2016-02-08

virtualbox guest additions on debian

ok, this is a post for myself: every time that I need to install a new vm on virtualbox I systematically forget the steps to install guest additions!

most of the times, I install debian, so this "tutorial" will be focused on this particular linux distribution.

open a terminal:

# apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
# apt-get install dkms

now from the Devices menu, click on "Insert Guest Additions CD image..."

if the .iso will not mount automatically, in a terminal:

# mount /media/cdrom

then:

# sh /media/cdrom/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
# reboot

info: dkms

from virtualbox site: "Be sure to install DKMS before installing the Linux Guest Additions. If DKMS is not available or not installed, the guest kernel modules will need to be recreated manually whenever the guest kernel is updated".

actually these three packages are what we need for the guest additions: make, gcc, linux-headers, but they are included in dependencies of dkms so they are installed automatically with dkms.

p.s. it's recommended to install dkms even on the host system.

if the installation failed, make sure that you have the last .iso available and also the last version of Virtualbox