2 Installation
2. The kernel of your Linux host got updated. In that case, the kernel module will
need to be reinstalled by executing (as root):
/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
2.3.3 USB and advanced networking support
In order to use VirtualBox’s USB support, the user account under which you intend to
run VirtualBox must have read and write access to the USB filesystem (
usbfs
).
In addition, access to
/dev/net/tun
will be required if you want to use Host
Interface Networking, which is described in detail in chapter
6.5
,
Bridged networking
,
page
86
.
2.3.4 Performing the installation
VirtualBox is available in a number of package formats native to various common Linux
distributions (see chapter
1.4
,
Supported host operating systems
, page
16
for details).
In addition, there is an alternative generic installer (.run) which should work on most
Linux distributions.
2.3.4.1 Installing VirtualBox from a Debian/Ubuntu package
First, download the appropriate package for your distribution. The following examples
assume that you are installing to an Ubuntu Edgy system. Use
dpkg
to install the
Debian package:
sudo dpkg -i VirtualBox_3.0.0_Ubuntu_edgy.deb
You will be asked to accept the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License.
Unless you answer “yes” here, the installation will be aborted.
The group
vboxusers
will be created during installation. Note that a user who is
going to run VirtualBox must be member of that group. A user can be made member of
the group
vboxusers
through the GUI user/group management or at the command
line with
sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers username
Also note that adding an active user to that group will require that user to log out
and back in again. This should be done manually after successful installation of the
package.
The installer will also search for a VirtualBox kernel module suitable for your
kernel.
The package includes pre-compiled modules for the most common ker-
nel configurations.
If no suitable kernel module is found, the installation script
tries to build a module itself.
If the build process is not successful you will be
shown a warning and the package will be left unconfigured. Please have a look at
/var/log/vbox-install.log
to find out why the compilation failed. You may
have to install the appropriate Linux kernel headers (see chapter
2.3.2
,
The VirtualBox
kernel module
, page
21
). After correcting any problems, do
23
