Whonix VirtualBox Integration and Upgrades

Patrick · September 4, 2025, 9:57am

[Req]: Please set `kvm.enable_virt_at_load=0` in /etc/modprobe.d

opened 07:07PM - 31 Aug 25 UTC

enhancement

### Component Host Installer ### What problem are you facing? Due to a perfor…mance optimization in Linux 6.12 and higher, KVM now takes exclusive control of the system's virtualization features when the KVM kernel modules are loaded, and does not release them even if all KVM virtual machines are powered down. This means that VirtualBox is effectively broken on all Linux distributions that use a 6.12 or higher kernel. Un-breaking it requires setting `kvm.enable_virt_at_load=0` in the kernel via either the command line or a modprobe config, which makes it much more difficult for a user to get VirtualBox working. ### How can we fix this? Any user who installs VirtualBox on their system will fall into one of two categories: * Either A, they don't care about having KVM virtual machines sometimes load slightly slower, and just want to be able to use VirtualBox provided they have no KVM VMs running. Almost all users probably fall into this group. * Or B, they do care about having KVM virtual machines start as quickly as possible in all scenarios, and prefer to simply manually unload the `kvm_XXX` and `kvm` kernel drivers before using VirtualBox. I'm not sure any users fall into this group, but it's theoretically possible. To satisfy both groups of users, VirtualBox's Linux packages can ship a file under `/etc/modprobe.d` that will set `options kvm enable_virt_at_load=0`, allowing VirtualBox and KVM to coexist the same way they coexisted previously. This will make VirtualBox just work for the first group of users. To satisfy the second group of users, this configuration file should be marked as a "conffile". Under Debian-based distros, simply installing the file anywhere under `/etc` is enough for it to be marked as a conffile, while under RPM-based distros the config file should be marked as `%config(noreplace)` (I believe, though I haven't tested this). This will allow users to modify delete the configuration file, without RPM reverting it the next time VirtualBox is updated. Thus, for the users who want to have VirtualBox broken by default and want to manually fix it as necessary, they can delete the configuration file and be done. ### What alternatives or workarounds exist? * Unload the `kvm_XXX` and `kvm` kernel modules before using VirtualBox, * or set `options kvm enable_virt_at_load=0` in `/etc/modprobe.d`, * or set `kvm.enable_virt_at_load=0` on the kernel command line. All of these work, but they are a pain to configure, and some users with less technical skill may accidentally break their system while attempting to do one of these things manually. ### Anything else we should know? Debian's VirtualBox package already ships a file at `/usr/lib/modprobe.d/virtualbox-dkms.conf` which sets `options kvm enable_virt_at_load=0`. This doesn't really provide much room for the second hypothetical group of users (who want a broken VBox by default), but it works.

Patrick · September 28, 2025, 11:03am

github.com/VirtualBox/virtualbox

[Bug]: Debian kernel warning in dmesg: `Warning! ehci_hcd should always be loaded before uhci_hcd and ohci_hcd, not after`

opened 05:48AM - 28 Sep 25 UTC

ArrayBolt3

bug

### Version 7.2.2 ### Host OS Type Linux ### Host OS name + version Ubuntu …24.04 LTS ### Host Architecture x86 ### Guest OS Type Linux ### Guest Architecture x86 ### Guest OS name + version Debian 13.1 with GNOME Desktop ### Component USB and Serial Ports ### What happened? When booting a Debian 13 GNOME live ISO in VirtualBox, the warning `Warning! ehci_hcd should always be loaded before uhci_hcd and ohci_hcd, not after` appears in the output of `dmesg`. I'm unsure if this is because VirtualBox's hardware emulation is confusing some component of Debian (most likely udev?) and making it load the drivers in the wrong order, or if this is a bug in Debian. USB emulation seems to work despite the warning (the virtual USB tablet functions without issues). This warnings appears to have been added to the Linux kernel in 2008 for the specific purpose of ensuring Linux distributions did not load USB modules in the wrong order. See https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/12009.html#comment34295. ### How can we reproduce this? 1. Download https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-13.1.0-amd64-gnome.iso. 2. Create a new virtual machine named "debian-test". Set its ISO image to the ISO downloaded earlier. 3. Ensure automatic installation, if offered, is disabled. 4. Boot the VM. 5. When the boot menu appears, press "Enter" to boot to a live session. 6. When the desktop appears, launch "Terminal". 7. Type `sudo dmesg | less`. 8. Type `/Warning!` to search for the string `Warning!`. The warning mentioned above will be shown. ### Did you upload *all* of your necessary log files, screenshots, etc.? - [x] Yes, I've uploaded all pertinent files to this issue.

