Comments on Installing VirtualBox 2 On A Debian Lenny Desktop
Installing VirtualBox 2 On A Debian Lenny Desktop This tutorial shows how you can install Sun xVM VirtualBox 2 on a Debian Lenny desktop. VirtualBox is available as a package from the official Debian Lenny repository, but it's very old (version 1.6.6), therefore I explain how to install the current version (2.1.4 at the time of this writing). With VirtualBox you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux and Windows under a host operating system. There are two ways of installing VirtualBox: from precompiled binaries that are available for some distributions and come under the PUEL license, and from the sources that are released under the GPL. This article will show how to set up VirtualBox 2 (2.1.4 at the time of this writing) from the precompiled binaries.
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I found these steps that will get your USB devices working.
Edit /etc/fstab and add:
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=XXX,devmode=664 0 0
Change XXX to be a group you are a member of, vboxusers is a natural choice (cat /etc/group | grep vboxusers - use the number there).
http://jeremychapman.info/cms/get-usb-working-in-virtualbox-under-debian-and-ubuntu
There is an easy workaround. Before starting the virtual machine, define /media as a shared folder. Then from windows explorer, map a network drive M: (for example) as \\VBOXSRV\media. You will then be able to access files on the USB memory stick at M:\disk.
I am running VirtualBox 2.1.4 on Debian Lenny.
As root:
- Add to /etc/apt/sources.list the following line:
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lenny non-free
- Install the linux headers package "linux-headers-all" or similar (you do not have this step and if the package is not installed you cannot build the kernel module, which means VB won't start)
- Install the key
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add - -
apt-get update
apt-get install virtualbox-2.1
And that's it. No need to install gdebi and similar and of course it is not advisable downloading and installing the package manually when there is a specific repo for debian Lenny...
The steps are described here: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads
You don't need to download the Debian package from the Virtualbox's webpage first and then install it. Virtualbox project maintains their own Debian repository and you can install Virtualbox using eg. Synaptic or aptitude. If you use the repository you will also get updates automatically when those are available.
1) Open terminal-window
2) Download Sun public key for secure-apt:
$ wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc
3) switch to root using command su (give root's password when asked
$ su
4) Add Sun public key to keyring:
# apt-key add sun_vbox.asc
5) Remove key file
# rm sun_vbox.asc
6) Add Virtualbox repository to the /etc/apt/sources.list
# gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Add this line to file:
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lenny non-free
Save file and then close the text editor.
7) Update the package database:
# aptitude update
8) Install Virtualbox 2.1
# aptitude install virtualbox-2.1
9) Add user to vboxusers group, eg:
# adduser miksuh vboxusers
Yes, it is true. I installed VBox with this method. But VirtualBox is useful but only if you don't want to connect devices to the guest operating system. I mean a USB stick cannot be seen from the guest.
These instructions are outdated. You need the oracle key and the repository is no longer non-free (but contrib).
Follow these directions to add VirtualBox to the aptitude sources on a Debian Linux box:
information is very clear. good and understandable explanation. super-topics. Thank you for sharing a very nice web site.
Thanks a lot, Falko! It worked out very easily to get VirtualBox up and running! Thanks for taking the time to make the tutorial.