Artix Linux Forum

[SOLVED] How to install virtualbox on Artix?

22 August 2022, 04:32:05

I just installed Artix.

I have been trying to install virtualbox.

pacman -S virtualbox

does not install dependencies that give a working virtualbox.

The kernel modules are missing, the virtualbox-guest-iso is missing, the Oracle VirtualBox extension pack is missing.

Is there an official procedure for installing virtualbox?

Re: How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #1 – 22 August 2022, 05:20:32

1- Did you do a google search on your problem?

2- What output do you get when trying to launch virtualbox from the terminal?

Re: How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #2 – 22 August 2022, 11:40:17

I did google the problem but found nothing helpful, i.e., nothing I tried gave me a working virtualbox.

I found instructions for installing VB on Arch:

pacman -S virtualbox virtualbox-guest-iso

the Arch VB package includes the kernel modules but the Artix package does not. I am unable to find a separate Artix package for the kernel modules.

Also, the Oracle virtualbox extension pack seems to be in Arch's AUR repository. I have not tried anything in that repository yet so any tips or hints would be helpful.

Terminal Output:

WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module
         available for the current kernel (5.19.2-artix1-1) or it failed to
         load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by

           sudo /sbin/vboxconfig

         You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.

Not surprising since the kernel modules are not included in the Artix VB package.

Re: How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #3 – 22 August 2022, 13:11:36

the kernel mods aren't installed on anything i've used over the years, debian/suse etc....I think this is what i installed, does require a reboot afterwards:

sudo pacman -S virtualbox virtualbox-host-modules-artix

possibly this as well (the guest bit at least):

sudo pacman -S virtualbox-ext-vnc virtualbox-guest-utils

and add yourself to vboxusers group too.

Re: How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #4 – 22 August 2022, 17:39:04

Thanks for pointing out the modules package.

I tried

pacman -S virtualbox virtualbox-host-modules-artix virtualbox-guest-iso

I get the same problem, the modules are not being loaded. I tried loading them with modprobe but modprobe cannot find the modules; however, this time the modules do exist.

locate vbox |grep ko
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-1/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/vboxvideo/vboxvideo.ko.zst
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-1/kernel/drivers/virt/vboxguest/vboxguest.ko.zst
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-1/kernel/fs/vboxsf/vboxsf.ko.zst
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-2/extramodules/vboxdrv.ko.xz
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-2/extramodules/vboxnetadp.ko.xz
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-2/extramodules/vboxnetflt.ko.xz

The bottom 3 are the modules that need to be loaded, unfortunately, they are in a non standard directory so modprobe cannot find them.

I am going to have to reboot to see if Artix has the boot process set up to load those modules. I hate to reboot.

virtualbox-ext-vnc is not the extension pack I need to install. vnc stands for Virtual Network Computing, not what I am looking for.

virtualbox-ext-oracle is what I need (https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/virtualbox-ext-oracle).

As you can see it is in AUR. I just installed Artix yesterday and have not done one of those yet.

https://blogs.oracle.com/virtualization/post/friday-spotlight-virtualbox-extension-pack-guest-additions  This link has a very brief description of the extension pack and the guest iso so you can see what added functionality they bring.

After I reboot, I will be back to report on my success or failure.

Re: How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #5 – 23 August 2022, 13:34:20

The problem persists after reboot.

I looked in /var/log/rc.log and found this:

* Loading module vboxdrv ...
 * Failed to load vboxdrv
 [ !! ]
 * Loading module vboxnetadp ...
 * Failed to load vboxnetadp
 [ !! ]
 * Loading module vboxnetflt ...
 * Failed to load vboxnetflt

I did some more research and discovered other people having the same problem with VB (and nvidia).

There were 2 untested recommended solutions.

1. Use virtualbox-host-dkms package instead of virtualbox-host-modules-artix for the modules.

2. Use the lts kernel.

I will start with the 1st one by removing al VB stuff I installed and run

pacman -S virtualbox virtualbox-host-dkms virtualbox-guest-iso

and report the results.

Re: How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #6 – 23 August 2022, 16:38:04

right, i have just done a clean install (with lxde) on a spare pc, this morning  did the following using the stock kernel,  sudo pacman -S virtualbox virtualbox-guest-iso virtualbox-ext-vnc, rebooted, attached win7 i had on an external drive, and voila, boots straight in to the lovely 7.

It obviously prompted me with a 2 way question, so i chose the 2nd as thats the way (no virtualbox-host-modules-artix in my last command, so it prompts dkms/lts kernel or virtualbox-host-modules-artix so it works with the stock kernel  (thanks devs.), if you were prompted with terminal questions during install, do you remember what you answered?     Apart from that, have no idea as it just works like that for the machines i have it on.  Just think about the questions, and if you cannot remember, personally i'd just remove what was installed, then give it another go.    The good new is i even installed the package you want to use from aur (virtualbox-ext-oracle), and when you get there, that'll install without issue!   "YAY"!   sorry, bad joke, but does also work fine (aur packages and all that...).  Anyway, hopefully someone else will reply, as pretty sure theres a lot of virtualb users out there.   Goodluck.

Re: How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #7 – 23 August 2022, 18:50:39

just had a thought, going back to your very first post:

pacman -S virtualbox
does not install dependencies that give a working virtualbox.

when you installed virtualbox, it would have asked a question, 1 or 2, and that is what would have installed the dependency,  What option did you select 'cause if you just hit enter, it would have installed the wrong one for the stock kernel

Re: How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #8 – 24 August 2022, 07:30:32

I tried all your suggestions with no change in the problem.

However, I figured out what was wrong with my system.

I made a symlink from extramodules to /lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-1/kernel/extramodules

modprobe sees the modules and tries to load them but throws an exec error which means the modules are compiled with a different kernel than I was running.

I was running 5.19.2-artix1-1.

This is from an earlier post:

locate vbox |grep ko
...
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-2/extramodules/vboxdrv.ko.xz
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-2/extramodules/vboxnetadp.ko.xz
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.2-artix1-2/extramodules/vboxnetflt.ko.xz

Notice the 2 at the end of the kernel name. I noticed that 2 but being an Artix newbie, I did not appreciate its significance until I got the exec error. I updated my system and the "2" kernel was installed.

I rebooted to run the new kernel and installed virtualbox. After installing VB, I manually installed the 3 kernel modules with modprobe and launched virtualbox. No errors this time. I had to change the name of the Ethernet port and to get my VM's to run I need to install the Extension Pack or disable USB2/3 (USB 1.1 is painfully slow). I rebooted to make sure it would load the modules during boot, it did.

Now I have to install guest additions and figure out how to get the extension pack from AUR.

Thanks guys for all your help.

Re: How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #9 – 24 August 2022, 10:49:56

good to hear you got it!   yay is in the universe repo that'll need to be added to install it first: https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Repositories#Universe

either that, or git clone it from the aur link and build it (the following enables arch repo support too, if you need it, but does require pacman.conf editing too (https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Repositories#Universe))

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel
sudo pacman -S artix-archlinux-support
sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux
sudo pacman -S git
sudo git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay  (you would need to change the permissions on this folder so you own it first)
makepkg -si

then it (should) just be a case of:  yay -S virtualbox-ext-oracle

Re: [SOLVED] How to install virtualbox on Artix?

Reply #10 – 25 August 2022, 06:05:58

Thanks that was helpful.

BTW, you don't need to use sudo for git clone.