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I'm using Desktop 12.04. I run Windows XP for testing Lazarus and the guest OS is on Virtual Box.

Every few times a month, the Ubuntu update causes the Virtual Box to stop working. i.e., when I run the virtual box, it insists that I recompile some kernel module. Well, it's no big deal, but is there a way to avoid this? Can't it be automated or not stop working?

This development machine hardly shuts off and having to reboot the guest OS means a lot of time wasted because there are so many files/sessions open.

Thanks!

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  • Recompiling VirtualBox kernel modules is done via DKMS, so that is already autometed if you have installed both properly.
    – LiveWireBT
    May 2, 2013 at 6:04
  • 2
    @psusi: Virtual Box is Open Source, released under GPL V2. Only the extension pack is of PUEL.
    – Takkat
    May 2, 2013 at 6:19
  • @psusi I am using the extension pack with VirtualBox (open source) and that's about it. There's nothing else that is proprietory. Without the extensions, there are so many things that I cannot do. So I guess I need them.
    – itsols
    May 2, 2013 at 6:46
  • Hey the comment by psusi was removed. Does anyone recall the virtual box alternatives in that comment? One was qem. And the other?
    – itsols
    May 2, 2013 at 12:50
  • It was KVM, probably.
    – ignis
    May 2, 2013 at 13:48

2 Answers 2

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VirtualBox User Manual, "The VirtualBox kernel module":

If DKMS is available and installed, the VirtualBox kernel module should always work automatically, and it will be automatically rebuilt if your host kernel is updated.

If DKMS is not already installed, execute one of the following:
On an Ubuntu system:
sudo apt-get install dkms

Otherwise, there are only two situations in which you will need to worry about the kernel module: (...)

  • The kernel of your Linux host was updated and DKMS is not installed. In that case, the kernel module will need to be reinstalled by executing (as root):

    /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

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If you install a kernel update then you are going to have to recompile Virtual Box kernel modules for it to work once you boot with the new kernel. You could not install any new kernel updates.

I am not sure why you would have to reboot the guest OS. Recompiling of kernel modules should be done with the host machine and shouldn't change the state of the guest OS.

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