VirtualBox 4.3 on Ubuntu 13.10 unable to run VM

Question

Like Ubuntu 13.10 VirtualBox Error Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

I am also having a problem I keep getting the following error :

Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMSError! Your kernel headers    for kernel 3.8.0-25-generic cannot be found.
Please install the linux-headers-3.8.0-25-generic package,
or use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located
 ...failed!
  (Failed, trying without DKMS)
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel modules ...failed!
  (Look at /var/log/vbox-install.log to find out what went wrong)
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...

I am unable to start a Virtual Machine I installed from repository. Any ideas ?

EDIT:

When I start a vm I get :

Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver (vboxdrv) is either not loaded or there is a      permission problem with /dev/vboxdrv. Please reinstall the kernel module by executing

'/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup'

as root. If it is available in your distribution, you should install the DKMS package     first. This package keeps track of Linux kernel changes and recompiles the vboxdrv kernel     module if necessary.

EDIT

The same errors with VirtualBox4.2 EDIT

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-3.8.0-25-generic

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package linux-headers-3.8.0-25-generic is not available, but is referred to by another package. This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source
E: Package 'linux-headers-3.8.0-25-generic' has no installation candidate

EDIT UPDATE

Manually updated the kernel from 3.8.0.25 to 3.10.0-031000-generic and now it all works !

Solution 1

The installed kernel was absolute. Its headers is not any more in the repository. So the best thing to do is to update the kernel to last version in the repository.

Check which kernel running:

uname -a

Update the kernel, linux-generic is a meta package to keep current version of the kernel & its headers:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install linux-generic

Reboot, Check again:

uname -a

If it didn't work, then use Synaptic to install its headers or upgrade/install to the last kernel release (search for "linux").

Solution 2

Not an answer, but I can confirm that Virtual Box runs perfectly on Ubuntu 13.10.

Virtual box was installed as a .deb file instead of using the virtual box repository.

$ virtualbox --help | head -1
Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager 4.3.6

$ uname -sri
Linux 3.11.0-15-generic x86_64

$ lsb_release -d
Description:    Ubuntu 13.10

$ modinfo vboxdrv
filename:       /lib/modules/3.11.0-15-generic/updates/dkms/vboxdrv.ko
version:        4.3.6 (0x001a0007)
license:        GPL
description:    Oracle VM VirtualBox Support Driver
author:         Oracle Corporation
srcversion:     1AA7B037C45EF6842CB7222
depends:        
vermagic:       3.11.0-15-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
parm:           force_async_tsc:force the asynchronous TSC mode (int)

Hope that helps you.

Comments

[avrono]

I was on 3.8.0.25 , I have upgraded to 3.11 and all works fine now

[avrono]

First thing I tried ... Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Package linux-headers-3.8.0-25-generic is not available, but is referred to by another package. This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source E: Package 'linux-headers-3.8.0-25-generic' has no installation candidate

[user.dz]

Seems that package list is outdated. Try update your system (kernel). sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade . reboot, install the new kernel header. sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic

[avrono]

Yes, because the Kernel has moved way beyond 3.8 , I think we are at 3.12 now ... don`t see how your suggestion will help

[user.dz]

"linux-headers-3.8.0-25-generic is not available" So why not to upgrade to the current kernel which has headers in the repository? So VBox can build its module.

[avrono]

Because I am already on the latest , those are old headers which are no longer available in the repository, so I would need to downgrade ....

[avrono]

Will try install manually ...

[avrono]

Thanks @Mark, I tried the .deb too ... still no joy ... will soldier on ...

[avrono]

@Sneetsher you were right, I needed to upgrade, for some reason was not working. I manually updated the kernel and now works fine