VirtualBox 6.1.18 / 6.1.19 on Fedora 34/33, CentOS/RHEL 8/7

Oracle VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software.

Check video guide howto install VirtualBox 6.1.18/6.1.19 (test build) on Fedora 33 using .run installer:

Check video guide howto install VirtualBox 6.1.18 on Fedora 33 using Fedora 32 rpm:

Check video guide howto install VirtualBox 6.1 on Fedora 32/31:

VirtualBox supports a large number of guest operating systems:

• Windows 3.x
• Windows NT 4.0
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows Vista
• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 8.1
• Windows 10
• DOS
• Linux (Kernel 2.4, 2.6, 3.0, 3.2, 3.4, 3.10, 3.16, 3.18, 4.1, 4.4, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18, 4.19, 4.20, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10)
• Solaris
• OpenSolaris
• OpenBSD

This guide shows howto install VirtualBox 6.1 (currently 6.1.18 or 6.1.19) on Fedora 34/33/32/31/30, CentOS 8.2/7.8, Red Hat (RHEL) 8.2/7.8. This guide uses Oracle’s own Virtual Box .run installer.

Before installation

Change to root User

su -
## OR ##
sudo -i

Make sure that you system is up-to-date and you are running latest kernel

## Fedora 34/33/32/31 and CentOS/RHEL 8 ##
dnf update

## CentOS 7 ##
yum update

After update reboot your system and boot using latest kernel:

reboot

1. Install Oracle’s VirtualBox 6.1.18 (stable) / 6.1.19 (test build) / 6.1.97 on Fedora 33/32 using .run installer

Note: Only working version for Fedora 34 currently is 6.1.19 (VirtualBox-6.1.19-143581-Linux_amd64.run).

This is a bit different method because Oracle doesn’t have working repositories for Fedora 34/33/32 anymore.

If you try to install original Fedora 32 package, then you will see following error:

Error: 
 Problem: conflicting requests
  - nothing provides python(abi) = 3.8 needed by VirtualBox-6.1-6.1.18_142142_fedora32-1.x86_64
(try to add '--skip-broken' to skip uninstallable packages)

Here is guide howto download and install VirtualBox using .run installer.

1.1. Change to root User

su -
## OR ##
sudo -i

1.2. Remove VirtualBox RPM Installations

This should not touch (remove) your virtual machines, but you can of course backup everything.

dnf remove VirtualBox\* virtualbox\*

1.3. Download VirtualBox 6.1 Installer(s)

cd ~

## Download VirtualBox 6.1.18-142142 latest stable build ##
wget https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.1.18/VirtualBox-6.1.18-142142-Linux_amd64.run

## Download VirtualBox 6.1.19-143581 latest test build ##
wget https://www.virtualbox.org/download/testcase/VirtualBox-6.1.19-143581-Linux_amd64.run

## Download VirtualBox 6.1.97-142300 latest development snapshot ##
wget https://www.virtualbox.org/download/testcase/VirtualBox-6.1.97-142300-Linux_amd64.run

Check current versions from VirtualBox Linux builds and VirtualBox test builds.

1.4. Make Installer File Executable

chmod +x VirtualBox-6.1.18-142142-Linux_amd64.run

## OR ##

chmod +x VirtualBox-6.1.19-143581-Linux_amd64.run

## OR ##

chmod +x VirtualBox-6.1.97-142300-Linux_amd64.run

1.5. Install Following Dependency Packages

dnf install python2.7 binutils gcc make patch libgomp glibc-headers glibc-devel kernel-headers kernel-devel dkms qt5-qtx11extras libxkbcommon

1.6. Install VirtualBox Latest Version 6.1 (currently 6.1.18, 6.1.19 or 6.1.97)

./VirtualBox-6.1.18-142142-Linux_amd64.run

## OR ##

./VirtualBox-6.1.19-143581-Linux_amd64.run

## OR ##

./VirtualBox-6.1.97-142300-Linux_amd64.run

Note:
This command create automatically vboxusers group and VirtualBox user must be member of that group.
This command also build needed kernel modules.

You can rebuild kernel modules with following command if needed:

/opt/VirtualBox/vboxdrv.sh setup

1.7. Add VirtualBox User(s) to vboxusers Group

Replace user_name with your own user name or some another real user name.

usermod -a -G vboxusers user_name

1.8. Start VirtualBox

Use launcher from menu or simply run VirtualBox as normal user:

VirtualBox

DKMS build your kernel modules automatically, but if you want upgrade your VirtualBox installation, then close VirtualBox, download new installer, make it executable and install it.

2. Install Oracle’s VirtualBox 6.1.18 on Fedora 33 using Fedora 32 rpm

This is a bit different method until Oracle release Fedora 33 repositories. Fedora 32 VirtualBox rpm works with Fedora 33, but unfortunately there is fixed version of python(abi) = 3.8, we have to change this and rebuild rpm package. Here is commands howto do it. I update this guide later using DNF/YUM repos and this should be compatible with it too.

