Virtualisation

VirtualBox

iSolutions recommends the use of VirtualBox for creating and running virtual machines on the linux desktop platform. VirtualBox is designed for a multi user environment, unlike KVM/libvirt which runs everything as root.

You can install the latest VirtualBox with the following command:

sudo yum install VirtualBox-5.1

Older versions are available but we recommend you install the latest.

Once installed you can start VirtualBox and start creating virtual machines straight away! We recommend you store your virtual machine disks in the /local/scratch/<username/ directory - see Local storage for more info.

Rebuilding the kernel module

After a kernel update is installed you might find that VirtualBox no longer works and generates an error similar to Kernel driver not installed. To fix this you must run the following command in a terminal:

sudo /usr/lib/virtualbox/vboxdrv.sh setup

To run the above command you must be in the sys or vboxusers group. See Permissions for more information.

VirtualBox user group

In previous versions of VirtualBox anybody who wanted to use the software had to be in the vboxusers group. This is no longer the case and membership of this group is only required if:

• You want to be able to rebuild the kernel module without being in sys
• You want to be able to use USB passthrough devices

See Permissions for more information.