0004686: VirtualBox Kernal Issues: Always Crashing after updates! - Kali Linux Bug Tracker

ID	Project	Category	View Status	Date Submitted	Last Update

0004686	Kali Linux	Kali Package Bug	public	2018-04-09 05:53	2025-07-14 09:38

Reporter	crypticterminal	Assigned To	rhertzog
Priority	normal	Severity	minor	Reproducibility	always
Status	closed	Resolution	no change required
Product Version	2018.1

Summary	0004686: VirtualBox Kernal Issues: Always Crashing after updates!
Description	I have kali fully booted on 3 computers and every time I do a system update my virtualbox crashes on all my computers and gives me the rc=1908 error message (see below for error message) "Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908) The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver (vboxdrv) is either not loaded or there is a permission problem with /dev/vboxdrv. Please reinstall virtualbox-dkms package and load the kernel module by executing 'modprobe vboxdrv' as root. where: suplibOsInit what: 3 VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED (-1908) - The support driver is not installed. On linux, open returned ENOENT." In the past when i had these issues i would just install virtualbox-dkms and run modprobe vboxdrv but its not working anymore. apt-get install virtualbox-dkms or re-install apt-get autoremove --purge virtualbox-dkms -y apt-get install virtualbox-dkms INSTALL Details OF VIRTUALBOX-DKMS: root@kali-desk:~# apt-get install virtualbox-dkms Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: virtualbox-dkms 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1156 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/682 kB of archives. After this operation, 5,404 kB of additional disk space will be used. Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox-dkms. (Reading database ... 365278 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../virtualbox-dkms_5.2.8-dfsg-5_all.deb ... Unpacking virtualbox-dkms (5.2.8-dfsg-5) ... Setting up virtualbox-dkms (5.2.8-dfsg-5) ... Loading new virtualbox-5.2.8 DKMS files... Building for 4.14.0-kali3-amd64 Module build for kernel 4.14.0-kali3-amd64 was skipped since the kernel headers for this kernel does not seem to be installed. ^^^^^^^^^^ As you can see it says - Module build for kernel 4.14.0-kali3-amd64 was skipped since the kernel headers for this kernel does not seem to be installed. So then i try installing the headers which are already installed see below: root@kali-desk:~# apt-get install linux-headers-4.15.0-kali2-all Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done linux-headers-4.15.0-kali2-all is already the newest version (4.15.11-1kali1). 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1156 not upgraded. Then Running modprobe vboxdrv i get the error message the module is not in directory: root@kali-desk:~# modprobe xboxdrv modprobe: FATAL: Module xboxdrv not found in directory /lib/modules/4.14.0-kali3-amd64 Reinstalling virtualbox-dkms and running modprobe vboxdrv used to resolve the issue but i cant seem to get it to work anymore i believe there is some kind of kernal issue that is constantly causing this problem after system updates but you guys would be better at pinpointing the exact problem so please see if you can figure this one out for me its driving me nuts. Thanks guys keep up the great work! Let me know if you need anymore info ill provide it for you.
Steps To Reproduce	apt update && apt full-upgrade apt-get install linux-headers-4.15.0-kali2-all-amd64 -y apt-get install virtualbox virtualbox-dkms -y modprobe vboxdrv Then open the virtualbox manager Create a virtual machine for windows or linux (doesnt matter) Then try starting up the new virtual machine you just created and you will receive a popup notifying of (rc=-1908) error
Additional Information	Also my other computer i tried just removing virtualbox and reinstalling it and i got this error message at the bottom root@kali-desk:~# apt-get install virtualbox Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following additional packages will be installed: libgsoap-2.8.60 libqt5opengl5 libqt5x11extras5 libsdl1.2debian libvncserver1 virtualbox-dkms virtualbox-qt Suggested packages: vde2 virtualbox-guest-additions-iso The following NEW packages will be installed: libgsoap-2.8.60 libqt5opengl5 libqt5x11extras5 libsdl1.2debian libvncserver1 virtualbox virtualbox-dkms virtualbox-qt 0 upgraded, 8 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1156 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/27.0 MB of archives. After this operation, 115 MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y Selecting previously unselected package libgsoap-2.8.60:amd64. (Reading database ... 