Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
Perryg
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Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by Perryg »

Is this an OSE that came from VirtualBox.org or from the Fedora repo?
dawids
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Primary OS: Fedora other
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Guest OSses: Debian

Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by dawids »

Perryg wrote:Is this an OSE that came from VirtualBox.org or from the Fedora repo?

Fedora repo.
Perryg
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Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by Perryg »

I don't know. I don't have this problem and something must be playing havoc with your install. Here are some links to the Fedora Project where they list what you need and from what you are telling me it is all installed. Perhaps a question there would help.

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthrea ... virtualbox
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthrea ... virtualbox
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthrea ... virtualbox
dawids
Posts: 11
Joined: 22. Feb 2010, 21:53
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: OSE Fedora
Guest OSses: Debian

Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by dawids »

dawids wrote:
Perryg wrote:Is this an OSE that came from VirtualBox.org or from the Fedora repo?

Fedora repo.

Problem solved!!! :lol:

I downloaded the version of the website and I installed:

[root@localhost david]# VirtualBox
WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module
available for the current kernel (2.6.31.12-174.2.22.fc12.i686.PAE) or it failed to
load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by

sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.
[root@localhost david]# /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
Stopping VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
Removing old VirtualBox netflt kernel module [ OK ]
Removing old VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
Starting VirtualBox kernel module [ OK

VirtualBox is ok!!!, please explain what it has been the source of the problem?

a thousand thanks very helpful Perryg! Long live for VirtualBox!! :wink:
Perryg
Site Moderator
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Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by Perryg »

I suspect that the one from the repo requires something that I am not familiar with. I only use the ones from VirtualBox and have never had a dependency issue.
Anyway it is working now and that is what matters.
dawids
Posts: 11
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Primary OS: Fedora other
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Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by dawids »

Perryg wrote:I suspect that the one from the repo requires something that I am not familiar with. I only use the ones from VirtualBox and have never had a dependency issue.
Anyway it is working now and that is what matters.
Thank you very much for your help and your attention. :mrgreen:
ZeDeun
Posts: 3
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Primary OS: Ubuntu 8.10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: windows XP

Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by ZeDeun »

Hi,

I am running vitualbox on a Kubuntu with 2.6.31-20-generic kernel.

I got this error, but virtualbox works fine when I lunch it from a terminal as root : sudo virtualbox

The system does not have any virtualboxusers group, so, if it seems to be a problem related to privilege I don't know how to solve it....

Thanks for any help.
Perryg
Site Moderator
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Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by Perryg »

You would then need to create the group and add yourself to it.
By the way the group is actually called vboxusers
ZeDeun
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Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by ZeDeun »

Thanks Perryg,

Everything works fine now, so for me this thread is solved.
russfink
Posts: 1
Joined: 1. Nov 2010, 15:06
Primary OS: Fedora other
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Guest OSses: Windows

Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by russfink »

My Fedora kernel updated this morning, and I got this same error, leading me to this months-old thread.

In my case, what happened was that Fedora updated the kernel and a bunch of affected packages, but did NOT upgrade the VirtualBox-OSE kernel modules. (Whoever packages the updates, or whatever detects the dependencies, failed to note this).

I first updated to the right libraries. Go to Add/Remove software, querying "virtualbox," and installing "VirtualBox-OSE kernel module(s) for 2.6.32.23-170.fc12.x86_64". Remove the old version.

Then,

Code: Select all

$ su - 
# rmmod vboxnetadp vboxnetflt vboxdrv
# /etc/sysconfig/modules/VirtualBox-OSE.modules
# VirtualBox --help
  Sun VirtualBox Graphical User Interface 3.1.4_OSE
  (C) 2005-2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
  All rights reserved.
  Usage: ...
It works as root. HOWEVER...

Code: Select all

# exit
$ VirtualBox --help
   VirtualBox: supR3HardenedMainGetTrustedMain: dlopen("/usr/lib64/virtualbox/VirtualBox.so",) failed: VBoxVMM.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Although VirtualBox runs as root, it does not run as the normal user.

More searching revealed this link, https://bugzilla.rpmfusion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1465, that says the problem is that the pre-built VirtualBox build looks for libraries in /lib64, and not in /usr/lib64. The fix is to symlink the proper shared libraries FOR NOW, and then undo the links later when the VirtualBox fix comes down the pipe. (The post also mentioned a change set has been put in, so I expect a fix any day now.) Here's the fix:

Code: Select all

# find /usr/lib64/virtualbox/ -name \*.so -exec echo ln -st /lib64 {} \; > FIXIT.sh
# . FIXIT.sh
ln: creating symbolic link `/lib64/VBoxDDU.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/lib64/VBoxVMM.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/lib64/VBoxREM.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/lib64/VBoxXPCOM.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/lib64/VBoxRT.so': File exists
The file, FIXIT.sh, should be kept as a record of what was linked so you can delete it later. You MUST REMOVE the failed "file exists" links from FIXIT.sh so you don't delete them, breaking your setup later.

Now I tried VirtualBox --help as the normal user, and also launched it in the Gnome environment, and it just worked.
Russ
mmoreno
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Re: Error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

Post by mmoreno »

dawids wrote:
Perryg wrote:

Code: Select all

yum install kernel-PAE-devel
The package was installed:
kernel-PAE-devel.i686 0:2.6.31.12-174.2.22.fc12

And...

[root@localhost ~]# VirtualBox
WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module
available for the current kernel (2.6.31.12-174.2.22.fc12.i686.PAE) or it failed to
load. Reboot the computer, or insert the kernel module by executing

'/etc/sysconfig/modules/VirtualBox-OSE.modules' (as root)

You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.
[root@localhost ~]# /etc/sysconfig/modules/VirtualBox-OSE.modules
FATAL: Module vboxdrv not found.
FATAL: Module vboxnetflt not found.
FATAL: Module vboxnetadp not found.
[root@localhost ~]# VirtualBox
WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module
available for the current kernel (2.6.31.12-174.2.22.fc12.i686.PAE) or it failed to
load. Reboot the computer, or insert the kernel module by executing

'/etc/sysconfig/modules/VirtualBox-OSE.modules' (as root)

You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.
[root@localhost ~]# /etc/sysconfig/modules/VirtualBox-OSE.modules
FATAL: Module vboxdrv not found.
FATAL: Module vboxnetflt not found.
FATAL: Module vboxnetadp not found.
install kernel-pae-devel or kernel-devel
[root@localhost mmoreno]# /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
after run virtualbox!!!
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