CentOS, kernel-ml 4.19 - VBoxGuestAddition installation fails: Kernel configuration is invalid

kamild1996 · 10-27-2018, 09:49 AM

Hello,
I'm running CentOS with kernel 4.19 on a VirtualBox 5.2.20 virtual machine, and I'm trying to follow this guide on how to install VirtualBox Guest Additions on the system.
However, when the installation finished, I'm being informed about errors in "vboxadd-setup.log", the error being:

Code:

echo >&2; \
echo >&2 " ERROR: Kernel configuration is invalid."; \
echo >&2 " include/generated/autoconf.h or include/config/auto.conf are missing.";\
echo >&2 " Run 'make oldconfig && make prepare' on kernel src to fix it."; \
echo >&2 ; \

Some googling told me this might be caused by lack of -devel and -headers packages for the kernel. I believe I have them all though.

Code:

kernel-ml.x86_64                        4.19.0-1.el7.elrepo       @elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-devel.x86_64                  4.19.0-1.el7.elrepo       @elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-doc.noarch                    4.19.0-1.el7.elrepo       @elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-headers.x86_64                4.19.0-1.el7.elrepo       @elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-tools.x86_64                  4.19.0-1.el7.elrepo       @elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-tools-libs.x86_64             4.19.0-1.el7.elrepo       @elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-tools-libs-devel.x86_64       4.19.0-1.el7.elrepo       @elrepo-kernel

(though all packages except for kernel-ml are colored red, idk if that means anything)

Ideas?

business_kid · 10-27-2018, 10:49 AM

Welcome to LQ.

Have you installed the kernel source via rpm/yum/dnf or whatever they're using now?
Wherever the kernel is (probably under /boot as vmlinuz-<long number> there usually is a file config-<long number>. copy that to the kernel source as .config. Then you should be able to build a kernel. You don't need to install it. Vbox likes to dip into it.

kamild1996 · 10-27-2018, 11:00 AM

Thanks for the response.

I installed kernel-ml-devel and kernel-ml-headers via yum, aren't these the kernel sources?
Or do I actually have to get the full kernel source, like described here? Never had to do that on other distros...

I'll try with copying over the said file and I'll report back, thank you.

jsbjsb001 · 10-27-2018, 11:23 AM

While I can't say for sure where you've gone wrong, but I suspect it may have been at the "5. Add KERN_DIR environment variable" part. You are correct in saying you need the -headers and the -devel packages for the kernel installed.

I just installed the guest additions in my CentOS 7.3 VM with kernel-ml version 4.19.0-1. It did complain with the same message as you got in it's log. But upon restart of the VM, the guest additions are installed and working.

I didn't follow the guide you linked per se though. I just installed the relevant kernel-ml packages and then mounted the guest additions ISO and run the installer for them.

kamild1996 · 10-27-2018, 11:34 AM

Nope, copying the file didn't help.
After restart it kinda works - shared clipboard seems to work, but the screen driver not so much (no more resolution options, the resolution not changing on window resize...). I'd like to get it to work, I'd love some more screen space