virtualbox.org

Okay, I'm definitely a Linux noobie, so bare with me. I can't get VirtualBox installed on CentOS 5.4 no matter what I try.

Here's what I get when I run /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup:

Stopping VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel module [FAILED]
(Look at /var/log/vbox-install.log to find out what went wrong)

Here's what I get when I trun cat /var/log/vbox-install.log
Makefile:152: *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and run Make again. Stop.

I'm pretty sure I have the kernel source... I executed the following successfully:
yum install kernel-devel

I have my kernel source in /usr/src/kernel/2.6.18-164.10.1.el5-x86_64

Executing uname -r shows:
2.6.18-164.el5

uname -a shows:
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.18-164.el5 #1 SMP Thu Sep 3 03:28:30 EDT 2009 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I've tried to define KERN_DIR environment variable to /usr/src/kernels and to /usr/src/kernels/2.6.18-164.10.1.el5-x86_64 but it makes no difference. What do I need to do to make this work? This is ridiculously difficult and it just seems so stupid that it would be this hard.

Did you reboot and is your login a member of the vboxusers group?
Also a yum update fixes a lot of things.

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I had already tried a reboot. I just added both root and jason to the vboxusers group. "grep vboxusers /etc/group" shows:
vboxusers501:jason,root

I tried "/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup" again but the results were the same.

Oops, didn't see your second line about the yum update. No, I didn't do that. I'm doing it now, thanks. I'll report back on my results.

Aha! Running "yum update" and then rebooting did the trick. I was able to run "/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup" after that:

[root@localhost ~]# /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
Stopping VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
Starting VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
[root@localhost ~]#

Thanks again for your help!

Well now that I've finally got VirtualBox installed, I have a new problem. When I try to start a VM, I get a message that says:

RTR3Init failed with rc=-1912 (rc=-1912)

The VirtualBox kernel modules do not match this version of
VirtualBox. The installation of VirtualBox was apparently not
successful. Executing

'/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup'

may correct this. Make sure that you do not mix the OSE version
and the PUEL version of VirtualBox.

HUH? The vboxdrv setup was successful, see above post. I tried it again just for fun and it's still successful. Very frustrating. I tried to search this forum, but the search capabilities almost ALWAYS show no results or that the feature is "not available at this time". Any ideas?

Use google to perform the search and you keywords
Example: RTR3Init failed with rc=-1912 site:forums.virtualbox.org
And the statement is more then likely correct.
Did you install the OSE version and then the PUEL version without uninstalling the OSE version first?
If so you need to uninstall the OSE version and then recompile the PUEL version.

I don't even understand what you are talking about. What is "OSE" and "PUEL"?

The OSE (Open Source Edition) is what you would typically install through the repository of the distro that you are using.
The PUEL (Personal Use License) is the one that comes direct from VirtualBox and one that supports vRDP and USB.
So the question is where did you download the install from? Did you install it the first time using the OS add function, and then download the one from VirtualBox?
How many times did you try to install the program?

I downloaded the .rpm for Redhat/CentOS 5 from www.virtualbox.org. I first tried to install it by double-clicking on it, but that failed because of a dependency on some old libpython that RPM doesn't seem to know about. Following instructions from other folks, I got it installed using rpm -Uvh --nodeps VirtualBox....rpm. I did have to get a couple of other libraries later before the VirtualBox GUI would work... I did "yum update SDL-devel", "yum install SDL-devel", "yum update mesa-libGLU-devel" and "yum install mesa-libGLU-devel" to fix this. This is a new install of CentOS 5.4 (freshly installed 2 days ago).

So where should I be installed this from/where should I have gotten it from? Thanks for your help, by the way.

Well You get it from here http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads (Probably the Debian one)
From what you are telling me the install is either confused or corrupt now with the forced install against the dependencies. (I know that the information was probably with good intentions but this usually mucks things up). Better to meet all dependencies head on to keep this stuff you are seeing from happening.
If it were mine I would uninstall VirtualBox. Reboot and install it again to make sure that all dependencies are met.

it should be quite simple, sun even have a yum repository for rhel (centos) so to download and install it, run this as root:
done.

sej7278,

Many thanks... That was the secret sauce that I needed. Worked the first time! I wish somebody had told me that 3 days ago. That's how long I've been working at this trying to get VBox installed and running. Thanks again!

Xpendable wrote:sej7278,

Many thanks... That was the secret sauce that I needed. Worked the first time! I wish somebody had told me that 3 days ago. That's how long I've been working at this trying to get VBox installed and running. Thanks again!

great! i don't know why the repo instructions are hidden right at the bottom of the download page, when that's the best way to install it. the repo will even upgrade it too - you never need the download page again now.