VirtualBox Guest Additions – Build Essentials

I have been playing with VirtualBox and setting up a minimalist Ubuntu install with the Fluxbox window manager. I did a basic command line install off a live CD, so I ended up with a very small hard drive system foot print – perfect for adding whatever programs I wanted.

I also wanted to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions module to get the cool benefits of the seamless interface and mouse integration. When I tried to do this, I received some error message that the system needed the build and header files for my kernel. I first had to find out what kernel I was running and then I had to get the files. This is how I did it…

In a terminal, I ran the following command which told me I was running kernal 2.6.24-19-generic:

uname -r

I then ran the following command to install the needed files:

sudo aptitude install build-essential kernel-header-2.6.24-19-generic

After the data was downloaded and installed, I tried the Guest Additions again and everything went as smooth as butter. Now I can pop in to and out of my Ubuntu guest with ease.