user_Installation.xml@ 35144

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1	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2	<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
3	"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd">
4	<chapter id="installation">
5	<title>Installation details</title>
6
7	<para>As installation of VirtualBox varies depending on your host operating
8	system, we provide installation instructions in four separate chapters for
9	Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Solaris, respectively.</para>
10
11	<sect1>
12	<title>Installing on Windows hosts</title>
13
14	<sect2>
15	<title>Prerequisites</title>
16
17	<para>For the various versions of Windows that we support as host
18	operating systems, please refer to <xref
19	linkend="hostossupport" />.</para>
20
21	<para>In addition, Windows Installer 1.1 or higher must be present on
22	your system. This should be the case if you have all recent Windows
23	updates installed.</para>
24	</sect2>
25
26	<sect2>
27	<title>Performing the installation</title>
28
29	<para>The VirtualBox installation can be started <itemizedlist>
30	<listitem>
31	<para>either by double-clicking on its executable file (contains
32	both 32- and 64-bit architectures)</para>
33	</listitem>
34
35	<listitem>
36	<para>or by entering <screen>VirtualBox.exe -extract</screen></para>
37
38	<para>on the command line. This will extract both installers into
39	a temporary directory in which you'll then find the usual .MSI
40	files. Then you can do a <screen>msiexec /i VirtualBox-<version>-MultiArch_<x86\|amd64>.msi</screen>
41	to perform the installation.</para>
42	</listitem>
43	</itemizedlist></para>
44
45	<para>In either case, this will display the installation welcome dialog
46	and allow you to choose where to install VirtualBox to and which
47	components to install. In addition to the VirtualBox application, the
48	following components are available:<glosslist>
49	<glossentry>
50	<glossterm>USB support</glossterm>
51
52	<glossdef>
53	<para>This package contains special drivers for your Windows
54	host that VirtualBox requires to fully support USB devices
55	inside your virtual machines.</para>
56	</glossdef>
57	</glossentry>
58
59	<glossentry>
60	<glossterm>Networking</glossterm>
61
62	<glossdef>
63	<para>This package contains extra networking drivers for your
64	Windows host that VirtualBox needs to support Bridged Networking
65	(to make your VM's virtual network cards accessible from other
66	machines on your physical network).</para>
67	</glossdef>
68	</glossentry>
69
70	<glossentry>
71	<glossterm>Python Support</glossterm>
72
73	<glossdef>
74	<para>This package contains Python scripting support for the
75	VirtualBox API (see <xref linkend="VirtualBoxAPI" />). For this
76	to work, an already working Windows Python installation on the
77	system is required.<footnote>
78	<para>See, for example, <ulink
79	url="http://www.python.org/download/windows/">http://www.python.org/download/windows/</ulink>.</para>
80	</footnote></para>
81	</glossdef>
82	</glossentry>
83	</glosslist></para>
84
85	<para>Depending on your Windows configuration, you may see warnings
86	about "unsigned drivers" or similar. Please select "Continue" on these
87	warnings as otherwise VirtualBox might not function correctly after
88	installation.</para>
89
90	<para>The installer will create a "VirtualBox" group in the Windows
91	"Start" menu which allows you to launch the application and access its
92	documentation.</para>
93
94	<para>With standard settings, VirtualBox will be installed for all users
95	on the local system. In case this is not wanted, you have to invoke the
96	installer by first extracting it by using <screen>VirtualBox.exe -extract</screen>
97	and then do as follows: <screen>VirtualBox.exe -msiparams ALLUSERS=2</screen>
98	or <screen>msiexec /i VirtualBox-<version>-MultiArch_<x86\|amd64>.msi ALLUSERS=2</screen>
99	on the extracted .MSI files. This will install VirtualBox only for the
100	current user.</para>
101
102	<para>If you do not want to install all features of VirtualBox, you can
103	set the optional <computeroutput>ADDLOCAL</computeroutput> parameter to
104	explicitly name the features to be installed. The following features are
105	available: <glosslist>
106	<glossentry>
107	<glossterm>VBoxApplication</glossterm>
108
109	<glossdef>
110	<para>Main binaries of VirtualBox.<note>
111	<para>This feature must not be absent since it contains the
112	minimum set of files to have working VirtualBox
113	installation.</para>
114	</note></para>
115	</glossdef>
116	</glossentry>
117
118	<glossentry>
119	<glossterm>VBoxUSB</glossterm>
120
121	<glossdef>
122	<para>USB support.</para>
123	</glossdef>
124	</glossentry>
125
