How To Install VirtualBox On Debian 12
Step-By-Step
By Pradeep Kumar / Last Updated: September 24, 2023 / 3 Minutes Of Reading
In this guide, we’ll explore how to install VirtualBox on Debian 12 providing
you with the power to create and run virtual machines on your system.
Whether you’re a developer, IT enthusiast, or simply curious about
virtualization technology, this step-by-step guide will help you get started
with VirtualBox on your Debian 12 machine.
VirtualBox is a free and open-source virtualization software used at
desktop level. It is available for both Linux and Windows operating system.
VirtualBox allows to spin up multiple virtual machines of different
operating systems. It is used to setup test environment on laptop or
desktop by creating virtual machines.
Prerequisites
• Pre-Installed Debian 12
• User with sudo rights
• Internet connectivity
Without any further delay, let’s deep dive into VirtualBox installation steps.
1) Add VirtualBox APT Repository
VirtualBox package is not included in the default package repositories, so
we to have add its official repository.
Login to your Debian 12 system and open the terminal and run the
following commands to import gpg key of Virtualbox repository.
$ sudo apt install curl wget gnupg2 lsb-release -y
$ curl -fsSL [Link]
$ curl -fsSL [Link]
Now, run beneath echo command to add virtualbox repository on Debian
12
$ echo "deb [arch=amd64] [Link]
2) Install VirtualBox On Debian 12
Run the following apt command to install latest virtualbox 7.
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r) dkms -y
$ sudo apt install virtualbox-7.0 -y
3) Add Your User To The Vboxusers
Group
To use VirtualBox without superuser privileges, you need to add your user
to the vboxusers group. Run below usermod command.
$ sudo usermod -aG vboxusers $USER
$ newgrp vboxusers
Next, try to start Virtualbox in the following step.
4) Start VirtualBox
Search virtualbox from Activity as shown below,
Click on VirtualBox Icon
Perfect, above confirms that virtualbox has been launched successfully.
To add some additional features to virtualbox then install it’s extension
pack.
5) Install VirtualBox Extension Pack
Virtualbox extension pack will add following features to your virtualbox :
• Support for USB 2.0/3.0
• VirtualBox RDP
• Disk encryption
• NVMe and PXE boot for Intel cards
For its installation first download the pack file using following wget
command.
$ wget [Link]
Once the file is downloaded then run below vboxmanage command for
its installation.
$ sudo vboxmanage extpack install Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-
It will prompt you to accept license terms and conditions. Press ‘y‘ to
accept and finish installation
Above output confirms that extension pack installation is successful. In
order to validate extension pack installation, head back to virtualbox gui,
Go to File –> Tools –> Extension Pack Manager
That’s all from this guide, you have successfully installed VirtualBox on
your Debian 12 system!
Conclusion
VirtualBox is a powerful virtualization tool that can be a game-changer
for developers, system administrators, and enthusiasts. By following this
step-by-step guide, you’ve learned how to install VirtualBox on Debian 12,
enabling you to run multiple operating systems on your Debian machine
with ease. Whether you’re testing software or exploring new
environments, VirtualBox provides a flexible and user-friendly solution for
all your virtualization needs.
About The Author
Pradeep Kumar
I am a Cloud Consultant with over 15 years of experience in Linux,
Kubernetes, cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, OpenStack), automation
(Ansible, Terraform), and DevOps. I hold certifications like RHCA, CKA,
CKAD, CKS, AWS, and Azure.
