Is this the proper way to install VirtualBox?

VirtualBox
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For starters I’m using Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Ok so I installed virtualbox 7.1.4 directly from the virtualbox website and there’s a youtube video that shows you how to install virtualbox by downloading VB from the VB website (this instructional video is actually for Linux Mint but it’ll work for Ubuntu 24.04 just fine) this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzRY_pF6KZM&list=LL&index=62 and this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqG7_2D-aMc&list=LL&index=19&t=183s I just like to watch both of them, you’ll see that they’re both quite similar but they do differ slightly and that’s why I provided both of them, and you’ll notice that they’re installing virtualbox 7.0 but it works just as well for virtualbox 7.1

So this is how I installed VB on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, so is this the right way to install VB?

Edit: Oh and I never install any of the extension packs cause I only use VirtualBox for whonix so I really don’t need them.

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VirtualBox installation instructions can be found in the wiki:

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Yeah but in those youtube videos I’ve linked they show you how to install VB directly from the VB website, so is it ok to do it that way?

I’ve run into issues before trying to install virtualbox using command line. I’ve found multiple tutorials on how to install VB from a google search that don’t even work anymore. I repeat I’ve tried many different ways to install virtualbox that didn’t even work.

For instance this tutorial came out in 2023 and it’s already out of date, this tutorial didn’t work for me at all. I just remember trying to install whonix following this tutorial and it didn’t work for me.

So listen what’s wrong with downloading VB from the VB website and installing it this way?

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Documented here:

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Please sir, can you just tell me in layman’s terms why I can’t install VirtualBox directly from the VB website? I mean, people on youtube, that’s how they do it.

I have tried so many tutorials “on how to install whonix” that didn’t even work. Tutorials where first they show you how to install VirtualBox and then show you how to install Whonix, and they didn’t work for me. So many tutorials just didn’t work.

Also, many tutorials that show you how to install VirtualBox just didn’t work for me either.

But those youtube tutorials I was talking about earlier, those work for me every time.

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6

It’s documented in detail in the wiki how to install VirtualBox from the virtualbox.org website. It’s the most comprehensive and secure instructions. Better instructions than already provided are not possible.

There’s irreducible complexity and it cannot be simplified further without lowering the quality.

You can use wiki instructions or you can use something else.

See also:

I will not be commenting on third-party YouTube videos at this time. The wiki documentation is complete.

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So Patrick, it’s perfectly ok to install VB from the VirtualBox website?

Just say yes or no please?

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No.

9

In response to I need some second opinions

Analogy:

Is it perfectly safe to eat an Apple?

No.

Pros: health benefits

Cons: might result in fatal allergy for some people, might choke, may not suitable for newborns.

Should you eat apple? Please make an informed choice.

The wiki make attempt to make universal recommendations for suitable for everyone. These don’t exist.

Making universal recommendations lacks nuance and risks liability. “But you said do this, now that.”

There is no perfectly safe when it comes to computers. Doesn’t exist. Impossible. Technical details:

The wiki documents pros and cons of various options. The choice is up to the user.

The installer comes with defaults deemed best for most users by developers.

Documentation is up-to-date. No major changes planned for the installer soon at time of writing.

Do you actually read these wiki pages?

Quote:

Warning: This procedure will install a foreign software source.

Oracle repository is a foreign source in case that isn’t clear.

Discouraged: Use the recommended VirtualBox version instead. [1]

Did you read this in the wiki?

Did you click these links to learn more?

Did you read footnote [1]?

10

Ok first off the documentation is not straightforward and it can be downright hard to follow. It can be all over the place and it can be hard to follow. And some things in the documentation don’t even make sense. Source: go here and read my back and forth with Multicorn76, I’ll show you something that doesn’t even make any sense https://www.reddit.com/r/Whonix/comments/1lh3ctu/any_whonix_experts_here_i_need_your_guidance/

Patrick, you give hints but you just won’t come and say it directly “If you’re on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS then VirtualBox 7.0.16 is the recommended version for use with Whonix 17.3.9.9”

So because you wouldn’t just come out and say this fact straight to my face (which would’ve saved me so much time and trouble) I had to find out the hard way. So here’s what happened.

So if you’ll remember in this thread The --oracle-repo command line option failed the --oracle-repo option failed and it simply installed VB 7.0.16 and then you had to go and fix it. So the --oracle-repo option didn’t even work til I came around and started asking about it. So that was the first clue.

