Gateway 11 & Workstation 11 ARE KNOWN TO WORK on VBox 5; Missing Features List

Support
1

I’ve done a lot of testing of both the Gateway 11 and the Workstation 11 running under the brand new, and significantly improved, VBox 5. I recommend all Whonix VBox users download VBox5 directly from: https://www.virtualbox.org/ and install/compile it (depending on the instructions for your distro). Note that VBox5 is almost certainly not available from your distro’s repos - and with some distros, you could be in for a very long wait. ::slight_smile:

I have been using VBox and Whonix for years. Both of our new Jessie-based Guest OSes work perfectly, but I have noticed some significant shortcomings, So I’d like to start a list here for Patrick of things to fix prior to the Workstation 11 being released as stable. Feel free to add to this list with issues that ‘bug’ you. 8)

  1. Devices are not mounting properly. This includes a failure to mount the VBox Guest Additions CD, despite being attached to the Workstation from within VBox.

  2. The Whonix documentation re: VirtualBox_Guest_Additions, available from: https://www.whonix.org/wiki/VirtualBox_Guest_Additions is a complete disaster. First, 11 is not even covered, and the ‘information’ available for 10 states Guest Additions are installed by default. Are we to left to assume this remains true for 11? If Guest Additions is installed, it is broken, or somehow incompatible, as it is not working properly. This documentation section needs a serious review and clean-up.

  3. USB devices (versions 1, 2 or 3) are not mounting correctly, despite being enabled within VBox, and enabled within the running Workstation. This is an issue which cannot be allowed to exist - as it very seriously cripples the usefulness, expandability, etc of the Workstation as a desirable place to actually conduct work. This issue may be related to #1 above - and may also be tied to the larger proper Guest Additions support issue for the Workstation 11.

  4. Shared folders are working, but I hate using them. Obviously, they are controlled as a root owned resource, and it’s a complete waste of time, and a PITA, having to chmod everything following copy operations. This is another reason #3 above must be fixed.

Those were the major items I’ve seen so far on the Jessie based Workstation 11. All else (and I have tested many services), including the rock-solid Gateway 11, seems to be working correctly, and as expected.

Again, please feel free to append items of concern to this list of issues we want to see fixed by the time Workstation 11 - Stable is released.

Please do not post anything here which does not come directly from your experience using the Gateway 11 and the Workstation 11. This thread is NOT for addressing Whonix 10 (or earlier) issues.

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1. Devices are not mounting properly. This includes a failure to mount the VBox Guest Additions CD, despite being attached to the Workstation from within VBox.
https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Template:Known_bugs#Mounting_.28CD.2FDVD.29_Devices
2. The Whonix documentation re: VirtualBox_Guest_Additions, available from: https://www.whonix.org/wiki/VirtualBox_Guest_Additions is a complete disaster. First, 11 is not even covered, and the 'information' available for 10 states Guest Additions are installed by default. Are we to left to *assume* this remains true for 11? If Guest Additions is installed, it is broken, or somehow incompatible, as it is not working properly. This documentation section needs a serious review and clean-up.
Remains installed by default for Whonix 11 also. dpkg -l | grep -i virtualbox Maybe it's broken in VBox 5. I haven't tested yet. Not sure if I will fix it. Patches welcome. Documentation contributions welcome.
3. USB devices (versions 1, 2 or 3) are not mounting correctly, despite being enabled within VBox, and enabled within the running Workstation. This is an issue which cannot be allowed to exist - as it very seriously cripples the usefulness, expandability, etc of the Workstation as a desirable place to actually conduct work. This issue may be related to #1 above - and may also be tied to the larger proper Guest Additions support issue for the Workstation 11.
Yes, probably same issue as above: https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Template:Known_bugs#Mounting_.28CD.2FDVD.29_Devices

Unlikely to be fixed anytime soon. As long as no one clever enough finding a solution to this issue.

