virtualbox.org

Built a Mojave 10.14.6 Guest (while running VirtualBox 6.0.14 on Mojave 10.14.6).

I was able to mount the Guest Additions from 6.0.14, however when attempting to install them, I got an alert: I thought Oracle indicated that for VirtualBox 6.0.14 the installers were fully signed and notarized?

What's missing if the Guest Additions aren't installed?

UPDATED: This is weird, but on a hunch, I tried re-installing the Guest Additions from the mounted Box_GAs_6.0.14 ISO/CD -- and this time -- no error!

I was able to confirm that I could move my cursor from my boot Mojave INTO the Mojave Guest smoothly, and back out again. Does that indicate the Guest Additions are, in fact, installed?

UPDATE #2: On further examination, kextstat doesn't indicate any oracle or vboxguest kexts (in fact, no third-part kexts are listed).

I can see VBoxGuest.kext is listed in /LibraryStagedExtensions/Library/Extensions. Perhaps that means the Guest Additions kext wasn't loaded?

Stephen

SteveMacGeek wrote:I thought Oracle indicated that for VirtualBox 6.0.14 the installers were fully signed and notarized?

They are, as you found out. It was a glitch I guess...

SteveMacGeek wrote:I was able to confirm that I could move my cursor from my boot Mojave INTO the Mojave Guest smoothly, and back out again. Does that indicate the Guest Additions are, in fact, installed?

No, nothing to do with it. If you're using the "USB Tablet" option, then the mouse moves seamlessly between host and guest. The GAs are only needed in that case only if you use the "PS/2 Mouse" option.

SteveMacGeek wrote:Perhaps that means the Guest Additions kext wasn't loaded?

There was an earlier problem with 6.0.12 that wasn't loading the kexts (#18793: Guest Additions doesn't start on macOS), but that was addressed a while ago. Maybe a regression? Got to check it...

The easiest way to see if the GAs are loaded or not is to try and Copy/Paste between the Host and the Guest.

OK -- wow! The Gust Additions did load and at least Bi-directional copy/paste works!

What happened was: I cloned the VM, then ran the clone. When the clone booted the first time, it (again) asked about allowing the Oracle kext to be approved by going into the Security & Privacy Preference's General Pane and pressing the APPROVE button. Which I did.

Previously, during the install of the Guest Additions I was asked the same question, but there was no approve button to be pressed in the General pane.

So, wow. A tiny victory.

Stephen

Glad you got it going, marking as [WorksForMe].

SteveMacGeek wrote:OK -- wow! The Gust Additions did load and at least Bi-directional copy/paste works!

What happened was: I cloned the VM, then ran the clone. When the clone booted the first time, it (again) asked about allowing the Oracle kext to be approved by going into the Security & Privacy Preference's General Pane and pressing the APPROVE button. Which I did.

Previously, during the install of the Guest Additions I was asked the same question, but there was no approve button to be pressed in the General pane.

So, wow. A tiny victory.

Stephen

Any news on that ?
I have the same problem and no idea of the solution.
I have Virtualbox 6.1.16 I installed Mojave 10.14.6
have run Guest additions got the popup. but no approve button in the security pane.
Have run the guest additions again, and no popup coming (I guest there is a system to not show it the following times to not spam the user with popups).

Still, I cannot use Guest additions features (i'm only in 1024 resolution, and shared clipboard or drag'n'droop doen't work).

I would like to install the guest additions on my Mac guest running on my Mac host. The manual says nothing about it, I can't find them on the virtualbox website downloads page, and haven't found anything in the FAQ or this forum about how to do it. But this thread implies it is possible, can anyone tell me how?

@macwiz
The manual says nothing about GAs for MacOS guests because, officially, they don't exist.

The manual and most FAQs do not tell you about features which don't exist - that would be a very long list!

In actual fact there is a MacOS GAs stub you can install, but it probably doesn't provide what you need (e.g. no graphics or shared folders). Read about the stub here: OSX GAs (VBoxDarwinAdditions.pkg): what is working.

