Need help installing Virtualbox Guest Additions for a Linux Guest

[Zacharia]

I like Virtualbox and i have installed it on my Windows system. Now one of my friend that is having Linux system wants to install Virtualbox Guest Additions for a Linux Guest. As a Windows user i don't have idea of doing that but hope you guys can help me out for sure. Please guide me installing Virtualbox Guest Additions for a Linux Guest? I appreciate your help.

[Lillebror]

The VirtualBox Guest Additions for Linux are provided on the same ISO CD-ROM as the Additions for Windows described above. They also come with an installation program guiding you through the setup process, although, due to the significant differences between Linux distributions, installation may be slightly more complex.

Before installing the Guest Additions, you will have to prepare your guest system for building external kernel modules. This works similarly as described in the section called “The VirtualBox kernel module”, except that this step must now be performed in your Linux guest instead of on a Linux host system, as described there.

Again, as with Linux hosts, we recommend using DKMS for Linux guests as well. If it is not installed, use this command:

sudo apt-get install dkms

Install DKMS before installing the Linux Guest Additions.

Mount the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso file as your Linux guest's virtual CD-ROM drive, exactly the same way as described for a Windows guest in the section called “Mounting the Additions ISO file”.

Change to the directory where your CD-ROM drive is mounted and execute as root:

sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run

In a 64-bit Linux guest, use VBoxLinuxAdditions-amd64.run instead.

The VirtualBox Guest Additions contain several different drivers. If for any reason you do not wish to install them all, you can specify the ones which you wish on the command line - for example

sh ./VBoxAdditions.run x11

to install the X Window graphic drivers. Type in the command

sh ./VBoxAdditions.run help

for more information.

To recompile the guest kernel modules, use this command:

/etc/init.d/vboxadd setup

After compilation you should reboot your guest to ensure that the new modules are actually used.

[Calvin K]

The Guest Additions can simply be updated by going through the installation procedure again with an updated CD-ROM image. This will replace the drivers with updated versions. You should reboot after updating the Guest Additions.No additional configuration for the mouse integration should be needed, but you may have to manually update to a better resolution as wanted.

[MrChris-]

In Linux guests, VirtualBox video acceleration is available through the X Window System. Typically, in today's Linux distributions, this will be the X.Org server. During the installation process, X will be set up to use the VirtualBox video driver. On recent Linux guests, graphics modes can be selected by resizing the VirtualBox window using the mouse, or sending video mode hints using the VBoxManage tool.

As the guest sees a virtual graphics card, not the host graphics card. The virtual graphics card provides the necessary VESA and VGA features to make the guest operative systems work OK. Additional features, like higher resolutions, is provided by the graphics driver included with the guest additions.