[Solved] Virtualbox Sudden Kernel mismatch issues.

[zimbodel]

UPDATE: Solution
=============================================================================
Here is the procedure that solved my problem, in case someone has my particular problem:
Do
apt-get remove virtualbox* --purge
and NOT apt-get remove virtualbox as is proposed all around the web.
Then reinstall from site as was instructed Linux Downloads
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads
I use Debian Stretch, so I installed the debian virtualbox with Gdebi.
(*Thanks to BPLIS for a remark he made that led to the siolution*)

If this doesnt work, read the thread and see similar issues for users bplis and others mentioned, that may require different solutions.

Original post:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attached find the virtualbox trouble currently. I am not aware of changing the kernel or doing any upgrades to the linux host. Yet I am now presented by these errors. Executing the advice given in the error boxes, kernel modules loads properly it seems. What are the OSE versions and why would I have different of mixes of versions of virtuyalbox installed. I didnt upgrqade virtualbox so I dont understand this issue.

Help about shows Version 6.0.4 r128413 (Qt5.7.1) with no indication of ose/ or whatever version I am using.
thanks

[socratis]

You need to clean your system from all-things-VirtualBox, except your personal files, config and VMs that is. Don't worry, uninstalling VirtualBox will *not* affect your VMs. Then install the official version from the Linux Downloads section of VirtualBox.

[zimbodel]

Is that going to be
dpkg --purge virtualbox. ?
If not, is there a directory tree I can lookat to remove all virtualbox entries.

[socratis]

dpkg --purge virtualbox. ?

https://askubuntu.com/questions/128370/ ... and-dpkg-p

If not, is there a directory tree I can lookat to remove all virtualbox entries.

Do *not* attempt to delete things manually without the package manager's knowledge! It's going to throw the whole system in a tantrum...

[BP LIS]

I have exactly the same problem. But what is now the correct command to remove all versions of VM??

[socratis]

But what is now the correct command to remove all versions of VM??

I will assume that by "VM" you mean VirtualBox, not your guests. See the User Manual, ch. 1.2. Some terminology.

That is a question for your host OS, not for VirtualBox. It depends on your host OS. On Windows, it's the "Add/Remove Programs". On OSX there's the "VirtualBox_Uninstall.tool" that comes with the VirtualBox package. And on Linux, that depends on your package manager that comes with your distro, can't be more specific than that.

You didn't mention your host OS, so that's as far as I can go. For more, "search engines" are your friend, there are thousands and thousands of results for that kind of question, there's no point in having thousands and thousands +1...

You should have a searchable PDF included with your installation (Help » Contents). If not, there's the on-line manual in PDF format, again searchable. Take advantage of that fact, and use it to search the PDF for the terms that interest you, like "Uninstallation"...

[BP LIS]

Uninstall (sudo apt-get remove virtualbox*)
and reinstall (official version) did NOT help. Same stupid problem, here the error messages (some in German, because of my language version of Ubuntu 16.04):
1)
--startvm ist eine Option für die VirtualBox VM-Ausführungs-Anwendung (VirtualBoxVM), nicht den VirtualBox Manager.

2)
VirtualBox - Error in sublibOsinit
Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver (vboxdrv) is either not loaded or there is a permission problem with /dev/vboxdrv. Please reinstall the kernel module by executing
'/sbin/vboxconfig'
as root.
where: suplibOsInit what: 3 VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED (-1908) - The support driver is not installed. On linux, open returned ENOENT.

3)
Für die virtuelle Maschine Win 7 Pro konnte keine neue Sitzung eröffnet werden.

The virtual machine 'Win 7 Pro' has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1).

Fehlercode:NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Komponente:MachineWrap
Interface:IMachine {5047460a-265d-4538-b23e-ddba5fb84976}

[socratis]

Part 1 is clearly stating that when you're trying to use:

• 
  VirtualBox --startvm

won't work, because in 6.0.0 and later the VM launcher has changed and it's 'VirtualBoxVM', not 'VirtualBox'. BTW, why are you trying the command-line option? Doesn't the VirtualBox Manager work?

Part 2 clearly states that the kernel driver is not installed. Look at the diagnostic messages as suggested by the installer. Do what the error tells you! Run 'vboxconfig' and watch for the messages!

Part 3 is expected because of Part 2. If the kernel driver isn't installed, there's no way in this universe that the VM will start, so please don't even mention it, or try it, unless you address Part 2.

Post the output of:

• 
  uname -rms

[BP LIS]

OK, thanks for the hints.
Now, all I do is click on the "vbox" icon on my desktop to get the VB started. Why it uses the WRONG command, I don't know? Why did earlier versions work without any problems?

By the way, I am not a computer programmer! the only reason I ever installed VB (about 5 years ago) was to be able to run Windows on my Linux machine as well. hence, all those commands and weird messages are "gobbledegook" to me.

