I just did a Fedora reboot after a kernel upgrade, and when I try to start Windows in Virtual Box, I get this error:

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Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)
The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver is either not loaded or not set up correctly. Please try setting it up again by executing ‘/sbin/vboxconfig’ as root.

If your system has EFI Secure Boot enabled you may also need to sign the kernel modules (vboxdrv, vboxnetflt, vboxnetadp, vboxpci) before you can load them. Please see your Linux system’s documentation for more information.

where: suplibOsInit what: 3 VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED (-1908) – The support driver is not installed. On linux, open returned ENOENT.

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When I run /sbin/vboxconfig, I get:

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vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules.
vboxdrv.sh: failed: Look at /var/log/vbox-setup.log to find out what went wrong.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox. To re-start the set-up process, run /sbin/vboxconfig as root. If your system is using EFI Secure Boot you may need to sign the kernel modules (vboxdrv, vboxnetflt, vboxnetadp, vboxpci) before you can load them. Please see your Linux system’s documentation for more information.

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Here’s the log:

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Building the main VirtualBox module.
Error building the module:
/tmp/vbox.0/Makefile-header.gmk:100: *** The variable KERN_DIR must be a kernel build folder and end with /build without a trailing slash, or KERN_VER must be set. Stop.

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Now what?

[Noon update]

So I followed the instructions here, including the reboot, and still no joy. Now the error log is (click on “continue reading if you want to see it):

[Update a while later]

OK, it was the new kernel. I reverted to the previous one and it’s fine. I wonder if I should report this to Oracle, or Fedora, or both?

[Update a while later]

OK, I updated to the new version of VirtualBox, and it now works with the new kernel. I guess VB doesn’t automatically update when I do a general update. I should probably add the repository for it.

Continue reading Virtual Box Woes →

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