So about a month ago or so I installed VirtualBox and whonix using this

bash ./whonix-xfce-installer-cli --oracle-repo

and it installed VirtualBox 7.1 and whonix and but life got busy so I’ve only really used it a few times. And just over a week ago I was screwing around and uninstalling VB and whonix and reinstalling them. VirtualBox in particular, I uninstalled VB and reinstalled VB like 5 times, I was just trying out all the different ways to install VB. This broke my PC (I couldn’t install VB anymore and I couldn’t figure out why) so about a week ago I had to do a clean install of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and then I was able to successfully install VB (I installed VB using that wget command you said not to use) anyhow I was just experimenting around with different ways to install both VB and whonix.

Well in my Whonix tutorial I wanted to show 2 different methods of installing whonix.

So this was just days ago, again I uninstalled VB and whonix and then installed whonix again using

bash ./whonix-xfce-installer-cli --oracle-repo

and it installed VirtualBox 7.1.10 (this version of VB just came out literally days ago so it’s really new, and is probably untested by the whonix developers isn’t that right Patrick?) and Whonix 17.3.9.9, so this was like a week ago or so.

So yeah over the past month or so since I’ve been so busy with life I’ve only used whonix about 7 times total, not enough time for a bug to rear it’s ugly head. Well a bug just reared it’s ugly head a few days ago. So a few days ago the GUI of gateway I was in, froze up on me. I just ignored it thinking it was a fluke. I had fixed this problem by installing an SSD in my PC and putting gateway ram to 512 MB so it opens in CLI, I had fixed this freezing problem and I refused to believe it had come back. So I just ignored it.

Now just a couple of hours ago I was using workstation and I had about 40 tabs open and BOOM! It froze up on me. Gateway was not frozen but workstation was totally frozen (except for the clock in workstation just kept ticking) so I had no choice but to hold the power button on my PC and shut it down and turn it back on.

Now I installed whonix for the first time last year, and this was when I still had an HDD in my PC and whonix would just freeze up on me randomly about once a week. So I read the documentation and it said for best performance use an SSD so around September of last year I installed an SSD. And then someone on Reddit said to reduce gateway to 512 MB and 1 core, bump workstation up 4 gigs of ram and 2 cores, which leaves 1 core for the host OS (I have a 4 core CPU and 16 gigs of ram in my PC) so with an SSD and the changes made to ram and cores, whonix never ever froze up on me and it was awesome!!! In fact whonix ran pretty smoothly overall.

But that was because I used this method to install whonix, I went off the whonix installer

bash ./whonix-xfce-installer-cli

So my point is, using VB 7.1.10, whonix has now frozen on me twice in like 3 days so clearly I should not have used the --oracle-repo command line option.

Once whonix froze for the second time on me, I instantly knew the --oracle-repo was a mistake!!!

Well, and I started thinking, the --oracle-repo option didn’t even work til I came around and started asking about it, and it probably still wouldn’t work if I hadn’t asked about it, and if you go here to the whonix installer Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox the whonix installer doesn’t use the --oracle-repo option. Which means Patrick the Whonix head developer doesn’t intend for VirtualBox 7.1.10 to be used, he clearly intends for VirtualBox 7.0.16 to be used with Whonix 17.3.9.9

And then if you read here Recommended VirtualBox Version for use with Whonix you’ll see this https://imgur.com/a/QcDSYSt it’s basically saying that newer versions of VirtualBox are untested by the whonix developers and so they might cause issues with whonix, and indeed, whonix has frozen up on me twice now in about 3 days using VB 7.1.10

And VB 7.1.10 was just released a couple of weeks ago.

So clearly I shouldn’t have used the --oracle-rep command line option. I should have just followed the whonix installer to the t.

But dude, you could have just said this to me weeks ago and saved me all this trouble. And even now if I’m wrong about anyting then please tell me, or if I’m correct here then just confirm that I’m correct please?

So yeah it seems to me the truth is, if you’re on Ubuntu 24.04, the recommended virtualbox version for use with Whonix is VB 7.0.16 which means I need to go and edit my Whonix tutorial on askubuntu. And I also need to uninstall both VB and whonix and then reinstall them.

I mean it’s cool you’re giving me hints but you could’ve just said it weeks ago. Just tell it to me straight please don’t beat around the bush.

And listen I’m only trying to help the community cause it’s true, essentially all the tutorials on the internet that show you how to get whonix installed on ubuntu, and get it up and running are all old and incorrect now. Someone who is new to whonix needs a tutorial that will hold their hand and walk them through it. Whonix is not easy, there is a lot you gotta do to get whonix up and running. And all the tutorials are wrong.