As to how to install them, I've never used a Mac, but there's a "VBoxDarwinAdditions.pkg" file in the root folder of the GAs CD. I assume as a Mac user you might know how better than me how to run this.

mpack wrote:As to how to install them, I've never used a Mac, but there's a "VBoxDarwinAdditions.pkg" file in the root folder of the GAs CD. I assume as a Mac user you might know how better than me how to run this.

Yes, by double clicking the file in the Finder.

Sorry to be so stupid - I've read that other thread and I still don't know where or how to get the GAs CD, or the "VBoxDarwinAdditions.pkg", or the .iso that was mentioned.

The ISO file is bundled with VirtualBox. "VBoxDarwinAdditions.pkg" is a file in the root folder of that ISO.

To load the ISO as a virtual CD in a running VM, use the Devices|Insert Guest Additions CD... VM menu item. Then browse to the CD in Finder.

You can also often view the ISO on your host using your favorite archiving tool. But bear in mind that Guest Additions need to be installed in the Guest, not the Host.

We seem to have a fundamental disconnect here - possibly because I'm running a Mac host. When I downloaded VirtualBox I got a dmg (disc image) file, which contains the VirtualBox.pkg installer file, which the Mac uses to install the software, resulting in a VirtualBox.app living in the Applications folder. No sign of any ISO. I do see the "Devices|Insert Guest Additions CD... VM" menu item when running a guest, so If I had an ISO, I now know what to try to do with it.

And, speaking of running a Mac host, I've noticed one instance so far of it not matching what the manual says - the manual says "From the File menu, select Preferences." but there is no Preferences item in the File menu. There is a Preferences icon in the main Manager window when "Tools" is selected. But this is getting off-topic.

macwiz wrote:We seem to have a fundamental disconnect here - possibly because I'm running a Mac host. When I downloaded VirtualBox I got a dmg (disc image) file, which contains the VirtualBox.pkg installer file, which the Mac uses to install the software, resulting in a VirtualBox.app living in the Applications folder.

I don't use a Mac, but if the layout is like Windows then the ISO lives alongside the "VirtualBox.app" file.

But you don't need to care about where the ISO lives, since VirtualBox finds it for you when you select "Insert Guest Additions CD".

There is indeed a File|Preferences menu item in the VM Manager. This shows the menu in 6.1.22 on a Windows host, but Qt ensures it's the same on all hosts (only appearance may differ). Not sure what this has to do with installing the Guest Additions though (clue: nothing at all, I think you've been reading stuff having to do with the host Extension Pack, a completely other feature).

macwiz wrote:VirtualBox.app living in the Applications folder. No sign of any ISO.

As mpack already wrote, you don't need direct access to the ISO file from within the host OS. But if you want to take a look nevertheless, you'll probably find it in /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso.

macwiz wrote:no Preferences item in the File menu

As a macOS user, you surely know that the Preferences menu item is usually part of the Application's menu. VirtualBox is no different: VirtualBox > Preferences...

Bingo - we have a winner! Thanks to you all, I have now successfully installed Guest Additions on my 10.14 Mojave VM, and even got the shared clipboard to work. Using the "Insert Guest Additions CD" menu item did not work for me, what worked was assigning the iso file to the optical drive in the VM Storage settings. Next I can work on why the GAs fail to install on my 10.15 Catalina VM.

Re. the screenshot of the File menu from Windows - on the Mac the File menu looks like this As a long time macOS user, I do know that the Preferences menu item is usually part of the Application's menu, and I'm pleased VirtualBox does that. Though the credit for that is due to Qt, based on my past experience working with Qt. Also, as a long time macOS user, I'm pretty cynical about how Mac users are usually 2nd class citizens when it comes to cross-platform apps, so I'm not motivated to file a bug report about the manual being wrong.

I think you may have been looking in the wrong menu for the "Insert Guest Additions CD Image ..." command. It is NOT part of the VirtualBox Manager application.

You will find the menu item in the Devices menu of your running VirtualBox VM window.

i.e. Start your VM, give the VM focus and then look in the Devices menu.