Unable to start vboxdrv.service

Ask Fedora
1

Hi!

I’m struggling with starting a VirtualBox of FC37 and I’m not able to start it. The machine is created with Windows and then, exported to a FC37 where I need to start it.

The problem is when I try to start the virtual machine. First, I get an error who says:

Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

In the same window, I see the message which says I have to execute (as root) some commands from the command line. The commands are:

dnf install akmod-VirtualBox kernel-devel-$(uname -r)
akmods
systemctl restart vboxdrv.service

So, I execute them and the last command gives me another error:
Job for vboxdrv.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See “systemctl status vboxdrv.service” and “journalctl -xeu vboxdrv.service” for details.

So, I execute the command ‘systemctl status vboxdrv.service’ and I see the next error:

jun 19 11:59:37 fedora systemd[1]: Starting vboxdrv.service - Linux kernel module init script...
jun 19 11:59:37 fedora modprobe[20541]: modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'vboxdrv': Invalid argument
jun 19 11:59:37 fedora systemd[1]: vboxdrv.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
jun 19 11:59:37 fedora systemd[1]: vboxdrv.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
jun 19 11:59:37 fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vboxdrv.service - Linux kernel module init script.

I tried to look for this error on google but no luck. Please, can anyone help me?

Thank you so much in advance!

2

how did you install virtualbox? From rpmfusion repo?

3

I just typed sudo dnf install VirtualBox into the xterm.

4

Have you checked ttps://rpmfusion.org/Howto/VirtualBox?

It tells how to install VirtualBox from RpmFusion.

5

Nope,

Let me check out and see if helps.

Thank you so much!

6

Have you restarted to see if that helps loading the kernel module?

7

One additional step beyond installing the package from rpmfusion is that one must add the user who is using virtualbox to the proper user group.
sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers <username>
followed by logging out then back in so the group is activated for that user. This is covered in the HowTo linked above.

8

On my system I forgot to do that and it still works.

9

Thank you so much all of you for your answers.

I’ve followed all steps shown here: Howto/Secure Boot - RPM Fusion and here Signing VirtualBox Kernel Modules · GitHub

But no good luck!

After reinstalling the VirtaulBox (several times) package from repositories, I did the next steps:

sudo dnf install akmod-VirtualBox kernel-devel-$(uname -r)
sudo akmods
sudo systemctl restart vboxdrv.service

After that, I started a Virtual Box Machine and I had exactly the same result.

After that, I restarted the system (shutdown -r now) and I checked out the systemctl status vboxdrv, and the error remains:

× vboxdrv.service - Linux kernel module init script
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/vboxdrv.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2023-06-20 08:45:36 CEST; 6min ago
    Process: 1531 ExecStart=/sbin/modprobe vboxdrv (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Main PID: 1531 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
        CPU: 24ms

jun 20 08:45:36 fedora systemd[1]: Starting vboxdrv.service - Linux kernel module init script...
jun 20 08:45:36 fedora modprobe[1531]: modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'vboxdrv': Key was rejected by service
jun 20 08:45:36 fedora systemd[1]: vboxdrv.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
jun 20 08:45:36 fedora systemd[1]: vboxdrv.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
jun 20 08:45:36 fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vboxdrv.service - Linux kernel module init script.

Finally, my user is part of the vboxusers group, as you can see here:

guillermo@fedora:~$ id
uid=1000(guillermo) gid=1000(guillermo) grupos=1000(guillermo),981(vboxusers) contexto=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023
1 Like
10

Enroll the akmods key, or disable Secure Boot in the BIOS/EFI settings.

1 Like
11

Yes, that’s exactly what I’ve done and it solved my problem.

Thank you so much all of you again and forgive the inconvenience!