Advice on running a Windows VM?

Hello,
Very new to Linux, and looking for a recommendation for a simple to use VM to run a windows 10 install, so I don’t have to reboot every time I need to open up the handful of applications I need to run on windows.

In case it relevant I’m running:

Operating System: Manjaro Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 5.21.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.82.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2
Kernel Version: 5.10.42-1-MANJARO
OS Type: 64-bit
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-4910MQ CPU @ 2.90GHz
Memory: 15.3 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa DRI Intel® HD Graphics 4600
Ram:15.33 GiB

Many (but not all) Windows applications can be made to run by way of wine, which is not a virtual machine but rather a translation layer ─ a Windows ABI that runs on top of UNIX-family operating systems.

If you want an easy-to-use virtualization solution for non-server machines, then virtualbox is probably the most popular one, and I am told that it works very well.

You’ll probably also want to install the DKMS module and the host modules for your running kernel.

Thank you.

Any chance you can explain what this error means?

Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver is either not loaded or not set up correctly. Please try setting it up again by executing

‘/sbin/vboxconfig’

as root.

If your system has EFI Secure Boot enabled you may also need to sign the kernel modules (vboxdrv, vboxnetflt, vboxnetadp, vboxpci) before you can load them. Please see your Linux system’s documentation for more information.

where: suplibOsInit what: 3 VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED (-1908) - The support driver is not installed. On linux, open returned ENOENT.

Just trying to test it out with a POP OS iso I have on hand.

You can ignore the Secure Boot warning, because Manjaro does not support Secure Boot anyway. However, as the error message says, you don’t appear to have the kernel driver module loaded.

You’ll probably need to run the config tool ─ as in the message ─ and like I said, you should also install the DKMS module and the host additions.

I thought I had, as on install I pricked:

virtualbox-hostdkms 6.1.22-2 community

And there is no vboxconfig in the /sbin folder.

Did you run the setup utility?

sudo /sbin/vboxconfig

Now, I could be wrong about this ─ I’ve never used VirtualBox ─ but it is also possible that you need to rebuild the initramfs and then reboot, depending on whether the drivers must be loaded in early userspace or whether they can be loaded later.

Maybe the setup utility will get you going already and then you won’t need to rebuild the initramfs. :man_shrugging:

Some reading:

https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/VirtualBox

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Thank you!

The simplest and easiest virtualization software to use for windows VMs is VMWare Player. If that one ain’t good enough for you tho, god help you :fearful: