Learning

Linux for Starters: Your Guide to Linux – Running VirtualBox – Part 20

Last Updated on May 22, 2022

Guest Additions

VirtualBox Guest Additions is a collection of device drivers and system applications designed to achieve closer integration between the host and guest operating systems.

With our openSUSE guest machine, Guest Additions is already installed. We therefore don’t need to complete this step.

But if the guest operating system doesn’t provide Guest Additions, first install some packages which are needed for compilation. Specifically, the software needed is gcc, make and Perl. The command to install them depends on the guest operating system. For example, in Ubuntu, you can type:

$ sudo apt install gcc make perl

We can then install the Guest Additions. We always recommend installing Guest Additions, as it improves performance, especially graphics, and a lot more besides.

Page 7 – Snapshots & Cloning

Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Introduction / Set up host machine
Page 2 – Download Guest OS / Install VirtualBox
Page 3 – Create New Virtual Machine
Page 4 – Settings
Page 5 – Power on the Virtual Machine
Page 6 – Guest Additions
Page 7 – Snapshots & Cloning


All articles in this series:

Linux For Starters: Your Guide to Linux
1What is Linux? Why use Linux? What do I need?
2Choose a Linux distribution meeting your specific needs and requirements.
3Make a bootable Ubuntu USB stick in Windows.
4We show you how to install Ubuntu 21.04 on your hard disk.
5Things to do after installing Ubuntu.
6Navigating your way around the Desktop.
7Updating the system, install new software.
8Open source replacements for proprietary Windows desktop software.
9Get started with the power and flexibility of the terminal.
10We cover the basics of files and permissions.
11Getting help from your system.
12Learn all about the file system.
13Manipulating files from the shell.
14Maintain your system with these simple tips.
15Managing users on your system.
16Explore different desktops to GNOME 3.
17Gaming on Linux.
18Protect your privacy with this guide.
19Access the Windows desktop from Linux using a remote desktop client.
20Set up a virtual machine running Ubuntu as the host and openSUSE as the guest.
21Wine lets you run Windows programs on Linux without emulation.
22Extend your GNOME desktop with extensions and themes.
XUseful Linux commands.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Please read our FAQ before making a comment.

2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ivan
Ivan
3 years ago

How can you find out which distros need Guest Additions?

Rooster
Rooster
3 years ago
Reply to  Ivan

I don’t think there’s a way without trying a distro for yourself. Maybe Oracle should make this type of information available