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I've been running virtual box 4.3.6 with the latest guest addition perfectly but an upgrade appeared and I tried to upgrade to 4.3.8 and then a message of broken virtual box appeared. I tried many forums for help but in the end a message appears:

"The package virtualbox-4.3 needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it."

Also my ubuntu software center and synaptic package manager are not working. I cannot uninstall either.

I got this notifications "An internal system error has occured E: The package virtualbox-4.3 needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it. E: Unable to apply corrections for half-installed packages"

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  • You can download VirtualBox 4.3.6 Here.
    – Mitch
    Feb 28, 2014 at 6:38

3 Answers 3

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Remove the already installed virtualbox by running the below command,

sudo dpkg -P --force-remove-reinstreq virtualbox-4.3

Then download the virtualbox.deb file from here.And install it by running,

sudo dpkg -i filename.deb
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  • running sudo dpkg -P virtualbox-4.3 dpkg: error processing virtualbox-4.3 (--purge): Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should reinstall it before attempting a removal. Errors were encountered while processing: virtualbox-4.3
    – user253178
    Feb 28, 2014 at 7:58
  • rahul@rahul-desktop:~$ sudo dpkg -P --force-remove-reinstreq virtualbox-4.3 dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled: Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should reinstall it before attempting a removal. (Reading database ... 295812 files and directories currently installed.) Removing virtualbox-4.3 ... Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules ...done. Purging configuration files for virtualbox-4.3 ... ... Processing triggers for ureadahead ... ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot
    – user253178
    Feb 28, 2014 at 8:21
  • yes done.Then download the virtualbox.deb file and install it. Feb 28, 2014 at 8:22
0

Did you try the uninstall command in your terminal.

sudo apt-get --purge remove "here your application name without double quots"

If you give remove command only it will delete applications only but not delete packages.

So you need to give purge also

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  • no still getting the same message
    – user253178
    Feb 28, 2014 at 6:03
  • what message did u got
    – Beginner
    Feb 28, 2014 at 6:04
  • did you uninstall from the ubuntu software applications or using the commands
    – Beginner
    Feb 28, 2014 at 6:05
  • software center not running because of this issue and I've quoted the message
    – user253178
    Feb 28, 2014 at 6:11
  • I have only one option, command line
    – user253178
    Feb 28, 2014 at 6:12
0

Rather that upgrading VirtualBox from the Virtual Box Manager or by downloading and installing a DEBIAN package it is recommended to add the Oracle repository to our /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian <release> contrib

Replace <release> with your Ubuntu release code name (e.g. saucy).

We additionally have to import the public key for this repository to be able to use it:

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

We can then install or upgrade VirtualBox with our package manager by

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-<x.x> ## for installing
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade ## for upgrade

Replace <x.x> with the VirtualBox release version (e.g. 4.3.).

By doing so we make sure that we automatically upgrade a new VirtualBox release whenever it is available. For major release upgrades (e.g. upgrade from 4.2. to 4.3.) we need to purge the old release first.

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  • rahul@rahul-desktop:~$ deb download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian saucy contrib No command 'deb' found, did you mean: Command 'debi' from package 'devscripts' (main) Command 'debc' from package 'devscripts' (main) Command 'xdeb' from package 'xdeb' (universe) Command 'dab' from package 'bsdgames' (universe) Command 'dwb' from package 'dwb' (universe) Command 'derb' from package 'libicu-dev' (main) deb: command not found
    – user253178
    Feb 28, 2014 at 8:15
  • rahul@rahul-desktop:~$ wget -q download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add - [sudo] password for rahul: OK
    – user253178
    Feb 28, 2014 at 8:16
  • rahul@rahul-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get update Ign archive.canonical.com precise InRelease Ign security.ubuntu.com precise-security InRelease Ign gb.archive.ubuntu.com precise ... Reading package lists... Done rahul@rahul-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.3 Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done E: The package virtualbox-4.3 needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it.
    – user253178
    Feb 28, 2014 at 8:16
  • rahul@rahul-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done E: The package virtualbox-4.3 needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it.
    – user253178
    Feb 28, 2014 at 8:17
  • @user253178: in case you are not experienced with editing sources.list file you can also add repositories in Software Sources from the Software Center or Update Manager settings. Did you purge your broken 4.3.6?
    – Takkat
    Feb 28, 2014 at 8:30

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