The officially official Devuan Forum!

kapqa

Member

Registered: 2019-01-02

Posts: 793  

(Guide) How install Virtualbox-7.2 on Devuan 6 Excalibur

This is a writeup on how install Virtualbox on Devuan 6, but should function also for Devuan 5 or 7.

Found that the process can be a bit tricky, so thought it could be helpful to have the information at hand on one page.

This has only been properly tested on a recent AMD system, with KDE as GUI, so i may not function on your Computer likewise.

Please correct if any error or otherwise not functioning;

Download the Software
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
(Linux Distributions) > select (All distributions)
Download also (VirtualBox Extension Pack)!

(Preparatory Steps)
Install Kernel Headers

sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

For XFCE additional package needed

sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0

sudo apt-get install qt6-base-dev

1. Install the Software

sudo sh ./VirtualBox-7.2.20-175154-Linux_amd64.run

1.1 Install the VirtualBox Extension Package

sudo virtualbox

(GoTo > Extensions > Install)

1.2 initial configuration

           sudo /sbin/vboxconfig

2. Register Software for SecureBoot
(This step is necessary only if the System is booting with SecureBoot inplace)

sudo mkdir -m 0700 -p /var/lib/shim-signed/mok
    sudo openssl req -nodes -new -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -outform DER -addext "extendedKeyUsage=codeSigning" -keyout /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.priv -out /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.der
    sudo mokutil --import /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.der
    sudo reboot

(give easy password to remember) > reboot > enroll MOK - Key with password you gave

2.1 re-configure virtualbox

sudo rcvboxdrv setup

 sudo /sbin/vboxconfig

now in terminal there should be no more error when evoking "virtualbox;

3. enable external USB-devices functionality
when you start virtualbox most likely you will get error notice "usb not enumerated etc."

create "vbox.sh" with following content

#!/bin/bash

#
# Heavily inspired by https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton/wiki/VirtualBox-udev-integration
#

vbox_usbnode_path=$(find / -name VBoxCreateUSBNode.sh 2> /dev/null | head -n 1)
if [[ -z $vbox_usbnode_path ]]; then
    echo Warning: VBoxCreateUSBNode.sh file has not been found.
    exit 1
fi

chmod 755 $vbox_usbnode_path
chown root:root $vbox_usbnode_path

vboxusers_gid=$(getent group vboxusers | awk -F: '{printf "%d\n", $3}')

vbox_rules="SUBSYSTEM==\"usb_device\", ACTION==\"add\", RUN+=\"$vbox_usbnode_path \$major \$minor \$attr{bDeviceClass} $vboxusers_gid\"
SUBSYSTEM==\"usb\", ACTION==\"add\", ENV{DEVTYPE}==\"usb_device\", RUN+=\"$vbox_usbnode_path \$major \$minor \$attr{bDeviceClass} $vboxusers_gid\"
SUBSYSTEM==\"usb_device\", ACTION==\"remove\", RUN+=\"$vbox_usbnode_path --remove \$major \$minor\"
SUBSYSTEM==\"usb\", ACTION==\"remove\", ENV{DEVTYPE}==\"usb_device\", RUN+=\"$vbox_usbnode_path --remove \$major \$minor\""

echo "$vbox_rules" > /etc/udev/rules.d/virtualbox.rules
rm -f /etc/udev/rules.d/*-virtualbox.rules
udevadm control --reload
adduser `logname` vboxusers

echo All actions succeeded.
echo Log out and log in to see if the issue go fixed.

make executable

chmod+x vbox.sh

launch script

sudo ./vbox.sh

reboot

4. now virtualbox should be ready for your virtualmachines
create virtual-machine to your liking

start virtualmachine

with AMD you will most likely not be able to launch virtualmachine since there is conflict with kvm module?

5. blacklist kvm_module

sudo modprobe -r kvm_amd

now it should function, you can start virtualmachine properly.

5.1 make blacklist permanent

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/mykvmblacklist.conf

blacklist kvm_amd

save & quit.

in the past i have sometimes used vmware workstation pro, but for some reason or another it does not seem function any longer well on my computer, it always quits after some time on AMD system; but this software is free and easy to download so for the moment will use it when needed, hope it can be helpful.

Last edited by kapqa (2026-10-07 08:16:04)

rolfie

Member

Registered: 2017-11-25

Posts: 1,517  

Re: (Guide) How install Virtualbox-7.2 on Devuan 6 Excalibur

1.1 Install the VirtualBox Extension Package

sudo virtualbox

(GoTo > Extensions > Install)

No need to start VBox as root. Just double-click on the downloaded Extension Pack. You will be asked for the root-PW.

2.1 re-configure virtualbox

sudo rcvboxdrv setup

sudo /sbin/vboxconfig

now in terminal there should be no more error when evoking "virtualbox;

The rcvboxdrv is only required within Linux guest to (re-)generate the guest modules for the guest additions.

enable external USB-devices functionality

I never needed anything like your script to have access to USB devices from the host and to pass them through to the guest (I use VBox since Squeeze). But: I am not using this run-version, I insist on using the deb. That works fine for me.

with AMD you will most likely not be able to launch virtualmachine since there is conflict with kvm module?

No problem any more. I am currently running VBox 7.2.12 on Excalibur with kernel 6.12.x on an ASUS Prime X570 with AMD Ryzen9 and AMD graphics. There is no problem with this KVM stuff. That started to be a problem when using backported kernels between I think 6.13 and 6.17. Backports is on 7.1.x now, its fixed there.

kapqa

Member

Registered: 2019-01-02

Posts: 793  

Re: (Guide) How install Virtualbox-7.2 on Devuan 6 Excalibur

@rolfie,

glad you could get ir running; i couldnt find it in the repos.

thescript is not mine, it is just lent from the net (seems it is derived from crouton , which is used in the past for chromebook on acer, nice project).

if it is not in the repos, the one outlined, it is a viable path.

best of wishes,
ricci

rolfie

Member

Registered: 2017-11-25

Posts: 1,517  

Re: (Guide) How install Virtualbox-7.2 on Devuan 6 Excalibur

Well, due to its licence VBox isn't in the Debian/Devuan repos any more, it was in contrib. Only residues do exist, no complete installation packages. Anyhow, the maintainers did split it up into a series of packages which had to be installed one by one.

And if it was in the repos its an outdated version, happend to me too often, thats why I only use the deb directly from virtualbox.org which I can update if I need to.

Example for outdated versions: currently in Mint 22 where they still have 7.0.16 in the repo which does not work with any 7.x kernel. Lots of threads in the forums.

You download the deb file from virtualbox.org, they offer debs for Debian 11, 12 and 13. For Excalibur the 13 version works fine. And everything in one package.

On some DE you simply double click on the deb which starts the installation. My routine is to move it to /tmp and use dpkg -i *.deb in there.

Last edited by rolfie (2026-10-07 16:20:55)