I’d first shred all the VM files, including snapshots and logs, then follow the steps that were mentioned above (and yes, they are good for linux).
EDIT: meant to reply to the OP, not to extraextra
1 Like
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.
I’m poor right now but if I ever get out of poverty, if I ever get above the poverty line, I’ll donate money to Whonix and the TOR project. Privacy is very important and in this modern digital world, we’re losing a lot of our privacy. The governments of the world are constantly tracking us now, it’s straight up Orwellian.
A post was split to a new topic: Whonix Installer for Linux - mention that curl needs to be installed
Tutorials on third-party websites can easily get outdated.
The goal is to have tutorials in the wiki so third-party documentation isn’t needed. See Improve the Documentation / Edit the Kicksecure Wiki.
Though, that only includes text and screenshots. Video production at time of writing is community only.
I didn’t know anyone made a video using that command. That’s probably easy to fix for me on the server side. If this bug was reported, I would have fixed it.
Why is --oracle-repo really needed at all? There is a reason why this isn’t done by default.
Developers can easily modify whonix-installer-xfce so no users needs to type or even know about --oracle-repo. The whonix-installer-xfce could install by default from Oracle repository.
Why is that not done by default? Developer decision. There are complex technical reasons. (Documented here: Newer VirtualBox Version) After this was considered by developers, it has been decided that the default is distribution repository and oracle repository is an optional option.
Using an optional command line option can express a few different things, the user may want to:
- express a different opinion or choice than the developer;
- has a specific reason not to use the default;
- something else.
For most users, according to whonix-installer-xfce defaults, at time of writing, distribution repository is OK.
Without being very knowledgeable and having a good rationale to disagree with developers, a tutorial recommending --oracle-repo to everybody should not exist.
In my opinion, at minimum, all contents from Newer VirtualBox Version) (including footnotes and links) should be understood before making a recommendation to other random strangers.
Anyone is free to have a different opinion on which repository choice should be used. But I think the opinion only gets qualified after understanding prior work.
Using --oracle-repo is expressing a technical opinion. And it’s a fine opinion to have. The existence of the --oracle-repo is evidene that developers support users who wish to use the Oracle repository. Because otherwise, developers would not have went through the work of adding the --oracle-repo feature.
(It could also be the case in theory that a feature such as oracle-repo does not exist for reasons of still being todo or being infeasible. So not too much can be read into the absence of any features / command line options without more context.)
Oracle repository is just adding additional confusion. It requires additional context. Rhetorical questions:
- What’s even Oracle? The developer of VirtualBox.
- What’s a repository?
- Is Oracle repository better than distribution repository?
- What’s a distribution?
This is to show there’s a lot of vocabulary that can be overwhelming.
For a first time user visiting Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox it seems wrong to introduce all of these new concepts.
First time user trouble:
- What’s VirtualBox?
- What’s an operating system?
- What’s a browser? I am not kidding. Many people nowadays click “Internet” on their phone and don’t know what a “browser” is.
- What’s a messenger? Many people nowadays don’t know what “a messenger” is. They only know one thing. Facebook Messenger. Because the phone shows just one icon “Messenger” they equate Facebook Messenger with Messenger.
The longer the page, the more complicated it looks, the more users are going to bounce.
So there are at least 4 options:
- A) Prior knowledge. The user already knows that VirtualBox is needed and will likely get installed using the use of the installer.
- B) Context of the website. Because it’s just main 2 steps (Whonix Linux Installer + Start Whonix) this implies that no additonal steps to install VirtualBox are needed.
- C) They’ll notice during installer that this is happening thanks to its termiinal output.
- D) Be - hopefully positively - surprised that VirtualBox gets installed.
But none of these options seems bad enough to warrant making that wiki page more complicated by adding more content.
Will get even easier in a few weeks probably when we add Tab Controller (for VirtualBox, KVM, Qubes) and different host operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS).
Yes.
