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I can download, but not run virtualbox. It says:

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.

Does someone know how to fix this?

prolificslacker
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Warriorn
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  • Is virtualization disabled in BIOS? Or Secure Boot enabled? – M. Becerra Jun 21 '17 at 16:09
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    Please tell us how you installed VirtualBox! Maybe you can find useful information at this link, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualBox, and links from it. – sudodus Jun 21 '17 at 16:14
  • I have tried many diffrent ways from yt and from the ubuntu site but non of them has workt i tried the way by your link to but it dident work – Warriorn Jun 21 '17 at 19:18
  • I did try a diffrent way and i did get this Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done E: Unable to locate package virtualbox-5.1_5.1.22-115126~Ubuntu~yakkety_i386.deb E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'virtualbox-5.1_5.1.22-115126~Ubuntu~yakkety_i386.deb' E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'virtualbox-5.1_5.1.22-115126~Ubuntu~yakkety_i386.deb' But i did find it in my ls ...     – Warriorn Jun 21 '17 at 19:33

3 Answers3

1

Disable Secure Boot from your bios and you'll be able to use VirtualBox

Denis Pitzalis
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0

Try to install the packages that VirtualBox needs to run.

Install them using Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T) following these commands (press enter after each one). 

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-dkms

When it asks you to continue or not, press "y" (for yes) and then press Enter.

Do the same with

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic

Note: Before continuing with the second command (linux-headers-generic), check if there are any updates for the headers for your Linux distribution. Because if you install the wrong headers, your system will be most likely unable to boot the OS. For example: if you install Linux Mint headers in Ubuntu, you will have the wrong headers and your OS probably won't boot. VirtualBox displays this (linux-headers-generic) because the source code base is for all Linux distributions.

Question: What Linux distribution and what version of it are you using? (e.g.: Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr) This will help lots of users to determine the problem especially for your distribution. Also because the (VirtualBox) final code is different for every distribution.

na-no.
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  • Im jusing ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS – Warriorn Jun 21 '17 at 18:51
  • I did watch it from yt but i couldnt follow the last step because it said that it dident exist it said like /dev/vboxdrv does not exist thanks alot for trying!!!! – Warriorn Jun 21 '17 at 19:02
  • And how do i check for updates? Im sorry first day on linux. Thanks alot for the help! Would it help if i changed from ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS? – Warriorn Jun 21 '17 at 19:06
  • @Adude No, you don't need to change from Ubuntu. To check for updates, click on the Dash button from the Panel on the left side of your screen, then search for "Software Updater". When it starts, it will automatically search for updates. If it doesn't, click on "Check for updates". Then click on the "Update" button. – na-no. Jun 21 '17 at 19:28
  • @Adude If you need more help, you can feel free to contact me. – na-no. Jun 21 '17 at 19:29
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What method did you use to install virtualbox? I recall having a similar issue when I tried installing it through the Ubuntu software center. If you did use the software center try the following terminal commands

sudo apt-get purge virtualbox
sudo apt-get install virtualbox
virtualbox

Virtualbox is a nice tool. I personally think VMWare is a little easier to use when getting started with Virtualization. To install VMWare on Ubuntu:

Download VMWare Player Bundle

https://www.vmware.com/products/player/playerpro-evaluation.html

Then enter the following terminal commands

cd ~/Downloads
sudo chmod u+x VMware-Player*
sudo ./VMware-Player*
deelwurf
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