OpenSUSE 13.2: Virtualbox error (rc=-1908)

English Virtualization
1

Hi,

I have been successfully using Virtualbox for quite a while now (from repo OpenSUSE-13.2-Update, guest OS is Windows 7). After a version upgrade from 4.3 to 5.0, it stopped working, though. Here is the related error:

[FONT=arial]


Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)
The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver (vboxdrv) is either not loaded or there is a permission problem with /dev/vboxdrv. Please reinstall the kernel module by executing
'/sbin/rcvboxdrv setup'
as root. If it is available in your distribution, you should install the DKMS package first. This package keeps track of Linux kernel changes and recompiles the vboxdrv kernel module if necessary.
where: suplibOsInit what: 3 VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED (-1908) - The support driver is not installed. On linux, open returned ENOENT.

[FONT=courier new][FONT=arial]A previous simple workaround consisted in downgrading Virtualbox back to 4.3, which no longer works apparently …
[/FONT]After googling a bit and searching through the forums, I was not able to apply the suggested solutions.
[/FONT][/FONT]For example, I followed the following thread by removing all guest modules, yet without success:

https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/518729-Kernel-driver-not-installed-(rc-1908)?highlight=virtualbox+13.2+1908

Furthermore, as suggested in the vbox error, DKMS is installed and running ‘/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup’ as root does not resolve the problem:


$/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel module, NOT. It has been packaged.                                                                                                                                        done

Here is some information about my configuration:


$uname -a
Linux wapt-pc 3.16.7-42-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jun 28 12:20:57 UTC 2016 (35ab731) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux



$zypper se -si virtualbox vbox kernel
S | Name                        | Type    | Version                         | Arch   | Repository          
--+-----------------------------+---------+---------------------------------+--------+---------------------
i | kernel-default              | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-default              | package | 3.16.7-35.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-default-devel        | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-default-devel        | package | 3.16.7-35.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-desktop              | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-desktop              | package | 3.16.7-35.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-desktop-devel        | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-desktop-devel        | package | 3.16.7-35.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-devel                | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | noarch | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-devel                | package | 3.16.7-35.1                     | noarch | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-firmware             | package | 20141122git-5.1                 | noarch | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-macros               | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | noarch | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-pae-devel            | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | i686   | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-pae-devel            | package | 3.16.7-35.1                     | i686   | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-source               | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | noarch | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-source               | package | 3.16.7-35.1                     | noarch | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-syms                 | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-syms                 | package | 3.16.7-35.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-xen-devel            | package | 3.16.7-42.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | kernel-xen-devel            | package | 3.16.7-35.1                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | texlive-l3kernel            | package | 2013.84.svn_4469svn29409-16.1.7 | noarch | openSUSE:13.2       
i | texlive-l3kernel            | package | 2013.84.svn_4469svn29409-16.1.7 | noarch | openSUSE-13.2-Oss   
i | texlive-l3kernel-doc        | package | 2013.84.svn_4469svn29409-16.1.7 | noarch | openSUSE:13.2       
i | texlive-l3kernel-doc        | package | 2013.84.svn_4469svn29409-16.1.7 | noarch | openSUSE-13.2-Oss   
i | virtualbox                  | package | 5.0.20-48.5                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | virtualbox-host-kmp-default | package | 5.0.20_k3.16.7_42-48.5          | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop | package | 5.0.20_k3.16.7_42-48.5          | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | virtualbox-qt               | package | 5.0.20-48.5                     | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update

Could anyone help please?

Thank you very much in advance!

2

The kernel modules have been moved from /lib/modules/xxx/updates/ to /lib/modules/xxx/updates/misc/.
This can cause this problem when updating to 5.0, because the old module may still be installed in updates (because of the kernel multiversion feature), and that will actually be preferred.

According to your package list, this doesn’t seem to be the case though. Maybe you already removed the older packages?