1 Like
Patrick I disagree, it needs to be said that the Whonix installer will also install VirtualBox. Please edit that page to include this message. I am telling you I wish I had known that from the get go. I repeat, I wish I had known that from the beginning cause then I wouldn’t have manually installed VirtualBox. That would’ve cleared up a lot of confusion if I had known that from the beginning. Please add that? Or do I need to edit it myself?
Honestly I wouldn’t bother. Here soon I’ll make my Whonix tutorial and post it to askubuntu. Or maybe I’ll just edit the wiki, I need to look into it though. I’ll probably post my tutorial to askubuntu and edit the wiki as well.
So VirtualBox 7.0.16 is perfectly fine to use?
So I only use Ubuntu LTS, so the Ubuntu repository for VirtualBox only gets updated every 2 years with every Ubuntu LTS release right? So on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS I’m stuck with VirtualBox 7.0.16, and if I want to get a newer version of VirtualBox I’ll have to upgrade to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (when it comes out) right? Do I understand this right?
I’m telling you if that page had included a little message to inform me that the Whonix installer also installs VirtualBox that would have cleared up so much of my confusion.
How you even got the idea?
We should’t really confuse first time visitors with confusion created by third-party tutorials on the installation wiki page(s). We can comment on such things elsewhere in the wiki or in the forums.
But just because third-party tutorials cause confusion, we shouldn’t make our own documentation more complicated.
The documentation seems to work fine as is. Someone follows the steps and ends up with VirtualBox + Whonix.
We cannot dispel all sorts of extra assumptions made based on knowledge from elsewhere.
The documentation could say “this documentation is complete” - but why would someone read it with the assumption that the instructions are purposefully incomplete?
Perfection doesn’t exist in computer security. There are only advantages and disadvantages (which are documented in the wiki) for different options, which can be weighed against each other, subject to hopefully more or less objective criteria, and subjective weighting of the criteria.
Something like that.
- I am not an expert on Ubuntu. I don’t know how many years and it’s not important for my answer.
This isn’t limited to VirtualBox.
- All packages installed with APT are “frozen”. [1]
- Therefore it’s tunnel vision to focus on the VirtualBox version number specifically.
This is similar for Debian, Kicksecure.
- In the wiki, this is documented in chapter Frozen Packages.
- Debian, Kicksecure, at time of writing, are stable distributions.
- Hence of frozen packages.
- This is in line with the Stable Version User Experience goal.
The opposite to a stable distribution is a Rolling Distribution (such as Gentoo).
[1] There might be some rare exceptions.
Fixed.
I’ll explain, ok so the very first thing I did was Google “how to install whonix on Ubuntu” and this tutorial shows up at the very top of the search results https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXcFHgGjY6M and of course I watched that video. He tells you to manually install VirtualBox before installing Whonix. And this was why I was so confused, and I’m telling you I’m not the only one, there’s no way I’m the only one.
And now if you Google “how to install whonix on Ubuntu” of course, my tutorial here https://www.reddit.com/r/Whonix/comments/1dxk1gn/how_to_install_whonix_on_linux_ubuntu_mint_etc/ shows up at the very top of the results and what does my tutorial tell you do, my tutorial tells you to manually install VirtualBox. And that’s cause that other guy’s tutorial told me to manually install VirtualBox. Make sense? LOL it really is like the domino effect.
Please Patrick, just to verify, so if you don’t use the --oracle-repo option it will install VirtualBox from the Ubuntu repository, it will install VirtualBox 7.0.16, please I just want to verify this, so VirtualBox 7.0.16 is totally ok to use? I need a yes or no answer on that.
I guarantee you the vast majority of first times visitors are Googling “how to install whonix Ubuntu” and are reading my tutorial or watching that other guy’s tutorial which are telling them to manually install VirtualBox.
Dude listen to me, I was absolutely confused out of my mind. If it had said something like “This whonix installer will also automatically install VirtualBox, and VirtualBox is required in order to run Whonix.” Man that would have saved me so much time and energy!
