[Resolved] Failed to install latest virtualbox 5.2.10 on ubuntu 18.04

[lonix]

My Ubuntu 18.04 and all packages were updated and functional. I received an upgrade notice for virtualbox, so I let it update. It failed and left my OS unstable.

So I remove it completely:

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sudo dpkg --purge virtualbox-qt
sudo dpkg --purge virtualbox
sudo dpkg --purge virtualbox-dkms
sudo dpkg --purge dkms
sudo apt autoremove
sudo find / -name vbox             # delete anything found by this command
sudo find / -name virtualbox       # delete anything found by this command

Now I have a "clean" system. So I do:

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sudo apt install virtualbox

And it always gets this far then freezes:

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Setting up virtualbox-dkms (5.2.10-dfsg-6ubuntu18.04.1) ...
Loading new virtualbox-5.2.10 DKMS files...
Building for 4.15.0-23-generic
Building initial module for 4.15.0-23-generic

I can't even ctrl-c, so:

• I kill the process
• of course then `dpkg` says to do `sudo dpkg --configure -a`, so I do that, then retry
• but it gets stuck in the same place
• so I remove everything again, retry, and it freezes there again, etc.

Some notes:

• When I originally installed vbox I signed its modules so I don't need to disable secure boot. I don't want to disable secure boot now either.
• Is there a way I can examine some log to tell me what is going wrong? I looked at `/var/log/syslog` but there is nothing interesting in there.

[socratis]

Now I have a "clean" system. So I do:

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sudo apt install virtualbox

Unless you've added the VirtualBox repo, this will retrieve the Ubuntu fork of VirtualBox. See the Downloads page for the official VirtualBox and instructions for the Debian based distros...

[lonix]

Unless you've added the VirtualBox repo, this will retrieve the Ubuntu fork of VirtualBox. See the Downloads page for the official VirtualBox and instructions for the Debian based distros...

Yes that solved it, thanks!

What do you mean though by "fork"? I thought the Ubuntu repo version was simply older, not that it was a fork? Regardless I was surprised that the Ubuntu package is much older, I would have thought for something important like vb it would be regularly updated.

[socratis]

I thought the Ubuntu repo version was simply older, not that it was a fork?

No, it's actually a fork. Getting closer and closer with each release, but a fork nonetheless. You can usually/easily tell by 1) the lack of the Ext. Pack (which is not open-source), 2) the output of the command "VBoxManage -version". If it's a fork, then there should be a "_Ubuntu" at the end.

Glad you got it going. Marking as [Resolved].