Recommended VirtualBox Version for use with Whonix

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• Install the Recommended VirtualBox Version
• Install Newer Versions of VirtualBox

This wiki page provides information on the recommended version of VirtualBox for use with Whonix, along with installation instructions.

It is strongly advised to use the recommended VirtualBox version with Whonix, otherwise there can be issues.

Recommended VirtualBox version.

• Whonix VirtualBox Stable Version: latest
• Whonix VirtualBox Testers Only Version: latest

Recommendation might change from time to time. It is recommended to check in case of issues and re-install.

Download and install VirtualBox for your operating system.

Windows

Download VirtualBox for Windows (FREE!)

Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable Package

If you see the following error message:

Figure: Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable Package Error

Oracle VM VirtualBox needs Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable package installed first. Please install and restart the installation of Oracle VM VirtualBox.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable Package must be installed.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable Package (FREE!)

Optional: Digital signature verification.

VirtualBox for Windows is not signed with OpenPGP / gpg. It is signed with authenticode.

After downloading the VirtualBox installer exe and starting it, the user should verify that sure that Verified publisher: is Oracle Corporation.

Figure: Windows signature signature verification window for VirtualBox

Advanced users might wish to learn more about Authenticode (Windows Digital Software Signatures) to perform a deeper verification.

macOS

Download VirtualBox for macOS (FREE!)

Optional: Digital signature verification.

VirtualBox for macOS is not signed with OpenPGP / gpg. It is notarized for macOS's gatekeeper.

See also Apple's official documentation Safely open apps on your Mac.

Ubuntu

For Ubuntu host operating systems Choose an option from the following table. Choose either Option (A) OR Option (B).

A Automated VirtualBox Installation : Ubuntu users could alternatively use the Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox. In this case, this wiki page can be completely ignored. No other steps from this wiki page need to be applied because the automated installer will handle everything.

B Manual VirtualBox Installation : Follow the instructions below.

Tested on October 2022 using Ubuntu version 22.04. Older versions are not recommended.

Command Line (All Users)

1 On the host : Open a terminal.

2 Update the package lists.

sudo apt update

3 Install VirtualBox and Linux kernel headers.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends virtualbox-qt linux-headers-generic

4 Add your current user to group vboxusers.

sudo adduser $(whoami) vboxusers

5 Done.

The procedure of installing the VirtualBox host software is complete.

Software Center (only if not using SecureBoot)

Ubuntu Software Center can be used to install VirtualBox. The process is similar to installation of most other applications.

This only works for users with computers that do not have "SecureBoot" enabled. If the user's computer is using "SecureBoot" the user need to either disable "SecureBoot" in the BIOS or use the command line based instructions.

1 Open the start menu.

2 Click on the Ubuntu Software Center icon.

Figure: Ubuntu Software Center icon

3 Click on the magnifying glass to search. → Type virtualbox. → Press enter. → In the search results, click on VirtualBox.

Figure: Ubuntu Software Center - Search For VirtualBox

4 Click on Install and wait.

Figure: Ubuntu Software Center Search Result

5 Installation of VirtualBox has been completed.

When the installation has completed, the install icon changes to the uninstall icon. Do not click the uninstall button.

Figure: Ubuntu Software Center - VirtualBox has been installed

6 Click on Show Applications. → Click on Virtual Box start the VirtualBox graphical user interface (GUI).

Figure: Ubuntu Software Center #4

7 Done.

The procedure of installing and starting VirtualBox is complete.

Debian

For Debian host operating systems Choose an option from the following table. Choose either Option (A) OR Option (B).

A Automated VirtualBox Installation : Debian users could alternatively use the Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox. In this case, this wiki page can be completely ignored. No other steps from this wiki page need to be applied because the automated installer will handle everything.

B Manual VirtualBox Installation : Follow the instructions below.

Select your Debian release below to get the matching instructions.

Debian bookworm (stable) or bullseye (oldstable)

To acquire the Recommended VirtualBox version tested with Whonix, package virtualbox-qt should be installed from Debian fasttrack repository according to the following instructions.

1 On the host : Open a terminal.

2 Update the package lists.

sudo apt update

3 Install the Debian fasttrack signing key.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends fasttrack-archive-keyring

4 Add the Debian fasttrack repository.

echo 'deb https://fasttrack.debian.net/debian/ bookworm-fasttrack main contrib non-free' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/fasttrack.list

5 Add Debian the backports repository.

echo 'deb https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports main contrib non-free' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/backports.list

6 Update the package lists again.

sudo apt update

7 Install VirtualBox and Linux kernel headers.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends virtualbox-qt linux-headers-$(dpkg --print-architecture)

8 Add your current user to group vboxusers.

sudo adduser $(whoami) vboxusers

9 Done.

The procedure of installing the VirtualBox host software is complete.

Debian Testing

VirtualBox can be installed by adding the Debian unstable (sid) repository and APT pinning. The details of this are unspecific to Whonix and undocumented.

Debian Unstable

VirtualBox can be installed by adding the Debian unstable (sid) repository.

sudo apt update

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends virtualbox-qt linux-headers-$(dpkg --print-architecture)

sudo adduser $(whoami) vboxusers

The details of this are unspecific to Whonix and undocumented.

Other Debian Releases

Other Debian releases might work, but this is untested. In case of other Debian release:

See also "Linux host operating systems" below.

See also "Linux" on the right.

Kicksecure

Kicksecure^™ host operating systems Choose an option from the following table. Choose either Option (A) OR Option (B).

A Automated VirtualBox Installation : Kicksecure^™ users could alternatively use the Whonix Linux Installer for VirtualBox. In this case, this wiki page can be completely ignored. No other steps from this wiki page need to be applied because the automated installer will handle everything.

B Manual VirtualBox Installation : Follow the instructions below.

Instructions for Kicksecure^™ are simpler than instructions for Debian.

1 On the host: Open a terminal.

2 Update package lists.

sudo apt update

3 Install VirtualBox and Linux kernel headers.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends virtualbox-qt

4 Add your current user to group vboxusers.

sudo adduser $(whoami) vboxusers

5 Done.

The procedure of installing the VirtualBox host software is complete.

Linux

Hosts using a non-Debian operating system:

• Install VirtualBox as per the normal mechanism for your Linux distribution. No special instructions for Whonix are required. The installation of a recent VirtualBox host software is unspecific to Whonix. Consult the documentation of your Linux distribution.
• Whonix has has been tested with, expects VirtualBox version latest.
• For example the outdated VirtualBox version 5.2.18 is incompatible.

General recommendations for users using Linux as a host operating system:

Linux kernel version:

• The recommended host Linux kernel version is the same version that Debian bookworm is using, see linux-image-amd64.
• Newer host Linux kernel versions are likely to break VirtualBox VMs in many ways since these are unsupported by VirtualBox.

Host operating system. The recommended host Linux distributions are:

• preferably the stable version of Kicksecure^™ 17, or
• Debian Linux version bookworm.

Latest VirtualBox Version

How to find out what the latest VirtualBox version is?

The latest version of VirtualBox can be seen on virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads, virtualbox.org/wiki/News and VirtualBox announcements newsletter archive.

Alternatively the version number can be seen on the VirtualBox Wikipedia page, although there might be times when Wikipedia is outdated.

The user could also consider to subscribe to the VirtualBox announcements newsletter.

See Also

• Stable Whonix Version for VirtualBox
• Whonix for VirtualBox - Testers Only Version
• Install Newer Versions of VirtualBox
• VirtualBox Guest Additions and Shared Folders
• VirtualBox Troubleshooting

Footnotes

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