4. Shared folders are working, but I hate using them. Obviously, they are controlled as a root owned resource, and it's a complete waste of time, and a PITA, having to chmod everything following copy operations. This is another reason #3 above must be fixed.
Maybe a bug. The usual mount options that are documented ("sudo mount -t vboxsf -o uid=1000,gid=1000 shared /mnt/shared") should mount it as user, so no chmod should be required.

[hr]

FYI: My personal focus has shifted away from VirtualBox to Qubes:

Therefore a maintainer for VirtualBox would be welcome. Otherwise further VirtualBox centric improvements are less likely.

3

Patrick: Excellent, and thank you for the CD bug workaround!

Here is the complete procedure so you can get the current VBox 5 version of Guest Additions loaded within your Workstation 11:

user@host:~$ sudo mkdir /mnt/cdrom
[sudo] password for user:
user@host:~$ sudo mount -o ro /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom/
user@host:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 99G 3.7G 90G 4% /
udev 10M 0 10M 0% /dev
tmpfs 405M 5.6M 400M 2% /run
tmpfs 1012M 4.0K 1012M 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock
tmpfs 1012M 0 1012M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
none 10M 56K 10M 1% /run/msgcollector
none XG XG XG X% /media/sf_Whonix ← Obviously, that’s my shared folder
tmpfs 203M 4.0K 203M 1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sr0 56M 56M 0 100% /mnt/cdrom ← CD, mounted
user@host:~$ su
Password:
root@host:/home/user# cd /mnt/cdrom/
root@host:/mnt/cdrom# ls -al
total 50900
dr-xr-xr-x 6 root root 2048 Jul 9 09:59 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 21 04:46 …
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 2048 Jul 9 09:59 32Bit
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 2048 Jul 9 09:59 64Bit
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 647 Sep 2 2014 AUTORUN.INF
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 6964 Jul 9 10:55 autorun.sh
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 2048 Jul 9 09:59 cert
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 2048 Jul 9 09:59 OS2
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 5519 Jul 9 10:55 runasroot.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 7495104 Jul 9 10:56 VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 17222656 Jul 9 10:56 VBoxSolarisAdditions.pkg
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 16884816 Jul 9 10:57 VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64.exe
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 312384 Jul 9 10:54 VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 10176760 Jul 9 10:55 VBoxWindowsAdditions-x86.exe
root@host:/mnt/cdrom# sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
Verifying archive integrity… All good.
Uncompressing VirtualBox 5.0.0 Guest Additions for Linux…
VirtualBox Guest Additions installer
You appear to have a version of the VBoxGuestAdditions software
on your system which was installed from a different source or using a
different type of installer. If you installed it from a package from your
Linux distribution or if it is a default part of the system then we strongly
recommend that you cancel this installation and remove it properly before
installing this version. If this is simply an older or a damaged
installation you may safely proceed.

Do you wish to continue anyway? [yes or no]
yes
Removing existing VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules …done.
Removing existing VirtualBox non-DKMS kernel modules …done.
grep: /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-/init/: No such file or directory
Copying additional installer modules …
Installing additional modules …
Removing existing VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules …done.
Removing existing VirtualBox non-DKMS kernel modules …done.
Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel modules …done.
Doing non-kernel setup of the Guest Additions …done.
You should restart your guest to make sure the new modules are actually used

Installing the Window System drivers
Installing X.Org Server 1.16 modules …done.
Setting up the Window System to use the Guest Additions …done.
You may need to restart the the Window System (or just restart the guest system)
to enable the Guest Additions.

Installing graphics libraries and desktop services components …done.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Patrick - all of your other comments: NB - and Xie Xie! 8)

4

VirtualBox is mostly tested with Debian. Jessie contains version 4.3.18. The guest additions that are installed by default also come from Debian. That’s why those are compatible.

Now, when you are installing VirtualBox version 5 from a third party repository such as the Debian repository, guest additions versions are incompatible. I think from a project maintenance perspective, the best to say to a Debian user would be, that’s unsupported. (Frequently Asked Questions - Whonix ™ FAQ) Stick with versions that come from Debian. Don’t mix.

