kernel driver not installed rc1908 / Virtualbox on DKMS

27 May 2019, 14:09:20

This is a guide for those using Virtualbox with DKMS.
as well as a bug report.
I often have to fix Virtualbox by hand after a kernel update or DKMS update.
when you try to launch a VM, you get the message "kernel driver not installed rc1908"

1/first, obvisouly you shall have virtualbox-host-dkms package installed
2/check/add those lines in /etc/modules-load.d/modules.conf

Code: [Select]

# List of modules to load at boot
vboxdrv
vboxnetadp
vboxnetflt
vboxpci

3/if virtualbox-host-dkms is installed you shall have code in /usr/src
# ls -1a /usr/src/
vboxhost-6.0.0_OSE/
vboxhost-6.0.4_OSE/
vboxhost-6.0.8_OSE/

You shall use the last installed (or the previous but you'll have to revert to it installing the package from /var/cache/pacman/pkg/)
here it is vboxhost-6.0.8_OSE

uname -r -> in order to get the kernel release version
for me it is as of today : 4.19.44-1-lts

3/
Then as root you have to run:
dkms install vboxhost/6.0.8_OSE -k 4.19.44-1-lts

> notice it is / after vboxhost not a dash
> replace by the correct version number for the kernel

After compilation (see sample dkms install output below.),
it shall have created virtualbox modules (.ko files ) in /usr/lib/modules/4.19.44-1-lts/kernel/misc/

4/
here's how to load modules (to avoid rebooting):
for i in $(ls /usr/lib/modules/4.19.44-1-lts/kernel/misc/vbox*); do insmod $i; done

5/
Virtualbox Shall now work

sample dkms install output :(command above)
Kernel preparation unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping...

Building module:
cleaning build area...
make -j4 KERNELRELEASE=4.19.44-1-lts -C /usr/lib/modules/4.19.44-1-lts/build M=/var/lib/dkms/vboxhost/6.0.8_OSE/build........
cleaning build area...
Kernel cleanup unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping...

DKMS: build completed.

vboxdrv.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
- Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
- Installation
   - Installing to /usr/lib/modules/4.19.44-1-lts/kernel/misc/

vboxnetflt.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
- Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
- Installation
   - Installing to /usr/lib/modules/4.19.44-1-lts/kernel/misc/

vboxnetadp.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
- Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
- Installation
   - Installing to /usr/lib/modules/4.19.44-1-lts/kernel/misc/

vboxpci.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
- Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
- Installation
   - Installing to /usr/lib/modules/4.19.44-1-lts/kernel/misc/

depmod.....

DKMS: install completed.

Re: kernel driver not installed rc1908 / Virtualbox on DKMS

Reply #1 – 14 February 2020, 10:12:49

Hi,

I get the following error

Code: [Select]

$ sudo dkms install vboxhost/6.1.2_OSE -k 5.4.19-1-lts
Error! echo
Your kernel headers for kernel 5.4.19-1-lts cannot be found at
/usr/lib/modules/5.4.19-1-lts/build or /usr/lib/modules/5.4.19-1-lts/source.
You can use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located.

Code: [Select]

$ ls -l /usr/lib/modules/5.4.19-1-lts
total 12424
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root    4096 Feb 14 20:34 kernel
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1511996 Feb 14 20:34 modules.alias
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1491356 Feb 14 20:34 modules.alias.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    5607 Feb 13 04:49 modules.builtin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    7314 Feb 14 20:34 modules.builtin.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   44486 Feb 13 04:49 modules.builtin.modinfo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  730019 Feb 14 20:34 modules.dep
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  978486 Feb 14 20:34 modules.dep.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     475 Feb 14 20:34 modules.devname
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  227834 Feb 13 04:49 modules.order
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     935 Feb 14 20:34 modules.softdep
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  590557 Feb 14 20:34 modules.symbols
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  726696 Feb 14 20:34 modules.symbols.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root      10 Feb 13 04:49 pkgbase
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 6367616 Feb 13 04:49 vmlinuz

Do I need to use --kernalsourcedir to point it to somewhere else like the kernel directory? Sorry, it's been a long time since I've played with this sort of thing and I don't want to break my system guessing.

Thanks

Re: kernel driver not installed rc1908 / Virtualbox on DKMS

Reply #2 – 14 February 2020, 10:17:25

instructions:

1/please check your kernel version --> uname -r

2/insure you installed the proper kernel headers. Using pamac search for "linux-headers" and check you installed the headers of your kernel version

Re: kernel driver not installed rc1908 / Virtualbox on DKMS

Reply #3 – 14 February 2020, 10:27:51

Okay, my bad. I had linux-headers installed instead of linux-lts-headers.

I had to extract the .ko files first before running

Code: [Select]

 #cd /usr/lib/modules/5.4.19-1-lts/kernel/misc/
# for i in $(ls vbox*.ko); do  insmod $i; done

Then in worked. Thanks