virtualbox.org

Obligatory specs: I am working on a Kudu (System76) laptop with an intel core i7, 16gb of ram, and I am running 64bit Ubuntu 16.04. I am attempting to run Windows 7 64-bit in Virtual Box. I am using version 5.1.12.

Beforehand, I used 4.x version of Virtual Box to run Windows 7, but there were issues using my external drives, so I found out I needed the oracle expansion pack which is only for version 5.1.12. But now, when I try to set up Windows 7 in Virtual Box, it doesn't ask me where an ISO like it did in 4.x. When I try to launch Windows 7, this is what I get

One window pops up saying:

[VirtualBox - Error in supR3HardenedMainInitRuntime]

The VirtualBox kernel modules do not match this version of VirtualBox. The installation of VirtualBox was apparently not successful. Executing

'/sbin/vboxconfig'

may correct this. Make sure that you do not mix the OSE version and the PUEL version of VirtualBox.

Where: SupR3HardenedMainInitRuntime what: 4 VERR_VM_DRIVER_VERSION_MISMATCH(-1912) - the Installed support driver doesn't match the version of the user.

The other window say this

[VirtualBox - Error]

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Windows 7.

vDetails

The virtual machine 'Windows7' has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1).

Result code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x800040005)
Component: Machine Wrap
Interface: IMachine {b2547866-a0a1-43918b86-6952d82efaa0)

I have been extremely frustrated since I'm pretty sure I downloaded and installed the 64 bit version, but even when I try to install a 32bit version of Windows 7, I get identical windows.

I have tried burning my ISO to a disk, inserting the disk, and then launching the virtual machine. Same Windows keep appearing. I keep looking in the settings for something that might help, but it's no use. I give it ample room, letting it use 2 threads ( out of 8 ), 4GB of ram, and half the vram this laptop has. And the fact that an older version of VBox has gotten me so much further in the process without any documentation is appalling. Not to mention the stunning sparatic results which show help threads from years ago and versions 4.x when I specifically search for help with 5.1.

You simply didn't read the error message closely enough. This has nothing to do with your settings:

ReidenLightman wrote:The VirtualBox kernel modules do not match this version of VirtualBox. The installation of VirtualBox was apparently not successful.

Uninstall VirtualBox, reboot your host, download the latest from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads (not from your package manager, it will get the Ubuntu fork), install it, install the matching ExtPack if you wish and proceed.

Problem is that's where I got vbox from.

Fine, that a good start. Now clean your system from any previous installations of VirtualBox related files (not the VMs, VirtualBox itself), like VBox*, vbox*. vm*, ?irtual*, etc. and then do a clean installation of VirtualBox.

Keep in mind I'm not a genius with Linux. How exactly am I supposed to make sure that all virtualbox related files I have are gone?

I'm not a Linux genius myself, but a quick search shows that "synaptic" is a package manager for Ubuntu that can help you purge installed packages. I got there via Google search.

Okay, here is what worked for anybody who is also having this trouble. Thanks to the other guy for helping me.

Apparently, some packages for a version of VirtualBox were installed which cased problems. So, open synaptic package manager. If you don't have it, go get it.

Uninstall absolutely everything related to VirtualBox. Restart your computer. From the official site, download the installer for the version you want. Install VirtualBox from the installer you downloaded.

run this: type in your password and let it finish. Restart your computer, then run VirtualBox. This should fix the problem.

ReidenLightman wrote:

sudo /sbin/vbconfig

Note that for a normal installation you don't have to do this, it does this as part of the installation. Only if something didn't go as planned, for emergencies only...