VirtualBox installation

[chrispop99]

My impression also was that the user was added to vboxusers on installation, although I remember cases in the past when this was not so. I've now had a good look back to VBox 4.0.6 & Mepis 11 and, as far as I can check, it has only been the first installation of VBox on a distro where I have had to manually add the user.

No matter how you update VBox, your user remains a member of vboxusers group and won't need to be added on a new VBox install. So I don't think that VBox ever adds the user to vboxusers, but on all updates it's already there and doesn't need to be added.

I've installed VBox in distros where I needed to add the user, and in other distros I've not needed to do so.

In the test I did with a fresh install of MX-14 RC2, I definitely did not need to add the user, even following a reboot.

There is a case for populating this as a default, otherwise the problem will keep raising its head.

Phil

It would be necessary to determine why the user is sometimes added, and sometimes not. This might not be easy.

Chris

[Gaer Boy]

I think you're right, but I suspect it would have no effect. The VBox position is clear from the manual quote - users who wish to use USB devices in VBox must be added to the vboxusers group. I doubt they would want to automate that.

[Gaer Boy]

I've installed VBox in distros where I needed to add the user, and in other distros I've not needed to do so.

In the test I did with a fresh install of MX-14 RC2, I definitely did not need to add the user, even following a reboot.

There is a case for populating this as a default, otherwise the problem will keep raising its head.

Phil

It would be necessary to determine why the user is sometimes added, and sometimes not. This might not be easy.

Chris

[EDIT] Hit the wrong button.

That's interesting, and it certainly makes your final sentence true. I've done 3 installations of VBox on fresh installations of MX-14-RC2. One on the desktop using synaptic and two on the netbook using synaptic and direct download. On the desktop, I also tested removing VBox and deleting the vboxusers group, then reinstalled using synaptic.

In all cases, I had to manually add my user.

Phil

[kmathern]

{Quoted from post in other thread}

http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/viewtop ... 19#p333019
....The version of Virtual Box that Synaptic will install is 4.2.16. Sorry, I've forgotten what problem you were having, but I've just installed VB, together with the recommends, and the guest additions (10 files in all), and have successfully created a virtual XP machine.

Edit (Additional information):
After a reboot, I did not have to add myself to vboxusers group; Virtual Box launched OK,

@chrispop99, from that post it looks like you installed the Debianized multi-package wheezy-backports version of virtualbox (https://packages.debian.org/source/whee ... virtualbox).

I think almost everyone else is installing the Oracle/Virtualbox.org single deb virtualbox package (virtualbox-4.3), either by manually downloading it and installing with gdebi, or by adding/enabling the repo and installing it with Synaptic or apt-get.

Maybe the Debianized version automatically adds users to the vboxusers group?

[Jerry3904]

Good thought. I don't see VirtualBox (or the category Virtualization) in the metainstaller, so maybe if the Debianized version does add the user we could put it in and point users to that install method.

[chrispop99]

@chrispop99, from that post it looks like you installed the Debianized multi-package wheezy-backports version of virtualbox (https://packages.debian.org/source/whee ... virtualbox).

I think almost everyone else is installing the Oracle/Virtualbox.org single deb virtualbox package (virtualbox-4.3), either by manually downloading it and installing with gdebi, or by adding/enabling the repo and installing it with Synaptic or apt-get.

Maybe the Debianized version automatically adds users to the vboxusers group?

Yes; from a fresh MX-14 RC2 install, with no repo changes, I used Synaptic to install what was there. This seemed the best way to test what the average user might experience.

Chris

[Gaer Boy]

@chrispop99, from that post it looks like you installed the Debianized multi-package wheezy-backports version of virtualbox (https://packages.debian.org/source/whee ... virtualbox).

I think almost everyone else is installing the Oracle/Virtualbox.org single deb virtualbox package (virtualbox-4.3), either by manually downloading it and installing with gdebi, or by adding/enabling the repo and installing it with Synaptic or apt-get.

Maybe the Debianized version automatically adds users to the vboxusers group?

Yes; from a fresh MX-14 RC2 install, with no repo changes, I used Synaptic to install what was there. This seemed the best way to test what the average user might experience.

I totally missed that you had used a different source. The Debianized version may well behave differently. I have never used it because from Mepis 8 onwards the advice in the Manual has been to use the version from VBox, as kmathern says. One problem with the Debian version is that it's well behind - 4.2.16 was july 2013 - I've upgraded 4 time since then.

Phil

[richb]

I would suggest not adding the Debian version to the meta installer for the same reason Gaer Boy stated. It is quite behind and does not benefit from bug fixes of later versions.

[kmathern]

...I totally missed that you had used a different source. The Debianized version may well behave differently. I have never used it because from Mepis 8 onwards the advice in the Manual has been to use the version from VBox, as kmathern says. One problem with the Debian version is that it's well behind - 4.2.16 was july 2013 - I've upgraded 4 time since then.

Phil

I pretty much have always used the Oracle/Virtualbox.org single deb virtualbox package.

At one time the Debianized virtualbox package names included a "-ose" suffix, which I think stood for "Open Source Edition".

If I recall correctly a "-ose" virtualbox install was missing some functionality that was included in the regular virtualbox, that's why I've always tried to use the version from Vbox.

The Debianized packages stopped using the "-ose" suffix in their package names sometime ago, so they may now be just as functional as the Vbox version.

[DBeckett]

At one time the Debianized virtualbox package names included a "-ose" suffix, which I think stood for "Open Source Edition".

If I recall correctly a "-ose" virtualbox install was missing some functionality that was included in the regular virtualbox, that's why I've always tried to use the version from Vbox.

The main problem was that the OSE version had no USB functionality.