Virtualbox: Kernel Driver not installed - you can do that
In this article we will show you what you can do with the "Kernel Driver not installed" error message in Virtualbox. If you get this error message, you have to install the drivers manually or completely reinstall Virtualbox. The solution also depends on whether your host system is Windows or Linux. We have a step-by-step solution for both operating systems.
Virtualbox: Kernel Driver not installed - you can do that under Windows
The error message "Virtualbox: Kernel Driver not installed" can only be corrected in Windows by a manual installation. In rare cases, you can also fix this with the repair function of Virtualbox.
- Select Virtualbox under the "Programs" system setting.
- Now press "Uninstall". When the installer asks what you want to do, select "Repair" instead of Uninstall. If "Repair" is not available to you, do not select "Uninstall", but close the window and continue with step 4.
- Restart your PC as soon as the repair process is complete. Then check whether the error message is still displayed. If so, go to the next step.
- Open the directory C: \ Program Files \ Oracle \ VirtualBox \ drivers \ USB \ filter.
- Now select "VBoxUSBMon.inf" with the right mouse button and press Install.
- Then open the directory C: \ Program Files \ Oracle \ VirtualBox \ drivers \ vboxdrv.
- Select "VBoxDrv.inf" again with the right mouse button and install the file.
- Virtualbox should now work as usual again.
Virtualbox: Kernel Driver not installed - you can do that on Linux
Under Linux there are some commands with which you can solve the error message "Virtualbox: Kernel Driver not installed". Due to the many different Linux versions, there is unfortunately no universal solution. Nevertheless, you can try the following steps.
- Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and enter the following commands:
- sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-dkms
- sudo apt-get install virtualbox-dkms
- sudo modprobe vboxdrv
- sudo modprobe vboxnetflt
- Now test whether the error message is still displayed. If so, continue with the following steps.
- Enter the command "sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vbox.list" in the terminal.
- Now a document opens. Add the following line to this document and then save it: deb //download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian quantal contrib.
- You can close the document after saving. Then enter the following commands into the terminal:
- sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade
- sudo apt-get remove virtualbox *
- sudo apt-get install virtualbox
- Virtualbox should now work again.