virtualbox.org

Is there a way from the host to verify the guest additions on a guest are installed and working?

I was using VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate which found a bunch of Net entires, but not the IP address. It wasn't until I realized that the guest additions had not been reinstalled after a kernel upgrade that I figured out the real probem. Once I reinstalled them, guestproperty provided me with the information I wanted.

In this case, both the host and guest were linux.

I do see the /VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Version property however that only provides the version number and doesn't tell me if it is working correctly.

Thanks in advance.

If you mean directly, and without running the guest: no there isn't. You can however see the installed GAs version in the last log file.

Hmmm ok then as an alternative, if you're on the guest (a Linux guest) can you determine if guest additions are working/up-to-date?

working yes, up-to-date no. You would need to know the Virtualbox version which is in the host.

Humm.

Host+N (in the guest) opens the session information which would tell you that the guest additions are installed and also the version.

Unless I am wrong, the OP wanted this programatically from within the guest, or am I wrong?

noteirak wrote:Unless I am wrong, the OP wanted this programatically from within the guest, or am I wrong?

Originally but then the OP asked about a way from the guest. Host+N is the easiest way to tell if the GAs are installed and their version from within the guest.

strycat wrote:Hmmm ok then as an alternative, if you're on the guest (a Linux guest) can you determine if guest additions are working/up-to-date?

I have to say that I read it the same way Max did: the intention was to use with a script or suchlike. Perhaps the OP can clarify.