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VirtualBox

How to set up your VirtualBox installation.

Introduction

Use cases

Consider the following examples:

  • You use software that doesn't work on your EuroLinux 8 installation.
  • You want to try out some potentially dangerous actions and don't want to endanger your machine.
  • You develop some awesome software and want to test it on several systems for compatibility
  • You want an easily reproducible environment that works the same way on every person's machine
  • You need a multi-machine laboratory, maybe with several different systems and don't have the resources for a physical equipment

Why use it over other virtualisation providers?

VirtualBox is the provider with a copyleft license and a focus on interoperability when it comes to supporting different platforms. This allows you to cooperate with someone running a different operating system and when exchanging documentation - once written it's applicable to anyone that can run the software.
New VirtualBox versions usually support older operating systems too. One can enjoy the new features on a system, which has recently reached its End of Life, which can be indispensable for a company that can't migrate yet.

System requirements

A brief documentation is available at Upstream's.

Your machine shall support hardware virtualisation. If it doesn't, you either need to perform additional troubleshooting - e.g. enable virtualisation in your machine's BIOS settings.

[ $(grep -cE 'vmx|svm' /proc/cpuinfo) -gt 0 ] && echo "OK"

Make sure you're running EuroLinux 8 on x86_64 architecture rather than ARM. 

[ "$(arch)" == "x86_64" ] && echo "OK"

Installation on EuroLinux 8

As of today (2 September 2021), 6.1 is the main VirtualBox branch and this is the one we install in this guide.
Assuming your account has been made an administrator during the system installation process, simply run these commands for an installation:

sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools" -y
sudo dnf config-manager \
  --add-repo=https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/el/virtualbox.repo
sudo dnf install VirtualBox-6.1 -y

VirtualBox should be ready to use!

USB devices

If you want VirtualBox to support USB devices for your system account, run this command as well: 

sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $USER

then log out of your graphical session and log in again.

Extension Pack

VirtualBox doesn't support certain technologies out-of-the-box, e.g. USB 2.0/3.0 or builtin disk encryption, among others. If you want them to be supported, you will need VirtualBox Extension Pack. Make sure you have read its license and understand its implications - you're responsible for compliance.
You may want to read Upstream's FAQ for a quick start.

Once you're sure you'll be able to comply with the licensing terms, run these commands to install the Extension Pack:

export vbox_version="$(VBoxManage --version | cut -d'r' -f 1)"
wget "https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/$vbox_version/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-$vbox_version.vbox-extpack"
yes | sudo VBoxManage extpack install --replace Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-$vbox_version.vbox-extpack

Troubleshooting

I can't enable hardware virtualisation and prefer software emulation

As Upstream says, for software mode you'll need VirtualBox branch 6.0 or older.

Please also use version 6.0 if you need to run VMs with software virtualization, as this has been discontinued in 6.1.

Additional resources

Upstream's release pages

If you prefer a manual download, check out Upstream's Linux release pages and use the one they provide for RHEL 8.

RPM Fusion

Alternatively you can use RPM Fusion repository for installation. The software might differ in branding a bit and only the latest release is provided. Use these commands: 

sudo dnf localinstall \
  https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm -y
sudo dnf localinstall --nogpgcheck \
  https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-8.noarch.rpm -y
sudo dnf install VirtualBox -y
sudo akmods --kernels $(uname -r) && sudo systemctl restart vboxdrv.service