You say it’s just going to confuse people. I was confused cause it wasn’t there. I repeat, I was confused cause it wasn’t there. And now listen, can I just have permission to edit that page please?
And as far as my tutorial goes, I’m gonna make a new tutorial and put it on askubuntu and then I’ll just copy the text from askubuntu and paste on the whonix wiki page. Now the screenshots I upload to askubuntu, will I also have to re-upload the screenshots to the whonix wiki? Reason I’m asking is cause I just wanna create the tutorial on askubuntu and then copy the text and paste in the whonix wiki (the text I copy from askubuntu will include the picture links) I’ll have to re-upload the pics to the wiki won’t I? That’s fine if I have to, not a big deal. Just wondering though.
I don’t know why you would go through all of that if the steps on the project website are a lot shorter and clearer.
Not possible.
It is like asking “Is helping someone always the right thing to do?”
At first glance, it seems like the answer should be yes. Helping others is generally seen as kind and moral. But it’s not always that simple. Sometimes helping can create dependency, enable harmful behavior, or interfere with someone’s growth or responsibilities. In other cases, what looks like help to one person might cause harm to another.
So, is helping someone “totally right”? It depends on the context, the consequences, and what kind of help is being offered.
Just like your question, there is no clear yes or no. The answer depends on the situation, motives, and long-term effects, not just the act of helping itself.
There cannot be a documentation style that suits everyone, as individuals begin with different prior knowledge and assumptions.
So that’s perhaps why third-parties produce alternative documentation enjoyed by others.
Your concern has been dully noted.
Action is usually taken when multiple users encounter a particular issue or misunderstanding. A single non-ideal journey is insufficient to justify changes.
Upload to wiki required.
For security reasons, the wiki does not allow external images hosted on third-party servers.
But this goes both ways. Both servers (source and destination) do not like that.
This is also called hotlinking and usually not appreicated by third-party server administrators. Not only not appreciated, they also usually take technical steps to prevent that.
I bet a lot of Linux Ubuntu users who decide that they wanna start using Whonix go and Google “how to install whonix on Ubuntu” and yeah video tutorials are superior cause then someone can just walk you through the process. Video tutorials are my favorite and I always watch them first.
So in Ubuntu 24.04’s repository you get VirtualBox 7.0.16 and so the developers think that this version of VB is ok to use, I mean it’s not VirtualBox 7.1 but the developers think it’s ok. I just wanted a confirmation of that. Because if that’s the case then I probably won’t use the
--oracle-repo option and I won’t include the --oracle-repo option in my tutorial.
So Patrick doesn’t wanna answer this question so maybe someone else will, so VirtualBox 7.0.16 is totally ok to use for Whonix? I mean am I gonna have to go over to the Whonix group on Reddit and ask this question there? I just want a Whonix expert to tell me “Yes VirtualBox 7.0.16 is fine to use for Whonix.” I just want someone to confirm that for me.
I just have some questions about Whonix and once they get answered I’ll leave y’all alone.
So if I go and edit this page Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox and put a little message in there that says “This whonix installer will also automatically install VirtualBox, and VirtualBox is required in order to run Whonix.” Are you gonna deny the edit?
You need to ask yourself, why was this guy confused https://youtu.be/yXcFHgGjY6M?si=SwnKkbQiAq_pmalL how come he’s telling people to manually install VirtualBox prior to installing Whonix? How come he’s not aware that the Whonix installer automatically installs VirtualBox, how come he’s not aware of that? That video has almost 10,000 views.
Probably cause when you check out this page here Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox nothing tells you that the Whonix installer also automatically installs VirtualBox. So yeah clearly I wasn’t the only one getting confused about this fact. The fact that the Whonix installer also installs VirtualBox.
Yeah this guy in this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXcFHgGjY6M&t=212s was clearly confused as well. So it seems I am not the only person confused with Whonix.