126	<glossentry>
127	<glossterm>VBoxNetwork</glossterm>
128
129	<glossdef>
130	<para>All networking support; includes the VBoxNetworkFlt and
131	VBoxNetworkAdp features (see below).</para>
132	</glossdef>
133	</glossentry>
134
135	<glossentry>
136	<glossterm>VBoxNetworkFlt</glossterm>
137
138	<glossdef>
139	<para>Bridged networking support.</para>
140	</glossdef>
141	</glossentry>
142
143	<glossentry>
144	<glossterm>VBoxNetworkAdp</glossterm>
145
146	<glossdef>
147	<para>Host-only networking support.</para>
148	</glossdef>
149	</glossentry>
150
151	<glossentry>
152	<glossterm>VBoxPython</glossterm>
153
154	<glossdef>
155	<para>Python support.</para>
156	</glossdef>
157	</glossentry>
158	</glosslist>For example, to only install USB support along with the
159	main binaries, do a: <screen>VirtualBox.exe -msiparams ADDLOCAL=VBoxApplication,VBoxUSB</screen>
160	or <screen>msiexec /i VirtualBox-<version>-MultiArch_<x86\|amd64>.msi ADDLOCAL=VBoxApplication,VBoxUSB</screen></para>
161	</sect2>
162
163	<sect2>
164	<title>Uninstallation</title>
165
166	<para>As VirtualBox uses the standard Microsoft Windows installer,
167	VirtualBox can be safely uninstalled at any time by choosing the program
168	entry in the "Add/Remove Programs" applet in the Windows Control
169	Panel.</para>
170	</sect2>
171
172	<sect2>
173	<title>Unattended installation</title>
174
175	<para>Unattended installations can be performed using the standard MSI
176	support.</para>
177	</sect2>
178	</sect1>
179
180	<sect1>
181	<title>Installing on Mac OS X hosts</title>
182
183	<sect2>
184	<title>Performing the installation</title>
185
186	<para>For Mac OS X hosts, VirtualBox ships in a disk image
187	(<computeroutput>dmg</computeroutput>) file. Perform the following
188	steps: <orderedlist>
189	<listitem>
190	<para>Double-click on that file to have its contents
191	mounted.</para>
192	</listitem>
193
194	<listitem>
195	<para>A window will open telling you to double click on the
196	<computeroutput>VirtualBox.mpkg</computeroutput> installer file
197	displayed in that window.</para>
198	</listitem>
199
200	<listitem>
201	<para>This will start the installer, which will allow you to
202	select where to install VirtualBox to.</para>
203	</listitem>
204	</orderedlist></para>
205
206	<para>After installation, you can find a VirtualBox icon in the
207	"Applications" folder in the Finder.</para>
208	</sect2>
209
210	<sect2>
211	<title>Uninstallation</title>
212
213	<para>To uninstall VirtualBox, open the disk image (dmg) file again and
214	double-click on the uninstall icon contained therein.</para>
215	</sect2>
216
217	<sect2>
218	<title>Unattended installation</title>
219
220	<para>To perform a non-interactive installation of VirtualBox you can
221	use the command line version of the installer application.</para>
222
223	<para>Mount the disk image (dmg) file as described in the normal
224	installation. Then open a terminal session and execute:</para>
225
226	<screen>sudo installer -pkg /Volumes/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.mpkg \
227	-target /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD</screen>
228	</sect2>
229	</sect1>
230
231	<sect1>
232	<title id="install-linux-host">Installing on Linux hosts</title>
233
234	<sect2>
235	<title>Prerequisites</title>
236
237	<para>For the various versions of Linux that we support as host
238	operating systems, please refer to <xref
239	linkend="hostossupport" />.</para>
240
241	<para>You will need to install the following packages on your Linux
242	system before starting the installation (some systems will do this for
243	you automatically when you install VirtualBox):</para>
244
245	<itemizedlist>
246	<listitem>
247	<para>Qt 4.4.0 or higher;</para>
248	</listitem>
249
250	<listitem>
251	<para>SDL 1.2.7 or higher (this graphics library is typically called
252	<computeroutput>libsdl</computeroutput> or similar).</para>
253	</listitem>
254	</itemizedlist>
255
256	<note>
257	<para>To be precise, these packages are only required if you want to
258	run the VirtualBox graphical user interfaces. In particular,
259	<computeroutput>VirtualBox</computeroutput>, the graphical VirtualBox
260	manager, requires both Qt and SDL;
261	<computeroutput>VBoxSDL</computeroutput>, our simplified GUI, requires
262	only SDL. By contrast, if you only want to run
263	<computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>, neither Qt nor SDL are
264	required.</para>
265	</note>
266	</sect2>
267
268	<sect2 id="externalkernelmodules">
269	<title>The VirtualBox kernel module</title>
270
271	<para>VirtualBox uses a special kernel module called
272	<computeroutput>vboxdrv</computeroutput> to perform physical memory
273	allocation and to gain control of the processor for guest system
