It's been about three years since I wrote an article on using Sun VirtualBox and I thought I'd update it here. I had trouble installing Windows 7 Professional 64-bit and also Windows XP (which I was trying to install as a last resort). For the trouble pictures, not exhaustive, see the set of four at the end of this page.

I had trouble with...

• Getting Windows 7 install to admit I did have virtualization enabled in my BIOS; see the first image in the second set below.
• Getting VirtualBox to find my CD-ROM drive; see first image of first set below.

This fails even after doing the CD as shown above (and below, which also describes what I did for Windows 7, but in greater detail):

To save screen real estate, I hide menu bars, but now I don't know how to get it back.

1. Open VirtualBox (main) dialog box.
2. Select (running) virtual machine (VM) whose menu you want back.
3. Click on Settings → User Interface.
4. Click the Enable Menu Bar checkbox.

Look at the VM in the host; the menu should have reappeared.

Be sure that, under Settings → System for the VM, you do not mindlessly uncheck Optical thinking you don't need it because you will need it in support of the ISO during installation.

On a headless, Linux-server VM, installing VirtualBox Guest Additions isn't too straightforward. These commands are all run as root.

1. In the top menu of the guest VM window, click Devices → Insert Guest Additions CD Image. This puts the (virtual) CD at your VM's disposal.
2. Mount this CD. Before you can do that, you'll need to create a mount point if it's not already there (see first three commands). If you've done this before, it will still be there, but you'll have to (re)mount it—it doesn't survive reboots:

   # cd /media
   # mkdir cdrom
   # chmod 770 cdrom (or chmod u+rwx,g+rwx cdrom)
   # mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
   mount: /media/cdrom: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
   

3. Install dependencies via the advanced packaging tool:

   # apt-get install -y dkms build-essential linux-headers-generic linux-headers-$(uname -r)
   

   If you've got trouble with your package manager (maybe a PPA that's hiding), you might get errors doing this, but they should not be fatal to the overall objective.
4. Next, install the Guest Additions package:

   # cd /media/cdrom
   # ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
   

Without Intell VT-X (or AMD-V), VirtualBox (nor VMware Workstation) can support 64-bit guest OSes.

I once got an HP EliteDesk 800 with i7 that came with VT-X disabled which I did not know until I ran VirtualBox to install a new VM ("ERROR: VT-X is not available"). I went into the BIOS, but could not find where to enable it and thought that this wasn't an available feature. Later, I found on an HP support site how to do this:

1. Press Esc as the computer boots up to gain entry to the BIOS.
2. Choose Computer Setup.
3. Use the right-arrow key to reach the Security menu (!).
4. Use the down-arrow to reach System Security.
5. Enable VT-X.

...because, really, any screen-saving should be a function of the host OS unless you're just trying to be clever.

1. Edit /etc/default/grub.
2. Add consoleblank=0 to (probably the end of) what's already there for GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT.
3. Run update-grub.
4. Reboot the server.

The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver (vboxdrv) is either not loaded or there is a permission problem with /dev/vboxdrv. Please install virtualbox-dkms package and load the kernel module by executing

# modprobe vboxdrv

as root. If it is available in your distribution, you should install the DKMS package first. This package keeps track of Linux kernel changes and recompiles the vboxdrv kernel module if necessary. Note that modprobe should be found on the path /sbin/modprobe or /usr/sbin/modprobe. Here are some particulars you might need as you work through this. Note that you might benefit from updating your Linux kernel or uninstalling then reinstalling virtualbox-dkms.

# apt-get remove virtualbox-dkms
# apt-get remove --purge virtualbox-dkms
# apt-get install -y linux-headers-amd64 linux-image-amd64
# apt install --reinstall linux-headers-$(uname -r) virtualbox-dkms dkms
# apt-get install -y virtualbox-dkms

If [/usr]/sbin/modprobe itself is missing, try this for Ubuntu, at least:

# apt-get install kmod

When attempting to bring a working Virtual Box up on a base OS to which you don't have root access, there arises the need to sign the modules.

