virtualbox.org

I am running Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal on Virtual Box.

After having successfully installed the Guest Additions and rebooted, the Guest Additions are not recognised and do not work. They are installed; if I re-install, the installation process removes the previous Guest Additions first.

I have used Guest Additions successfully in Ubuntu 12.04, 11.10. 11.04 and 10.04; some other Linux distributions; and Windows XP and Windows 8. It is only 12.10 where it fails.

• Host: Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit fully updated
• Virtual Box: Latest version (4.1.18 r78361) installed from the Virtual Box PPA
• Guest Additions: Latest version Virtual Box Extension Pack (4.1.18) downloaded from the Virtual Box download website
• Guest: Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit fully updated

Any ideas what I can do to get it working?

Ubuntu 12.10 is still in alpha and most of the time release of updated guest additions will not happen until the OS reaches beta at the very least. I would suspect a release with the next maintenance update or you can build them yourself from SVN which has worked from the beginning.

Thank you for the reply, Perryg.

Perryg wrote:... you can build them yourself from SVN...

This is not something I know how to do. Is there a "how-to for dummies"? If not, I'll wait until the Beta.

Complicated but great to learn how and what to do.
Building VirtualBox

Perryg, thanks for the answer. I've had a look, and this method compiles it within the host machine, doesn't it?

I think I'll skip it, because the host machine is currently stable and I'd like it to remain that way. For me, the best bet would be to wait until Virtual Box Extensions supports 12.10.

Thank you for your time.

That's understandable, but one last thing. There are extensions and there are additions What you are wanting are the additions (guest additions).
A new build should be available soon.

Perryg wrote:There are extensions and there are additions...

Ah. I thought they referred to the same thing, and I was confused as to the wording.

On the download page, it reads, "VirtualBox Extension Pack". From what I understand, this is what lets you install the Additions.

Perryg wrote:A new build should be available soon.

Great, thanks!

The Extension Pack is the closed source portion that allows you USB2, PXE boot, and vRDP.
The guest additions allow for enhanced features like shared folders, and enhanced/accelerated graphics.

That clarifies it, thank you.

For what it's worth the 4.1.18 guest additions in the Quantel repos work. I found out the hard way trying to install them from the drop down menu. Apparently in the 12.10 'buntus with the 3.5 kernel they have split the kernel up in such a way that VB thinks there is no headers for the running kernel. They install and work fine from the repos however. At least in Xubuntu 12.10.

they have split the kernel up in such a way that VB thinks there is no headers for the running kernel

Just to clarify, they do not built the GAs on the new kernel and do not/did not include the new headers for the new kernel. Ubuntu suggestion was to build it on the older kernel by booting to grub and selecting the previous kernel. Still this will not work since the minute you boot to the new kernel you are going to need to re-compile the VirtualBox kernel modules. Its either use their pre-compiled GAs with the strange bloat and configuration, or wait for the them to finally provide the proper headers. Remember that if you go with the Ubuntu GAs we can not support you and if you decide to put the official GAs back in you will need to completely remove the Ubuntu GAs before you install the VirtualBox GAs.

Perryg wrote:

they have split the kernel up in such a way that VB thinks there is no headers for the running kernel

Just to clarify, they do not built the GAs on the new kernel and do not/did not include the new headers for the new kernel. Ubuntu suggestion was to build it on the older kernel by booting to grub and selecting the previous kernel. Still this will not work since the minute you boot to the new kernel you are going to need to re-compile the VirtualBox kernel modules. Its either use their pre-compiled GAs with the strange bloat and configuration, or wait for the them to finally provide the proper headers. Remember that if you go with the Ubuntu GAs we can not support you and if you decide to put the official GAs back in you will need to completely remove the Ubuntu GAs before you install the VirtualBox GAs.

understood.

loukingjr wrote:... the 4.1.18 guest additions in the Quantel repos work.

Thanks for that. Bearing in mind Perryg's warning, I think I may wait for the VirtualBox GA's to work.

Perryg wrote:Its either use their pre-compiled GAs with the strange bloat and configuration, or wait for the them to finally provide the proper headers.

Perryg, as a long-standing and involved Ubuntu user, I'd like to be able to help if possible by raising this as a bug for 12.10. However, being no programmer, I do not know the wording to use. If I were to raise a bug in Ubuntu 12.10, please would you let me know how to word this? I would have to be much more specific than "provide the proper headers for VirtualBox".

They know about it. Sadly that is as far as it got. The information about the cause was taken from launchpad their bug tracker. I don't know if they have resolved it yet but they seem to take a long time resolving these issues that they deem to be less than a deal breaker bug.

Perryg wrote:They know about it.

You don't happen to have a link to the Launchpad bug, do you? I will add my vote (the more votes and comments, the greater the "heat").

Perryg wrote:... they seem to take a long time resolving these issues that they deem to be less than a deal breaker bug.

Yes. Canonical's policy of bringing out a new release every six months does tend to give the developers a tremendous amount of work! That's why the bug heat is important — if one person complains, they're not worried, but if 30 people do, they take more note.