274	execution. Without this kernel module, you can still use the VirtualBox
275	manager to configure virtual machines, but they will not start. In addition,
276	there are the network kernel modules <computeroutput>vboxnetflt</computeroutput>
277	and <computeroutput>vboxnetadp</computeroutput> which are required for
278	the move advanced networking features of VirtualBox.</para>
279
280	<para>The VirtualBox kernel module is automatically installed on your
281	system when you install VirtualBox. To maintain it with future kernel
282	updates, for most Linux distributions -- for example Fedora Core 11 and
283	later, Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy) and later and Mandriva 2009.1 and later --,
284	generally we recommend installing Dynamic Kernel Module Support
285	(DKMS)<footnote>
286	<para>See <ulink
287	url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Kernel_Module_Support">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Kernel_Module_Support</ulink>
288	for an introduction.</para>
289	</footnote>. This framework helps with building and upgrading kernel
290	modules.</para>
291
292	<para>If DKMS is not already installed, execute one of the following:
293	<itemizedlist>
294	<listitem>
295	<para>On an Ubuntu system:</para>
296
297	<screen>sudo apt-get install dkms</screen>
298	</listitem>
299
300	<listitem>
301	<para>On a Fedora system:<screen>yum install dkms</screen></para>
302	</listitem>
303
304	<listitem>
305	<para>On a Mandriva system:<screen>urpmi dkms</screen></para>
306	</listitem>
307	</itemizedlist></para>
308
309	<para>If DKMS is available and installed, the VirtualBox kernel module
310	should always work automatically, and it will be automatically rebuilt
311	if your host kernel is updated.</para>
312
313	<para>Otherwise, there are only two situations in which you will need to
314	worry about the kernel module:<orderedlist>
315	<listitem>
316	<para>The original installation fails. This probably means that
317	your Linux system is not prepared for building external kernel
318	modules.</para>
319
320	<para>Most Linux distributions can be set up simply by installing
321	the right packages - normally, these will be the GNU compiler
322	(GCC), GNU Make (make) and packages containing header files for
323	your kernel - and making sure that all system updates are
324	installed and that the system is running the most up-to-date
325	kernel included in the distribution. <emphasis>The version numbers
326	of the header file packages must be the same as that of the kernel
327	you are using.</emphasis></para>
328
329	<itemizedlist>
330	<listitem>
331	<para>With Debian and Ubuntu releases, you must install the
332	right version of the
333	<computeroutput>linux-headers</computeroutput> and if it
334	exists the <computeroutput>linux-kbuild</computeroutput>
335	package. Current Ubuntu releases should have the right
336	packages installed by default.</para>
337	</listitem>
338
339	<listitem>
340	<para>In even older Debian and Ubuntu releases, you must
341	install the right version of the
342	<computeroutput>kernel-headers</computeroutput>
343	package.</para>
344	</listitem>
345
346	<listitem>
347	<para>On Fedora and Redhat systems, the package is
348	<computeroutput>kernel-devel</computeroutput>.</para>
349	</listitem>
350
351	<listitem>
352	<para>On SUSE and openSUSE Linux, you must install the right
353	versions of the <computeroutput>kernel-source</computeroutput>
354	and <computeroutput>kernel-syms</computeroutput>
355	packages.</para>
356	</listitem>
357
358	<listitem>
359	<para>Alternatively, if you have built your own kernel,
360	<computeroutput>/usr/src/linux</computeroutput> should point
361	to your kernel sources. If you have not removed the files
362	created during the build process, then your system will
363	already be set up correctly.</para>
364	</listitem>
365	</itemizedlist>
366	</listitem>
367
368	<listitem>
369	<para>The kernel of your Linux host was updated and DKMS is not
370	installed. In that case, the kernel module will need to be
371	reinstalled by executing (as root):</para>
372
373	<screen>/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup</screen>
374	</listitem>
375	</orderedlist></para>
376	</sect2>
377
378	<sect2>
379	<title>Performing the installation</title>
380
381	<para>VirtualBox is available in a number of package formats native to
382	various common Linux distributions (see <xref linkend="hostossupport" />
383	for details). In addition, there is an alternative generic installer
384	(.run) which should work on most Linux distributions.</para>
385
386	<sect3>
387	<title>Installing VirtualBox from a Debian/Ubuntu package</title>
388
389	<para>First, download the appropriate package for your distribution.