[FONT=arial][FONT=courier new][FONT=arial]

A previous simple workaround consisted in downgrading Virtualbox back to 4.3, which no longer works apparently …

This should work just as well.
But it shouldn’t be necessary, 5.0 (and also 5.1) works fine here on my 13.2 systems.

[/FONT]

After googling a bit and searching through the forums, I was not able to apply the suggested solutions.
[/FONT][/FONT]For example, I followed the following thread by removing all guest modules, yet without success:

https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/518729-Kernel-driver-not-installed-(rc-1908)?highlight=virtualbox+13.2+1908

That’s irrelevant for 13.2, it only affected Tumbleweed and Leap 42.1, because the vboxvideo kernel module was broken.
13.2 was never affected by this, and having the guest modules installed on the host doesn’t cause problems (though it doesn’t make much sense either).

Furthermore, as suggested in the vbox error, DKMS is installed and running ‘/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup’ as root does not resolve the problem:

$/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel module, NOT. It has been packaged. done

You cannot run /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup when using the openSUSE packages, as they only contain a precompiled kernel module, not the source code.

$zypper se -si virtualbox vbox kernel
i | virtualbox | package | 5.0.20-48.5 | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | virtualbox-host-kmp-default | package | 5.0.20_k3.16.7_42-48.5 | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop | package | 5.0.20_k3.16.7_42-48.5 | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update
i | virtualbox-qt | package | 5.0.20-48.5 | x86_64 | openSUSE-13.2-Update

Looks fine.

Just one question: why do you have kernel-default installed as well?
There shouldn’t be a need normally.

To your problem: try to remove the virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop package completely and reinstall it.
This may solve problems with missing files or symlinks.

sudo rpm -e --nodeps virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop
sudo zypper in virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop

And don’t forget to reboot afterwards.

Another problem may be that the vboxdrv service isn’t actually being started on boot for whatever reason.
So if the above doesn’t help, run this and try to start VirtualBox then:

sudo systemctl restart vboxdrv
3

Thanks a lot for your quick response!
I did manage to fix the thing using your first suggestion by running


$sudo rpm -e --nodeps virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop
$sudo zypper in virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop

Everyhting is now up and running! :slight_smile:
But what I do not understand is why several attempts of complete uninstalling/reinstalling of Virtualbox in Yast did not yield the same result …

Moreover, I noticed a few error messages that triggered my attention when running the above commands:


$sudo rpm -e --nodeps virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxnetadp.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxpci.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxguest.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxsf.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxnetflt.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxvideo.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxdrv.ko): No such file or directory

$sudo zypper in virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop
...
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxguest.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxsf.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxvideo.ko): No such file or directory

Is this normal behavior?

About your question concerning kernel-default, it somehow appeared during my previous attempts of resolving the issue but I do not remember exactly which package included that dependence :slight_smile:
According to your saying, I assume I can safely remove that package, am I right?

Again, thanks for your help and time!

4

Great! :slight_smile:

$sudo rpm -e --nodeps virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxnetadp.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxpci.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxguest.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxsf.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxnetflt.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxvideo.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxdrv.ko): No such file or directory

$sudo zypper in virtualbox-host-kmp-desktop
…
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxguest.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxsf.ko): No such file or directory
depmod: ERROR: fstatat(5, vboxvideo.ko): No such file or directory

Is this normal behavior?

No.
It seems there some broken symlinks left, that point to not-existing files.
May have caused your problem in the first place.

I’d suggest to remove them manually.
You could e.g. run this to find them:

find /lib/modules/ -name vbox*

(you shouldn’t delete the actual kernel modules of course)

Please post the output for further help.

About your question concerning kernel-default, it somehow appeared during my previous attempts of resolving the issue but I do not remember exactly which package included that dependence :slight_smile:
According to your saying, I assume I can safely remove that package, am I right?

Yes.

5

Apparently, the following symlinks are broken:


$ls -l $(find /lib/modules/ -name vbox*)
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     48 Sep  6 09:02 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxguest.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxguest.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     45 Sep  6 09:02 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxsf.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxsf.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     48 Sep  6 09:02 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxvideo.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxvideo.ko

Shall I remove the links or update their destination?

