Ubuntu – How to compile an 4.2.x version of Guest Additions on Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS

guest-additionsvimvirtualbox

I would like to compile the Guest Additions from Virtual Box 4.2.12 on Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS. It is required to run gvim properly (see addendum below).

I can confirm that I was able to do so in 13.04 with Virtual Box 4.3.6. After countless hours of rebooting and reinstalling VMs and different Guest Additions I know with 100% certainty, regardless of the source of the bug, that 4.2.12 solved all my partial redraw issues in gvim.

Now in a new 14.04 VM I am unable to compile 4.2.12 and am desperate to get it working. I tried under Virtual Box 5.0.4 and 4.3.30. Heck even installing Guest Additions 4.3.0 (VB 4.3.30, Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS) fails.

The compilation fails, on a fresh installation of Ubuntu 14.04.3 (with updates) under Virtual Box 5.0.4 and 4.3.30. Either it fails at the shared folder module, or it says:

Warning: unknown version of the X Window System installed. Not installing
X Window System drivers.

Even when I do manage to compile (Guest Additions 4.3.30), it always says:

The headers for the current running kernel were not found. If the following
module compilation fails then this could be the reason.

I did all the usual tips, to no avail:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get remove dkms build-essential linux-headers-*
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
sudo apt-get install module-assistant

Is it possible to compile Guest Additions 4.2.12 at all under 14.04.3 ?

Addendum

Why install 4.2.12 you may ask? Well there is a very obscure bug with either GTK or Guest Additions for Ubuntu under a Windows 7 host (both 64 bit, with 3D enabled). There are redraw issues in gvim when switching tabs (tabs do not redraw properly) and when moving through the file, where only partial updates happen. gvim is absolutely essential for my workflow. You can see in my answer here that I have tried many VMs and Guest Additions versions, to isolate 4.2.12.

I also compiled gvim 7.3.637 under 14.04.3, and applied the patch from Chris in issue 91 to no avail.

Other things that don't solve my gvim issue (without 4.2.12), just in case:

setting ttyscroll=0 in vim
enabling "Qt Window Fix" in Compiz Config Settings Manager
starting gvim with --syncoption

Best Answer

X-server-1.5.-support is only available from Virtualbox >= 4.2.28.

So the error we see is related to Ubuntu using a newer XServer version which is not yet supported in older releases of the VirtualBox guest additions (also see this bug report).

This is why guest additions version 4.2.12 refuse to compile in Ubuntu 14.04.

Installing Guest additions from the repositories

In case we have installed the OSE edition of Virtual Box from the repositories we can add the guest additions from the repositories in the guest. This will install guest additions matching the Virtual Box version as obtained from the repositories. It is not recommended to install these in newer releases of Virtual Box as obtained from the Oracle repository (see below).

Alternatively we can install the package virtualbox-guest-additions-iso in the host Ubuntu.

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso

The .iso file with an image of the OSE edition of the guest additions CD will install in the host directory /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso. Mount this .iso file as a CD in your virtual machine's settings. In the guest you will then have access to a CD-ROM with the installer.

Installing Guest Additions from Virtual Box Manager

In case the Guest Additions fail to build we may have to install the Linux kernel headers (see How do I install kernel header files?) or build-essential tools in addition. It is also recommended to have dkms installed (see below - Note 4). You can run this command in a terminal to install both:

sudo apt install build-essential dkms

Selecting Devices -> Install Guest Additions (or press Host+D from the Virtual Box Manager) the Guest Additions CD .iso will be loaded but not installed in your guest OS. To install we need to run the installer script VBoxLinuxAdditions.run as root or from the Autorun Prompt (see below).

GNOME Shell

To install the Guest Additions we will have a CD icon on our desktop as soon as the virtual drive is mounted:

Next step is to run the autorun.sh script (as root) on this mounted CD by opening the drive and clicking on the "Run Software" button. This will build and install the vbox kernel modules needed.

Unity

The guest additions is mounted as a virtual CD visible on the launcher:

enter image description here

In case the system is set up to autorun a CD it should just open the following autorun dialogue (if not select the CD symbol, choose open, then choose Open Autorun Prompt)

enter image description here

After having entered your credentials for root access the guest additions will build as seen from the terminal output:

enter image description here

Press Return to close the terminal.

Note 1
Guest Additions need a reboot of your guest OS to take effect.

Note 2
In some systems the Virtual Box Guest Additions CD icon may not be shown on the desktop, but will be accessible from the Places menu. If the CD still was not there you may have to manually add the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso as a CD-ROM in the Virtual Box Manager Storage menu. In an Ubuntu host the disk image is in /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso.

Note 3
In some systems (e.g. when running Xubuntu guests) we may not have an Autorun Prompt for the mounted CD. Then we can install the guest additions by opening a terminal on the mounted guest additions .iso to run sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run. In Lubuntu or Ubuntu Server guests we additionally need to install the GNU C compiler (gcc ) and the make utility in the guest system to be able to compile the guest additions.

Note 4
Running DKMS in the guest OS will keep Guest Additions installed after a guest kernel update. It is not a prerequisite for Guest Additions but if used it should be installed before we install the Guest Additions.

Installing Guest Additions from a Terminal

In case Guest Additions are not installed properly we may not be able to boot to the GUI. In this case we need to boot holding the Shift key to access the Grub menu where we access a root shell as depicted in the following question (we do need to mount the filesystem read/write to proceed):

How do I boot into a root shell?

The Guest Additions .iso file needs to be installed on /dev/cdrom from the Virtual Box Manager (see above). We then may install Guest Additions by typing the following commands:

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt              # or any other mountpoint
cd /mnt
./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
reboot

Remove Guest Additions

In case something went wrong with installing the guest additions, or the guest OS can not boot after installing we may have to remove the additions. This can also be done from a root shell by running an uninstallation script located in the guest /opt directory.

cd /opt/<VirtualBoxAdditions-x.x.xx>/
sudo ./uninstall.sh

Replace x.x.xx with your current version of guest additions.

Ubuntu – Virtualbox , Ubuntu 11.10 , linux-kernel 3: cannot start virtual machine

Have you tried to build the kernel module?. It should have been builded during the installation, but it looks like it failed. You can try:

sudo dkms install virtualbox/4.1.2

This should build the module.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to install Guest Additions in a VirtualBox VM

Installing Guest additions from the repositories

Installing Guest Additions from Virtual Box Manager

GNOME Shell

Unity

Installing Guest Additions from a Terminal

Remove Guest Additions

Ubuntu – Virtualbox , Ubuntu 11.10 , linux-kernel 3: cannot start virtual machine

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