Failed to open session

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
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wrkbear
Posts: 35
Joined: 13. Nov 2008, 05:05
Primary OS: Ubuntu 12.04
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Windows XP

Failed to open session

Post by wrkbear »

I am running Ubuntu 20.04.3 on a GIGABYTE B365M DS3H motherboard with an Intel I5 8400 CPU, AMI F5 bios, 16GB RAM and 500GB SSD.
Following error messages:

Failed to open session. The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver is either not loaded or not set up correctly. Please try setting it up again by executing /sbin/vboxconfig'
as root.


Running /sbin/vboxsetu as root, I get the following error message:
There were problems setting up VirtualBox. To re-start the set-up process, run /sbin/vboxconfig as root. If your system is using EFI Secure Boot you may need to sign the kernel modules (vboxdrv, vboxnetflt, vboxnetadp, vboxpci) before you can load them.

I tried disabling UEFI secure boot and the system failed to boot and would only return me to the bios setup.

I tried installing mokutil package and when I ran mokutil I got the following message: EFI variables are not supported on this system

I tried reinstalling virtualbox and get the same results.

I am at a total loss and am very dependent on my virtual system that runs software that can't be replaced.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Failed to open session

Post by scottgus1 »

Virtualbox has prerequisites on Linux hosts, https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch02. ... nux-prereq. Uninstall Virtualbox, handle the prerequisites, then reinstall Virtualbox.
wrkbear
Posts: 35
Joined: 13. Nov 2008, 05:05
Primary OS: Ubuntu 12.04
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Windows XP

Re: Failed to open session

Post by wrkbear »

The prerequisites have been satisfied and virtualbox was up an running until a recent update in either virtualbox or ubuntu that now require "signing" the modules in order to load them (or something like that). It appears to have something to do with EUFI.

I have 5 other computers all running Ubuntu 20.04 and all running virtualbox with no problems. This is something new that just happened and I am at a loss as to what to do about it.
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5661
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Failed to open session

Post by fth0 »

This could be related to a known regression in VirtualBox 6.1.24|26 (*):

The VirtualBox kernel drivers are rebuilt on every boot of a Linux host OS. Please use the workaround described in 20465 to prevent that.

(*) There are rumored to be host systems where the GA installation successfully signed the VirtualBox kernel modules, but the rebuild on every boot could not. So try to install the GA and apply the patch afterwards, but before rebooting the host.
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