Wednesday, April 10, 2013

HOWTO : VirtualBox 4.2.10 on Pentoo 2013.0 RC1.1

The current version (at the time of this writing) of VirtualBox is 4.2.10. However, it is masked in the main stream of Gentoo so as Pentoo. The reason of mask is unstable. It is recommended to use 4.1.24 from the Gentoo.

To install the current version of VirtualBox, you need to unmask it. I am a new comer of Gentoo/Pentoo, so my tutorial may not be 100% right.

Step 1 :

sudo eix virtualbox

sudo nano /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords

Append the following lines :

=app-emulation/virtualbox-bin-4.2.10 ~amd64
=app-emulation/virtualbox-modules-4.2.10 ~amd64
=app-emulation/virtualbox-guest-additions-4.2.10 ~amd64
=app-emulation/virtualbox-extpack-oracle-4.2.10 ~amd64
=app-emulation/virtualbox-additions-4.2.10 ~amd64
=app-emulation/virtualbox-4.2.10 ~amd64


sudo eix-update
sudo eix virtualbox


You will then see the current version on the screen.

sudo nano /etc/portage/make.conf

Append "PUEL" at the end of the ACCEPT_LICENSE :

ACCEPT_LICENSE="AdobeFlash-11.x Intel-SDP PUEL"

Step 2 (Install from the binary) :

** This step is tested **

Then check if the installation of VirtualBox will be working or not. I am going to install the "virtualbox-bin", the binary file, instead of compiling from source :

sudo emerge -pa virtualbox-bin

If everything is alright, you can install it :

sudo emerge -av virtualbox-bin

Step 3 :

After the installation, you need to add yourself (samiux here) to the group of "vboxusers" on the host (Pentoo) :

sudo gpasswd -a samiux vboxusers
sudo gpasswd -a vboxusers samiux


Step 4 :

Since the necessary modules of VirtualBox do not load properly, you need the following script to load and unload it when necessary.



Download it and save it at /etc/init.d/virtualbox :

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/virtualbox

To start it :

sudo /etc/init.d/virtualbox start

To stop it :
sudo /etc/init.d/virtualbox stop

To start it automatically when boot :

sudo rc-update add virtualbox default

Update :

According to one of the developers, you have another way to load the modules automatically :

echo modules="vboxdrv vboxnetflt vboxnetadp" >> /etc/conf.d/modules

Step 5 (General Linux) :

Install Linux guest (when necessary). After the installation, you need to add yourself (samiux here) to the group of "vboxsf" on the guest (Linux) :

sudo gpasswd -a samiux vboxsf

*** make sure it is vboxsf BUT NOT vboxfs.

Then, the share folder feature will be working properly.

Step 6 (Pentoo) :

Install the same version of virtualbox-guest-additions in your guest (Pentoo / Gentoo) as above mentioned method.

At the guest (Pentoo), you should do the following as the required module does not load properly and the mount does not work automatically.

sudo nano /etc/local.d/00-vboxsf.start

modprobe vboxsf
mount -t vboxsf vbox_share /media/sf_vbox_share


sudo chmod +x /etc/local.d/00-vboxsf.start

sudo gpasswd -a samiux vboxsf

Reboot your guest.

That's all! See you.