So yeah listen, last summer I installed whonix on my PC. at the time my PC specs were 16 GB of ram, 4 core AMD CPU, an AMD GPU, and an HDD. And whonix was so slow and it’d constantly freeze up on me, I was about to leave whonix and go over to Tails but I decided to install an SDD and then I followed someone’s recommendations on Reddit for the ram and cores.

And whonix never once froze up on me again and it ran pretty smoothly, so it seemed I had fixed the freezing problem, cause if I couldn’t fix the freezing problem then I would’ve left whonix and went over to Tails. That freezing up problem was a deal breaker for sure. I’d be in the middle of my work and then BOOM! Workstation would freeze up on me.

And then I installed whonix using the --oracle-repo option and first gateway froze on me a few days ago, which i ignored, and then today BOOM! I had about 40 tabs open in TOR in workstation, I was in the middle of my work, and it froze up on me for the second time.

So yeah clearly I need to go back to VirtualBox 7.0.16 cause there whonix wasn’t freezing up on me at all. Well not with the SSD at least.

I mean I appreciate the hints you’re leaving me but I really wish you’d just tell me what I need to know.

So the official proper way to install whonix (if you’re on Ubuntu 24.04 that is) is to follow the whonix installer AND NOT use the --oracle-repo option, so it’d be

 curl --tlsv1.3 --output whonix-xfce-installer-cli --url https://www.whonix.org/dist-installer-cli

and then

 bash ./whonix-xfce-installer-cli

I mean, and this is smoking gun for me, when you literally go and follow the whonix installer for ubuntu, you’ll see it makes no mention of the --oracle-repo option, you won’t see it, you’ll only find it if you go digging for it.

So yeah I need to get back over to VB 7.0.16 cause whonix is freezing up on me on VB 7.1.10

And now I’m gonna go over to my tutorial https://askubuntu.com/questions/1550871/how-do-i-install-whonix-on-ubuntu-24-04-lts and edit it and delete the --oracle-repo command line option.

I just uh… Man why didn’t you just tell me this information weeks ago?

And yeah I do read the documentation but I’m the average layman and it can be confusing to me. My IQ is between 90 and 100 which is just average. Patrick your IQ is probably north of 130.

p.s. The documentation should specifically say that if you’re on Ubuntu 24.04 then you need to be using VirtualBox 7.0.16 which means you only need to follow the simple whonix installer Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox the documentation should be clear on this but it’s not, it’s not clear.

Thank you.

11

Well you need to be clear with me. Don’t tell me clues and beat around the bush, just tell me what I need to know. I am not a computer scientist or a coder, I am just a dude who cares about his privacy and I’m trying to figure out how to navigate whonix.

And then yeah there are no good whonix tutorials for ubuntu, so I’m trying to fix that. In fact that needs to be fixed ASAP in order for the whonix user base to grow larger and compete with Tails. I’ll bet a lot of first time whonix users are on either Ubuntu or Mint. As Ubuntu and Mint are the 2 most widely used Linux distros.

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Have I read every single word of the documentation? No, no I haven’t. I have a busy life I don’t have time, I’ve got a lot going on in my personal life. Patrick sometimes, it’s ok to just answer someone’s basic question about whonix.

My god I wasn’t even supposed to use the stupid --oracle-repo option and you could have just told me so many weeks ago and saved me all this trouble.

I don’t use kicksecure I use whonix. And I know whonix is based on kicksecure. Man this stuff is just so complicated to me, it’s not user friendly to an average layman.

16

Moderation comment:
Offensive post deleted and offending user suspended for 1 week.

17

Moderation comment:

Reading the documentation - when part of a reply by admins, moderators or reasonable user replies - is mandatory before posting again in the forums.

Quote Policy of Whonix Website and Whonix Chat

Before engaging in the forums or requesting assistance, first thoroughly search the Whonix documentation. Many common questions have already been addressed in relevant chapters. See also Support, Self Support First Policy, Bug Reports and Software Development and Support Request Policy.

Ignoring this rule will lead to suspension from this forum.

→ I need some second opinions - #16 by Patrick

Any repeated question “Is it perfectly ok …”, “Is it perfectly safe …” will be considered trolling and also lead to suspension as I’ve explained multiple times that it cannot be simplified to this level any nothing is perfect.