390	The following examples assume that you are installing to a 32-bit
391	Ubuntu Karmic system. Use <computeroutput>dpkg</computeroutput> to
392	install the Debian package:</para>
393
394	<screen>sudo dpkg -i VirtualBox-3.2_$VBOX_VERSION_STRING_Ubuntu_karmic_i386.deb</screen>
395
396	<para>You will be asked to accept the VirtualBox Personal Use and
397	Evaluation License. Unless you answer "yes" here, the installation
398	will be aborted.</para>
399
400	<para>The installer will also search for a VirtualBox kernel module
401	suitable for your kernel. The package includes pre-compiled modules
402	for the most common kernel configurations. If no suitable kernel
403	module is found, the installation script tries to build a module
404	itself. If the build process is not successful you will be shown a
405	warning and the package will be left unconfigured. Please have a look
406	at <computeroutput>/var/log/vbox-install.log</computeroutput> to find
407	out why the compilation failed. You may have to install the
408	appropriate Linux kernel headers (see <xref
409	linkend="externalkernelmodules" />). After correcting any problems, do
410	<screen>sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup</screen>This will start a
411	second attempt to build the module.</para>
412
413	<para>If a suitable kernel module was found in the package or the
414	module was successfully built, the installation script will attempt to
415	load that module. If this fails, please see <xref
416	linkend="linuxkernelmodulefailstoload" /> for further
417	information.</para>
418
419	<para>Once VirtualBox has been successfully installed and configured,
420	you can start it by selecting "VirtualBox" in your start menu or from
421	the command line (see <xref linkend="startingvboxonlinux" />).</para>
422	</sect3>
423
424	<sect3>
425	<title>Using the alternative installer (VirtualBox.run)</title>
426
427	<para>The alternative installer performs the following steps:</para>
428
429	<itemizedlist>
430	<listitem>
431	<para>It unpacks the application files to the target directory,
432	<screen>/opt/VirtualBox/</screen> which cannot be changed.</para>
433	</listitem>
434
435	<listitem>
436	<para>It builds the VirtualBox kernel modules
437	(<computeroutput>vboxdrv</computeroutput>,
438	<computeroutput>vboxnetflt</computeroutput> and
439	<computeroutput>vboxnetadp</computeroutput>) and installs them.</para>
440	</listitem>
441
442	<listitem>
443	<para>It creates
444	<computeroutput>/etc/init.d/vboxdrv</computeroutput>, an init
445	script to start the VirtualBox kernel module.</para>
446	</listitem>
447
448	<listitem>
449	<para>It creates a new system group called
450	<computeroutput>vboxusers</computeroutput>.</para>
451	</listitem>
452
453	<listitem>
454	<para>It creates symbolic links in
455	<computeroutput>/usr/bin</computeroutput> to
456	the a shell script (<computeroutput>/opt/VirtualBox/VBox</computeroutput>)
457	which does some sanity checks and
458	dispatches to the actual executables,
459	<computeroutput>VirtualBox</computeroutput>,
460	<computeroutput>VBoxSDL</computeroutput>,
461	<computeroutput>VBoxVRDP</computeroutput>,
462	<computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput> and
463	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput></para>
464	</listitem>
465
466	<listitem>
467	<para>It creates
468	<computeroutput>/etc/udev/rules.d/10-vboxdrv.rules</computeroutput>, a
469	description file for udev, if that is present, which makes the
470	USB devices accessible to all users in the
471	<computeroutput>vboxusers</computeroutput> group.</para>
472	</listitem>
473
474	<listitem>
475	<para>It writes the installation directory to
476	<computeroutput>/etc/vbox/vbox.cfg</computeroutput>.</para>
477	</listitem>
478	</itemizedlist>
479
480	<para>The installer must be executed as root with either
481	<computeroutput>install</computeroutput> or
482	<computeroutput>uninstall</computeroutput> as the first parameter. If
483	you do not want the installer to ask you whether you wish to accept
484	the license agreement (for example, for performing unattended
485	installations), you can add the parameter
486	<computeroutput>license_accepted_unconditionally</computeroutput>.