I was about to remove kernel-default and kernel-default-devel in Yast when I got a warning that virtualbox-host-kmp-default requires kernel-default, apparently. So I removed virtualbox-host-kmp-default.
When I made a second attempt to remove kernel-default, Yast wanted to install kernel-default-base instead. Weird …

Anyway, what is more puzzling to me is that kernel-default-devel is actually required by the Nvidia driver according to the following warning:


#### YaST2 conflicts list - generated 2016-09-06 16:20:40 ####

nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default-361.42_k3.16.6_2-21.1.x86_64 requires kernel-default-devel, but this requirement cannot be provided
uninstallable providers: kernel-default-devel-3.16.6-2.1.i586[openSUSE:13.2]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.6-2.1.x86_64[openSUSE:13.2]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.6-2.1.i586[repo-oss]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.6-2.1.x86_64[repo-oss]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-21.1.i586[repo-update]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-24.1.i586[repo-update]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-29.1.i586[repo-update]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-32.1.i586[repo-update]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-7.1.i586[repo-update]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-21.1.x86_64[repo-update]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-24.1.x86_64[repo-update]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-29.1.x86_64[repo-update]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-32.1.x86_64[repo-update]
                   kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-7.1.x86_64[repo-update]
     ] break nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default-361.42_k3.16.6_2-21.1.x86_64 by ignoring some of its dependencies

     ] Following actions will be done:
keep kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-35.1.x86_64
deinstallation of kernel-syms-3.16.7-42.1.x86_64
     ] Following actions will be done:
keep kernel-default-devel-3.16.7-42.1.x86_64
deinstallation of kernel-syms-3.16.7-35.1.x86_64
     ] Following actions will be done:
deinstallation of nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default-361.42_k3.16.6_2-21.1.x86_64
deinstallation of kernel-syms-3.16.7-35.1.x86_64
deinstallation of kernel-syms-3.16.7-42.1.x86_64
deinstallation of dkms-2.2.0.3-16.1.noarch

#### YaST2 conflicts list END ###

I guess I should keep it, right?

Thanks!

6

You should definitely remove those, as they are for the guest modules which you uninstalled.

Your error message above did mention others as well though, that came from the host modules.
Did they get removed already?

Maybe post the full output of the find.

I was about to remove kernel-default and kernel-default-devel in Yast when I got a warning that virtualbox-host-kmp-default requires kernel-default, apparently. So I removed virtualbox-host-kmp-default.
When I made a second attempt to remove kernel-default, Yast wanted to install kernel-default-base instead. Weird …

Not so weird actually.
You still have something else installed that requires kernel-default (nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default).
As kernel-default-base provides kernel-default too (it is a downstripped version of kernel-default), zypper will install this instead to satisfy the dependencies when trying to remove kernel-default.

Anyway, what is more puzzling to me is that kernel-default-devel is actually required by the Nvidia driver according to the following warning:

It’s not needed by the nvidia driver per se, only by the nvidia kernel module for kernel-default.
As you are actually using kernel-desktop, you don’t need that either, so remove nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default too.

You should keep kernel-default-devel though, that’s required by kernel-syms.

7

I only removed the 3 above links. Here is the full output of find:


