How To: Install VirtualBox on Ubuntu 8.04LTS (Hardy Heron) [Tutorial]

This guide is intended to help users fully install VirtualBox and all of it's features which don't work out of the box such as USB support. I also have this tutorial (and others) on my blog. It's designed to be quick and painless, so let's get started:


Download VirtualBox:
Use the following links to download VirtualBox according to your CPU architecture. If you don't know what this means, you'd probably just better go with the i386 pacakge.

i386:
http://www.virtualbox.org/download/1...hardy_i386.deb
AMD64
http://www.virtualbox.org/download/1...ardy_amd64.deb

Note: The VirtualBox that you have in the Add/Remove Programs list is different because it is the Open Source Edition. This is generally more difficult to configure, so use the normal VirtualBox program found in the link above.

Install VirtualBox:
Double-click on the package you just downloaded and you will be prompted to install it.

Setup Permissions:
This can be done in two different ways. The graphical way or the command line way.

Via Command Line:

[In Terminal]

Code:

---

sudo usermod -G vboxusers -a username

---

Via Graphical Menus:

Goto System -> Administration -> Users and Groups.

Click on the "Unlock" button and then enter in your password.

Click on the "Manage Groups" button.

Find the "vboxusers" group which is probably at the very bottom of the list, highlight it by clicking again, and click once more on "Properties".

Make sure there's a check mark next to your user's name, and you're finished.

Setup USB:
USB is disabled by default, so you'll probably want to enable it. Otherwise you'll get an error when you go into the "Settings" of your virtual machine. To correct this, you'll need to edit the mountdevsubfs.sh file:

[In Terminal]

Code:

---

sudo gedit /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh

---

Inside, you'll see a block of code that looks like this:

#
# Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work
#
#mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
#domount usbfs "" /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
#ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
#mount --rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb

Change it to look like this (uncomment out the region by deleting the "#'s"):

#
# Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work
#
mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
domount usbfs "" /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
mount --rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb

Save the changes, log out, and then log back in again for the changes to take place.

Other:
The VirtualBox Guest Additions image (.iso) file is located here:
http://www.virtualbox.org/download/1...ions_1.5.6.iso

Minor Troubleshooting:
With these instructions, I was able to get my virtual machine working perfectly in VirtualBox. If you have any problems, please let me know by commenting below. I will help to resolve your issue and then place it with the solution in this section of the tutorial. Thank you.

Package Dependencies
If you run across a problem with dependencies (like libxercese27 which is included in the libxalan110 package), you'll have at this point to either install it first or go ahead with the installation and run "sudo apt-get -f install" to correct the problems.
Thanks Princey

Compilation of the kernel module FAILED! Error
While trying to install VirtualBox you receive an error like this:

Code:

---

"Compilation of the kernel module FAILED!

VirtualBox will not start until this problem is fixed. Please consult '/var/log/vbox-install.log' to find out why the kernel module does not compile. Most probably the kernel sources were not found. Install them and execute '/etc/init.d/vboxdrv' setup as root."

---

Run the command "sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup" and see if that helps. (not yet confirmed)

Very simple and works just fine onmy Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 final. Thank you

I can't seem to enable USB support. I tried your guide, and this one: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=242936

The step you mention seems to be the same as in the link, yet when I go to the settings of my virtual machine, there is no listing for USB.

EDIT: I've been using the version in the Hardy repos, I'll try the version from the website.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ThrobbingBrain66

I can't seem to enable USB support. I tried your guide, and this one: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=242936

The step you mention seems to be the same as in the link, yet when I go to the settings of my virtual machine, there is no listing for USB.

EDIT: I've been using the version in the Hardy repos, I'll try the version from the website.

---

The version in the repos is the open source version. Not the same thing at all. I'm honestly not sure how to enable USB in that one. You'd think it would be the same process, but it's not. Sorry!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mihai007

Very simple and works just fine onmy Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 final. Thank you

---

Great! I'm glad to hear it worked out for you. You're welcome.

Confirming successful installation on AMD64 (Hardy 8.04).

Thanks for the great Tutorial!

I got it to acknowledge usb okay, but I get an error message about being unable to locate my kernel so it can't add the drivers to my kernel. Any ideas?

Okay, I got it to work, but I pulled in another tutorial, which you can find here: http://www.lostechies.com/blogs/jaso...4-install.aspx

I used that to install the repository into Synaptic, then as I selected VirtualBox I installed the headers for my kernel, which worked. Apparently this method didn't have headers for my kernel (or I did something wrong - we'll just say I did something wrong).

Thanks for the tutorial!:popcorn:

You're welcome!

I'm glad it all worked out okay. :-D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SendDerek

Download VirtualBox:
As of this writing, there is no specific download for 8.04LTS (Hardy Heron), so you will be downloading the version built for 7.10 (Feisty Fawn).

Goto the VirtualBox download hompage, scroll down to the bottom, click on the "Platform" drop-down menu, and select "Ubuntu 7.10 i386" to download the package. Note: If you have a 64bit computer, download the "Ubuntu 7.10 AMD64" package.

---

There are hardy packages, but you have to look a bit around to find them.. http://www.virtualbox.org/download/1.5.6/