VirtualBox won't start any VMs (says kernel module is not loaded)

Support Virtualization
1

I’ve been trying to get VirtualBox running, but everytime i start a VM, i get an error “Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)”

I’ve followed the steps in the manjaro wiki and installed the linux66-virtualbox-host-modules package (not installing the right headers always seemed to be the cause of the issue when other people had this problem).

“vboxmanage --version” outputs

WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module
         available for the current kernel (6.6.23-1-MANJARO) or it failed to
         load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by

           sudo /sbin/vboxconfig

         You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.

(which results into)

sudo: /sbin/vboxconfig: command not found

I rebooted my system multiple times, after installation. The wiki also mentions to run “sudo vbox-reload” instead of rebooting, but this also outputs an “command not found” error.

Virtualization is enabled in BIOS
“LC_ALL=C lscpu | grep Virtualization” output:

Virtualization:                       AMD-V

“mhwd-kernel -li” output:

Currently running: 6.6.23-1-MANJARO (linux66)
The following kernels are installed in your system:
   * linux66

“pacman -Q | grep -e linux -e virtualbox” output:

archlinux-appstream-data 20240306-1
archlinux-keyring 20240313-1
lib32-util-linux 2.40-1
linux-api-headers 6.7-1
linux-firmware 20240312.3b128b60-1
linux-firmware-whence 20240312.3b128b60-1
linux66 6.6.23-1
linux66-virtualbox-host-modules 7.0.14-11
util-linux 2.40-1
util-linux-libs 2.40-1
virtualbox 7.0.14-2
virtualbox-guest-iso 7.0.14-1
2

use the search-engine of your choice and search for
" The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded".

3

It seems you’re missing dkms kernel modules, (AFAIK anyway). But they are in thee extra repository:

$ pamac search virtualbox
[...]
virtualbox-host-dkms  7.0.14-2                                                                                                                                                                                                                          extra
VirtualBox Host kernel modules sources
[...]

So can be installed with:

pamac install virtualbox-host-dkms

Hope this helps!

4

This conflicts with linux66-virtualbox-host-modules, which the wiki says needs to be installed, so i don’t think this is the solution, unless the wiki is outdated?

5

and btw. this forum has a own search function that is working …

2 Likes
6

As I have it, if you have the dkms modules, you don’t need the kernel-specific ones, like above. Heree’s mine:

$ pamac search --installed virtualbox
[...]
virtualbox-host-dkms  7.0.14-2                                                                                                                                                                                                                          extra
VirtualBox Host kernel modules sources
virtualbox  7.0.14-2                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    extra
Powerful x86 virtualization for enterprise as well as home use

…so in theory, you can have it removed.

7

Yes Olli, i know…
And every thread i found is already locked and the issue was solved by installing the host modules (which i already did).

So either be helpful or don’t?

8

Ok i’ll try that.

9

and a lot of the topics in this forum that i found in a minute point out that the virtualbox-guest package is also needed and the vboxdrv-module must be loaded.
that should work automatically if you use the proper installation but i have my concerns if this happened.

10

This didn’t work

11

Have you rebooted after installing it?

12

Please search and you wll find

ONLY in the guest - but perhaps you are referring to the virtualbox-guest-iso which is necessary if running other guests than an Arch based system.

yes - on the host

sudo vboxreload
13

Yes, i rebooted

14

Please provide the output of:

lsmod | grep vbox
15

I already followed these instructions and it doesn’t work

16

This doesn’t output anything

17

Then you have other problems …

18

Yes, thats why i created this thread.

19

That’s yer prawblem right there, then. if, as you claim, you followed:

completely, then it would’ve looked similar to:

$ lsmod | grep vbox
vboxnetflt             32768  0
vboxnetadp             28672  0
vboxdrv               581632  2 vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt

So my next question is, how did you install it?

20

If you really did following the guide - you would know that the correct command to reload the modules is

sudo vboxreload

You need to decide which host module package you will use.

If you go down the dkms road - the one I personally prefer - you need the headers for your running kernel - and the host module packages are mutually exclusive.

Assuming you go down the dkms road and you are using linux66

sudo pacman -Syu virtualbox-host-dkms dkms linux66-headers

This will build the required modules. Without rebooting

sudo vboxreload

Note: I have corrected the wiki to display the correct command