Virtualbox Extension installation permission error with VBoxExtPackHelperApp

English Virtualization
1

I did a scrub/reinstall of TW on my laptop last week Part of that process was installing virtualbox (VB) which I have done for a few years on my 2 desktop and 2 laptop systems. I install with sudo zypper install virtualbox.

When starting up VB I got the following message and tried both enable and disable options.

USB-Passthrough_Mess
USB-Passthrough_Mess533×411 68.8 KB

However, when I installed the extension package, I got the following error:

Error_Ext_Permission
Error_Ext_Permission310×551 29.9 KB

The oracle VB version is 7.2.4 and the extension package matches the version.

My TW OS and my hardware are as follows:

TW_System
TW_System535×544 47.8 KB

Is there a solution or workaround for this yet?

Thank you in advance - Richard

2

Everything OK here, did you add your current user to the vboxusers group?

3

Thanks @OrsoBruno for replying.

Yes, my user has been added to voboxuser group. As well, I am able to import VMs, install VB guest Additions , set shared folders, and access the internet from these VMs. However, there is no USB passthrough and I cannot install the extension without getting the error noted earlier.

Suggestions??

4

Post executed as root:

/usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxExtPackHelperApp --help

PS:
Are you asked for root access when adding the Extension?

5

Maybe the reinstall was done without defining a root password, which looks like the new default?

6

Yes, I am prompted for a root password.

7

Good thought, but I did put in the root (administartor) password when installing.

8

Any old Extension pack version should be deleted before installing a new one, just to rule out the obvious, but the “Permission denied” points to a mismatch between needed and supplied credentials.
Or maybe there is something going on with the KDE desktop (kdesu or what it is called now…)?

9

I ran the:
Screenshot_20260126_132056

This is what returned:

Screenshot_20260126_131658
Screenshot_20260126_131658672×253 22 KB

I am not too prideful to admit that this is beyond my practical knowledge on Linux, TW, and VB. Could I get some help on how to change the permission so I can install the extension media?

Thanks in advance, Richard

10

Thanks for the response. There is no old extension pack version as this is a scrub/rebuild with a fresh installation of VB.

11

Unless that is a trivial typo… you may check which users are in the group by:

bruno@LT-B:~> userdbctl group vboxusers
  Group name: vboxusers
 Disposition: system
         GID: 458
     Members: bruno
bruno@LT-B:~>
12

I checked and the user is in the group.

Screenshot_20260126_134012
Screenshot_20260126_134012351×125 8.18 KB

13

Post:
zypper se -si virtualb

14

I am trying to find out what “virtualb” is in the command you wrote. I am also unfamiliar with se or the -si options. Where can I get an explanation before I run it and find there may be another aspect of the installation that is affected?
Thanks

15

My apologies @Sauerland. I did find what this was with zypper --help, se is search and -si is table out put ignoring unknown packages. Here are the results:

Screenshot_20260126_150449
Screenshot_20260126_150449691×178 22.9 KB

16

Hm, you are missing the actual kmp package. Can you do a
sudo zypper in -f virtualbox-kmp-default

The output with the actual kmp should look smth like this:

:~> LANG=C zypper se -si virtualb
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

S  | Name                   | Type    | Version             | Arch   | Repository
---+------------------------+---------+---------------------+--------+------------------
i+ | virtualbox             | package | 7.2.4-1.1           | x86_64 | repo-oss
i  | virtualbox-kmp-default | package | 7.2.4_k6.18.4_1-1.7 | x86_64 | (System Packages)
i  | virtualbox-kmp-default | package | 7.2.4_k6.18.2_1-1.6 | x86_64 | (System Packages)
i  | virtualbox-kmp-default | package | 7.2.4_k6.18.0_1-1.5 | x86_64 | (System Packages)
i  | virtualbox-kmp-default | package | 7.2.4_k6.18.5_1-1.8 | x86_64 | repo-oss
i+ | virtualbox-qt          | package | 7.2.4-1.1           | x86_64 | repo-oss
:~>
17

se means search
-s means more Infos
-i means only installed packages
virtualb is the search string

you can write -s -i or -si, it means the same.

18

My apologies again @Sauerland. This is the correct outcome of zypper se -si virtualb:

photo_2026-01-26_15-19-26
photo_2026-01-26_15-19-26673×148 24.9 KB

Again, my apologies. I did not catch my error before the edit time-out had passed. The other screenshot was from another computer I had running when I tested the command.

19

Can you add it as root:

VBoxManage extpack install --replace /Path/to/your/extensions/Oracle_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.2.4.vbox-extpack
20

The extension package installed and I can see that when the app is open, the extension pack is listed. However, it does not seem to be working for the USD passthrough. I need to step out for a couple of hours. I will get back to you as soon as I can get back to a computer.