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Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 4. Jul 2012, 07:27
by MooseNSquirrel
I installed a new hard drive and installed Mint 12 KDE and installed VB and got an error saying the kernal driver was not installed and to run etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup as sudo. I read a few threads here and re-installed dkms then ran the set up and still no luck running a VM. I have a small amount of VB knowledge so any help would be great. Thanks


sudo sudo apt-get install dkms
[sudo] password for jma:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
dkms is already the newest version.
dkms set to manually installed.
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
libvncserver0
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 11 not upgraded.

sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
* Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ]
* Uninstalling old VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules [ OK ]
* Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMS Error! echo
Your kernel headers for kernel 3.0.0-12-generic cannot be found at
/lib/modules/3.0.0-12-generic/build or /lib/modules/3.0.0-12-generic/source.

* Failed, trying without DKMS
* Recompiling VirtualBox kernel modules
* Look at /var/log/vbox-install.log to find out what went wrong

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 4. Jul 2012, 09:42
by frank
Seems that the kernel headers corresponding to your currently running kernel are not present.

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 4. Jul 2012, 15:53
by MooseNSquirrel
Hi Frank and thanks for the reply, I am not so sure that is the issue. Prior to this I installed of Fedora 16 and installed the version of VB for Fefora 16 and I sti l got the same error.

I am wondering if there is a BIOS setting or user credential missing? Previously I ran Ubuntu with VB on this same hardware and never had an issue with VB or Linux. John

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 4. Jul 2012, 16:30
by Perryg
Your kernel headers for kernel 3.0.0-12-generic cannot be found at
This means what it says. The running kernel and headers (if you installed them) do not match or are missing.
Compare the running kernel to the headers and see if they match.

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 4. Jul 2012, 17:26
by MooseNSquirrel
Thanks for the reply. If I look in my lib/module path I have a folders 3.0.0-12-generic and 3.0.0-22-generic.

I have not installed enything other than Mint 12 and VB. When I have done this in the past I would install VB and the USB packagee and additions and then add myself to the VB user group and eveything wold work fine.

I also looked in my user/group and I did not have a VB user group...

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 4. Jul 2012, 18:09
by Perryg

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install dkms build-essential linux-headers-generic
The above is what is needed in most debian based installs.
If you want further granularity you can install the headers as such:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 4. Jul 2012, 18:44
by MooseNSquirrel
I used the 1st command and it installed a bunch of headers. Prior to that I had installed the 3.0.0-12 header in package manager and also set my BIOS to enable virtualization.

After that I still get the same error when start a VM in VB and if I run sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup I stell get the error below.
Also, I do not have a /build or /source folder in my 3.0.0-12-generic folder...

Your kernel headers for kernel 3.0.0-12-generic cannot be found at
/lib/modules/3.0.0-12-generic/build or /lib/modules/3.0.0-12-generic/source.

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 4. Jul 2012, 18:48
by Perryg
Run the second command. Then install VirtualBox again do not run the setup from init.d

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 4. Jul 2012, 19:18
by MooseNSquirrel
THANK YOU!!! That did the trick... I now have a build folder in my kernel folder.. Installing an OS right now...

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 22. Sep 2012, 00:21
by Workaround
I think I have the same problem, but when I'm trying to run the second command:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
I'm getting:

Code: Select all

Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-headers-3.0.0-26-generic
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-3.0.0-26-generic'
In the /lib/modules I have the directory 3.0.0-26-generic, but the latest seem to be 3.2.0-30-generic .

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 22. Sep 2012, 00:24
by Perryg
@Workaround,

It would be easier if you said what the host and guest is.

If you ran the command and failed to get a response then the repo does not have the headers that match your running kernel. Post the above information and lets see what you are working with.

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 22. Sep 2012, 00:39
by Workaround
Perryg wrote:@Workaround,

It would be easier if you said what the host and guest is.

If you ran the command and failed to get a response then the repo does not have the headers that match your running kernel. Post the above information and lets see what you are working with.
The host is Ubuntu 12.04 (the problem started when I upgraded from 11.04 to 12.04) the guest is Windows Xp.

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 22. Sep 2012, 00:44
by Perryg
Check your Ubuntu repo settings. They should have updated during the upgrade but there might be a possibility that they disabled it and did not turn it back on.

Then do a apt-get update, then run the command again.

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 23. Sep 2012, 19:24
by Workaround
Perryg wrote:Check your Ubuntu repo settings. They should have updated during the upgrade but there might be a possibility that they disabled it and did not turn it back on.

Then do a apt-get update, then run the command again.
Excuse me, for what I should check my Ubuntu repo settings?

Re: Kernal driver not installed rc=1908

Posted: 2. Oct 2012, 20:26
by Workaround
I fixed my problem, it was in grub, I had been upgrading my system for a long time and it had a grub version 1, now it seems new ubuntu kerneles were added only to grub 2, so when I upgraded to 12.04 it was showing only kernels old enough for version 11.10 (I didn't notice it untill today), after upgrading to grub 2 and then uninstalling and reinstalling virtualbox I was able to load my windows image.