| 1 | <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
|
|---|
| 2 | <!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
|
|---|
| 3 | <topic xml:lang="en-us" id="externalkernelmodules">
|
|---|
| 4 | <title>The <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> Kernel Modules</title>
|
|---|
| 5 |
|
|---|
| 6 | <body>
|
|---|
| 7 | <p>
|
|---|
| 8 | In order to run other operating systems in virtual machines
|
|---|
| 9 | alongside your main operating system, <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> needs to
|
|---|
| 10 | integrate very tightly with your system. To do this it installs
|
|---|
| 11 | a driver module called <userinput>vboxdrv</userinput> into the
|
|---|
| 12 | system kernel. The kernel is the part of the operating system
|
|---|
| 13 | which controls your processor and physical hardware. Without
|
|---|
| 14 | this kernel module, you can still use <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/vbox-mgr"/> to configure
|
|---|
| 15 | virtual machines, but they will not start.
|
|---|
| 16 | </p>
|
|---|
| 17 | <p>
|
|---|
| 18 | Network drivers called <userinput>vboxnetflt</userinput> and
|
|---|
| 19 | <userinput>vboxnetadp</userinput> are also installed. They enable
|
|---|
| 20 | virtual machines to make more use of your computer's network
|
|---|
| 21 | capabilities and are needed for any virtual machine networking
|
|---|
| 22 | beyond the basic NAT mode.
|
|---|
| 23 | </p>
|
|---|
| 24 | <p>
|
|---|
| 25 | Since distributing driver modules separately from the kernel is
|
|---|
| 26 | not something which Linux supports well, the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>
|
|---|
| 27 | install process creates the modules on the system where they
|
|---|
| 28 | will be used. This means that you may need to install some
|
|---|
| 29 | software packages from the distribution which are needed for the
|
|---|
| 30 | build process. Required packages may include the following:
|
|---|
| 31 | </p>
|
|---|
| 32 | <ul>
|
|---|
| 33 | <li>
|
|---|
| 34 | <p>
|
|---|
| 35 | GNU compiler (GCC)
|
|---|
| 36 | </p>
|
|---|
| 37 | </li>
|
|---|
| 38 | <li>
|
|---|
| 39 | <p>
|
|---|
| 40 | GNU Make (make)
|
|---|
| 41 | </p>
|
|---|
| 42 | </li>
|
|---|
| 43 | <li>
|
|---|
| 44 | <p>
|
|---|
| 45 | Kernel header files
|
|---|
| 46 | </p>
|
|---|
| 47 | </li>
|
|---|
| 48 | </ul>
|
|---|
| 49 | <p>
|
|---|
| 50 | Also ensure that all system updates have been installed and that
|
|---|
| 51 | your system is running the most up-to-date kernel for the
|
|---|
| 52 | distribution.
|
|---|
| 53 | </p>
|
|---|
| 54 | <note>
|
|---|
| 55 | <p>
|
|---|
| 56 | The running kernel and the kernel header files must be updated
|
|---|
| 57 | to matching versions.
|
|---|
| 58 | </p>
|
|---|
| 59 | </note>
|
|---|
| 60 | <p>
|
|---|
| 61 | The following list includes some details of the required files
|
|---|
| 62 | for some common distributions. Start by finding the version name
|
|---|
| 63 | of your kernel, using the command <userinput>uname -r</userinput> in
|
|---|
| 64 | a terminal. The list assumes that you have not changed too much
|
|---|
| 65 | from the original installation, in particular that you have not
|
|---|
| 66 | installed a different kernel type.
|
|---|
| 67 | </p>
|
|---|
| 68 | <ul>
|
|---|
| 69 | <li>
|
|---|
| 70 | <p>
|
|---|
| 71 | With Debian and Ubuntu-based distributions, you must install
|
|---|
| 72 | the correct version of the
|
|---|
| 73 | <filepath>linux-headers</filepath>, usually whichever of
|
|---|
| 74 | <filepath>linux-headers-generic</filepath>,
|
|---|
| 75 | <filepath>linux-headers-amd64</filepath>,
|
|---|
| 76 | <filepath>linux-headers-i686</filepath> or
|
|---|
| 77 | <filepath>linux-headers-i686-pae</filepath> best matches the
|
|---|
| 78 | kernel version name. Also, the
|
|---|
| 79 | <filepath>linux-kbuild</filepath> package if it exists.
|
|---|
| 80 | Basic Ubuntu releases should have the correct packages
|
|---|
| 81 | installed by default.
|
|---|
| 82 | </p>
|
|---|
| 83 | </li>
|
|---|
| 84 | <li>
|
|---|
| 85 | <p>
|
|---|
| 86 | On Fedora, Red Hat, Oracle Linux and many other RPM-based
|
|---|
| 87 | systems, the kernel version sometimes has a code of letters
|
|---|
| 88 | or a word close to the end of the version name. For example
|
|---|
| 89 | "uek" for the Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel or
|
|---|
| 90 | "default" or "desktop" for the standard kernels. In this
|
|---|
| 91 | case, the package name is
|
|---|
| 92 | <filepath>kernel-uek-devel</filepath> or equivalent. If
|
|---|
| 93 | there is no such code, it is usually
|
|---|
| 94 | <filepath>kernel-devel</filepath>.
|
|---|
| 95 | </p>
|
|---|
| 96 | </li>
|
|---|
| 97 | <li>
|
|---|
| 98 | <p>
|
|---|
| 99 | On some SUSE and openSUSE Linux versions, you may need to
|
|---|
| 100 | install the <filepath>kernel-source</filepath> and
|
|---|
| 101 | <filepath>kernel-syms</filepath> packages.
|
|---|
| 102 | </p>
|
|---|
| 103 | </li>
|
|---|
| 104 | </ul>
|
|---|
| 105 | <p>
|
|---|
| 106 | If you suspect that something has gone wrong with module
|
|---|
| 107 | installation, check that your system is set up as described
|
|---|
| 108 | above and try running the following command, as root:
|
|---|
| 109 | </p>
|
|---|
| 110 | <pre xml:space="preserve">rcvboxdrv setup</pre>
|
|---|
| 111 | </body>
|
|---|
| 112 | </topic>
|
|---|