For Windows users / VirtualBox version 5 users it’s more complicated. No stable [like Debian stable] version is maintained by their distribution. So they use the current one, which is VirtualBox version 5. They need those instructions if they want to use guest additions.

Anyhow. Before manually installing guest additions using CD, to avoid conflicts and issues, I recommend running the following command.

sudo apt-get purge virtualbox-guest-*

Can you add this to documentation please?

5

Patrick,

I just wrote a long post explaining that Guest Additions is failing to start on the Workstation 11, and it may indeed be due to the incompatibility issues you mentioned.

Unfortunately it appears you posted at about the same time I did. Your post won, and mine appears lost in the digital wind. I do not have the energy to re-produce it, atm. >:(

Let’s keep facts and terminology straight. I am running VBox 5 on my amd64 Fed 22 Host. Gateway 11 and Workstation 11 are both 32-bit Debian Guests running on my Host. If I were running a Debian Host, I would absolutely agree with your comments (which still may, or not, end up being valid for my setup).

The other question I have, with your recommended Guest Additions approach Patrick, are USB devices being recognized, and mounted, inside your Workstation 11? ← That is the only thing important to me wrt Guest Additions. Again, if an OS cannot even manage USB devices properly, it is seriously crippled from my POV, and is not particularly useful for conducting serious work.

Here’s the super condensed version of the Guest Additions failure I currently see:

root@host:/home/user# systemctl status vboxadd-service.service
● vboxadd-service.service - VirtualBox Additions Service
Loaded: loaded (/opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-5.0.0/init/vboxadd-service; enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2015-07-21 12:26:36 UTC; 30min ago
Process: 551 ExecStart=/opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-5.0.0/init/vboxadd-service start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Jul 21 12:26:36 host vboxadd-service[551]: Starting VirtualBox Guest Addition service …done.
Jul 21 12:26:36 host systemd[1]: vboxadd-service.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1
Jul 21 12:26:36 host systemd[1]: Failed to start VirtualBox Additions Service.
Jul 21 12:26:36 host systemd[1]: Unit vboxadd-service.service entered failed state.

then:

root@host:/home/user# systemctl start vboxadd-service.service
Job for vboxadd-service.service failed. See ‘systemctl status vboxadd-service.service’ and ‘journalctl -xn’ for details.
root@host:/home/user# journalctl -xn
– Logs begin at Tue 2015-07-21 12:23:43 UTC, end at Tue 2015-07-21 12:57:02 UTC. –
Jul 21 12:41:13 host systemd[1]: Starting Cleanup of Temporary Directories…
– Subject: Unit systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service has begun with start-up
– Defined-By: systemd
– Support: systemd-devel Info Page

– Unit systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service has begun starting up.
Jul 21 12:41:14 host systemd[1]: Started Cleanup of Temporary Directories.
– Subject: Unit systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service has finished start-up
– Defined-By: systemd
– Support: systemd-devel Info Page

– Unit systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service has finished starting up.

– The start-up result is done.
Jul 21 12:56:13 host su[8198]: Successful su for root by user
Jul 21 12:56:13 host su[8198]: + /dev/pts/3 user:root
Jul 21 12:56:13 host su[8198]: pam_unix(su:session): session opened for user root by user(uid=1000)
Jul 21 12:57:02 host systemd[1]: Starting VirtualBox Additions Service…
– Subject: Unit vboxadd-service.service has begun with start-up
– Defined-By: systemd
– Support: systemd-devel Info Page

– Unit vboxadd-service.service has begun starting up.
Jul 21 12:57:02 host vboxadd-service[8205]: Starting VirtualBox Guest Addition service …done.
Jul 21 12:57:02 host systemd[1]: vboxadd-service.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1
Jul 21 12:57:02 host systemd[1]: Failed to start VirtualBox Additions Service.
– Subject: Unit vboxadd-service.service has failed
– Defined-By: systemd
– Support: systemd-devel Info Page

– Unit vboxadd-service.service has failed.