And I aim to fix this and clear up this misconception by creating a good easy to understand “how to install whonix on Ubuntu/Mint” tutorial that I’ll upload to askbuntu.
So if you Google “how to install whonix on Ubuntu” this page appears at the top of the search results Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox and this is the page that I want to edit. This page needs to tell you the user that hey you need to install curl if you’re on Ubuntu 24.04, it needs to tell you to change the user password in both gateway and workstation and needs to show you how to do that, it needs to tell you that you need to update Whonix in both gateway and workstation and needs to show you how to do that, and of course it needs to inform you that the Whonix installer will also automatically install VirtualBox so you do not have to manually install VirtualBox prior to installing Whonix. So sometime within a couple of weeks I will edit that page and you can accept the changes or not.
I’m actually gonna put my tutorial on askubuntu and then I’ll go to the Whonix group on Reddit and submit it there as well. My tutorial will pop up at the top of Google’s search results. I’m just a newbie helping other newbies out. It’s my way of giving back to the community.
Denied.
- It’s a very old video from 2 years ago.
- Using an early version of
whonix-xfce-installer-cli. - We’re still using the wrong capitalization. (Whonix XFCE (wrong) instead of Whonix Xfce (correct).)
- The whonix-installer-xfce does not state its version number yet. Nowadays it does:
-
whonix-xfce-installer-cli: [NOTICE]: dist-installer-cli version: ‘usability-misc 3:27.9-1’
-
- Using an early version of
- There are multiple issues (bugs or missing features, depending on viewpoint):
- issue 1) At 4:08 (minute 4, second 8) in the video you can see an error message.
-
./whonix-installer-xfce: line 685: [: jammy: integer expression expected- This indicates, that at the time
whonix-installer-xfcedid not support Ubuntu jammy yet.whonix-xfce-installer-cliterminal output is too fast in the video. The terminal output fails to mention attempting to install VirtualBox. Either it’s not shown because the terminal output is faster than the recording software orwhonix-xfce-installer-clididn’t attempt to install or check if VirtualBox is installed.
- This indicates, that at the time
-
- issue 2) Error handling code failed to abort the installer on unsupported distributions.
- issue 1) At 4:08 (minute 4, second 8) in the video you can see an error message.
- YouTubers want to provide added value. If our installer does not work on some operating system (fails to install VirtualBox),
- they might not search for bug reports or submit bug reports
- they might not mention the bug in the video.
- might conclude wrong that VirtualBox installation is not supposed to be done by the installer.
- make something work that otherwise does not work (yet) - that is
whonix-xfce-installer-clibut working around its broken parts (VirtualBox installation).
- Opinion: It’s a content farm.
- The YouTuber produces a large amount of content on a very large variety topics for the purpose of generating income. Income sources are:
- Potentially: YouTube Partner Program. (YouTube shares a part of advertisement income with the YouTuber.
- Sighted: YouTube channel memberships.
- Sighted: Affiliate / referral links.
-
A referral link is a unique URL generated within a referral program that a can be shared invite others to use a product or service, often with a reward for both the referrer.
- That’s why many people link to
https://amzn.to/unique-id-herea not tohttps://amazon.com/product-link. (Notice the missingamazoncharacter sequence.)
- That’s why many people link to
-
-
Critics argue that content farms prioritize SEO and ad revenue over factual accuracy and relevance.
- It’s may not be a YouTuber with specifically a focus on Linux, security, privacy and up-to-date content.
- The video was probably helpful at the time and might still be helpful.
- The YouTuber produces a large amount of content on a very large variety topics for the purpose of generating income. Income sources are:
- What the
whonix.orgdocumentation at the time hasn’t been shown in the video. Thewhonix.orgwebsite hasn’t been shown in the video at all. - The video description is full of referral links and self-references but no links to the Whonix website.
- This is the context in which I see the video.
5 people. 7 opinions. The debate stable distribution versus rolling distribution predates Whonix.
