Support for VirtualBox

#1

After upgrading from Fedora Workstation 30 to 31 I’m currently experiencing issues launching Oracle VirtualBox.
When launching the application I get following problem report:

"Your problem seems to be caused by VirtualBox

Fedora does not support VirtualBox (host nor client), because it uses kernel modules that are not included in the upstream kernel. You are free to use QEMU/KVM for virtualization purposes."

I’ve re-installed VirtualBox without any luck.
According to the dnf package manager VirtualBox 6.0.14-2.fc31 was the one being installed.

So my question is: what to do - find an alternative or do you know any kind of “fix” for this issue ?

Thank you.

1 Like
#2

I recommend this:

1 Like
#3

Virtualbox needs kernel modules for the currently running kernel.

so you need to install kernel-devel and some tools to compile those modules and to automate those compiles (a systemd service).
I guess the package is called “(a)kmod-VirtualBox” which - AFAIK - pulls in all you need to be able to compile.
But I’m not up to date and you will find in this forum info’s to set it up. It’s easy !

a short check here, turns out: a run of

sudo dnf install akmod-VirtualBox

will pull in all packages needed (hopefully all: a compiler is already installed on my box).
And I also guess the first module compile is triggered (later it goes automatic during boot services)

systemctl | grep -iE ‘Virtual | kmod’

and/or

lsmod | grep vbox

should show this.

#4

this link should help https://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/ i’ve had virtualbox running in fedora 31 since beta and have had no issues

#5

As above ^

https://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/2010/install-virtualbox-with-yum-on-fedora-centos-red-hat-rhel/

Definitely try this before you move to an alternative, VirtualBox is great.

#6

Not trying to be a smartass here, but you do realize that Fedora comes with something called ‘Boxes,’ which are VMs which are baked into the OS, right? Granted they aren’t as customizable as some of the other alternatives, but, they are more stable. I’ve had problems with other VM products crashing and taking the Guest and Host OS with them, forcing a reboot of the Host OS, so I’ll take stability over customization every time.

#7

From my experience, VirtualBox in Fedora is problematic every time you upgrade the kernel, as others mentioned before. You can use the native KVM/QEMU virtualization libraries that are shipped by default with Fedora. I suggest you to use Cockpit to create and manage your virtual machines and Gnome Boxes to access to them. I have got a virtual machine with Windows 10 this way and works seamlessly. I put you off to use virt-manager because it is deprecated (https://fedoramagazine.org/create-virtual-machines-with-cockpit-in-fedora/). The drawback with managing the virtual machines with Gnome Boxes is that they are installed in you home directory, making it impossible to share it with other users. That’s why I recommend you to use Cockpit to create and manage virtual machines and Gnome Boxes to access to them via Spice protocol. Look up information in Internet. There is a lot and it’s very easy :wink:
Regards.