This is gonna get kinda long so bear with me here.
I am not a troll. I am trying to figure out how to install Whonix on Ubuntu the right way so I can then go over to askubuntu.com and create a question titled “How do I install Whonix on Ubuntu?” and then I will answer my own question, so this will be a tutorial, and I’m gonna put everything I know about Whonix into this tutorial, I’m gonna add screenshots to it (as a newbie myself I always appreciate it when they include screenshots, sometimes it’s just better to take a screenshot and show them exactly what you’re talking about instead of trying to describe it via text. A picture is worth a thousand words as they say) I’m gonna pour everything I know about Whonix into this tutorial cause it’s gonna be on askubuntu and they don’t mess around over there, if your answer isn’t up to par, the mods will delete your answer. So you see what I’m doing here?
I’m trying to learn how to install Whonix the right way on Ubuntu and then I’m gonna go over to askubuntu and create a tutorial, on how to install Whonix on Ubuntu. If my answer on askubuntu isn’t a good answer then it’ll get down voted, it might even get outright deleted by the mods (and trust me I’ve had that happen before on askubuntu, they’re very professional over there, they only like professional answers. In fact, if you ask me they’re too strict cause they’ll even down vote your question and if you get enough questions down voted then you lose the ability to even post questions which I don’t agree with at all. That’s just tyranny. That’s no way to run a website. In fact, if you go over to Linux Mint forums and go to “Beginner Questions” you’ll see a notice that says there are no such things as stupid questions. Askubuntu seems to believe otherwise) so I view it as a test. Can I create a tutorial on how to install Whonix on Ubuntu that even the strict askubuntu community would like? I think I can do this. And it’s sorely needed. I’ve personally tried so many tutorials (on how to install Whonix on Ubuntu) that just didn’t work.
And this tutorial that I’m gonna create on askubuntu, it’ll pop up in the Google search results if you Google “How to install Whonix on Ubuntu” in fact if it’s well received on askubuntu it’ll pop up at the very top of the search results. Which is what I want, as a newbie myself I’m trying to help out other newbies.
I am not a computer expert. I am your average layman. I came over to Linux back in 2021. I was a lifelong Windows user. Linux is hard. Linux has a learning curve to it. You know how many times I used the command line on Windows in my 20 plus years of using Windows? Zero times.
You know how many times I’ve followed a tutorial on Linux that turned out to not to even work? Dozens upon dozens of times, too many times to remember, and I’ve only been using Linux for 4 years. Yeah, Linux can be downright confusing at times, especially when you follow a tutorial to only realize it doesn’t even work.
When I was first starting out with Whonix, I needed to figure out how to install it on Ubuntu, and guess what, none of the tutorials are even accurate anymore. For example, this tutorial right here came out in May of 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXcFHgGjY6M&t=1s and it’s already outdated, I tried it last year and it didn’t work, cause it’s already outdated. So if you follow that tutorial first he tells you to manually install VirtualBox, he tells you to follow a link to do that, this link right here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuF4azCbl08
Ok so first things first he wants to you install the “multiverse repository”
sudo add-apt-repository multiverse && sudo apt-get update
then do
sudo apt install virtualbox
And then he wants you to install the Virtualbox extension package and guest machine additions which aren’t necessary if you just want to install VirtualBox to simply use it for Whonix, or am I wrong on this? If I just want to use Whonix on VirtualBox, the extension package and guest machine additions aren’t necessary right?
Ok back to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXcFHgGjY6M&t=1s so now that you’ve installed VirtualBox again he wants you to install the multiverse repository (by the way what is the multiverse repository?). He wants you to install curl and yes you do need to install curl so that’s good. Then he wants you to install Whonix by doing
curl --tlsv1.3 --output whonix-installer-xfce --url https://www.whonix.org/installer-dist
Which is now incorrect information. This is now outdated info.
(He has a new tutorial here that is for Kali Linux https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9a_oNp-YbE and I checked, Kali Linux is Debian based, but even here he still wants you to manually install VirtualBox which isn’t necessary if you’re on a Debian based distribution. And then he wants you to download the Whonix OVA directly from the Whonix website and install the OVA. Which is completely different from what I’ve been told to do by @extraextra )
And plus he wants you to manually install VirtualBox which isn’t necessary at all. VirtualBox will automatically get installed when you install Whonix following the instructions here (just make sure you’re on a Debian based Linux distribution) Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox Oh! And make sure you add the --oracle-repo command line option.
What do I mean by the --oracle-repo command line option? (And you see this is where I got confused myself. I am after all your average layman. Show me an example. Show me what you mean) Well let me show you what I mean. This is what I mean
bash ./whonix-xfce-installer-cli --oracle-repo
In fact you see this thread here VirtualBox Installer for Linux downgrades version from Oracle provided version to Debian provided version - #40 by FutureMan
All you had to do was say to me “This right here is how you properly install Whonix, in fact this method will install both VirtualBox and Whonix together in one go. I’ll even include the --oracle-repo option so it installs VirtualBox from the Oracle repository which will install the latest and greatest VirtualBox cause the VirtualBox from the Ubuntu repository is an older version. And if you don’t include the --oracle-repo option you’ll get VirtualBox from the Ubuntu repository.”
It’s so easy you just do
curl --tlsv1.3 --output whonix-xfce-installer-cli --url https://www.whonix.org/dist-installer-cli
and then
bash ./whonix-xfce-installer-cli --oracle-repo
And that’s it! That’ll install both VirtualBox and Whonix.
Now this is what should have been said to me and I would’ve just said “Thank you.”
I need to emphasize this, Linux is not user friendly. Linux has a learning curve to it. I get confused all the time with Linux, though over the years I’m getting better at it. But yeah, Linux has a learning curve. If I don’t have step by step detailed instructions I will get confused, and I always like to see screenshots. Instead of trying to explain via text, it’s much better to just take a screenshot and show me what you’re talking about. My tutorial that I’m gonna make will have screenshots where appropriately needed. I’m gonna pour everything I know about Whonix into this tutorial and I bet askubuntu will like it a lot. I kinda want it to become the official Whonix tutorial that shows you how to install Whonix on Ubuntu/Mint. I’m gonna create this tutorial so the average person can understand it.
Also, I want to point this out. This page here Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox should have some text that tells you “Note: This Whonix installer will also automatically install VirtualBox (cause you know, you probably didn’t know that, I sure as shit didn’t know that). But it will install VirtualBox from the Ubuntu repository which might be an older version of VirtualBox so if you want the latest version of VirtualBox on your computer then add the --oracle-repo command line option. This will install VirtualBox from the Oracle repository. Which would look like this for example.”
bash ./whonix-xfce-installer-cli --oracle-repo
So Patrick, if you’d do that that’d be very kind of you.
And I see this page here Uninstall Whonix has been updated with very easy to understand instructions. Patrick was that you? Thank you.