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So I have been trying to install virtualbox on my live usb with persistent storage. I have about 100GB so I know that is not the issue, I have followed several youtube video through the process of installing virtualbox, but no matter how hard I try I cannot get virtualbox to ever install. I download the virtualbox software from the website, then I open terminal in downloads, run sudo dpkg -i install <name of file> and then run sudo apt-get -f install but instead of installing dependencies, it just forces me to uninstall the virtualbox installation. The files doesn't disappear from my downloads, but no matter what it will never download the dependencies.

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    It's in the repos. You should be able to install it with sudo apt install virtualbox.
    – KGIII
    Dec 12, 2020 at 2:02
  • It's possible the virtualbox package you downloaded was for a different OS or release, and thus the only fix is it's removal due to dependency clash. We can't help with that without having access to the actual message lines on your install commands (initial install and/or --fix-broken). Why not use the Ubuntu repo. version as KGIII said!
    – guiverc
    Dec 12, 2020 at 3:03
  • Does this answer your question? How to install VirtualBox from command line?
    – guiverc
    Dec 12, 2020 at 3:04
  • I did try to do 'sudo apt install virtualbox' from outside of the Downloads directory. Here's what it gives me: Package virtualbox is a virtual package provided by: virtualbox-6.1 6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~eoan virtualbox-6.0 6.0.24-139119~Ubuntu~eoan You should explicitly select one to install. E: Package 'virtualbox' has no installation candidate Then I ran this: sudo apt install virtualbox-6.1 6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~eoan result: E: Unable to locate package 6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~eoan
    – tinesofpwer11
    Dec 12, 2020 at 3:11
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    Does this answer your question? How do I install a .deb file via the command line?
    – karel
    Dec 17, 2020 at 8:30

1 Answer 1

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Seems like you are describing the correct, expected behavior.

dpkg does not handle dependencies or repositories. It only installs or uninstalls the package that it's told to (that's an oversimplification).

Instead, most folks use apt when possible. Apt does handle repositories and dependencies.

  • You can use apt to install downloaded packages:
    sudo apt install /path/to/file_name.deb
  • Generally, it's easier to use the Ubuntu repositories than to download software yourself:
    sudo apt install virtualbox

Opinion: I've used Virtualbox every workday for years. Most users do not need to expend the extra effort to download Vbox from upstream and puzzle out the dependencies. The Ubuntu package works quite well, is already meshed to the correct dependencies, and is fully-featured.

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  • Alright so I tried sudo apt install virtualbox Here's what it gives me: "Package virtualbox is a virtual package provided by: virtualbox-6.1 6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~eoan virtualbox-6.0 6.0.24-139119~Ubuntu~eoan You should explicitly select one to install. E: Package 'virtualbox' has no installation candidate" Then I ran this: sudo apt install virtualbox-6.1 6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~eoan result: "E: Unable to locate package 6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~eoan "
    – tinesofpwer11
    Dec 12, 2020 at 2:23
  • Looks like you have a 19.10 (Eoan) system instead of a 20.04 system., 19.10 is not supported anymore, and we don't answer questions about it anymore. Consider migrating to a supported release of Ubuntu. If you are indeed running 20.04, then you have unwisely added 19.10 sources and/or packages. Remove them.
    – user535733
    Dec 12, 2020 at 2:53
  • I just burned this Live USB earlier today, so I am certain that I have not made any any changes to the sources of packages. I was also almost certain that it was 20.04, I used the latest stable release from the website. How can I determine if my sources are messed up or if I have the wrong version? EDIT: My Settings -> About says: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS
    – tinesofpwer11
    Dec 12, 2020 at 3:14
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    A stock Ubuntu 20.04.x system does not look for packages labelled "eoan". It's that simple. We don't know what changes you made to convince your system to look for a wrong-version non-Ubuntu package (nothing resembling that package version string is on packages.ubuntu.com). Whatever you did, undo it. If you don't know how to clean up previous failed attempts, then re-make your USB to wipe those changes.
    – user535733
    Dec 12, 2020 at 3:19

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