Virtualbox suddenly does not run any more !!!

English Virtualization
1

Hi there,

after the trouble I had with the NSFv4 sharesI now got further trouble and in the morning it was working (switched off PC and now switched it on again):

Virtualbox does not start any longer and I get a messagebox with the following content:

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.

Of course I tried the above mentioned command as root and got a very helpful :

-bash: /sbin/rcvboxdrv: No such file or directory

The installation of the DKMS package did not make any difference … Btw. If this package is so important, why is it not automatically a dependency for Virtual Box or NSF or this OS in general.

As I installed Leap 42.1 only as a host system for my Virtual box OS’s and with the exception of Flightgear and a Lexmark printer driver the installation does not contain anything special, I really can’t understand how this trouble is possible. How can the kernel be changed, without that I get informed ??? Bad Updates, a virus or ???

Any help is very much appreciated.

TIA, Joe

2

Hi, here is the “complete” messagebox content :

Title: Virtualbox - Error in suplibOsinit

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.

3

Is that the openSUSE packaged VirtualBox or that downloaded from virtualbox.org?
With the openSUSE packaged version “rcvboxdrv setup” is not needed and does not work; you need to install a virtualbox-host-kmp matching your running kernel instead.
In this case, showing the result of:


zypper se -ivv virtualbox-host kernel-default

might help finding the root cause.

4

Thanks a lot for your reply. I am currently “grounded” without my virtual machines …

Here is what I got :


zypper se -ivv virtualbox-host kernel-default
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...


S | Name                        | Type    | Version                | Arch   | Repository               
--+-----------------------------+---------+------------------------+--------+--------------------------
i | kernel-default              | package | 4.1.38-47.1            | x86_64 | Main Update Repository   
    name: kernel-default
i | kernel-default              | package | 4.1.38-50.1            | x86_64 | Main Update Repository   
    name: kernel-default
i | kernel-default              | package | 4.1.38-47.1            | x86_64 | openSUSE-Leap-42.1-Update
    name: kernel-default
i | kernel-default              | package | 4.1.38-50.1            | x86_64 | openSUSE-Leap-42.1-Update
    name: kernel-default
i | kernel-default              | package | 4.1.38-47.1            | x86_64 | (System Packages)        
    name: kernel-default
i | kernel-default              | package | 4.1.38-50.1            | x86_64 | (System Packages)        
    name: kernel-default
i | kernel-default-devel        | package | 4.1.38-47.1            | x86_64 | Main Update Repository   
    name: kernel-default-devel
i | kernel-default-devel        | package | 4.1.38-50.1            | x86_64 | Main Update Repository   
    name: kernel-default-devel
i | kernel-default-devel        | package | 4.1.38-47.1            | x86_64 | openSUSE-Leap-42.1-Update
    name: kernel-default-devel
i | kernel-default-devel        | package | 4.1.38-50.1            | x86_64 | openSUSE-Leap-42.1-Update
    name: kernel-default-devel
i | kernel-default-devel        | package | 4.1.38-47.1            | x86_64 | (System Packages)        
    name: kernel-default-devel
i | kernel-default-devel        | package | 4.1.38-50.1            | x86_64 | (System Packages)        
    name: kernel-default-devel
i | virtualbox-host-kmp-default | package | 5.0.32_k4.1.36_44-34.1 | x86_64 | Main Update Repository   
    name: virtualbox-host-kmp-default
i | virtualbox-host-kmp-default | package | 5.0.32_k4.1.36_44-34.1 | x86_64 | openSUSE-Leap-42.1-Update
    name: virtualbox-host-kmp-default
i | virtualbox-host-kmp-default | package | 5.0.32_k4.1.36_44-34.1 | x86_64 | (System Packages)        
    name: virtualbox-host-kmp-default
5

Hi there,

solved the problem by reinstalling of all Virtualbox OpenSuse files involved.

Afterwards it ran immediately as if there never would have been a problem. But I still have no idea what went wrong !!!
I had no system crash, no installation of any other software, I simply did a normal shut down of a normal Virtual Box Win7 session, shut down OpenSuse, switched off the PC. And when I came back and started the pc and Linux again, Virtual Box was broken. I find this very very strange !

So still have to solve the problem with the NSFv4 …

Guys, I wish you all good week.

Joe

6

Not sure, and cannot check anyway, but possibly reinstall of virtualbox-host-kmp-default-5.0.32_k4.1.36_44 triggered a series of actions that restored things.
Did you have any cleanup of older kernels, possibly including 4.1.36-44 and possibly triggered by the reboot?
One can guess that drivers like /lib/modules/4.1.36-44-default/misc/vboxdrv.ko (installed by the KMP) and/or their symlinks in /lib/modules/4.1.38-50-default/misc/vboxdrv.ko (needed to run VBox with your latest kernel) were wiped for whatever reason.
Such things usually happen during a kernel update or related activity, but since the last update to 4.1.38-50 happened in February, I cannot go any further than that.

Anyway, nice to know you are up and running again!