Linux – Guest additionals: Kernel headers not found for target kernel

centoskernellinuxvirtualbox

I've been having a difficult time getting Guest Additions to install on my Oracle Linux 7. I have VirtualBox version 6.1.4.
I have guest additions version 6.0.4

The machine had 4.14.35-1902.7.3.1 kernel version. I succesed installed it a kernel version
4.1.12-124.24.3 on it. To do so, I followed the instructions from this page: https://www.thegeekdiary.com/centos-rhel-7-change-default-kernel-boot-with-old-kernel/

Installation steps:

yum -y install kernel-uek-firmware-4.1.12-124.24.3.el6uek.noarch.rpm
yum -y install kernel-uek-4.1.12-124.24.3.el6uek.x86_64.rpm
yum -y install kernel-uek-devel-4.1.12-124.24.3.el6uek.x86_64.rpm

awk -F\' '$1=="menuentry " {print $2}' /etc/grub2.cfg
grub2-set-default 0 #depends on the above result
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
And reboot.

When I run uname -r I got this:
4.1.12-124.24.3.el6uek.x86_64

At this point, everything it's fine until I have to install Guest Additions.

When I run ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run this error is returned:

Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing VirtualBox 6.0.4 Guest Additions for Linux........
VirtualBox Guest Additions installer
Removing installed version 6.1.4 of VirtualBox Guest Additions...
Copying additional installer modules ...
Installing additional modules ...
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Starting.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel
modules.  This may take a while.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: To build modules for other installed kernels, run
VirtualBox Guest Additions:   /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup <version>
VirtualBox Guest Additions: or
VirtualBox Guest Additions:   /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup all
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Kernel headers not found for target kernel
4.1.12-124.24.3.el6uek.x86_64. Please install them and execute
  /sbin/rcvboxadd setup
modprobe vboxguest failed
The log file /var/log/vboxadd-setup.log may contain further information.

I reran /sbin/rcvboxadd setup but it was the same log message.
The log file just showed up "modprobe vboxguest failed". I also exported KERN_DIR environment variable as
/usr/src/kernels/4.1.12-124.24.3.el6uek.x86_64

What I am doing wrong? Does anyone knows how to install it properly?
If anyone has any ideas I would really appreciate feedback.

Best Answer

On my CentOS 6 VM, the kernel development package was not installed, so I had to do:

yum install kernel-devel

This, however, created a mismatch between the kernel development version (2.6.32-754.31.1.el6) and the actual kernel version (2.6.32-754.el6). You can check all these versions using yum list kernel*. So, I then updated my kernel version and rebooted:

yum update kernel kernel-headers
reboot now

On my system, the Guest Additions autorun.sh file still did not complete after this, because the gcc package was missing:

yum install gcc

After installing gcc, the Guest Additions installation succeeded, and they took effect after another reboot.

Getting Video Capbilities in a CentOS 7 VM (can be modified to apply to other Linux distributions also):

1. Download and Install a compatible version of VirtualBox Guest Additions

A. Download a version, newer than or made for the presently installed VirtualBox host program

Search through the VirtualBox download repository: https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/

After selecting a folder, look for the "VBoxGuestAdditions x.xx.iso" file and download it

B. Install Guest Additions dependencies

Start the VM and mount the downloaded .iso file as a CD/DVD device in the VM Devices pane.

There are a few prerequisites for installing the Guest Additions that are available via the OS's native software repository program.

For RHEL-based Linux, use the following with "yum":

yum update
yum install epel-release
yum install gcc binutils make patch libgomp glibc-headers glibc-devel kernel kernel-devel kernel-headers
yum install dkms

Be sure to type "yes" for the install commands or use the "-y" option flag

C. Install Guest Additions

Open a terminal and use the "cd" command to navigate to the root of the CD/DVD folder.

Run the following command to start the installer:

sudo sh VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

If building the main Guest Additions kernel module fails, make sure that all the prerequisites have been installed correctly. Otherwise, reinstall them and attempt to run the installer again.

2. Obtaining, Compiling and Installing the "vboxvideo" driver

A. Downloading the source files for compilation

The file in the link below is a compressed tarball of the "vboxvideo" driver source files:

https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-vbox/snapshot/xf86-video-vbox-ab07f97612d045d8c0a376174b39a294d028fef2.tar.xz

B. Compiling and installing the "vboxvideo" driver

Uncompress the downloaded files and navigate the terminal into the folder "xf86-video-vbox-..."

Run the following in the terminal:

sudo sh autogen.sh --prefix=/usr --with-xorg-module-dir=/usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers
sudo make && sudo make install

These commands will install two files "vboxvideo_drv.so" and "vboxvideo_drv.la" to your Xorg module directory. Note: The kernel module "vboxvideo.ko" is installed with the Guest Additions and does not need to be adjusted for this.

3. Setting up the X Server Configuration

A. Creating/downloading the Xorg.conf file

The VirtualBox Guest Additions is setup to generate its own Xorg.conf file at the end of the install. This process is buggy in some versions. A link to a working Xorg.conf file is given below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y_f5od59sv3eeHGu01PorpvlnBfvum0M/view

B. Inserting the "Xorg.conf" file for use

Once downloaded or copied, copy the file to the X11 folder.

sudo cp xorg.conf/etc/X11/

C. Closing Procedures

Restart the VM from inside the Guest OS and allow it to boot entirely. There should now be video and other guest capabilities.

To verify this, log into the OS and open the Settings menu to the Displays section.

The monitor label should read "VBX" and clicking on the label will allow adjustment of screen resolution.

Additional Notes:

I. "Black/Frozen Screen Upon Boot"

If the boot procedure hangs after completing the guide, switch to a different terminal window by pressing the "Alt" and "Fx" keys simultaneously where x is a number from 2-6 (i.e. "Alt-F2").

This will open a user login via a CLI interface.

Log into the terminal and use the following command to check the "Xorg" log:

sudo less /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Look for any entries regarding the "vboxvideo" device.

- For any "Not Found" issues:

Verify that the "vboxvideo_drv.so" file compiled in Step 2b is in the proper folder.

- For any "Incompatible Version" issues:

Verify that the proper "vboxvideo_drv.so" file compiled in Step 2b as this is meant to be compatible with the latest version of the X server available on CentOS 7. (1.19.3 - Ver(23))

The present version of the X Server is found using the command:

X -version

- For any issues regarding incorrect syntax in the "Xorg.conf":

Verify that the "Xorg.conf" file in Step 3A matches the one in the "/etc/X11/" folder on the Guest OS.

II. "Rationale behind the process"

As it turns out, the VirtualBox Guest Additions has driver files for the X Server up to X 1.18 Ver(20) included natively. Oddly enough, these files should be included in the latest version of the Guest Additions for the latest stable release of the VirtualBox host client.

These driver files were available from an a repository by OpenIndiana for a open-source version of their own Solaris-based OS, that was still usable in RHEL-based Linux. Included are some links of reference and further support.

https://pkg.openindiana.org/hipster/manifest/0/x11%2Fserver%2Fxorg%2Fdriver%2Fxorg-video-vboxvideo%401.0.1%2C5.11-2018.0.0.1%3A20180212T053651Z
https://gist.github.com/yvt/a1fd215609c0f1e5a85c7562103f3e65
https://www.openindiana.org/2017/11/11/virtualbox-video-driver-compatible-with-xorg-1-19-5-available/