AnduinOS in VirtualBox in Windows

[2dmartin]

Anyone running AnduinOS using VirtualBox in Windows?
It does work.
Only the VirtualBox Guest Additions do not install and I have no idea why.
(well I'm suspicious that it's a shell compatibility problem but that's a real guess)
So that means that (eg) drag 'n drop between the Windows host and AnduinOS doesn't work.
Thanks for any help offered.
(This is latest VirtualBox 7.1.12)

[Anduin2017]

If you have trouble installing Ubuntu in a VirtualBox VM, because the installer window does not fit the low resolution screen size, you can move the window with Alt+F7.

Installing Guest additions from the repositories

In case we have installed the OSE edition of Virtual Box from the repositories we can add the guest additions from the repositories in the guest. This will install guest additions matching the Virtual Box version as obtained from the repositories. It is not recommended to install these in newer releases of Virtual Box as obtained from the Oracle repository (see below).

Alternatively we can install the package virtualbox-guest-additions-iso in the host Ubuntu.

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso

The .iso file with an image of the OSE edition of the guest additions CD will install in the host directory /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso. Mount this .iso file as a CD in your virtual machine's settings. In the guest you will then have access to a CD-ROM with the installer.

Installing Guest Additions from Virtual Box Manager

In case the Guest Additions fail to build we may have to install the Linux kernel headers (see https://askubuntu.com/q/75709/88802) or build-essential tools in addition. It is also recommended to have dkms installed (see below - Note 4). You can run this command in a terminal to install both:

sudo apt install build-essential dkms

Selecting Devices -> Install Guest Additions (or press Host+D from the Virtual Box Manager) the Guest Additions CD .iso will be loaded but not installed in your guest OS. To install we need to run the installer script VBoxLinuxAdditions.run as root or from the Autorun Prompt (see below).

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GNOME Shell

To install the Guest Additions we will have a CD icon on our desktop as soon as the virtual drive is mounted:

Next step is to run the autorun.sh script (as root) on this mounted CD by opening the drive and clicking on the "Run Software" button. This will build and install the vbox kernel modules needed.

---

Unity

The guest additions is mounted as a virtual CD visible on the launcher:

In case the system is set up to autorun a CD it should just open the following autorun dialogue (if not select the CD symbol, choose open, then choose Open Autorun Prompt)

After having entered your credentials for root access the guest additions will build as seen from the terminal output:

Press Return to close the terminal.

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Note 1
Guest Additions need a reboot of your guest OS to take effect.

Note 2
In some systems the Virtual Box Guest Additions CD icon may not be shown on the desktop, but will be accessible from the Places menu. If the CD still was not there you may have to manually add the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso as a CD-ROM in the Virtual Box Manager Storage menu. In an Ubuntu host the disk image is in /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso.

Note 3
In some systems (e.g. when running Xubuntu guests) we may not have an Autorun Prompt for the mounted CD. Then we can install the guest additions by opening a terminal on the mounted guest additions .iso to run sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run. In Lubuntu or Ubuntu Server guests we additionally need to install the GNU C compiler (gcc ) and the make utility in the guest system to be able to compile the guest additions.

Note 4
Running DKMS in the guest OS will keep Guest Additions installed after a guest kernel update. It is not a prerequisite for Guest Additions but if used it should be installed before we install the Guest Additions.

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Installing Guest Additions from a Terminal##

In case Guest Additions are not installed properly we may not be able to boot to the GUI. In this case we need to boot holding the Shift key to access the Grub menu where we access a root shell as depicted in the following question (we do need to mount the filesystem read/write to proceed):

• https://askubuntu.com/questions/92556/how-do-i-boot-into-a-root-shell

The Guest Additions .iso file needs to be installed on /dev/cdrom from the Virtual Box Manager (see above). We then may install Guest Additions by typing the following commands:

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt              # or any other mountpoint
cd /mnt
./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
reboot

---

Remove Guest Additions

In case something went wrong with installing the guest additions, or the guest OS can not boot after installing we may have to remove the additions. This can also be done from a root shell by running an uninstallation script located in the guest /opt directory.

cd /opt/<VirtualBoxAdditions-x.x.xx>/
sudo ./uninstall.sh

Replace x.x.xx with your current version of guest additions.

REF:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/22743/how-do-i-install-guest-additions-in-a-virtualbox-vm

[2dmartin]

I'm not clear; do the Guest Additions have to build and then get installed? Or can they just install without a build step? If they need to build, how do I know that, and how do I check that the build is successful?

[macdaddyaz20]

AnduinOS works fine in VMWare in Windows with no need to install additions since AnduinOS already has open-vm-tools installed.

[2dmartin]

Is it likely, or is it the case, that the same open VM tools work in VirtualBox?

[macdaddyaz20]

No because open-vm-tools is only for VMware and not virtualbox. However, you can download VMware player for free.

[2dmartin]

I'm not up to speed on vm's, really, just would like to get AnduinOS working well under Windows so that I can prepare to ditch Windows (10) before too long. So the built-in VM tools won't help me, I can see. But I seem to have read that it's possible to install the VirtualBox extensions from a repository instead of via the VirtualBox console. Is that likely?

…

On Fri, 25 Jul 2025, 20:44 Peter Garza, ***@***.***> wrote: No because open-vm-tools is only for VMware and not virtualbox. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#156 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALEHKVAHAU356S32CQ7N5633KKCLJAVCNFSM6AAAAACB4XEYZKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTGOBZGIZTKMQ> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[macdaddyaz20]

You can download VMware player from this link and it’s free. Once you install anduinOS in this, you wont need to install the vm extensions as anduinOS already has it installed and ready for you. https://www.techspot.com/downloads/1969-vmware-player.html

[Bukwid]

You can try having dual boot instead of having to try it on a vm. And from what I heard transitioning or transferring your files from windows would be easier (but not the other way around). Just take note of the minimum requirements of having a dual boot before doing it.

[Anduin2017]

If you are afraid of this OS, you can simply boot to the LIVE environment with a USB stick. Your drive won't be touched and you can start using it. Even installing apps.