I tried 'vboxconfig' and the system asked me about 20 times to put in my password, which I did. In the end, the error messages are those:

ich@ThinkPad-Edge:~$ vboxconfig
rm: das Entfernen von '/sbin/rcvboxdrv' ist nicht möglich: Keine Berechtigung
ln: Die symbolische Verknüpfung '/sbin/rcvboxdrv' konnte nicht angelegt werden: Die Datei existiert bereits
/sbin/vboxconfig: 154: /sbin/vboxconfig: cannot create /lib/systemd/system/vboxdrv.service: Permission denied
rm: das Entfernen von '/sbin/rcvboxballoonctrl-service' ist nicht möglich: Keine Berechtigung
ln: Die symbolische Verknüpfung '/sbin/rcvboxballoonctrl-service' konnte nicht angelegt werden: Die Datei existiert bereits
/sbin/vboxconfig: 154: /sbin/vboxconfig: cannot create /lib/systemd/system/vboxballoonctrl-service.service: Permission denied
rm: das Entfernen von '/sbin/rcvboxautostart-service' ist nicht möglich: Keine Berechtigung
ln: Die symbolische Verknüpfung '/sbin/rcvboxautostart-service' konnte nicht angelegt werden: Die Datei existiert bereits
/sbin/vboxconfig: 154: /sbin/vboxconfig: cannot create /lib/systemd/system/vboxautostart-service.service: Permission denied
rm: das Entfernen von '/sbin/rcvboxweb-service' ist nicht möglich: Keine Berechtigung
ln: Die symbolische Verknüpfung '/sbin/rcvboxweb-service' konnte nicht angelegt werden: Die Datei existiert bereits
/sbin/vboxconfig: 154: /sbin/vboxconfig: cannot create /lib/systemd/system/vboxweb-service.service: Permission denied
Failed to execute operation: Die Wartezeit für die Verbindung ist abgelaufen
Failed to execute operation: Access denied
Failed to execute operation: Access denied
ln: das Entfernen von '/sbin/vboxconfig' ist nicht möglich: Keine Berechtigung
vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services.
/usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh: 229: /usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh: cannot create /etc/udev/rules.d/60-vboxdrv.rules: Permission denied
vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules.
/usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh: 127: /usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh: cannot create /var/log/vbox-setup.log: Permission denied
/usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh: 127: /usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh: cannot create /var/log/vbox-setup.log: Permission denied
/usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh: 133: /usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh: cannot create /var/log/vbox-setup.log: Permission denied
vboxdrv.sh: failed: Look at /var/log/vbox-setup.log to find out what went wrong.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox.  To re-start the set-up process, run
  /sbin/vboxconfig
as root.

After that, I tried it like this, but I still cannot figure it out. Where do I find the mentioned "/var/log/vbox-setup.log"?

ich@ThinkPad-Edge:~$ sudo /sbin/vboxconfig
[sudo] Passwort für ich: 
vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules.
vboxdrv.sh: failed: Look at /var/log/vbox-setup.log to find out what went wrong.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox.  To re-start the set-up process, run
  /sbin/vboxconfig
as root.
ich@ThinkPad-Edge:~$

[BP LIS]

I mentioned earlier that I uninstalled and reinstalled VB, but to no avail. Now I read in an Ubuntu form that there is an additional command to uninstall everything, even configuration files:

To uninstall and remove all packages, run sudo apt-get remove virtualbox* --purge

Would that help?

[PeterCardiff]

I'm still using Ubuntu 16.04LTS because I just don't like the new Gnome desktop.

But suddenly today VirtualBox wouldn't run in Version 5.2 so I updated to V6 hoping that this would resolve the issue but I still can't run it. I'm getting this error message:

Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver (vboxdrv) is either not loaded or there is a permission problem with /dev/vboxdrv. Please reinstall the kernel module by executing

'/sbin/vboxconfig'

as root.

where: suplibOsInit what: 3 VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED (-1908) - The support driver is not installed. On linux, open returned ENOENT.

When I try running the vboxconfig I get this message:

vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules.
vboxdrv.sh: failed: Look at /var/log/vbox-setup.log to find out what went wrong.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox.  To re-start the set-up process, run
  /sbin/vboxconfig
as root.

I've completely removed (purged) virtualbox and still can't get it to work.

Any suggestions please.

[socratis]

@PeterCardiff
I merged your thread with an existing thread that's dealing with the exactly same issue. It seems that there's something going on here, that needs further investigation...

I'm going to try and install VirtualBox in a 16.04 VM and see what's going on. I have a suspicion though; are you running the 64- or the 32-bit Ubuntu 16.04? I already asked "BP LIS" for that information, but I didn't get an answer. Post the output of the command from the host:

• 
  uname -rms

In my VM for example, that command shows:

$ uname -rms
Linux 4.15.0-47-generic x86_64

[zimbodel]

Exactly my situation too. virtualbox keeps throwing the popups in my original post when i try to launch a guest after a completely new install as sokratis prescribed.
I will try again .
To previous posters question about the command.
sudo apt-get remove virtualbox* --purge
Yes that should completely remove every virtualbox system file except your host images.

Uninstall (sudo apt-get remove virtualbox*)
and reinstall (official version) did NOT help. Same problem

[socratis]

Exactly my situation too.

So, please explain it to me, like I'm a 6-year old; why in the seven kingdoms won't you post the one, the single thing requested?

[zimbodel]

I really have no clue what you are talking about see my initial post for the problem description.
and my confirmation that the same thing happens to me a user experienced.
I have no clue what you are asking.
Sorry