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I am struggling to install guest additions in my Linux Virtual Box environment. The reason I'm using the older version of Vbox is because anything newer crashes on start-up on my Win7 machine and the error box is all blacked out so I can't even begin to troubleshoot that.

Item Version
Virtual Box ver 4.3.10 r93012
Guest Editions file name VBoxGuestAdditions_4.3.10.iso
OS running in VBox Ubuntu 18.04.4 (64bit)
Computer OS Vbox is installed in Windows 7 (x64)

Output from attempting to install Guest addtions

Verifying archive integrity….. All good.
Uncompressing VirtualBox 4.3.10 Guest Additions for Linux....
VirtualBox Guest Additions installer
Removing installed version 4.3.10 of VirtualBox Guest Additions...
Copying additional installer modules ...
Installing additional modules ...
Removing existing VirtualBox non-DKMS kernel modules ... done.
Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel modules
The make utility was not found. If the following module compilation fails then
this could be the reason and you should try installing it.

The gcc utility was not found. If the following module compilation fails then
this could be the reason and you should try installing it.

Building the main Guest Additions module ...fail!
(Look at /var/log/vboxadd-install.log to find out what went wrong)
Doing non-kernel setup of the Guest Additions ... done.
Installing the Window System drivers
Warning: unknown version of the X Window System installed. Not installing
X Window System drivers.
...done.
Installing graphics libraries and desktop services components ... done.
Press Return to close this window...

Output log from /var/log/vboxadd-install.log per above error

/opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.3.10/src/vboxguest-4.3.10/build_in_tmp: 62: /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.3.10/src/
vboxguest-4.3.10/build_in_tmp: make: not found
Creating user for the Guest Additions.
Creating udev rule for the Guest Additions kernel module.
/opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.3.10/src/vboxguest-4.3.10/build_in_tmp: 62: /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.3.10/src/
vboxguest-4.3.10/build_in_tmp: make: not found
Creating user for the Guest Additions.
Creating udev rule for the Guest Additions kernel module.
/opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.3.10/src/vboxguest-4.3.10/build_in_tmp: 62: /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.3.10/src/
vboxguest-4.3.10/build_in_tmp: make: not found
Creating user for the Guest Additions.
Creating udev rule for the Guest Additions kernel module.
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  • 2
    Your problem is a dead operating system, not a Viirtual Box or Ubuntu issue. You need to upgrade from Windows 7 and then all should work fine,
    – anon
    Commented Mar 5, 2023 at 21:36
  • @John, How so? I've used this version of VBox in the past on other Win7 systems in the past.
    – leon-eng
    Commented Mar 5, 2023 at 21:58
  • Try an older version of Ubuntu for older guest extensions
    – anon
    Commented Mar 5, 2023 at 22:21
  • 1
    The make utility was not found. If the following module compilation fails then this could be the reason and you should try installing it. and he gcc utility was not found. If the following module compilation fails then this could be the reason and you should try installing it. are pretty clear instructions on what to do - indeed, looking at the log output make: not found should make it clear what you need to do
    – Jaromanda X
    Commented Mar 5, 2023 at 23:35
  • 1
    do you have build-essential and kernel headers installed?
    – Frank Thomas
    Commented Mar 6, 2023 at 0:04

2 Answers 2

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It's very odd that newer VirtualBox (like the currently supported 6.1) won't work on Windows 7, something must have been broken.

Windows 7 won't have any security updates anymore (it hasn't for 3 years now), which is a security risk (ransomwares, etc). You better switch to a Linux, or upgrade to Windows 10 1809 LTSC if really needed if you can cope with Windows 10's bad UI that has nothing to do with Windows 7.

If you're really that desperate to keep Windows 7 (compatibility reasons are fine, but keeping a good old GUI is not worth security risks).

 

Also, Ubuntu 18.04 is also on the death row, we're only one month away before the supports ends. So no you won't get any updates anymore, which will put you at risk, among other issues that old software do comes with.

 

Do note that newer Linux won't work with such old Guest Additions, the latter needs some more code to support them that you can only get with newer VirtualBox. VirtualBox 4.3.10 got released on Mar 25th 2014, with is slightly over 4 years before Ubuntu 18.04. It gets even worse if you had installed Ubuntu's Hardware Enable Stack, which do has an even newer kernel than Ubuntu 18.04, considering that you're using Ubuntu 18.04.4 .

In any case, if you're installing VirtualBox Guest Additions or even just VirtualBox on the host, you'll need linux-kernel-headers and more importantly, dkms. Do note that some older VirtualBox needed build-essential too, which includes dkms and the make program you're clearly missing from what the logs says.

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The reason I'm using the older version of Vbox is because anything newer crashes on start-up on my Win7 machine a

Please look at this article: VBOX host operating systems

The current version of Virtual Box runs on Windows 7.

So if (a) there is something wrong with your OS, and (b) you really can no longer properly repair or reinstall Windows 7 any more. Windows 7 is too long out of support.

You can try an older version of VBOX and Ubuntu, but I have my doubts if your computer is not working well.

So now your only possible solution here is to upgrade to at least Windows 10 Pro , or possibly, with a modern PC, Windows 11 Pro,

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