487	Finally, if you want to use a directory other than the default
488	installation directory, add the desired path as an extra
489	parameter.</para>
490
491	<screen>sudo ./VirtualBox.run install /opt/VirtualBox</screen>
492
493	<para>Or if you do not have the "sudo" command available, run the
494	following as root instead:<screen>./VirtualBox.run install /opt/VirtualBox</screen></para>
495
496	<para>After that you need to put every user which should be able to
497	use VirtualBox in the group
498	<computeroutput>vboxusers</computeroutput>, either through the GUI
499	user management tools or by running the following command as
500	root:</para>
501
502	<screen>sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers username</screen>
503
504	<para><note>
505	<para>The <computeroutput>usermod</computeroutput> command of some
506	older Linux distributions does not support the
507	<computeroutput>-a</computeroutput> option (which adds the user to
508	the given group without affecting membership of other groups). In
509	this case, find out the current group memberships with the
510	<computeroutput>groups</computeroutput> command and add all these
511	groups in a comma-separated list to the command line after the
512	<computeroutput>-G</computeroutput> option, e.g. like this:
513	<computeroutput>usermod -G group1,group2,vboxusers
514	username</computeroutput>.</para>
515	</note>If any users on your system should be able to access host USB
516	devices from within VirtualBox guests, you should also add them to the
517	appropriate user group that your distribution uses for USB access,
518	e.g. <computeroutput>usb</computeroutput> or
519	<computeroutput>usbusers</computeroutput>.</para>
520	</sect3>
521
522	<sect3>
523	<title>Performing a manual installation</title>
524
525	<para>If, for any reason, you cannot use the shell script installer
526	described previously, you can also perform a manual installation.
527	Invoke the installer like this:</para>
528
529	<screen>./VirtualBox.run --keep --noexec</screen>
530
531	<para>This will unpack all the files needed for installation in the
532	directory <computeroutput>install</computeroutput> under the current
533	directory. The VirtualBox application files are contained in
534	<computeroutput>VirtualBox.tar.bz2</computeroutput> which you can
535	unpack to any directory on your system. For example:</para>
536
537	<screen>sudo mkdir /opt/VirtualBox
538	sudo tar jxf ./install/VirtualBox.tar.bz2 -C /opt/VirtualBox</screen>
539
540	<para>or as root:<screen>mkdir /opt/VirtualBox
541	tar jxf ./install/VirtualBox.tar.bz2 -C /opt/VirtualBox</screen></para>
542
543	<para>The sources for VirtualBox's kernel module are provided in the
544	<computeroutput>src</computeroutput> directory. To build the module,
545	change to the directory and issue</para>
546
547	<screen>make</screen>
548
549	<para>If everything builds correctly, issue the following command to
550	install the module to the appropriate module directory:</para>
551
552	<screen>sudo make install</screen>
553
554	<para>In case you do not have sudo, switch the user account to root
555	and perform<screen>make install</screen></para>
556
557	<para>The VirtualBox kernel module needs a device node to operate. The
558	above make command will tell you how to create the device node,
559	depending on your Linux system. The procedure is slightly different
560	for a classical Linux setup with a
561	<computeroutput>/dev</computeroutput> directory, a system with the now
562	deprecated <computeroutput>devfs</computeroutput> and a modern Linux
563	system with <computeroutput>udev</computeroutput>.</para>
564
565	<para>On certain Linux distributions, you might experience
566	difficulties building the module. You will have to analyze the error
567	messages from the build system to diagnose the cause of the problems.
