VirtualBox: Difference between revisions

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Added a warning not to include virtualbox in environment.systemPackages
 
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[https://www.virtualbox.org/ VirtualBox] is a virtualisation hypervisor. It has powerful a GUI included for managing virtual machines.
== NixOS Installation ==
== NixOS Installation ==
VirtualBox can be installed on NixOS without problems, put this snippet in your <code>configuration.nix</code>
VirtualBox can be installed on NixOS without problems, put this snippet in your <code>configuration.nix</code>
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Adding users to the group vboxusers allows them to use the virtualbox functionality.
Adding users to the group vboxusers allows them to use the virtualbox functionality.
{{Evaluate}}
{{Evaluate}}
{{Tip|When starting a VM, you may run into NS_ERROR_FAILURE. If you check the log you might see something like
<syntaxHighlight lang=nix>
  00:00:00.616892 Audio: Initializing ALSA driver
</syntaxHighlight>
In this case, the audio driver causes a crash. This can be fixed by switching to another driver such as PULSE.}}
{{Warning|Ensure that you do not put <code>virtualbox</code> into your <code>environment.systemPackages</code> when you've enabled it with <code>virtualisation.virtualbox.host.enable {{=}} true</code>. If you put <code>virtualbox</code> into your <code>environment.systemPackages</code>, VirtualBox won't be able to access it's driver, and attempting to start a VM will fail with the error NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0X80004005).}}


== VirtualBox Oracle Extensions ==
== VirtualBox Oracle Extensions ==
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</syntaxHighlight>
</syntaxHighlight>


{{Tip|If USB forwarding is only advanced feature used in virtualization, then consider using an open-source virtualization solution such as GNOME Boxes or Virt-Manager to avoid frequent recompilations..}}
{{Tip|If USB forwarding is only advanced feature used in virtualization, then consider using an open-source virtualization solution such as GNOME Boxes or [[Virt-manager]] to avoid frequent recompilations..}}
{{Warning|Host extensions cause frequent recompilation.}}
{{Warning|Host extensions cause frequent recompilation.}}


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* Also see  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48838411/install-virtualbox-modules-from-nixos-unstable-in-configuration-nix
* Also see  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48838411/install-virtualbox-modules-from-nixos-unstable-in-configuration-nix
* Use module from https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/71127 (unsafe) if you'd like to avoid recompilation.
* Use module from https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/71127 (unsafe) if you'd like to avoid recompilation.
* Use [[Virt-manager]] instead of VirtualBox


== VirtualBox Guest Additions ==
== VirtualBox Guest Additions ==


<syntaxHighlight lang=nix>
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
{
{
   virtualisation.virtualbox.guest.enable = true;
   virtualisation.virtualbox.guest.enable = true;
   virtualisation.virtualbox.guest.x11 = true;
   virtualisation.virtualbox.guest.dragAndDrop = true;
}
}
</syntaxHighlight>
</syntaxhighlight>


== See also ==
== See also ==

Latest revision as of 09:29, 8 August 2024

VirtualBox is a virtualisation hypervisor. It has powerful a GUI included for managing virtual machines.

NixOS Installation

VirtualBox can be installed on NixOS without problems, put this snippet in your configuration.nix

{
   virtualisation.virtualbox.host.enable = true;
   users.extraGroups.vboxusers.members = [ "user-with-access-to-virtualbox" ];
}

Adding users to the group vboxusers allows them to use the virtualbox functionality.

Warning: Ensure that you do not put virtualbox into your environment.systemPackages when you've enabled it with virtualisation.virtualbox.host.enable = true. If you put virtualbox into your environment.systemPackages, VirtualBox won't be able to access it's driver, and attempting to start a VM will fail with the error NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0X80004005).

VirtualBox Oracle Extensions

Note: This package is unfree and requires extra steps to install.

Oracle VirtualBox Extensions are required if you want to forward usb2 or usb3 to your guests. The Extensions are unfree.

{
   nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;
   virtualisation.virtualbox.host.enable = true;
   virtualisation.virtualbox.host.enableExtensionPack = true;
}
Warning: Host extensions cause frequent recompilation.

Possible solutions:

VirtualBox Guest Additions

{
  virtualisation.virtualbox.guest.enable = true;
  virtualisation.virtualbox.guest.dragAndDrop = true;
}

See also