Guest Additions installation error

[parnmatt]

I have no idea what I'm doing, I've chosen to give a pure CLI guest ago, I've tried ArchLinux, but I ended up going with Ubuntu Server purely because I'm more familiar with Ubuntu.

I've followed the instructions to the letter, on different sites, including the documentation on these forums and on the site proper.

I keep getting an error —I believe understand the problem, but have no idea what I need to do.

The error was located:

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/var/log/vboxadd-install.log

and contains this information (hand-typed from what I saw in vim):

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Makefile:23 *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and run Make again.. Stop.
Creating user for the Guest Additions.
Creating udev rule for the Guest Additions kernel module.

Is there any suggestions on how to get Guest Additions installed and working? …I need them for mounting (via Share Folder) my home directory on from my host.

[Perryg]

This should help Howto: Install Linux Guest Additions + Xorg config
Keep in mind that since this is a server and you do not have xserver you will need to use the switch nox11.
Use the --help after the command to see all of the switches.

[Hanzerik]

Log into your Ubuntu Server VM and type:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential dkms

That should install everything your guest will need to compile and load kernel modules.

[Sasquatch]

Log into your Ubuntu Server VM and type:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential dkms

That should install everything your guest will need to compile and load kernel modules.

Oh please, don't give just one command when there is an extensive howto about it explaining everything he/she needs to know to get it to work properly. Your command is even ambiguous, you don't need to specify the linux headers when you're going to install build-essential and dkms.
You make it appear that you know it better than a moderator (two actually, you ignore my howto too).

[Hanzerik]

Well, He obviously knows how to get the Additions ISO mounted, so he can skip that part of the How-To, He is not installing the Additions on a system with Xorg so he can skip that part of the How-To also. He is just having a problem with installing the additions...so my one line command will work for him/her without having to sort through that How-to. And what is the problem with using linux-headers-`uname -r` ...That will fetch the headers of his current running kernel...nothing wrong with that command.

Not sure why you are getting upset for me posting a simple one liner to get what he needs to get the Additions installed. It's not rocket science.

[parnmatt]

I already used that guide, and followed it too as best I can and that's why I turned to asking this forum

Log into your Ubuntu Server VM and type:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential dkms

That should install everything your guest will need to compile and load kernel modules.

Actually this was just what I needed, thank you.
As for everyone else, thank you for your insights.

Thanks again

[Hanzerik]

Your Welcome

[pariksheetsharma]

The one line did the magic. Actually the `uname -r` thing is not so visible in search results. Good job!