Guest Additions Install Fails Install without any error

JockVSJock · 09-16-2020, 07:33 PM

Don't know why this won't install correctly the 1st time. Earlier this year did an install and it took a few times before it finally installed. Just re-running the same commands over.

Just did an install and no errors. Both vboxadd-install.log and vboxadd-setup.log.2 don't show any errors.

Checking modules shows the following

Code:

vboxsf      81052     0
vboxguest   349038    0  vboxsf

Here are my notes on the steps that I took:

Quote:

install latest kernel

mount VB Guest Additions

install the following package: yum install -y epel-release or go to home page to get the correct URL:

https://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL

install the following packages either by repo or hand: gcc kernel-devel kernel-headers dkms make bzip2 perl

add running kernel env variable: KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/`uname -r`

export KERN_DIR

- mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom

install Guest Additions and run the following: ./VboxLinuxAdditions.run

Reboot

pretty much everything I find via Google.com doesn't talk about dealing when Guest Additions fails the install.

business_kid · 09-17-2020, 10:54 AM

Have You symlinks in Lib/modules/<version>/{build,source}?

Have you compiled in /usr/src/linux-<version>? If not, run 'make distclean' in the source. Then copy the appropriate /boot/config-<version> to the kernel source and rename it to .config. Then run 'make all' with a '-j' option to suit your box. No need to install it; just make it, and don't clean up.

THEN try compiling thekernel modules again for virtualbox.

JockVSJock · 09-17-2020, 05:24 PM

No on creating the symlinks to /lib/modules/<3.10.0-1127.19.1.el7.x86_64. I have no idea on why to do this. Any examples that you would recommend?

I do see there is a build and source directory. The build directory points to /usr/src/kernels/3.10.0-1127.19.1.el7.x86_65 and source has a softlink to build.

I also don't understand why I would have to compile /usr/src/kernel and then the other commands that you recommended? I would prefer to use the VirtualBox commands, but it isn't offering any meaningful output.

I've never have been successful in compiling my own kernel, but that was along time ago.

thanks

business_kid · 09-18-2020, 03:07 AM

The reason for those links is that the package building an external module can do something like 'cd source' and land in the kernel. It seems the symlinks are there.

Just humour me. Virtualbox needs a compiled source. Copy in the config from /boot, and build it. RH did the sweating to make it compile. And as a general rule, don't argue every point with someone trying to help you out. I've been in this mess, and I got myself out.

JockVSJock · 09-19-2020, 10:41 AM

What do you recommend to study for the kernel to get better at it?

I'm only familiar with what I think are basic kernel commands:

Code:

lsmod

modprobe 

rmmod

business_kid · 09-20-2020, 07:02 AM

I don't recommend kernel documentation. There's gigabytes of it and a the longest are 'how-to-shine' type documents that presume you're an idiot, or documents by geeks who have been assimilated into some university. They follow a typical university format:

Name of this document
contents …
Scope …
History …
Contributors …
What this document could have been about
What this document should have been about
Sections …

etc. etc. You hit real information on your third day of reading it.

I was trying to help you to build your virtualbox modules. How did that go?

JockVSJock · 10-15-2020, 05:05 AM

Not very well...seems like the install kind of worked. Shared folder between the host is working, along with the copy/paste of text to and from the guest to host and vice versa, however the screen size is small. Not sure if there is a way to fix this or not.

Dmesg does show the following, which is probably the problem

Code:

[    4.661866] vboxguest: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.
[    4.668813] vboxguest: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel

I've check /etc/rsyslog.conf and don't see any error messages getting logged to my console because of this.

thanks

business_kid · 10-16-2020, 08:45 AM

/var/log/vbox-install/log?

JockVSJock · 10-17-2020, 08:31 AM

Two types of logs output by VB Guest Additions under /var/log:

Code:

vboxadd-install.log
vboxadd-setup.log

Code:

[root@cent07001-docker log]# cat vboxadd-install.log 

VirtualBox Guest Additions: Starting.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel 
modules.  This may take a while.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: To build modules for other installed kernels, run
VirtualBox Guest Additions:   /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup <version>
VirtualBox Guest Additions: or
VirtualBox Guest Additions:   /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup all
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Building the modules for kernel 
3.10.0-1127.19.1.el7.x86_64.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Running kernel modules will not be replaced until 
the system is restarted

This is the current kernel version that I'm running, don't plan on updating it as this is a static CentOS7 that I use for Docker.

Code:

[root@cent07001-docker log]# uname -r
3.10.0-1127.19.1.el7.x86_64

Code:

[root@cent07001-docker log]# cat vboxadd-setup.log.3
Building the main Guest Additions 6.1.14 module for kernel 3.10.0-1127.19.1.el7.x86_64.
Building the shared folder support module.
Building the graphics driver module.

business_kid · 10-17-2020, 11:51 AM

That's what it should look like. Are there modules in /lib/modules/<kernel-version>/misc ??

JockVSJock · 10-18-2020, 08:35 PM

Yes, this is what I'm seeing for vb modules

Code:

[root@cent07001-docker misc]# ls -al
total 7756
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root      63 Oct 18 21:32 .
drwxr-xr-x. 8 root root    4096 Oct 18 21:30 ..
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 3238600 Sep 17 20:07 vboxguest.ko
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1782176 Sep 17 20:08 vboxsf.ko
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2910272 Sep 17 20:08 vboxvideo.ko

[root@cent07001-docker misc]# pwd
/lib/modules/3.10.0-1127.19.1.el7.x86_64/misc

Does it matter that there was a previous kernel, the stock kernel of 3.10.0-1127.el7.x86_64?

thanks

business_kid · 10-19-2020, 05:19 AM

As I understand it, if this kernel doesn't have them, vb builds it's own modules on startup if it can (rc.vboxdrv.sh IIRC).

If those modules are in the kernel you're running it should work.