It’s the default. Make of that what you will.
It’s a general computer security question.
It’s unspecific to Whonix.
It can be resolved as per:
On Free Support for Whonix it’s encouraged to use other support sources.
1 Like
So Patrick I’ve got a question for you. So in this thread The --oracle-repo command line option failed - #6 by Patrick you said “New version uploaded just now. Please delete the old version. Download the new one.”
So in Ubuntu there’s a search bar in apps but it searches your entire computer, so I typed in “whonix” and I noticed there were some whonix related files in the Home folder, I took a screenshot
So the red arrows point to the whonix related files that still remained after following the instructions here Uninstall Whonix so it seems that when you go into VirtualBox and delete the Whonix VMs, it seems it doesn’t delete everything, and if you recall I said I wanted to completely uninstall both VirtualBox and Whonix as if they were never installed on my PC to begin with.
My question is, would these remaining files have interfered with my Whonix re-install? I feared that they might so I sent them to Trash before I re-installed Whonix, I just didn’t wanna take any chances but hey you’re the expert here so maybe you can tell me?
Edit: Some additional info, the folder titled VirtualBox VMs was indeed empty, just in case you were wondering.
Edit: The folder titled dist-installer-cli-download was not empty, this was what was inside it
And so yeah, how come these files weren’t deleted? I was afraid it might mess with the re-install so out of an abundance of caution I deleted them. Would they have messed with the re-installation of Whonix?
Documented just now on the same wiki page:
- Remove virtualizer related files.
- Remove installer related files.
Please have a look. There’s one more folder you haven’t noticed yet, which I also documented in the wiki ($HOME/.VirtualBox).
it seems it doesn’t delete everything, and if you recall I said I wanted to completely uninstall both VirtualBox and Whonix as if they were never installed on my PC to begin with.
Impossible. The completeness can be sufficient but will never be perfect.
This is not a Whonix specific limitations. This is not a VirtualBox specific limitation.
Any software whatsoever leaves traces. This also applies to installation of popular web browsers such as Firefox or Chrome(ium).
Avoidance, removal of such traces is a whole different subject.
Related wiki chapters:
- Whonix Persistence vs Live vs Amnesic (users)
- grub-live, Security Considerations (users)
- Forensics (advanced users)
The very short summary is, unless you’re using host live mode, there is no guaranteed to remove all traces of any software from forensic examination.
Possible in theory. In practice, unlikely. This has been considered during development of Whonix Linux Installer. Idempotence has been a development goal.
So here Uninstall Whonix it says “Hidden folder in the user home folder that can be considered for deletion (VirtualBox settings folder): .VirtualBox - similar to above.”
I can’t find this folder titled .VirtualBox and I’ve got show hidden files turned on, I even searched my Home folder, there is not a folder titled .VirtualBox anywhere on my PC it seems.
Here I’ll take a screenshot, so where would I find this particular folder, where should I look?
Patrick, so I did find this, it was in the .config folder
Can you just add to the wiki page that there’s a VirtualBox folder in the .config folder that needs to be deleted? Thanks.
So I know this command is optional (cause that’s what it says on the wiki) but I’m just trying to be as thorough as possible. So this command doesn’t appear to work properly.
