
Thanks again
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