Re: can't run virtualbox in Jessie

[<briand@aracnet.com>]

On Sat, 02 May 2015 19:03:38 -0400
James <bjlockie@lockie.ca> wrote:

> I have Debian Jessie and I can't run it.
> I get a dialog that says:
> > the virtualbox kernel modules do not match this version of virtualbox
> 
> 

So we can assume you are trying to run jessie on a virtual box instance ?

or are you trying to run virtualbox in jessie ?

if you are trying to  run jessie on a virtualbox instance the message, although not particularly helpful, is exactly right.

you need to compile and install the "helper" modules for virtualbox.

unfortunately Debian is generally behind the latest virtualbox version, so generally you have to rebuild the latest modules.

Here's the procedure that I have used:

 sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso
 cd /usr/share/virtualbox/
 sudo mkdir -p /mnt/disk
 sudo mount -o loop VBoxGuestAdditions.iso /mnt/disk
 cd /mnt/disk/
 sudo sh VBoxLinuxAdditions.run 


the tricky part is making sure virtualbox-guest-additions-iso matches with the version of debian.  to do that you will almost certainly need to download it from the virtualbox site.

Sadly i've lost the link to where those are hiding, so you'll have to search for it.

Brian