If you try to install original Fedora 32 package, then you will see following error:

Error: 
 Problem: conflicting requests
 - nothing provides python(abi) = 3.8 needed by VirtualBox-6.1-6.1.18_142142_fedora32-1.x86_64.rpm
(try to add '--skip-broken' to skip uninstallable packages)

2.1. Change to root User

su -
## OR ##
sudo -i

2.2. Install rpmrebuild Package

dnf install rpmrebuild

2.3. Download VirtualBox-6.1-6.1.18_142142_fedora32-1.x86_64.rpm

cd /tmp
wget https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.1.18/VirtualBox-6.1-6.1.18_142142_fedora32-1.x86_64.rpm

2.4. Rebuild VirtualBox rpm with Needed Changes

Following command change

rpmrebuild --change-spec-preamble='sed -e "s/6.1.18_142142_fedora32/6.1.18_142142_fedora33/"' --change-spec-requires='sed -e "s/python(abi) = 3.8/python(abi) >= 3.8/"' --package VirtualBox-6.1-6.1.18_142142_fedora32-1.x86_64.rpm

Now you should have following file: ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/VirtualBox-6.1-6.1.18_142142_fedora33-1.x86_64.rpm

2.5. Install Following Dependency Packages

dnf install binutils gcc make patch libgomp glibc-headers glibc-devel kernel-headers kernel-devel dkms qt5-qtx11extras libxkbcommon

2.6. Install VirtualBox Latest Version 6.1 (currently 6.1.18)

dnf install ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/VirtualBox-6.1-6.1.18_142142_fedora33-1.x86_64.rpm

Note:
This command create automatically vboxusers group and VirtualBox user must be member of that group.
This command also build needed kernel modules.
Ypu can rebuild kernel modules with following command if needed:

/usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh setup

2.7. Add VirtualBox User(s) to vboxusers Group

Replace user_name with your own user name or some another real user name.

usermod -a -G vboxusers user_name

2.8. Start VirtualBox

Use launcher from menu or simply run VirtualBox as normal user:

VirtualBox

3. Install Oracle’s VirtualBox 6.1.18 on 32/31/30, CentOS 8.2/7.8, Red Hat (RHEL) 8.2/7.8

3.1. Change to root User

su -
## OR ##
sudo -i

3.2. Install Fedora or RHEL Repo Files

Note: CentOS 8/RHEL 8 users, install this, but you still need test build currently.

cd /etc/yum.repos.d/

## Fedora 32/31/30/29 users
wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/fedora/virtualbox.repo

## CentOS 8.2/7.8 and Red Hat (RHEL) 8.2/7.8 users
wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/rhel/virtualbox.repo

3.3. Update latest packages and check your kernel version

Update packages

## Fedora 32/31/30/29 and CentOS/RHEL 8 ##
dnf update

## CentOS/RHEL 7 ##
yum update

Check that that you are running latest installed kernel version
Output of following commands version numbers should match:

rpm -qa kernel |sort -V |tail -n 1

uname -r

Note: If you got kernel update or run older kernel than newest installed then reboot:

reboot

3.4. Install following dependency packages

CentOS 8/7 and Red Hat (RHEL) 8/7 needs EPEL repository, install it with following command:

## CentOS 8 and RHEL 8 ##
dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm

## CentOS 7 and RHEL 7 ##
rpm -Uvh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm

## Fedora 32/31/30/29 ##
dnf install binutils gcc make patch libgomp glibc-headers glibc-devel kernel-headers kernel-devel dkms qt5-qtx11extras libxkbcommon

## CentOS/RHEL 8 ##
dnf install binutils gcc make patch libgomp glibc-headers glibc-devel kernel-headers kernel-devel dkms

## CentOS/RHEL 7 ##
yum install binutils gcc make patch libgomp glibc-headers glibc-devel kernel-headers kernel-devel dkms

3.5. Install VirtualBox Latest Version 6.1 (currently 6.1.18)

## Fedora 32/31/30/29 ##
dnf install VirtualBox-6.1

## CentOS/RHEL 8 ##
dnf install VirtualBox-6.1

## CentOS/RHEL 7 ##
yum install VirtualBox-6.1

Note:
This command create automatically vboxusers group and VirtualBox user must be member of that group.
This command also build needed kernel modules.
Package is VirtualBox-6.1 not VirtualBox.

Rebuild kernel modules with following command:

## Fedora 32/31/30/29 and CentOS/RHEL 8/7 ##
/usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh setup

3.6. Add VirtualBox User(s) to vboxusers Group

Replace user_name with your own user name or some another real user name.

usermod -a -G vboxusers user_name

3.7. Start VirtualBox

Use launcher from menu or simply run VirtualBox as normal user:

VirtualBox

Troubleshooting

If you have problems with KERN_DIR parameter or your kernel directory is not automatically detected then set KERN_DIR environment variable manually, using following method:

## Current running kernel on Fedora, CentOS 8 and Red Hat (RHEL) 8 ##
KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/`uname -r`
 
## Current running kernel on CentOS 7/6 and Red Hat (RHEL) 7/6 ##
KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/`uname -r`-`uname -m`
 
## Fedora example ##
KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/2.6.33.5-124.fc13.i686
 
## CentOS and Red Hat (RHEL) example ##
KERN_DIR=/usr/src/kernels/2.6.18-194.11.1.el5-x86_64
 
## Export KERN_DIR ##
export KERN_DIR

Check also:

Install VirtualBox Guest Additions on Fedora, CentOS, Red Hat (RHEL)