568	In general, make sure that the correct Linux kernel sources are used
569	for the build process.</para>
570
571	<para>Note that the <computeroutput>/dev/vboxdrv</computeroutput>
572	kernel module device node must be owned by root:root and must be
573	read/writable only for the user.</para>
574
575	<para>Next, you will have to install the system initialization script
576	for the kernel module:<screen>cp /opt/VirtualBox/vboxdrv.sh /etc/init.d/vboxdrv</screen>(assuming
577	you installed VirtualBox to the
578	<computeroutput>/opt/VirtualBox</computeroutput> directory) and
579	activate the initialization script using the right method for your
580	distribution. You should create VirtualBox's configuration
581	file:<screen>mkdir /etc/vbox
582	echo INSTALL_DIR=/opt/VirtualBox > /etc/vbox/vbox.cfg</screen>and, for
583	convenience, create the following symbolic links:</para>
584
585	<screen>ln -sf /opt/VirtualBox/VBox.sh /usr/bin/VirtualBox
586	ln -sf /opt/VirtualBox/VBox.sh /usr/bin/VBoxManage
587	ln -sf /opt/VirtualBox/VBox.sh /usr/bin/VBoxHeadless
588	ln -sf /opt/VirtualBox/VBox.sh /usr/bin/VBoxSDL</screen>
589	</sect3>
590
591	<sect3>
592	<title>Updating and uninstalling VirtualBox</title>
593
594	<para>Before updating or uninstalling VirtualBox, you must terminate
595	any virtual machines which are currently running and exit the
596	VirtualBox or VBoxSVC applications. To update VirtualBox, simply run
597	the installer of the updated version. To uninstall VirtualBox, invoke
598	the installer like this: <screen>sudo ./VirtualBox.run uninstall</screen>
599	or as root<screen>./VirtualBox.run uninstall</screen>. Starting with
600	version 2.2.2, you can uninstall the .run package by invoking <screen>/opt/VirtualBox/uninstall.sh</screen>To
601	manually uninstall VirtualBox, simply undo the steps in the manual
602	installation in reverse order.</para>
603	</sect3>
604
605	<sect3>
606	<title>Automatic installation of Debian packages</title>
607
608	<para>The Debian packages will request some user feedback when
609	installed for the first time. The debconf system is used to perform
610	this task. To prevent any user interaction during installation,
611	default values can be defined. A file
612	<computeroutput>vboxconf</computeroutput> can contain the following
613	debconf settings: <screen>virtualbox virtualbox/module-compilation-allowed boolean true
614	virtualbox virtualbox/delete-old-modules boolean true</screen>The first line
615	allows compilation of the vboxdrv kernel module if no module was found
616	for the current kernel. The second line allows the package to delete
617	any old vboxdrv kernel modules compiled by previous
618	installations.</para>
619
620	<para>These default settings can be applied with <screen>debconf-set-selections vboxconf</screen>
621	prior to the installation of the VirtualBox Debian package.</para>
622
623	<para>In addition there are some common configuration options that can
624	be set prior to the installation, described in <xref
625	linkend="linux_install_opts" />.</para>
626	</sect3>
627
628	<sect3>
629	<title>Automatic installation of .rpm packages</title>
630
631	<para>The .rpm format does not provide a configuration system
632	comparable to the debconf system. See <xref
633	linkend="linux_install_opts" /> for how to set some common
634	installation options provided by VirtualBox.</para>
635	</sect3>
636
637	<sect3>
638	<title id="linux_install_opts">Automatic installation options</title>
639
640	<para>To configure the installation process of our .deb and .rpm
641	packages, you can create a response file named
642	<computeroutput>/etc/default/virtualbox</computeroutput>.
643	The automatic generation of the udev rule can be
644	prevented by the following setting: <screen>INSTALL_NO_UDEV=1</screen>
645	The creation of the group vboxusers can be prevented by <screen>INSTALL_NO_GROUP=1</screen>
646	If the line <screen>INSTALL_NO_VBOXDRV=1</screen> is specified, the
647	package installer will not try to build the
648	<computeroutput>vboxdrv</computeroutput> kernel module if no module
649	fitting the current kernel was found.</para>
650	</sect3>
651	</sect2>
652
653	<sect2>
654	<title>The vboxusers group</title>
655
656	<para>The Linux installers create the system user group
657	<computeroutput>vboxusers</computeroutput> during installation. Any
658	system user who is going to run VirtualBox must be member of that group.
