How to Install Virtualbox 4.3 on Ubuntu / Debian / Fedora

VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a free virtualisation software for x86 based systems and is available for most of the popular OSes like linux, mac and windows.

It runs on a host system and supports running other OSes as guest. It earlier belonged to Sun and now to Oracle.

At the time of this post, virtualbox 4.3.2 is the latest version and was released in Nov-2013.

To learn about what is new in this version, check the Change Log.

Install virtualbox on Ubuntu from oracle repository

Oracle provides debian compatible repositories for installing virtualbox via apt command on debian/ubuntu based systems. So first we shall check the steps to install it like that.

1. Add the repository

Virtualbox provides repositories for various versions of ubuntu and debian. Pick up the correct repository from the list that matches your OS version.

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian saucy contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian raring contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian quantal contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian precise contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lucid contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian wheezy contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian squeeze contrib non-free

For other Ubuntu derivates like Mint, Elementary OS etc, find out the ubuntu versions on which they are based and choose repository of the corresponding ubuntu version.

After selecting the correct repository, add it to the apt repository list with the apt-add-repository command.

$ sudo apt-add-repository 'deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian saucy contrib' -y

2. Import the key

After adding the repository url, the next step is to import the keys.

$ wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

3. Update the apt cache and install

Now the repository is fully setup, so move ahead to installing the package.

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.3

Thats it. Now virtualbox 4.3 installation is complete. There should be a launcher icon in application menus of Gnome/KDE from where it can be launched comfortably.

It will automatically install the previous version of virtualbox if they were installed from ubuntu repositories.
It ideal to use the virtualbox repositories from Oracle since it would always have the latest version.

Install Virtualbox directly from deb files

The alternative method of installing virtualbox is by using the deb files directly. The deb files can be downloaded from following url

The page contains download links for various linux distros and architectures. The download files can also be browsed over here

Browse into the latest version and then the preferred distro/OS.
So over here we download the latest version for Ubuntu Raring and compatible systems.

$ wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.3.2/virtualbox-4.3_4.3.2-90405~Ubuntu~raring_amd64.deb

Now remove older virtualbox versions if any

$ sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-4.2

Install the latest deb file with dpkg or gdebi

$ sudo gdebi virtualbox-4.3_4.3.2-90405~Ubuntu~raring_amd64.deb 
or
$ sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-4.3_4.3.2-90405~Ubuntu~raring_amd64.deb

That should install it right away and complete the process

Install virtualbox on Fedora from Oracle repository

Now its time to do the setup of the rpm based linux distros, that is Fedora etc. Over here we shall be doing it on Fedora only.

1. Add the repository

To add the virtualbox repository to fedora create a file named virtualbox.repo in /etc/yum.repos.d/ and add the following content to it.

$ sudo nano /etc/yum.repos.d/virtualbox.repo

[virtualbox]
name=Fedora $releasever - $basearch - VirtualBox
baseurl=http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/fedora/$releasever/$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc

The above contents can be downloaded from the the following url as well

Or write directly

$ sudo wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/fedora/virtualbox.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/virtualbox.repo

2. Install with yum

Now update the yum cache and list the virtualbox packages

$ yum list *virtualbox*
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Available Packages
VirtualBox-4.2.x86_64             4.2.18_88780_fedora18-1             virtualbox
VirtualBox-4.3.x86_64             4.3.2_90405_fedora18-1              virtualbox

So there we can see the virtualbox packages from the oracle virtualbox repository. Now its time to install. So go ahead with yum once again

$ sudo yum install VirtualBox-4.3

That would install VirtualBox 4.3 on the Fedora system. It would also pull in a few qt packages as dependencies, if they are not already present on the system.

Install virtualbox on Fedora with rpm files

Oracle also provides rpm files for Fedora 17/18/19 that can be downloaded and installed using the rpm command. Get the download link for your Fedora version and architecture over here

In this example we are downloading for Fedora 18 - 64bit

$ wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.3.2/VirtualBox-4.3-4.3.2_90405_fedora18-1.x86_64.rpm

The download size is around 72MB so would take a few minutes to complete. Once the download completes, simply fire up the yum command to install the package.

$ sudo yum install VirtualBox-4.3-4.3.2_90405_fedora18-1.x86_64.rpm

You may be surprised to know that the yum command can install rpm package files as well and will automatically install any necessary dependencies along the way.

This is very handy. The rpm command cannot be used, since it cannot install dependencies and would simply stop.

So we learnt the steps to install VirtualBox on both Ubuntu and Fedora.
Try it out and enjoy!!