364738 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../0-libgsoap-2.8.60_2.8.60-2_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libgsoap-2.8.60:amd64 (2.8.60-2) ... Selecting previously unselected package libqt5opengl5:amd64. Preparing to unpack .../1-libqt5opengl5_5.9.2+dfsg-12_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libqt5opengl5:amd64 (5.9.2+dfsg-12) ... Selecting previously unselected package libqt5x11extras5:amd64. Preparing to unpack .../2-libqt5x11extras5_5.9.2-1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libqt5x11extras5:amd64 (5.9.2-1) ... Selecting previously unselected package libsdl1.2debian:amd64. Preparing to unpack .../3-libsdl1.2debian_1.2.15+dfsg2-0.1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libsdl1.2debian:amd64 (1.2.15+dfsg2-0.1) ... Selecting previously unselected package libvncserver1:amd64. Preparing to unpack .../4-libvncserver1_0.9.11+dfsg-1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libvncserver1:amd64 (0.9.11+dfsg-1) ... Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox-dkms. Preparing to unpack .../5-virtualbox-dkms_5.2.8-dfsg-5_all.deb ... Unpacking virtualbox-dkms (5.2.8-dfsg-5) ... Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox. Preparing to unpack .../6-virtualbox_5.2.8-dfsg-5_amd64.deb ... Unpacking virtualbox (5.2.8-dfsg-5) ... Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox-qt. Preparing to unpack .../7-virtualbox-qt_5.2.8-dfsg-5_amd64.deb ... Unpacking virtualbox-qt (5.2.8-dfsg-5) ... Setting up libqt5x11extras5:amd64 (5.9.2-1) ... Setting up libvncserver1:amd64 (0.9.11+dfsg-1) ... Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60) ... Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.23-2) ... Setting up virtualbox-dkms (5.2.8-dfsg-5) ... Loading new virtualbox-5.2.8 DKMS files... Building for 4.14.0-kali3-amd64 Module build for kernel 4.14.0-kali3-amd64 was skipped since the kernel headers for this kernel does not seem to be installed. Processing triggers for menu (2.1.47+b1) ... Setting up libsdl1.2debian:amd64 (1.2.15+dfsg2-0.1) ... Setting up libqt5opengl5:amd64 (5.9.2+dfsg-12) ... Setting up libgsoap-2.8.60:amd64 (2.8.60-2) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3) ... Processing triggers for systemd (236-2) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.6.1-4) ... Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.9-2) ... Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-11) ... Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-1) ... Setting up virtualbox (5.2.8-dfsg-5) ... vboxweb.service is a disabled or a static unit, not starting it. Job for virtualbox.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status virtualbox.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details. invoke-rc.d: initscript virtualbox, action "restart" failed. ● virtualbox.service - LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/virtualbox; generated; vendor preset: enabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2018-04-08 22:19:46 PDT; 9ms ago Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8) Process: 10098 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/virtualbox start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk systemd[1]: Starting LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module... Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk virtualbox[10098]: Loading VirtualBox kernel modules...modprobe vboxdrv failed. Please use 'dmesg' to find out why ... failed! Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk virtualbox[10098]: failed! Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk systemd[1]: virtualbox.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=1 Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk systemd[1]: virtualbox.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'. Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module. Setting up virtualbox-qt (5.2.8-dfsg-5) ... Processing triggers for systemd (236-2) ... Processing triggers for menu (2.1.47+b1) ... root@kali-desk:~# root@kali-desk:~# systemctl status virtualbox.service ● virtualbox.service - LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/virtualbox; generated; vendor preset: enabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2018-04-08 22:19:46 PDT; 2min 45 Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8) Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk systemd[1]: Starting LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel modu Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk virtualbox[10098]: Loading VirtualBox kernel modules.. Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk virtualbox[10098]: failed! Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk systemd[1]: virtualbox.service: Control process exited Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk systemd[1]: virtualbox.service: Failed with result 'ex Apr 08 22:19:46 kali-desk systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: VirtualBox Linux kern
Attached Files	Screenshot Bug Report.png (1,280,888 bytes)

Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2018-04-09 05:53	crypticterminal	New Issue
2018-04-09 05:53	crypticterminal	File Added: Screenshot Bug Report.png
2018-04-09 08:32	rhertzog	Assigned To	=> rhertzog
2018-04-09 08:32	rhertzog	Status	new => closed
2018-04-09 08:32	rhertzog	Resolution	open => no change required
2018-04-09 08:32	rhertzog	Note Added: 0009010
2025-07-14 09:16	g0tmi1k	Priority	urgent => normal
2025-07-14 09:38	g0tmi1k	Severity	crash => minor