Cannot run Virtualbox within Ubermix 1.08 because of custom kernel

[macduffie]

I installed Virtualbox but I cannot get it to run because it needs to compile a driver (vboxdrv) but it cannot because the kernel headers are not installed and I cannot install them. If the source was available, I'd compile the kernel headers myself.

Here is the error message when I attempt to run /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup:

 Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMS                  Error! Your kernel headers for kernel 3.8.5-41-generic cannot be found.
Please install the linux-headers-3.8.5-41-generic package,
or use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located.

A related error occurs when I install Virtualbox:

Failed to install using DKMS, attempting to install without
Makefile:181: *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and run Make again.  Stop.

Any suggestions? I need to install VirtualBox in order to run Windows within Ubermix to run Internet Explorer in order to run a Sliverlight application, Teacher Plus Gradebook by Rediker. I've tried Moonlight and Wine without any success. I looked the Ngenx extension for Chrome, but the costs is at minimum $5 per user per month with a minimum of 20 users.

I could configure a RDP setup with a Windows machine, but I've used a vbox vm on my Mac running Windows with IE  and it works very well.

The most straight forward solution would be to make the custom kernel headers available in the software repository and allow for installation via apt-get with a note that the base system will need to be re-sized which I have already done.

Thanks.

[jnetman1]

Virtualbox works fine with ubermix - am guessing there is an issue with the package you are using. Go to https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads and download the i386 package for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS ("Precise Pangolin").

[jnetman1]

If the VirtualBox icon doesn't appear right away under System Tools, ctrl-alt-delete and logout/in or reboot and it should appear.

[macduffie]

Thanks for the quick response, but I already did exactly what you instructed after the 4.1 version from the Ubuntu Software Center generated a similar error, but in that version the vboxdrv could not be found. I uninstalled it and then downloaded the specified version from the vbox website.

I tried to attach a screen shot of the error messages but I kept getting a message about not being able to access the image path.   

When I follow the directions I get the message about the linux kernel header files for the current kernel not being found because they are not present. The 3.2 kernel header files are installed.

The VM I'm trying to use is from a Microsoft website, http://modern.ie, which offers a variety of VMs for testing various versions of Internet Explorer. I had success with the XP/IE8 VM on another machine. This time I installed the Win7/IE 10 VM. I'll try another VM to see if it may be at fault.

[jnetman1]

Strange, I'm not seeing any issues - tested on a fresh install this morning. Are you sure you didn't remove the headers? They are definitely there by default - a bunch of ubermix functions require them. I run virtualbox myself on my own ubermix laptop, which is my daily driver, and haven't ever had a problem.

[jnetman1]

Also, the 3.2 headers shouldn't be there at all. Maybe a fresh download and install of 1.082 is in order.

[macduffie]

Alright, I'll start over from scratch. I downloaded the latest image on Friday. Here is what I see for headers and kernel version:

user@system-4b357f:/usr/src$ ls -alF
total 16
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 4096 Jul 21 10:21 ./
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Sep  2  2012 ../
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4096 Jul 20 23:20 linux-headers-3.2.0-49/
drwxr-xr-x  7 root root 4096 Jul 20 23:20 linux-headers-3.2.0-49-generic/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   32 Jul  4 11:36 vboxhost-4.2.16 -> ../share/virtualbox/src/vboxhost/
user@system-4b357f:/usr/src$ uname -a
Linux system-4b357f 3.8.5-41-generic #2 SMP Fri Mar 29 20:57:18 PDT 2013 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

[macduffie]

I reset the laptop and did a re-install. The correct header files are now in place. I think what happened was that in the process of troubleshooting the install of Virtualbox 4.1, I had followed instructions posted on Ubuntu, which called for a purge of Vbox, DKMS and headers and re-install of DKMS and the headers before I re-installed Vbox. which caused me to install the 3.2 headers instead of the 3.8.5 headers.

Maybe the headers should be added to the repository to prevent the 3.2 headers from being installed if someone makes a similar mistake?

Sorry for the mix-up. It's all working now. I downloaded the smaller WinXP/IE8 VM and it is running now without any hiccup. Thanks.