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I am currently using VirtualBox 3.2. I would like to upgrade it to latest version without losing any operating systems in it. How can I achieve this?

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3 Answers

up vote 11 down vote accepted

Head on over to this page and download the Ubuntu package for your version / architecture.

Be sure to get the VirtualBox extension pack too. (This provides USB 2.0 and RDP support.) The most recent version can be found on the VirtualBox Downloads page.

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+1 From experience I know that you won't loose your Virtual Machines when you do this – fluteflute Dec 29 '10 at 17:12
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I can confirm this. VBox 3.2 needs to be removed before installing 4.0 but you will not loose any vdi :) – Takkat Dec 29 '10 at 18:46
i can also confirm this. I have upgraded to virtualbox 4 yesterday. working fine with compiz. – aneeshep Dec 30 '10 at 5:21
The link to the VirtualBox extension pack is outdated. The current version is 4.0.2 which can be found at virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads – Lekensteyn Feb 15 '11 at 14:48
@Lek: You can edit my answer. – Nathan Osman Feb 15 '11 at 18:38
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up vote 8 down vote

Add one line to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian maverick contrib

The Oracle public key for apt-secure can be downloaded here. You can add this key with

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

To install VirtualBox, do

sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.0
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+1 for the key ;) – Takkat Dec 29 '10 at 18:48
It's better to add the repo if you can. I have updated my own machine without problems. – Javier Rivera Dec 30 '10 at 8:15
up vote 2 down vote

You should be able to upgrade virtualbox from the ppa available from virtualbox directly.

There is also a good ppa if you want to make sure you keep the open source edition (ose):

https://launchpad.net/~debfx/+archive/virtualbox

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broken links, -1 – Henrik Aug 26 '12 at 16:48
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You could have just asked me to fix it. – Martin Owens -doctormo- Aug 29 '12 at 4:15
+1 Or easier still, just edit the answer with the new link... – Tom Brossman Aug 29 '12 at 6:55
I give -1 when there are broken links. You fix. I upvote (I can, because you edited the answer)! Win-win! – Henrik Aug 29 '12 at 7:05
Tom: not sure Henrik could edit the answer. – Martin Owens -doctormo- Sep 3 '12 at 3:53
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