virtualbox.org

Now, every time I start up a Guest and go to "Devices/Shared Folders" I get a message saying that the Guest Additions don't appear to be installed. Once I clear this message it takes me to the Shared Folders window.

So, I go back to Devices/Install Guest Additions and I get a message saying it is unable to mount the guest images .iso file. Then it sayd (VERR_PDM_MEDIA_LOCKED). What does all of this mean?

I don't understand about the kernel update. Nothing has changed in the past 6 hours that I have been messing with this. I am going to reboot my computer and try everything again.

Install guest additions simply mounts the GA ISO. I asked if the guest has a graphical desktop, does it?

No, the guest it a text only ubuntu system.

I rebooted my computer, started up VirtualBox again, started one of the Guests that I already had setup, went to the "Maching/system" option from the nav bar and it said that Guest Additions were not detected. Then I went to "Devices/Install Guest Additions" and got the same "unable to mount..." messages. under these unable to mount messages I see this (VERR_PDM_MEDIA_LOCKED).

I have verified that the Guest Additions .iso file exists in the c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso location referenced in the unable to mount message.

At this point, I am worse off that I was a couple of hours ago because at one point I was able to define a shared folder, now I can't even get the Guest Additions to install or be recognized.

OK here is how to manually install the GAs

First you need to make sure that the following packages are installed.
sudo apt-get install dkms build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Then:
cd /media/cdrom
ls should show something like VBoxLinuxAdditions-*.run

If it does then type sudo ./VBoxLinux*****.run --nox11
The name must be exact as it is shown and the flag --nox11 is so it will not fail because you do not have Xorg installed. It will complain but it will not fail

Everything is fine until I do the "ls" command then nothing shows up. The VBoxLinuxAdditions-*.run file is not there

OK then they are not mounted, no problem. run the following to mount the cdrom
that's a zero not an o
You will need to backup a level and back in to see them

type the following cd .. then cd cdrom then ls to see if they show

OK I get to the cdrom directory, then do the "ls" command and here is what I see.

VBoxSolarisAditions.pkg
VBoxWEindowsAdditions-amd64.exe
VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe
VBoxWindowsAdditions-x86.exe

Which one should I run?

I am running VirtualBox on a Window 7 - 32bit computer if it matters here.

I don't see the Linux additions in your post. This is weird because it shows the other guest additions.

Try typing ls -al
and post the results. You are looking for a .run which is for Linux.

The host does not matter since the guest additions are for guests only.


You do know they make a desktop version of Ubuntu right? Seems like a lot of work since you don't understand Linux command line.

The only reason I am messing with any of this is because a consultant we had hired for a job, quit before the job was finished. Then he sent us a zip file saying it contained everything he was working on. In the zip file was the .vdi file...and that is what lead me down the path to this long conversation I have been having with you today. All I want to do is to get one .tar and one .tar.gz file off of the .vdi file and into my windows environment so that I can open them up and try to get to the .php code this guy was writing...I wished he would have just e-mailed me the .tar files to begin with because there is not real need for me to do all of this stuff with VirtualBox just to extract the two files...unless there is a chance I could send you the .vdi file and you could send me back the two .tar files? Would that be possible?

OK, I found the VBoxLinuxAdditions.run file, I will try executing it now.

Well its possible. How big is the vdi, and is there a place you can put it for me to download it from?

It is just under 3GB in size. I am trying to use DropBox but I don't think that will work because it has a 2GB limit for the free version.

I can setup an FTP account if that will work?

Looks like the guest additions manual install worked. Machine/systems now recognized Guest Additions

Cool now you need to reboot and see if you can get the shared folder to work. If not then we can talk via private message on how to get the file, but I doubt that will be necessary now that the GAs are installed.