VirtualBox 6.1.12 and earlier on Ubuntu 20.04: vboxconfig fails

[gmarler]

After upgrading a system from Ubuntu 18.04 (where VirtualBox 5.x and 6.x ran just fine) to Ubuntu 20.04, no version of VirtualBox 5.x or 6.1 has been able to build the VirtualBox kernel modules.

Here's the OS release specifics:

$ cat /etc/os-release
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04 LTS"
VERSION_ID="20.04"
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=focal
UBUNTU_CODENAME=focal

Here's what happens when the attempt is made to run vboxconfig, and the diagnostic messages are incredibly sparse, compared with issues like this on previous versions of VirtualBox:

$ sudo /sbin/vboxconfig
vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules.
vboxdrv.sh: failed: Look at /var/log/vbox-setup.log to find out what went wrong.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox.  To re-start the set-up process, run
  /sbin/vboxconfig
as root.  If your system is using EFI Secure Boot you may 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.

[gmarler@T450s:T2:L1:C2967:J0  ]
~ $ cat /var/log/vbox-setup.log
Building the main VirtualBox module.
Building the net filter module.
Building the net adaptor module.
Building the PCI pass-through module.
Error building the module:
make: *** No rule to make target 'install'.  Stop.

That looks more like a problem with vboxconfig and the scripts that it calls, than with the OS, but can't tell for sure.

[gmarler]

Log from VirtualBox on Ubuntu 20.04 host for Windows 10 Guest Host

[Frank Batschulat (Oracle)]

please provide the uname -r output from the Linux system.

[eberhard]

I had the same problem on Ubuntu 18.04 with kernel 5.4.0-42, both with Virtualbox 6.1 and 6.0. This started to happen out of the blue after upgrading to kernel 5.4 (linux-generic-hwe-18.04) and replacing virtualbox-6.0 with virtualbox-6.1.

The reason for me turned out some old binary files and obsolete directories in /usr/share/virtualbox/src/vboxhost (and an maybe outdated vboxdrv.sh file). I worked around the problem by uninstalling Virtualbox, deleting /usr/share/virtualbox and then installing virtualbox-6.1.

[Frank Batschulat (Oracle)]

I cannot reproduce this with 6.1.12 and the 5.4.0-42 kernels, neither on Ubtunu 18.04 nor on Ubuntu 20.04. /sbin/vboxconfig runs ok in both cases.

[tonywh]

I had an issue like this too. It appeared on Ubuntu 18.04 when the kernel upgraded to 5.4.0-42. When I checked what was wrong it appeared that kernel modules were missing. I found them in /lib/modules/5.4.44 but I have no kernel 5.4.44. Is that the wrong place? I ran /sbin/vboxconfig which failed. I upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04 which changed nothing. I could fix it temporarily by moving the kernel modules and using insmod to load them. Eventually I came across this ticket so uninstalled and purged vbox 6.1.12 found there was still some of 6.1.10 present so uninstalled and purged that, then found 6.1.10 extensions still present and uninstalled and purged those. Now as expected /usr/lib/virutalbox and /usr/share/virtualbox* had been removed. Next I installed again and it's all OK now. Below are some of the commands and output I tried when it was not working . Note that the system has secure boot disabled and has no keys enrolled.

tony@tony-N13-N140ZU:/usr/lib/virtualbox$ sudo /sbin/vboxconfig 
[sudo] password for tony: 
vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules.
At main.c:281:
- SSL error:02001002:system library:fopen:No such file or directory: ../crypto/bio/bss_file.c:69
- SSL error:2006D080:BIO routines:BIO_new_file:no such file: ../crypto/bio/bss_file.c:76
kmodsign: /lib/modules/5.4.0-42-lowlatency/misc/vboxdrv.ko: No such file or directory
At main.c:281:
- SSL error:02001002:system library:fopen:No such file or directory: ../crypto/bio/bss_file.c:69
- SSL error:2006D080:BIO routines:BIO_new_file:no such file: ../crypto/bio/bss_file.c:76
kmodsign: /lib/modules/5.4.0-42-lowlatency/misc/vboxnetflt.ko: No such file or directory
At main.c:281:
- SSL error:02001002:system library:fopen:No such file or directory: ../crypto/bio/bss_file.c:69
- SSL error:2006D080:BIO routines:BIO_new_file:no such file: ../crypto/bio/bss_file.c:76
kmodsign: /lib/modules/5.4.0-42-lowlatency/misc/vboxnetadp.ko: No such file or directory
vboxdrv.sh: failed: modprobe vboxdrv failed. Please use 'dmesg' to find out why.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox.  To re-start the set-up process, run
  /sbin/vboxconfig
as root.  If your system is using EFI Secure Boot you may 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.
tony@tony-N13-N140ZU:/usr/lib/virtualbox$ uname -r
5.4.0-42-lowlatency
tony@tony-N13-N140ZU:/usr/lib/virtualbox$ ls -l /lib/modules/5.4*
/lib/modules/5.4.0-42-generic:
total 5800
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      39 Jul 10 07:54 build -> /usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-42-generic
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 Jul 10 07:54 initrd
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root    4096 Jul 24 07:05 kernel
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1385287 Jul 28 22:19 modules.alias
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1361803 Jul 28 22:19 modules.alias.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    8105 Jul 10 00:50 modules.builtin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   24985 Jul 28 22:19 modules.builtin.alias.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   10257 Jul 28 22:19 modules.builtin.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   63335 Jul 10 00:50 modules.builtin.modinfo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  610117 Jul 28 22:19 modules.dep
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  852924 Jul 28 22:19 modules.dep.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     330 Jul 28 22:19 modules.devname
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  220068 Jul 10 00:50 modules.order
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     791 Jul 28 22:19 modules.softdep
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  613945 Jul 28 22:19 modules.symbols
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  746636 Jul 28 22:19 modules.symbols.bin
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 Jul 28 22:13 vdso