-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 550834 Aug 10  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/updates/vboxdrv.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 418322 Aug 10  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/updates/vboxguest.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  16130 Aug 10  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/updates/vboxnetadp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  44810 Aug 10  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/updates/vboxnetflt.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  39266 Aug 10  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/updates/vboxpci.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  79146 Aug 10  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/updates/vboxsf.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7258 Aug 10  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/updates/vboxvideo.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 555674 Nov 16  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-29-desktop/updates/vboxdrv.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 419546 Nov 16  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-29-desktop/updates/vboxguest.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  16018 Nov 16  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-29-desktop/updates/vboxnetadp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  44994 Nov 16  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-29-desktop/updates/vboxnetflt.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  39266 Nov 16  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-29-desktop/updates/vboxpci.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  79346 Nov 16  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-29-desktop/updates/vboxsf.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7258 Nov 16  2015 /lib/modules/3.16.7-29-desktop/updates/vboxvideo.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 555674 Feb  4  2016 /lib/modules/3.16.7-32-desktop/updates/vboxdrv.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 419546 Feb  4  2016 /lib/modules/3.16.7-32-desktop/updates/vboxguest.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  16018 Feb  4  2016 /lib/modules/3.16.7-32-desktop/updates/vboxnetadp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  44994 Feb  4  2016 /lib/modules/3.16.7-32-desktop/updates/vboxnetflt.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  39266 Feb  4  2016 /lib/modules/3.16.7-32-desktop/updates/vboxpci.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  79346 Feb  4  2016 /lib/modules/3.16.7-32-desktop/updates/vboxsf.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7258 Feb  4  2016 /lib/modules/3.16.7-32-desktop/updates/vboxvideo.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     46 Sep  6 15:31 /lib/modules/3.16.7-35-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxdrv.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxdrv.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     49 Sep  6 15:31 /lib/modules/3.16.7-35-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxnetadp.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxnetadp.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     49 Sep  6 15:31 /lib/modules/3.16.7-35-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxnetflt.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxnetflt.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     46 Sep  6 15:31 /lib/modules/3.16.7-35-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxpci.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxpci.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 613970 Jul 20 16:42 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxdrv.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  17666 Jul 20 16:42 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxnetadp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  45130 Jul 20 16:42 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxnetflt.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  41954 Jul 20 16:42 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxpci.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     46 Sep  6 09:02 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxdrv.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxdrv.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     49 Sep  6 09:02 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxnetadp.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxnetadp.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     49 Sep  6 09:02 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxnetflt.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxnetflt.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     46 Sep  6 09:02 /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/weak-updates/misc/vboxpci.ko -> /lib/modules/3.16.7-42-desktop/misc/vboxpci.ko

There are no other broken links. Indeed, running the following command returns nothing:


find /lib/modules/ -type l -xtype l -name 'vbox*'

So I also removed nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default. Trying again to remove kernel-default (after rebooting), kernel-default-base is (again) automatically checked when kernel-default is unchecked. But then, Yast doesn’t even accept not to install kernel-default-base (it cannot be unchecked and there is no warning about any other package that would be broken by removing kernel-default-base/kernel-default). Can I know somehow, what package is responsible for this?

Thanks!

8

You shouldn’t have those.
As mentioned, these are older versions.
Strange though that the package list in your first post didn’t show them as installed (and the zypper rm should have removed them as well anyway).

Please check whether they are part of some installed package, e.g.:

rpm -qf /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/updates/vboxdrv.ko

If not, just delete them (all in this list, i.e. all that are in /lib/modules/xxx/updates/).

Actually you could probably also just remove /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/, /lib/modules/3.16.7-29-desktop/, and /lib/modules/3.16.7-32-desktop completely as you don’t have the corresponding kernels installed any more.

So I also removed nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default. Trying again to remove kernel-default (after rebooting), kernel-default-base is (again) automatically checked when kernel-default is unchecked. But then, Yast doesn’t even accept not to install kernel-default-base (it cannot be unchecked and there is no warning about any other package that would be broken by removing kernel-default-base/kernel-default). Can I know somehow, what package is responsible for this?

Yes.
Lock kernel-default-base before trying to uninstall kernel-default, i.e. right-click on it and choose “Taboo - Never Install”.

9

I completely removed /lib/modules/3.16.7-21-desktop/, /lib/modules/3.16.7-29-desktop/ and /lib/modules/3.16.7-32-desktop, as you suggested. Strange, they were still present, indeed …

I also managed to uninstall kernel-default (actually, I realized there was another package depending on kernel-default, which I also removed).

So I guess, everything is much cleaner now :slight_smile:

Again, thank you very much for your help and time!