659	A user can be made member of the group
660	<computeroutput>vboxusers</computeroutput> through the GUI user/group
661	management or at the command line with</para>
662
663	<screen>sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers username</screen>
664
665	<para>Note that adding an active user to that group will require that
666	user to log out and back in again. This should be done manually after
667	successful installation of the package.</para>
668	</sect2>
669
670	<sect2 id="startingvboxonlinux">
671	<title>Starting VirtualBox on Linux</title>
672
673	<para>The easiest way to start a VirtualBox program is by running the
674	program of your choice (<computeroutput>VirtualBox</computeroutput>,
675	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>,
676	<computeroutput>VBoxSDL</computeroutput> or
677	<computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>) from a terminal. These
678	are symbolic links to <computeroutput>VBox.sh</computeroutput> that
679	start the required program for you.</para>
680
681	<para>The following detailed instructions should only be of interest if
682	you wish to execute VirtualBox without installing it first. You should
683	start by compiling the <computeroutput>vboxdrv</computeroutput> kernel
684	module (see above) and inserting it into the Linux kernel. VirtualBox
685	consists of a service daemon (<computeroutput>VBoxSVC</computeroutput>)
686	and several application programs. The daemon is automatically started if
687	necessary. All VirtualBox applications will communicate with the daemon
688	through Unix local domain sockets. There can be multiple daemon
689	instances under different user accounts and applications can only
690	communicate with the daemon running under the user account as the
691	application. The local domain socket resides in a subdirectory of your
692	system's directory for temporary files called
693	<computeroutput>.vbox-<username>-ipc</computeroutput>. In case of
694	communication problems or server startup problems, you may try to remove
695	this directory.</para>
696
697	<para>All VirtualBox applications
698	(<computeroutput>VirtualBox</computeroutput>,
699	<computeroutput>VBoxSDL</computeroutput>,
700	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput> and
701	<computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>) require the VirtualBox
702	directory to be in the library path:</para>
703
704	<screen>LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./VBoxManage showvminfo "Windows XP"</screen>
705	</sect2>
706	</sect1>
707
708	<sect1>
709	<title id="install-solaris-host">Installing on Solaris hosts</title>
710
711	<para>For the specific versions of Solaris that we support as host
712	operating systems, please refer to <xref
713	linkend="hostossupport" />.</para>
714
715	<para>If you have a previously installed instance of VirtualBox on your
716	Solaris host, please uninstall it first before installing a new instance.
717	Refer to <xref linkend="uninstallsolhost" /> for uninstall
718	instructions.</para>
719
720	<sect2>
721	<title>Performing the installation</title>
722
723	<para>VirtualBox is available as a standard Solaris package. Download
724	the VirtualBox SunOS package which includes both the 32-bit and 64-bit
725	versions of VirtualBox. <emphasis>The installation must be performed as
726	root and from the global zone</emphasis> as the VirtualBox installer
727	loads kernel drivers which cannot be done from non-global zones. To
728	verify which zone you are currently in, execute the
729	<computeroutput>zonename</computeroutput> command. Execute the following
730	commands:</para>
731
732	<screen>gunzip -cd VirtualBox-$VBOX_VERSION_STRING-SunOS.tar.gz \| tar xvf -</screen>
733
734	<para>Starting with VirtualBox 3.1 the VirtualBox kernel package is no
735	longer a separate package and has been integrated into the main package.
736	Install the VirtualBox package using:</para>
737
738	<screen>pkgadd -d VirtualBox-$VBOX_VERSION_STRING-SunOS.pkg</screen>
739
740	<note>
741	<para>If you are using Solaris Zones, to install VirtualBox only into
742	the current zone and not into any other zone, use
743	<computeroutput>pkgadd -G</computeroutput>. For more information refer
744	to the <computeroutput>pkgadd</computeroutput> manual; see also <xref
745	linkend="solariszones" />.</para>
746	</note>
747
748	<para>The installer will then prompt you to enter the package you wish
749	to install. Choose "1" or "all" and proceed. Next the installer will ask
750	you if you want to allow the postinstall script to be executed. Choose
751	"y" and proceed as it is essential to execute this script which installs
752	the VirtualBox kernel module. Following this confirmation the installer
753	will install VirtualBox and execute the postinstall setup script.</para>
754
755	<para>Once the postinstall script has been executed your installation is
756	now complete. You may now safely delete the uncompressed package and
757	<computeroutput>autoresponse</computeroutput> files from your system.