/lib/modules/5.4.0-42-lowlatency:
total 5804
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      42 Jul 10 00:50 build -> /usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-42-lowlatency
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 Jul 10 00:50 initrd
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root    4096 Jul 28 22:13 kernel
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1385353 Jul 29 11:33 modules.alias
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1361852 Jul 29 11:33 modules.alias.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    8105 Jul 10 00:50 modules.builtin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   24985 Jul 29 11:33 modules.builtin.alias.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   10257 Jul 29 11:33 modules.builtin.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   63335 Jul 10 00:50 modules.builtin.modinfo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  610169 Jul 29 11:33 modules.dep
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  853047 Jul 29 11:33 modules.dep.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     330 Jul 29 11:33 modules.devname
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  220119 Jul 10 00:50 modules.order
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     791 Jul 29 11:33 modules.softdep
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  613945 Jul 29 11:33 modules.symbols
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  746636 Jul 29 11:33 modules.symbols.bin
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 Jul 28 22:13 vdso

/lib/modules/5.4.44:
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 29 11:33 misc
tony@tony-N13-N140ZU:/usr/lib/virtualbox$ date
Wed 29 Jul 2020 11:34:18 IST
tony@tony-N13-N140ZU:/usr/lib/virtualbox$ ls -l /lib/modules/5.4.44/misc/
total 596
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 549504 Jul 29 11:33 vboxdrv.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  15080 Jul 29 11:33 vboxnetadp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  38440 Jul 29 11:33 vboxnetflt.ko
tony@tony-N13-N140ZU:/usr/lib/virtualbox$ 

[Frank Batschulat (Oracle)]

I did run into the same problems on my Ubuntu 20.04 build server as well.

### what packages deliver the kernel headers and source?

linux-headers-5.4.0-40/focal-updates,focal-updates,focal-security,focal-security,now 5.4.0-40.44 all [installed,automatic]
  Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.4.0

linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic/focal-updates,focal-security,now 5.4.0-40.44 amd64 [installed,automatic]
  Linux kernel headers for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP

linux-source-5.4.0/focal-updates,focal-updates,focal-security,focal-security,now 5.4.0-40.44 all [installed,automatic]
  Linux kernel source for version 5.4.0 with Ubuntu patches

### that is the one:

# apt info linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic
Package: linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic
Version: 5.4.0-40.44
Priority: optional
Section: devel
Source: linux
Origin: Ubuntu
Maintainer: Ubuntu Kernel Team <kernel-team@lists.ubuntu.com>
Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
Installed-Size: 14,4 MB
Provides: linux-headers, linux-headers-3.0
Depends: linux-headers-5.4.0-40, libc6 (>= 2.14), libelf1 (>= 0.142), libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0)
Download-Size: 1.226 kB
APT-Manual-Installed: no
APT-Sources: http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages
Description: Linux kernel headers for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
 This package provides kernel header files for version 5.4.0 on
 64 bit x86 SMP.
 .
 This is for sites that want the latest kernel headers.  Please read
 /usr/share/doc/linux-headers-5.4.0-40/debian.README.gz for details.

### comes from:

​https://ubuntu.pkgs.org/20.04/ubuntu-updates-main-amd64/linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic_5.4.0-40.44_amd64.deb.html
​http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux/linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic_5.4.0-40.44_amd64.deb

### in there we find 5.4.0-40-generic in: /usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic/include/config/kernel.release

### on the system now:

$ ls -la /usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic/include/config/kernel.release
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7 Jul 15 09:33 /usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic/include/config/kernel.release
$ cat /usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic/include/config/kernel.release
5.4.44

### I have reinstalled the package again and now we find it is the ### correct version string again:

$ ls -la /usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic/include/config/kernel.release
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17 Jun 22 22:59 /usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic/include/config/kernel.release
$ cat /usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-40-generic/include/config/kernel.release
5.4.0-40-generic

that solved the problem.