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Install VirtualBox 7 on Linux Mint 21

Prereqs

  • a PC (BIOS/UEFI) running Linux Mint 21

Import GPG key

By default, VirtualBox 6 is available in the Linux Mint 21 repo, not VirtualBox 7. In the next step, we'll add it to our system. First, let's import the Oracle VirtualBox GPG keys that sign the software.

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wget -q -O- https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes --output /usr/share/keyrings/oracle-virtualbox-2016.gpg

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guru@lab:~$ wget -q -O- https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes --output /usr/share/keyrings/oracle-virtualbox-2016.gpg
[sudo] password for guru:     
guru@lab:~$

Add repository

Add the official VirtualBox repository to Linux mint 21. New versions will be available when you update the Linux Mint system.

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echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oracle-virtualbox-2016.gpg] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list

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guru@lab:~$ echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oracle-virtualbox-2016.gpg] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list  
deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oracle-virtualbox-2016.gpg] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy contrib
guru@lab:~$

Update package list

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sudo apt update

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guru@lab:~$ sudo apt update
Ign:1 https://mintlinux.mirror.wearetriple.com/packages virginia InRelease
Hit:2 https://mintlinux.mirror.wearetriple.com/packages virginia Release                            
Hit:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease                                                     
Hit:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease                                                               
Get:5 http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy InRelease [4.428 B]
Hit:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease                  
Hit:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports InRelease
Get:9 http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy/contrib amd64 Packages [1.495 B]
Fetched 5.923 B in 1s (5.015 B/s)     
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.
guru@lab:~$

Install VirtualBox

Notice in the output, a group vboxusers will be created.

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sudo apt install virtualbox-7.0

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guru@lab:~$ sudo apt install virtualbox-7.0 -y
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
libqt5help5 libqt5opengl5 libqt5printsupport5 libqt5sql5 libqt5sql5-sqlite libqt5x11extras5 libqt5xml5 libsdl-ttf2.0-0 libsdl1.2debian
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libqt5help5 libqt5opengl5 libqt5printsupport5 libqt5sql5 libqt5sql5-sqlite libqt5x11extras5 libqt5xml5 libsdl-ttf2.0-0 libsdl1.2debian virtualbox-7.0
0 upgraded, 10 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 93,9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 224 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/universe amd64 libqt5sql5 amd64 5.15.3+dfsg-2ubuntu0.2 [123 kB]
...
...
Setting up virtualbox-7.0 (7.0.20-163906~Ubuntu~jammy) ...
Adding group `vboxusers' (GID 138) ...
Done.
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.26+mint3+victoria) ...
...
guru@lab:~$

Verify installed version

In a next step, we'll install the VirtualBox Extension Pack. It is important that the version matches the version of VirtualBox. Let's checkout the version of VirtualBox.

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vboxmanage -v | cut -dr -f1

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guru@lab:~$ vboxmanage -v | cut -dr -f1
7.0.20
guru@lab:~$

Download extension pack

In this case, the version is 7.0.20. Download the Extension Pack with the same version.

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wget https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.0.20/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.20.vbox-extpack

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guru@lab:~$ wget https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.0.20/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.20.vbox-extpack
--2024-07-18 14:59:08--  https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.0.20/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.20.vbox-extpack
Resolving download.virtualbox.org (download.virtualbox.org)... 92.123.50.125
Connecting to download.virtualbox.org (download.virtualbox.org)|92.123.50.125|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 18263914 (17M) [text/plain]
Saving to: ‘Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.20.vbox-extpack’

Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.20.vbox-extpack     100%[=========================================================================================================================================>]  17,42M  56,5MB/s    in 0,3s    

2024-07-18 14:59:09 (56,5 MB/s) - ‘Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.20.vbox-extpack’ saved [18263914/18263914]

guru@lab:~$

Install extension pack

You will be prompted to agree to the Oracle’s license terms and conditions.

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sudo vboxmanage extpack install Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.20.vbox-extpack

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guru@lab:~$ sudo vboxmanage extpack install Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.20.vbox-extpack 
VirtualBox Extension Pack Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL)

License version 11, 21 May 2020

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING ORACLE VM VIRTUALBOX EXTENSION PACK PERSONAL
USE AND EVALUATION LICENSE CAREFULLY BEFORE DOWNLOADING OR USING THE
ORACLE SOFTWARE...
...
...
Do you agree to these license terms and conditions (y/n)? y

License accepted. For batch installation add
--accept-license=33d7284dc4a0ece381196fda3cfe2ed0e1e8e7ed7f27b9a9ebc4ee22e24bd23c
to the VBoxManage command line.

0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Successfully installed "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack".
guru@lab:~$

Verify extension pack

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vboxmanage list extpacks | grep "Version"

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guru@lab:~$ vboxmanage list extpacks | grep "Version"
Version:        7.0.20
guru@lab:~$

Add user to vboxusers group

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sudo usermod -aG vboxusers guru

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guru@lab:~$ sudo usermod -aG vboxusers guru
guru@lab:~$

Reboot + verify group membership

The user's current session doesn't automatically update with the new group memberships. The id command only reflects the groups that the current session is aware of. The easiest way is to do a reboot first. Then check if the user is member of the group.

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sudo reboot
id

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guru@lab:~$ id
uid=1000(guru) gid=1000(guru) groups=1000(guru),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),30(dip),46(plugdev),115(lpadmin),136(sambashare),138(vboxusers),999(vboxsf)
guru@lab:~$

Start VirtualBox

Select "Menu" and start typing "vir". Start "Oracle VM VirtualBox".