How to install virtualbox on Ubuntu 19.10 (secure boot not enabled)?

Question

I am trying to install virtualbox on Ubuntu 19.10. According to this page, the VirtualBox bug about secure boot driver signing has been fixed in version 6.0 for Ubuntu. However, I have not secure boot enabled. Still I get a warning: The character device /dev/vboxdrv does not exist... You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed:

$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox
$ VBoxManage --version
WARNING: The character device /dev/vboxdrv does not exist.
     Please install the virtualbox-dkms package and the appropriate
     headers, most likely linux-headers-generic.
$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-dkms
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  virtualbox-dkms
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 27 not upgraded.
Need to get 689 kB of archives.
After this operation, 5 702 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://no.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan/multiverse amd64 virtualbox-dkms all 6.0.14-dfsg-1 [689 kB]
Fetched 689 kB in 1s (888 kB/s)         
Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox-dkms.
(Reading database ... 251996 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../virtualbox-dkms_6.0.14-dfsg-1_all.deb ...
Unpacking virtualbox-dkms (6.0.14-dfsg-1) ...
Setting up virtualbox-dkms (6.0.14-dfsg-1) ...
Loading new virtualbox-6.0.14 DKMS files...
Building for 5.3.0-23-generic
Building initial module for 5.3.0-23-generic
Secure Boot not enabled on this system.
Done.

vboxdrv.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
modinfo: ERROR: missing module or filename.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/5.3.0-23-generic/updates/dkms/

vboxnetadp.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
modinfo: ERROR: missing module or filename.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/5.3.0-23-generic/updates/dkms/

vboxnetflt.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
modinfo: ERROR: missing module or filename.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/5.3.0-23-generic/updates/dkms/

vboxpci.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
modinfo: ERROR: missing module or filename.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/5.3.0-23-generic/updates/dkms/

depmod...

DKMS: install completed.
$ VBoxManage --version
WARNING: The character device /dev/vboxdrv does not exist.
     Please install the virtualbox-dkms package and the appropriate
     headers, most likely linux-headers-generic.

     You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.
6.0.14_Ubuntur132055

I installed virtualbox using instructions from the vendor: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads, I just had a look on the vendor website and don't see a virtualbox version for 19.10 yet and that could be the problem. Also I came across this question and so your question may be a duplicate of this: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1183135/virtualbox-on-ubuntu-19-10 — , Nov 19 '19 at 01:07

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 18 '19 at 23:06

0

According to this bug report:

sudo modprobe vboxdrv

solves the issue.

answered Nov 18 '19 at 23:06

Håkon Hægland

3,973
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So...this was the fix, then? Curious, as the aforementioned bug report is 4 years old. – ajgringo619 Nov 19 '19 at 00:08
@ajgringo619 Yes that solved the problem. Seems like the bug has not been fixed yet then? – Håkon Hægland Nov 19 '19 at 07:34
I've run into this issue before when trying to install VB against a latest-and-greatest kernel; more so with Guest Additions, though. – ajgringo619 Nov 19 '19 at 18:27
1

This does not help me, instead I get modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'vboxdrv': Exec format error – larsivi Dec 06 '19 at 20:04

How to install virtualbox on Ubuntu 19.10 (secure boot not enabled)?

1 Answers1