computer@computer-System-Product-Name:~$ sudo groupdel vboxusers vboxsf
[sudo] password for computer:
Usage: groupdel [options] GROUP
Options:
-h, --help display this help message and exit
-R, --root CHROOT_DIR directory to chroot into
-P, --prefix PREFIX_DIR prefix directory where are located the /etc/* files
-f, --force delete group even if it is the primary group of a user
--extrausers Use the extra users database
computer@computer-System-Product-Name:~$
And so I consulted the AI Grok 3 and this is what Grok said,
So at this point I have uninstalled both Whonix and VirtualBox again cause I’m going to install both VirtualBox and Whonix (a different way) following the instructions here https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualbox/comments/1kwbfql/comment/mujyzpe/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Now why am I doing this? Cause when I make my tutorial on “how to install Whonix on Ubuntu/Mint” I’m going to show how to do it via 2 different ways, now for the first way I’ll say this is the official way to do it, I’ll say the official way to do it is to follow the Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox and I will thoroughly explain to users that if you do not use the --oracle-repo command line option, you’ll get the VirtualBox version from the Ubuntu repository and so if you’re on Ubuntu 24.04 then this means you’ll get VirtualBox 7.0.16, and that the Ubuntu repository in regard to VB, only gets updated every 2 years with each new Ubuntu LTS release, so the Ubuntu repository will get a new version of VB when Ubuntu 26.04 LTS comes out.
That if you want the latest version of VB you have to use the --oracle-repo command line option, which looks like this.
bash ./whonix-xfce-installer-cli --oracle-repo
And so this is the official way to install Whonix on Ubuntu/Mint but then I’ll also show them that there is a second way to do install Whonix on Ubuntu/Mint.
First you follow this tutorial here How to Install VirtualBox 7.1 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ok and then you can simply download the Whonix OVA from this page Whonix for Windows, macOS, Linux inside VirtualBox and I’d take a screenshot of that page and point to the exact button they need to click to download the OVA. Once the Whonix OVA is downloaded they can simply import it into VirtualBox which is very easy to do and I’ll take screenshots of all these steps so there is no confusion.
Now Patrick, I have a question that I think only you can answer. So if you see this comment https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualbox/comments/1kwbfql/comment/mujyzpe/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button he says “As u/Face_Plant_Some_More said, when you update your system, this repo will also be checked and update your Virtualbox build.” Ok so VirtualBox will be automatically updated if you install VirtualBox going off this tutorial here How to Install VirtualBox 7.1 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS which sounds really nice. I’d enjoy it very much if VB was automatically updated when a new version came out.
So Patrick I think you’re the only one who can answer this question I’ve got, so when I install both Virtualbox and Whonix by simply doing
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
So when I install VirtualBox this way, will VirtualBox be automatically updated when a new version of VB is released?
p.s. Here’s some more information, so again, at this point I’ve completely uninstalled both VB and Whonix, I found out the group vboxsf doesn’t exist by running… Well have a look
computer@computer-System-Product-Name:~$ sudo groupdel vboxsf
[sudo] password for computer:
groupdel: group 'vboxsf' does not exist
computer@computer-System-Product-Name:~$ sudo groupdel vboxusers
computer@computer-System-Product-Name:~$ getent group | grep -E 'vboxusers|vboxsf'
computer@computer-System-Product-Name:~$ getent group vboxusers
computer@computer-System-Product-Name:~$ sudo groupdel vboxusers vboxsf
[sudo] password for computer:
Usage: groupdel [options] GROUP
Options:
-h, --help display this help message and exit
-R, --root CHROOT_DIR directory to chroot into
-P, --prefix PREFIX_DIR prefix directory where are located the /etc/* files
-f, --force delete group even if it is the primary group of a user
--extrausers Use the extra users database
computer@computer-System-Product-Name:~$
I’m just trying to provide as much info as possible is all.
And I do appreciate your patience Patrick. I’m almost done. I’m almost completely done with this journey of understanding Whonix, here soon, like within a matter of days, I’ll go make my tutorial and submit it to askubuntu, I’ll submit it to r/whonix on Reddit as well. That way it’ll show up on Google search results. And then when I do finally submit my new and improved tutorial, Patrick since you’re the administrator of r/Whonix I’ll have you go and delete my old tutorial https://www.reddit.com/r/Whonix/comments/1dxk1gn/how_to_install_whonix_on_linux_ubuntu_mint_etc/ but don’t do that til I ask you to.
~/.config/VirtualBox it is.
Forget about the other.
Ask AI what ~ is in context of Linux.
It means home folder I already knew that.