1

I'm hoping that someone out here has a suggestion for resolving a VirtualBox problem that's been plaguing me.
I get the following message when starting Linux: 

VBoxClient the virtualbox kernel service is not running. exiting.

Troubleshooting that I've done--
I checked VirtualBox Ubuntu 14.04 - vboxclient the virtualbox kernel service is not running as well as https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=77363&start=15
I ran-- 

user@Lenovo-B570 ~ $ sudo /sbin/rcvboxdrv setup  
Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules ...done.
Uninstalling old VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules ...done.
Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMSError! echo
Your kernel headers for kernel 4.4.8-040408-generic cannot be found at
/lib/modules/4.4.8-040408-generic/build or /lib/modules/4.4.8-040408-generic/source.
 ...failed!
  (Failed, trying without DKMS)
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel modules ...failed!
  (Look at /var/log/vbox-install.log to find out what went wrong)  
checking the log file showed-  
DKMS: add completed.
Failed to install using DKMS, attempting to install without
Makefile:185: *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and run Make again.  Stop.

The only thing that has worked is booting up in legacy Ubuntu R13. But this doesn't work consistently. I hope that this is enough info and enough troubleshooting to display incentive.
thank you in advance

Community
  • 1
Cornucopia
  • 11

2 Answers2

1

How did kernel 4.4.8 appear on your 14.04 system? You have installed a mainline kernel most likely. Mainline kernels lack the linux-image-extra package. This package contains the necessary drivers and software for several devices and apps, including Virtualbox.

You have to install an officially supported kernel on your system. The latest so far is 4.4.0-53-generic but 4.8 is on the way. The package name should be linux-generic-lts-xenial. I'm not using 14.04 and I'm not 100% sure about the name.

Stormlord
  • 6,807
0

If the VirtualBox kernel service is not running in the guest, you should first of all install the kernel headers (in the guest) for the current kernel, if they are not already installed. Then reinstall the VirtualBox Guest Additions. At least it worked for me.

callmebilly
  • 1