– The result is failed.
Jul 21 12:57:02 host systemd[1]: Unit vboxadd-service.service entered failed state.

grep additions in my syslogs:

07/21/15 10:56:53 AM host systemd[1] Starting VirtualBox Additions Service…
07/21/15 10:56:53 AM host systemd[1] Failed to start VirtualBox Additions Service.
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host kernel [ 19.886388] 00:00:00.006996 main Executable: /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-5.0.0/sbin/VBoxService
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Starting LSB: VirtualBox Linux X11 Additions…
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Started LSB: VirtualBox Linux X11 Additions.
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Starting VirtualBox Linux Additions kernel modules…
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Starting VirtualBox Linux Additions X11 setup…
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Starting LSB: VirtualBox Linux Additions…
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host vboxadd[379] Starting the VirtualBox Guest Additions …done.
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host virtualbox-guest-utils.anondist[399] Starting VirtualBox AdditionsVBoxService 5.0.0 r101573 (verbosity: 0) linux.x86 (Jul 9 2015 11:55:43) release log
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host virtualbox-guest-utils.anondist[399] 00:00:00.006996 main Executable: /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-5.0.0/sbin/VBoxService
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Started VirtualBox Linux Additions kernel modules.
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Started VirtualBox Linux Additions X11 setup.
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Started LSB: VirtualBox Linux Additions.
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Starting VirtualBox Additions Service…
07/21/15 12:26:36 PM host systemd[1] Failed to start VirtualBox Additions Service.
07/21/15 12:57:02 PM host systemd[1] Starting VirtualBox Additions Service…
07/21/15 12:57:02 PM host systemd[1] Failed to start VirtualBox Additions Service.

Conclusion: Guest Additions, installed from the VBox 5 ‘CD’ is FUBARed within the Workstation 11.

Minor Good News: The shared clipboard is working, bidirectionally.

6

Have you got guest additions to work using VBox 5 and Debian jessie guest yet?

About USB. You know this documentation already?

Have you got USB to work using VBox 5 and Debian jessie guest yet?

As for guest additions from CD to work… First of all, uninstall them. Then uninstall the Debian guest additions package. OR. Start fresh. Uninstall the Debian guest additions package. Install guest additions from CD.

BUT. There is another complication. This is discouraged until the https://github.com/Whonix/vbox-disable-timesync package has been made compatible with newer guest additions / systemd. Implementing this either manually or by shipping the missing file in the package is probably not hard using systemd drop-in .d files.

Without serious help from the community, VBox support is on shaky grounds for non-Debian stable host operating systems.

7

Just tested VBox 5 from virtualbox.org repository with Whonix 11.0.0.3.0 on Debian jessie. Guest additions functional. Window size and mouse integration working. So VBox 5 with guest additions from Debian jessie seem to be compatible on Debian. That’s not the case on Fedora?

8

Some more tests using VBox 5. Not looking all that bad. When you uninstall (“sudo apt-get purge virtualbox-*”) the Debian VBox guest additions packages first, installation of VBox 5 guest additions from CD works fine. (Still not recommended as long as https://github.com/Whonix/vbox-disable-timesync does not support this or until manually fixed.)

https://github.com/Whonix/vbox-disable-timesync/blob/master/etc/init.d/virtualbox-guest-utils.anondist will exit 0 and do nothing which is also quite okay.

vboxadd-service worked for me. After reboot! It’s still a sysvinit script, not systemd unit file.

Kernel header packages need to be installed, but that’s the default anyhow.

I guess installation of guest additions using VBox CD should always be discouraged. Those could change too dynamically (wrt vbox-disable-timesync).

9

https://www.whonix.org/wiki/VirtualBox_Guest_Additions#Installation_from_VirtualBox_CD → discouraged.

TODO:

make vbox-disable-timesync compatible with guest additions from virtualbox CD
https://phabricator.whonix.org/T378