Ubuntu
virtualbox-ose package

virtualbox ose on karmic, but no vboxdrv :(

Asked by quixote on 2009-06-21

I'm in a tad over my head, but it's an adventure. I'm using karmic alpha2. I wanted to install vbox 2.2.4, but the .deb is expecting a jaunty kernel, so the solution was to install from source. I gave that a whirl. Got the dependencies, compiled, installed. So far so good.

However, I could only start it as sudo. Turned out there was no vboxusers group. I added that, added my user to the group, but now I cannot seem to get vboxdrv working.

The first time, when I could only run vbox as root, I ran "sudo modprobe vboxdrv" and then ran "sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv start" That worked, but without the vboxusers group I ran into trouble.

Now that I've added vboxusers, I can't seem to get vboxdrv sorted out. The code is there under virtualbox/src/vboxdrv, and there is a /dev/vboxdrv. But it refuses to reappear in /etc/init.d/vboxdrv.

What am I doing wrong? Can I fix this?

Question information

Language:: English Edit question

Status:: Solved

For:: Ubuntu virtualbox-ose Edit question

Assignee:: No assignee Edit question

Solved by:: Andre Mangan

Solved:: 2009-06-22

Last query:: 2009-06-22

Last reply:: 2009-06-21

Link existing bug

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Andre Mangan (kyphi) said on 2009-06-21:

The usual process is: sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

You might also have to: sudo chmod 666 /dev/vboxdrv

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quixote (commer-greenglim) said on 2009-06-21:

/dev/vboxdrv was indeed 660, so I changed that. But when I try the setup command, it returns:

sudo: /etc/init.d/vboxdrv: command not found.

Nor is there that file in the init.d directory. How do I get it there? Can I just copy it from /dev/vboxdrv??

Thanks for your help!

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Andre Mangan (kyphi) said on 2009-06-21:

I don't know if it is the same file. On my VBox installation there is a "vboxdrv" file in /dev as well as in /etc/init.d

Did you: sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

and also build-essential

I can't help but think that you may have tried to do this back to front - I run VirtualBox in Hardy Heron with Jaunty (among other operating systems) installed in VirtualBox. Perhaps you might reconsider and place VBox into your normal OS and run Karmic in there.

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quixote (commer-greenglim) said on 2009-06-21:

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow. The computer involved is doing a backup just now.

My friend installed this and now needs help. personally, I was advising jaunty ;-)

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said on 2009-06-21:

If you are not proficient at troubleshooting issues in Linux you should not be installing alpha software like karmic koala.

Log a bug with as much information you can give and it will get resolved hopefully for the official release date which is 4 months away.

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quixote (commer-greenglim) said on 2009-06-22:

actionparsnip (wonderful nickname!): I'm pretty sure most of the problems are my fault, not bugs. The only thing I could add is that it does indeed forget to add a vboxusers group and hence runs into trouble. But they already know that, I think.

Turned out I didn't need to install headers or build-essential. vboxdrv refused to show up in /etc/init.d/ but virtualbox did run fine so long as I started it as root. That implies a permissions problem, but no missing essential files.

So I just changed /dev/vboxdrv to 666 again. (It had reset to 660 because I'd run modprobe vboxdrv again in the interim.) Instead of worrying about what's in /etc/init.d, I simply tried to start one of the virtualbox machines as a regular user, and it worked! Go figure. How long this desirable state of affairs will last, I don't know, since it doesn't make a lot of sense, but, hey, whatever works.

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quixote (commer-greenglim) said on 2009-06-22:

Thanks Andre Mangan, that solved my question.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said on 2009-06-22:

I would log a bug to get this all ironed out. Tell them what you did and how it was fixed.

To get the module to load you cna run

gksudo gedit /etc/modules

and add the word

vboxdrv

with a carridge return on the end (paste the word then press enter to end the line)

This is the old skool way of loading modules

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quixote (commer-greenglim) said on 2009-06-25:

I edited /etc/modules, so /dev/vboxdrv is now there after a reboot, but it still has this ownership and permissions:
listing in /dev :
-rw-rw---- root root vboxdrv

I can change it either to rw-rw-rw, or change the group to vboxusers, both work, but it doesn't persist between boots. Still, I'm counting my blessings, because it does work, with just a bit of CLI before starting. :)

I did file a bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/virtualbox-ose/+bug/392234