virtualbox.org

I am attempting to install the latest build of Virtualbox to my Windows 7 64 bit running on a Dell desktop with an I5. The install goes all the way through, no errors, no stopping, no failures. Then, nothing. It acts like it was never installed. I have tried installing and resinstalling, rebooting, checking the programs folder, looking at the programs and features under control panel, searching using the search box in the menu, etc. Nothing, zip, zero, nada. It's getting very frustrating and I about to say forget it and drop VMware on this system. Any help would be appreciated here.

Make sure you have admin rights before you install VirtualBox (i.e. Run as administrator). Other than that there are no problems I'm aware of. Make sure previous attempts are completely uninstalled before trying again.

If it still fails then the install log might be useful.

... as would more info, like what are you expecting to happen when the installation is complete? E.g. apart from the appearance of a desktop icon (and that part is optional), I don't expect anything to happen when I install VBox. But, if I had my doubts I could go look. Does the program folder exist? ("C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox") [*]. Is the VirtualBox.exe file inside it? What happens if you run it?

[*] You say that you checked the program folder. You didn't say what folder that was, what you checked, what you expected to find, or what the result was.

Basically, it is as if nothing was installed at all. There is nothing in the programs a features to uninstall. It is not listed under the windows button, it is not on the desktop. The Programs folder is where all programs are typically installed (on a 64 bit system you get 2 folders, Programs and Programs (x86) ), neither has trace of virtual box or oracle listed, I have run VB before, but on Linux and a few years back, Since I have been using VMWare, But wanted to go back to more opensource. I am a network admin so I have done this stuff before, just this one is baffling me. I have not tried the Run as admin option, I will try that next, The account is a local administrator though, so normally don't need to do this, for most programs. And I would check an install log, if one could be found....

Edit: It looks like running as admin did the trick here, hope it runs normal after reboots and such, but this is something that should be noted in the install instructions to avoid this issue.

If you feel that a certain section of the manual needs to be improved (and I agree that it probably does) then by all means come up with a suggested wording and post it to the "Suggestions" forum. I have done it myself twice before, and both suggestions got into the manual, so I know the devs are open to such suggestions if they have merit. If you do so then I'd suggest linking to this discussion for background.

You could also search for and add to (or if necessary create) a BugTracker ticket for this issue.