When you run the command:

# modprobe vboxdrv

...and get some kind of error, you may discover that the solution requires signing the vbox modules before Virtual Box will work error-free. What's worse, you won't discover which vbox modules you need to sign except as you discover them one by one trying to set up a VM.

Here's how to perform this signing, but first, consider that...

...you must register these modules for Secure Boot (which component is what's causing you this nightmare in the first place). Since Linux kernel version 4.4.0-20, it's enforced that unsigned kernel modules will not be allowed to run with Secure Boot enabled, so you must sign all modules you wish to use. Start by installing the mokutil module:

# apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && apt-get install mokutil

Next, create signing keys:

# openssl req -new -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout MOK.priv -outform DER -out MOK.der -nodes -days 36500 -subj "/CN=VirtualBox/"

Note that in whatever current working directory from which you issue these signing commands, there is created—and therefore appended to—files MOK.priv and MOK.der. Don't try to issue the signing command while your current working directory is other.

Sign the modules in question (I would do at least these two up front):

# /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)/scripts/sign-file sha256 ./MOK.priv ./MOK.der $(modinfo -n vboxdrv)
# /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)/scripts/sign-file sha256 ./MOK.priv ./MOK.der $(modinfo -n vboxnetflt)

If you feel like it, you can confirm that the module is signed:

# tail $(modinfo -n vboxdrv) | grep "Module signature appended"

Then, register the keys to Secure Boot:

# mokutil --import MOK.der

This forces you to enter a password. Make it simple and remember it. Then, restart your base OS (i.e.: bounce your computer). A blue screen will appear and you'll see an option, Enroll MOK. You should take this option (pressing Enter), then Continue, then input the password.

(Likely, you will not need this password again, but hang onto it just in case.)

And, once you've rebooted, if you feel like it, you can confirm that the key was enrolled (and should work). Remember to be in that same current working directory as when you signed the modules:

# mokutil --test-key MOK.der

Important note

The solution to the problem that sent you to this note doesn't exactly have anything to do with Virtual Box, but with the fact that Secure Boot has been imposed upon your hardware. This also has nothing to do with the version of Virtual Box. (When I wrote this note, I was working with Virtual Box 6.1.)

We're going to install a VM running Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon 64-bit as an example.

Create a new VM in Virtual Box thus:

1. Click New.
2. Fill in (VM- and host) Name.
3. Choose where this VM will reside in your local filesystem. (Pick default.)
4. Choose the Type (Linux)...
5. ...and the Version (Ubuntu 64-bit)
6. Click Next.
7. Dial in the amount of memory you want (16384), click Next.
8. Click Create a virtual hard disk now, click Create.
9. Choose whether to create the disk immediately or only virtually. If you're going to be using the VM in a serious way (e.g.: for development), you may wish to go with an "up-front" solution, VHD. Click Next.
10. Pursuant to the previous instruction, choose a Fixed size disk and click Next.
11. Choose the File location and size, that is, what to call and where to put the diskspace as well as how big. (The default is /home/username/VirtualBox VMs/hostname/hostname.vhd.) I'm going to size my disk as 1 Tb (1000 Gb).
12. Click Create.

Once you've created the VM, configure it by clicking Settings.

General
System
Display
Storage
Audio
Network
Serial Ports
USB
Shared Folders
User Interface

The new VM is created and configured, however, before launching, you must consider how the OS will be sourced. The purpose of this note is to demonstrate a particular installation, that of Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon 64-bit. We have an ISO.

1. Click Settings.
2. Click Storage.
3. Click under Controller: IDE, Empty.
4. Click Live CD/DVD.
5. Click icon, "Choose optical disk..."
6. Click Chooose a disk file.
7. Navigate to the ISO you downloaded (something like ~/Downloads/linuxmint-21.2-cinnamon-64bit.iso).
8. Click Open.
9. Click OK to dismiss Settings dialog.
10. Click Start.
11. Click Start Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon 64-bit to install.
12. Press Enter to launch the ISO.
13. Double-click the desktop icon, Install Linux Mint.
14. Walk the installation just as if you were installing from a DVD ISO in the optical drive of a piece of hardware.