758	VirtualBox would be installed in
759	<computeroutput>/opt/VirtualBox</computeroutput>.</para>
760	</sect2>
761
762	<sect2>
763	<title>Starting VirtualBox on Solaris</title>
764
765	<para>The easiest way to start a VirtualBox program is by running the
766	program of your choice (<computeroutput>VirtualBox</computeroutput>,
767	<computeroutput>VBoxManage</computeroutput>,
768	<computeroutput>VBoxSDL</computeroutput> or
769	<computeroutput>VBoxHeadless</computeroutput>) from a terminal. These
770	are symbolic links to <computeroutput>VBox.sh</computeroutput> that
771	start the required program for you.</para>
772
773	<para>Alternatively, you can directly invoke the required programs from
774	<computeroutput>/opt/VirtualBox</computeroutput>. Using the links
775	provided is easier as you do not have to type the full path.</para>
776
777	<para>You can configure some elements of the
778	<computeroutput>VirtualBox</computeroutput> Qt GUI such as fonts and
779	colours by executing <computeroutput>VBoxQtconfig</computeroutput> from
780	the terminal.</para>
781	</sect2>
782
783	<sect2>
784	<title id="uninstallsolhost">Uninstallation</title>
785
786	<para>Uninstallation of VirtualBox on Solaris requires root permissions.
787	To perform the uninstallation, start a root terminal session and
788	execute:</para>
789
790	<screen>pkgrm SUNWvbox</screen>
791
792	<para>After confirmation, this will remove VirtualBox from your
793	system.</para>
794
795	<para>If you are uninstalling VirtualBox version 3.0 or lower, you need
796	to remove the VirtualBox kernel interface package, execute:</para>
797
798	<para><screen>pkgrm SUNWvboxkern</screen></para>
799	</sect2>
800
801	<sect2>
802	<title>Unattended installation</title>
803
804	<para>To perform a non-interactive installation of VirtualBox we have
805	provided a response file named
806	<computeroutput>autoresponse</computeroutput> that the installer will
807	use for responses to inputs rather than ask them from you.</para>
808
809	<para>Extract the tar.gz package as described in the normal
810	installation. Then open a root terminal session and execute:</para>
811
812	<screen>pkgadd -d VirtualBox-$VBOX_VERSION_STRING-SunOS-x86 -n -a autoresponse SUNWvbox</screen>
813
814	<para>To perform a non-interactive uninstallation, open a root terminal
815	session and execute:</para>
816
817	<screen>pkgrm -n -a /opt/VirtualBox/autoresponse SUNWvbox</screen>
818	</sect2>
819
820	<sect2>
821	<title id="solariszones">Configuring a zone for running
822	VirtualBox</title>
823
824	<para>Starting with VirtualBox 1.6 it is possible to run VirtualBox from
825	within Solaris zones. For an introduction of Solaris zones, please refer
826	to <ulink
827	url="http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/features/articles/solaris_zones.jsp">http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/features/articles/solaris_zones.jsp</ulink>.</para>
828
829	<para>Assuming that VirtualBox has already been installed into your
830	zone, you need to give the zone access to VirtualBox's device node. This
831	is done by performing the following steps. Start a root terminal and
832	execute:</para>
833
834	<screen>zonecfg -z vboxzone</screen>
835
836	<para>Inside the <computeroutput>zonecfg</computeroutput> prompt add the
837	<computeroutput>device</computeroutput> resource and
838	<computeroutput>match</computeroutput> properties to the zone. Here's
839	how it can be done:</para>
840
841	<screen>zonecfg:vboxzone>add device
842	zonecfg:vboxzone:device>set match=/dev/vboxdrv
843	zonecfg:vboxzone:device>end
844	zonecfg:vboxzone>verify
845	zonecfg:vboxzone>exit</screen>
846
847	<para>If you are running VirtualBox 2.2.0 or above on Solaris 11 or
848	Nevada hosts, you should add a device for
849	<computeroutput>/dev/vboxusbmon</computeroutput> too, similar to what
850	was shown above. This does not apply to Solaris 10 hosts due to lack of
851	USB support.</para>
852
853	<para>Replace "vboxzone" with the name of the zone in which you intend
854	to run VirtualBox. Next reboot the zone using
855	<computeroutput>zoneadm</computeroutput> and you should be able to run
856	VirtualBox from within the configured zone.</para>
857	</sect2>
858	</sect1>
859	</chapter>

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