permission issue for /var/lib/apt/lists/partial

[mshing14]

New to VirtualBox and Linux guest.
Newly installed VirtualBox 5.1.2 and Ubuntu 16.04.1 on a Windows 10 machine. Logged into Ubuntu and tried to run apt-get update, got the following error:

mshing14@mshing14-VirtualBox:~$ apt-get update
W: chmod 0700 of directory /var/lib/apt/lists/partial failed - SetupAPTPartialDirectory (1: Operation not permitted)
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/
W: Problem unlinking the file /var/cache/apt/pkgcache.bin - RemoveCaches (13: Permission denied)
W: Problem unlinking the file /var/cache/apt/srcpkgcache.bin - RemoveCaches (13: Permission denied)
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?

Any idea why this happens? Thanks ans Sorry if this is a stupid, basic question

[socratis]

It's not a stupid, basic question, but on the other hand this is not a VirtualBox question. It's a question for a Linux forum and specifically an Ubuntu forum. Just because Ubuntu is running on VirtualBox, it doesn't make it a VirtualBox problem.

But my advice would be to try "sudo apt-get update".