Patrick · September 28, 2025, 11:35am

Patrick · October 30, 2025, 9:17am

Patrick · October 30, 2025, 9:21am

At time of writing, on Debian trixie, VirtualBox is no longer installable packages.debian.org.

VirtualBox Installer (by Kicksecure, Whonix developers) has been modified to install VirtualBox from the Oracle (virtualbox.org) Debian repository instead.

Patrick · November 9, 2025, 9:03am

[FAILED] Failed unmounting tmp.mount- Temporary Directory /tmp

During shutdown. VirtualBox bug report:

github.com/VirtualBox/virtualbox

[Bug]: systemd reports `[FAILED] Failed unmounting tmp.mount- Temporary Directory /tmp` if VBoxDRMClient is running at guest shutdown time

opened 04:15AM - 09 Nov 25 UTC

ArrayBolt3

bug

### Version 7.2.4 ### Host OS Type Linux ### Host OS name + version Kubuntu… 24.04 LTS ### Host Architecture x86 ### Guest OS Type Linux ### Guest Architecture x86 ### Guest OS name + version Debian 13 (trixie) ### Component Guest Additions/Other ### What happened? If a Debian Trixie guest with Guest Additions installed in it is shut down without the user manually stopping VBoxDRMClient first (i.e., by running `sudo pkill VBoxDRMClient`), an error message appears, `[FAILED] Failed unmounting tmp.mount - Temporary Directory /tmp.` appearing during a guest shutdown or reboot. I'm guessing VBoxDRMClient doesn't get stopped before the system attempts to unmount `/tmp` during shutdown, and I can see using `lsof` that VBoxDRMClient has open files in `/tmp`. [VBox.log](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/23435914/VBox.log) ### How can we reproduce this? 1. Download the Debian 13 netinstaller from https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd/debian-13.1.0-amd64-netinst.iso 2. Create a new VM with the following settings: * VM Name: d13-plain * OS: Linux * OS Distribution: Debian * OS Version: Debian 13 Trixie (64-bit) * Uncheck "Proceed with Unattended Installation" * Set base memory to 2048 MB * Set number of CPUs to 2 * Create a new 20 GB disk image file * Ensure that the default graphics controller of VMSVGA is used 3. Install a basic Debian system with no desktop environment 4. In the guest, log into a TTY, then click Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD Image... 5. In the guest, `sudo mount /dev/sr0 /mnt; cd /mnt; sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run; sudo reboot` 6. In the guest, run `pgrep VBoxDRMClient` to ensure the service is running 7. In the guest, run `sudo reboot` 8. See that the guest reports `[FAILED] Failed unmounting tmp.mount - Temporary Directory /tmp.` during the shutdown process 9. In the guest, log into a TTY 10. In the guest, run `sudo pkill VBoxDRMClient` 11. In the guest, run `sudo reboot` 12. See that the guest does not report any issue with unmounting `/tmp` ### Did you upload *all* of your necessary log files, screenshots, etc.? - [x] Yes, I've uploaded all pertinent files to this issue.

Patrick · January 5, 2026, 6:36am

https://github.com/VirtualBox/virtualbox/issues/472