Installing Guest Additions into CentOS/RHEL 5.4

[billp]

I get an error message when running the VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run shell saying that my system is not set up to install kernel modules. I installed DKMS and can see it in the proper folders. I also installed the kernel-devel package as suggested as well. My host is Windows Vista. Can anyone share any insight into this problem and its resolution?

Thank you.

[jbrogan]

I had this same problem. In my case the error message said to look at /var/log/vboxadd-install.log.
This said it failed to find kernel sources at KERN_DIR.
I set it
# export KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/2.6.blah.blah...
and then the installation of the guest additions worked.

My problem now is that the VBoxManage command seems to be missing.

[billp]

Thanks jbrogan -- exporting the KERN_DIR did the trick!

[jeherul]

Thanks jbrogan -- exporting the KERN_DIR did the trick!

But I am facing another problem . When i compile after exporting the KERN_DIR the virtual box kernel module again failed . It shows like following

[root@jeherul ~]# /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
Stopping VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
Starting VirtualBox kernel module [FAILED]
(modprobe vboxdrv failed. Please use 'dmesg' to find out why)

[root@jeherul ~]# dmesg |grep vboxdrv
vboxdrv: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module

Please help me .

Thanks and regards
Jeherul

[fixedwheel]

When i compile after exporting the KERN_DIR the virtual box kernel module again failed

exporting the KERN_DIR should not be needed and is probably not the right fix for that fail

post the ouput of

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uname -a

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rpm -qa|grep kernel

[Hortnon]

I'm also having this issue, so here's my output for that...

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Linux grid11 2.6.18-164.15.1.el5PAE #1 SMP Wed Mar 17 12:14:29 EDT 2010 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

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kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.15.1.el5
kernel-PAE-2.6.18-164.15.1.el5
kernel-PAE-2.6.18-164.el5

[fixedwheel]

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kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.15.1.el5
kernel-PAE-2.6.18-164.15.1.el5
kernel-PAE-2.6.18-164.el5

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sudo yum install kernel-devel

have a look into the VBox manual, or viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15679 (fedora instructions: its the same red hat brew)

[Technologov]

I'll tell you how I installed it:

Install RHEL 5.x guest, and during installation, choose "Development" category.
This is enough to install Linux Additions.

NOTE: I have not updated RHEL since, to make sure that kernel and it's headers are in sync.

-Technologov

[MajorGeek]

Good tip Technologov. I am relatively new to Linux and have been battling with trying to install additions, that made it simple.

[Rodman]

I was installed the kernel

yum install kernel-devel-2.6.32-431.20.3.el6.x86_64 #Install Kernel
export KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/2.6.32-431.20.3.el6.x86_64/ #Set var KERN_DIR
yum install gcc ncurses ncurses-devel #Install gcc compiler

And everything work OK.